What Your Car Says About You

[Sarah in SC]

Andre, the LeMans is awesome, too! Whew! Boy I love those cars!

A dear friend who passed away a few years ago was my best connection at local car shows, he could tell you all kinds of neat stuff about the cars as we looked at them and he'd owned one of about every one, it seemed. He was the only person who was able to produce a timing light to help my DH with our 1970 Caddy convertible.

Keim, he called the paint job on that Caddy a "50-50" in that it looked great at 50 feet and 50 mph.

Thanks for the pics, y'all. 73ss454 knows how much I love any excuse to check out your cars. Those boys can keep the newer models...way too boring! No one has ever stopped in the street to stare at a minivan or even an Infinity (sorry, BT).

[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC Andre, the LeMans is awesome, too! Whew! Boy I love those cars! A dear friend who passed away a few years ago was my best connection at local car shows, he could tell you all kinds of neat stuff about the cars as we looked at them and he'd owned one of about every one, it seemed. He was the only person who was able to produce a timing light to help my DH with our 1970 Caddy convertible. Keim, he called the paint job on that Caddy a "50-50" in that it looked great at 50 feet and 50 mph. Thanks for the pics, y'all. 73ss454 knows how much I love any excuse to check out your cars. Those boys can keep the newer models...way too boring! No one has ever stopped in the street to stare at a minivan or even an Infinity (sorry, BT).

I have a timing light, and a dwell meter, out in the garage somewhere. They are useless on newer cars, and I'm retired from the mechanic business anyway...

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR I have a timing light, and a dwell meter, out in the garage somewhere.

How about your vacuum guage? Nothing more fun than that one.

Ha

[FreqFlyer]

'99 Blue BMW 3 series - inoperable sunroof & windshield washer pump, dirty, numerous scratches and dings, the leather seats are starting to pull apart at the seams

"I bought the car I "deserved" after grad school and now I'm too cheap to replace it"

[Purron]

.

[Nords]

I was going to ask if a Trekkie would really drive a Prius but... never mind.

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords I was going to ask if a Trekkie would really drive a Prius but... never mind.

That's funny....the carbon footprint to make a Prius is a LOT more than a Chevy Suburban, so marketing them as "green" is an oxymoron.........

[Keim]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FinanceDude That's funny....the carbon footprint to make a Prius is a LOT more than a Chevy Suburban, so marketing them as "green" is an oxymoron.........

Can you elaborate, Financedude? I'd think a suburban, being so much bigger, would have a large footprint when being constructed, not to mention over the course of its useful lifetime.

[MasterBlaster]

The Belmont Club: Which is Greener: the Prius or the Hummer?

Quote:

...As already noted, the Prius is partly driven by a battery which contains nickel. The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the ‘dead zone’ around the plant to test moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles. The plant is the source of all the nickel found in a Prius’ battery and Toyota purchases 1,000 tons annually. Dubbed the Superstack, the plague-factory has spread sulfur dioxide across northern Ontario, becoming every environmentalist’s nightmare. “The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside,” said Canadian Greenpeace energy-coordinator David Martin during an interview with Mail, a British-based newspaper. All of this would be bad enough in and of itself; however, the journey to make a hybrid doesn’t end there. The nickel produced by this disastrous plant is shipped via massive container ship to the largest nickel refinery in Europe. From there, the nickel hops over to China to produce ‘nickel foam.’ From there, it goes to Japan. Finally, the completed batteries are shipped to the United States, finalizing the around-the-world trip required to produce a single Prius battery. Are these not sounding less and less like environmentally sound cars and more like a farce? Wait, I haven’t even got to the best part yet. When you pool together all the combined energy it takes to drive and build a Toyota Prius, the flagship car of energy fanatics, it takes almost 50 percent more energy than a Hummer - the Prius’s arch nemesis. Through a study by CNW Marketing called “Dust to Dust,” the total combined energy is taken from all the electrical, fuel, transportation, materials (metal, plastic, etc) and hundreds of other factors over the expected lifetime of a vehicle. The Prius costs an average of $3.25 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles - the expected lifespan of the Hybrid.

here's another reference:

'Dust to dust' is dust: Prius uses less energy than Hummer'

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-...#ixzz0zj6nlSQl
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9750840-1.html

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterBlaster here's another reference: 'Dust to dust' is dust: Prius uses less energy than Hummer' Read more: 'Dust to dust' is dust: Prius uses less energy than Hummer | Crave - CNET 'Dust to dust' is dust: Prius uses less energy than Hummer | Crave - CNET

I notice that this 2nd article focuses on cost/mile over expected lifetime. The other analysis takes a broader environmental perspective.

Anyway, the real reason to drive a Prius is that it is perceived to be green, which as we all know is much more important than being green. Only annoying oddballs care about reality, but almost everyone cares about his standing in the community.

Ha

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Quote:

Only annoying oddballs care about reality....

Here, boss! (Reality is overrated, IMHO.)

[kumquat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed_The_Gypsy Here, boss! (Reality is overrated, IMHO.)

No, you have it wrong. The real quote is:

Quote:

Reality is an illusion created for people who can't handle drugs.

Interesting, I remember this line from the 60's. When posting it I googled the terms and got nothing? Did anyone else hear it then?

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha ........ Anyway, the real reason to drive a Prius is that it is perceived to be green.............. Ha

Right, unlike the Hummer drivers that don't give a second thought to perception or image.

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kumquat No, you have it wrong. The real quote is: Interesting, I remember this line from the 60's. When posting it I googled the terms and got nothing? Did anyone else hear it then?

I recall something like that:

"Reality is for those who can't handle drugs."

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kumquat No, you have it wrong. The real quote is: Interesting, I remember this line from the 60's. When posting it I googled the terms and got nothing? Did anyone else hear it then?

Sounds like a pretty complicated sentiment for the people I knew.

Really?
WOW!
Outtasight man!
Groovy

Where are the pork rinds?

[Purron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kumquat No, you have it wrong. The real quote is: Reality is an illusion created for people who can't handle drugs. Interesting, I remember this line from the 60's. When posting it I googled the terms and got nothing? Did anyone else hear it then?

I found some of the better know sayings from back in the day. Anyone remember these?

"Reality is a crutch for people who can't handle drugs."
Unknown

"Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope."
Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."
Hunter S. Thompson

"It's better to burn out than fade away."
Neil Young

"My advice to people today is as follows: If you take the game of life seriously, if you take your nervous system seriously, if you take your sense organs seriously, if you take the energy process seriously, you must turn on, tune in, and drop out. "
Timothy Leary

"Better living through chemistry."
Source: Dow Chemical advertisement

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha Sounds like a pretty complicated sentiment for the people I knew. Really? WOW! Outtasight man! Groovy Where are the pork rinds?

Right arm!

Farm out!

Outta state!

[rescueme]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha Sounds like a pretty complicated sentiment for the people I knew. Really? WOW! Outtasight man! Groovy

Are you sure you are not John Denver (resurrected?