Uncle_Buck

I approve this message ... //Parnelli & Uncle Buck

Simply the best of the best.

Or Zoom Splats ...

Any Dodge Ram 'Eco Diesel' owners out there ? Anyone considering the new Ford 'Powerstroke' offering ? Both are 3 litre turbo diesels. Towing experience with the Ram ? https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/autos-trucks/2018-ford-f-150-powerstroke-vs-2018-ram-1500-ecodiesel-comparing-the-specs/ar-BBI75Yr?ocid=spartandhp

If its cars/boats/planes, I'm In ... !! I have the car (4-4-2), only one car at a time in this household, I'm told ... Boats: We have a centerpiece, a sweet big block powered runabout I/O surrounded by a JetSki and 2 canoes. Planes: Love 'em, but my pilots license is good only in the US military. But to keep the topic on track, I did buy this 1927 Johnson at a wood boat & car show this past spring. 2 cylinders - still runs, not restored, with original box, documents and manual. What you see here is a 'TV hole' - a place for a typical large CRT TV above a fireplace - a popular feature in houses built 15 years ago - but what do you do with that 'hole' now that flat screens have taken over from the venerable CRT (?) So HGTV, eat your heart out, us Gear Heads can decorate too ... !! ps. It helps to have a forgiving wife to allow such things in the house !! pss. We have one more 'TV hole to deal with, upstairs ... psss. Good thread !!

Probably not too hard to figure out what era/segment of the car hobby that pushes my buttons ...

"Later mowers are bigger and last better" Yes and no. They are bigger in price now that OSHA and EPA mandated regulations have been heaped on all the manufacturers. And they are bigger in weight and complexity as a result. Since the fall of 1963, my family has owned this 1964 model Lawn-Boy. It has been in continual use ever since. Soon, the 4th generation will be pushing this oldie but goodie around the yard. Lawn-Boy was owned, then, by the Outboard Marine Corporation. It was a well engineered product that may be to rotary mowers as the Model-T was to automobiles. A magnesium deck, unique aluminum alloy 2-cycle engine provided lightness in the decades before OSHA/EPA regulations. In fact, there are no cable controls to cause breakdowns and/or down time. Turn the valve on at the bottom of the gas tank, turn the on/off switch to on, prime 3 times, then pull the starter (which pulls straight up in a more natural movement - clever). Sure, we have maintained it over the years, but it has never hard failed in 54 seasons of use !! I'll wager not over $100 has been spent on parts in those years and any and all mechanical work has been done at home. "Last better" ? Thats not been my experience, at least with this swell mower. Some things mechanical are just a pleasure to own and use. Period. Sadly, you can no longer buy a Lawn-Boy or any other mower today with the combination of lightness, powerful - easy to maintain 2-cycle engine, wheels that last and sturdy - rust proof deck. Lawn-Boy today exists in name only. Take a gander in ebay for Lawn-Boy mowers. You'll see that they are still sought after with prices varying accordingly. With a little larceny from the movie 'Apocalypse Now', I can honestly say, 'I love the smell of a 2-cycle engine mowing grass in the morning'

And if your local dealer is out of this popular product, be sure to check out FeeBay for this product, Best Offer, Auction ends soon ...

'Thousands evacuate North Carolina’s Outer Banks after massive power outage' I understand that all the electric cars that were plugged into the charger Thursday morning on North Carolina's Outer Banks are still at the same or less state of charge today ...

Each high school year seemed to produce the 'car to beat'. Late in 1965, a reddish-bronze 1966 Chevelle SS-396 turned up in the school parking lot. 4 spd., deep gears. It was owned by a fellow class mate who paid cash for the car by working hard & long in the produce aisle of a grocery store. Wasn't too long before this cars reputation spoke for itself. If it wasn't parked at the grocery store, it was out showing its tail lights to all comers. No ordinary SS-396, this was the mighty L-78 with 375 advertised HP. Same engine in that years Corvette was rated at 425 HP - both under-rated. A set of headers, rear street-track tires and a street-strip tune brought this car to another level. I don't recall that anyone ever beat this car. A year or so later, the Vietnam war called, and the car disappeared. The sound of that solid-lifter pavement ripper, even at idle still gives me goose-bumps to think about ...

The only thing better than a car show on a grass lawn is a car show on a grass lawn in the shade of mature trees. Thanks for sharing.

I'm glad your acquaintances were able to 'drop off the vehicle and pick(ed) up a new one'. As an actual owner of a VW diesel Jetta affected by this debacle, I can tell you first hand that the whole experience was not pleasant, seamless, expedient nor any way, financially advantageous. If I were to add all the details, it would sound like a rant, so I won't. Lets just say that I hope this never happens to anyone ever again ...

Most of us are vitally aware of the impact the Internet has made on the traditional print/press. It has earned a place in many parts of our lives for its power and sheer volume of timely information. With that said, almost any Internet session is peppered with pop-ups, video's, and ads that are annoying, generally non-pertinent which can also detracting from web performance. To those that say that the Internet experience can be tedious and stressful, they are being kind. None the less, we all use it. However, there is an 'island' where you can escape all of this, and that is a really good magazine or publication - like the Hemming's offerings. A good cup of coffee, the dog curled up at your feet and a new Hemming's Classic Car, Muscle Car magazine or the 'Bible' itself. I have learned a lot from all of them and it has made me appreciate many cars I never gave a second thought to. Furthermore, the 'Bible' dabbles into planes, trains, boats, tractors, etc. with interesting and informative articles from time to time. Looking at the columnist pictures to see what generation they are from is usually not necessary. Most are right in my wheelhouse. I usually read them first. Most are spot on. I for one really appreciate the time and effort that Hemming's puts in all their publications. I must, since I have kept all of the magazines since day one !! Hemming's: Keep the faith and keep up the good work !!

One last observation from watching a bit of NASCAR 2017: Too much and over-the-top commercialization !! Commercial break-a-ways are increasing in frequency and plenty annoying, but does everything need to be unapologetically shilled during the actual race broadcast itself (?), i.e., the 'White Flag Lap - brought to you by the Acme Fireworks Company - Wiley Coyote's preferred brand - who make your 4th of July thrilling and spectacular & dangerous too'. Then there is the pit stops where 'Goodyear tires are changed, the car is filled up with Sunoco race fuel, fender damage is repaired with 3M Rapid-Stick Tape, the driver is given a cold Mountain Dew while the Interstate battery is changed'. Followed closely by 'the race off pit lane is brought to you by ' ...... ' And on and on and on !! If Major League baseball shilled their sport to this level, a hot grounder to the 2nd baseman might be something like this: 'The crack of the Louisville Slugger Prime Maple Natural Baseball bat sends the Rawlings Major League Baseball to Baez, who scoops up the worm burner with his Wilson A-2000 12" Pro Glove, flings it to Rizzo who grabs it with his Marucci HTG Series 12.5 inch First Basemans Mitt then makes the out by tagging the Champro Molded Base with his Adidas Adizero Afterburner 3 Baseball Cleat. On the way to the dugout, Rizzo spits a wad of Redman Select Chewing Tobacco to the turf which is prepped by Toro Professional Lawn Equipment and feed by Scotts Pro Sports Turf Brand Granular Fertilizers'. I’m surprised some NASCAR merlin hasn’t sold the rights to the air in the tires, er, Goodyear tires - yet !!

The older of the Fox broadcast brothers should know better than to trivialize the 'sport' with this trite and annoying saying. Moreover, the network should just stop it. The younger brother and former team owner, caught 'cooking' race fuel, a NASCAR rules infraction of the highest order - out and out cheating not just bending the rules, then later attempting to fix the points outcome of a race for a chase berth continues to prattle on. Why ? Allowing a team owner (at the time) to be part of the broadcast team, in my opinion, is a serious conflict of interest to say nothing of being a cheat and low life who never took responsibility for his transgressions. Jeff Gordon is a team owner, yet they removed the competent and fair Larry McReynolds from the broadcast booth to make room for Jeff. To be fair, Jeff Gordon has done a good job in the booth, but the conflict is still there. It's the other 2 stooges I can't get past ...

I buy high, sell low then make up the difference in volume ....

My first thought was to introduce both the AACA & museum boards to Dr. Phil, but this serious is to me, a stakeholder in the AACA. I have a suggestion. Both the AACA and museum board bundle up and take a trip to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, home of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). There are many similarities between both the EAA and AACA. Both have many strong, loyal members and wonderful museums. Before the permanent barriers go up, now may be the time to take a breath, look into the future, and learn from like organizations. Schedule a meeting with their Chairman of the Board, Jack Pelton. Discover how their organization and museum co-exist. Discuss ways that each are mutually beneficial to each other and what the future holds going forward separately. It may go a long way towards mending fences. Please take a moment to look at the EAA website: http://www.eaa.org/en/eaa Note the Apollo Lead Flight Director's headline story. Does anyone think that Gene Kranz would donate memorabilia to a museum on its way to wrangling itself away from it's mother ship? Just curious.

Is there not an all-inclusive - on-line search engine/technique/method, sometimes called a 'mash' to search as much as possible the World Wide Web for a classic car in one easy swipe ? For example, say I was looking for a Ford Galaxie 7-Litre from 1966. Sure I can GOOGLE just that and find pictures, articles, tidbits and if lucky, a car or two for sale. Usually, one must pick through the cars for sale carefully, as most of the listings are from years ago or the car has been sold. GOOGLE sorts its entries by using some dark science coupled with a sorcerer, so that the dream car you may be looking for may possibly be on page 7, for whatever reasons (?) and you gave up on page 4 - because of all the false leads. Frustrating ... !! Then there is Ebay, we have all been there, they do have a fair percentage of classic cars on any given day - but not all of them by any means. And of course, there are classic car dealers - a lot of classic car dealers !! Maybe somebody has the answer, so I throw it out to my fellow car collector forum followers. My apologies if this topic is covered in the forums previously.

An unnamed auto related show that tests new cars and has been on for 35 years commonly overlays heavy metal sound tracks over the narrator AND the swell engine sounds as the vehicle is wrung out. It's like going to a Poison concert ... !! Awful. With that said, The Appraiser's music background was restrained, toned down and IN the background. It could be eliminated, as far as I'm concerned, however. I did enjoy the show. It held my interest.

The hideous GM H3 Hummer - don't know if it is a car, truck, SUV or some other mad-monk automotive alphabet designation. And it may not be the ugliest, but makes my top 5 ugly GM products. Somewhat cartoon like as it turned out since it has little of the capability it pretends to have. Ingress and egress is torture, then there are those tank slit windows. Rides like a cement mixer and about as noisy. Out of the GM lineup today. Truly a mercy killing.

(In my humble opinion). http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/videos/a16810/darios-dream-special-report/ Watch as Dario Franchitti drives the Lotus-Ford Type 38, the Colin Chapman creation in partnership with Ford that won Indy in 1965. The sounds and the look of this car do it all for me. It looks and sounds like a race car should and then some. All back in the day when each and every driver EARNED their seat and the cars took real courage & skill to drive competitively. Rides were not 'bought' back then and the cars were innovative each and every year - not the 'spec', cookie-cutter cars of Indy racing today. I was at the brickyard in 1965, the year this car won the 500. There were Novi's, Offy's and the Ford DOHC V-8 among a sea of chassis designs. Didn't know how good it was back then, but I do have my memories. Enjoy Dario's respectful look of the Jimmy Clark Lotus-Ford 1965 Indy winner.

That is a great commercial and those sounds .... Wow !!! Sadly todays F1 cars, replete with their single exhaust (!), sounds like a shop-vac when you step on the hose ... They have lost their mojo !! http://blackflag.jalopnik.com/the-new-f1-cars-really-do-sound-terrible-now-1653386779 http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/161003.html

1967 & 1968. The then sanctioning body, USAC, basically banned the turbine powered cars by restricting the size of the air intake to the point of making it non-competitive. Today Indy car racing is purely a 'spec-car' series, one chassis - two engines. Innovation, the very thing that drove Indy racing to the pinnacle all racing is just a fond memory to those of us that remember the excitement it brought to us. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STP-Paxton_Turbocar

Thanks Tex !!! I used the 4th one down. You may have saved the day. I'll let you know how it worked out ! (Well, maybe not ....)

We have a sun room addition to our house, about the size of a one car garage, not insulated and the floor is tile with just wood decking and nature underneath it. It was useable only in warm months and then it would get too warm, etc., making the room useable a small percentage of the year. After a couple of years of killing parakeets with propane heat and scaring us (left us feeling wobbly), we started looking for a solution. Here it is: A Mitsubishi 'Split System'. It is a heat pump, so you cool in summer, heat in winter. One outdoor unit can run several (up to 4 ?) indoor air handlers. It won't be cheap, but it will not kill you either and who doesn't like A/C on hot/humid days? This may not be a good solution for those living in the frozen tundra, like any heat pump. Our experience is that it will take our room from the mid-thirties to high 60's in about an hours time. We are very happy with this purchase, both in performance and reliability 2 years after the install. Super quiet too. I would couple this with a few HD ceiling fans that are made for shops and garages that can be reversed depending on the season to thoroughly circulate the heating or cooling produced by these units.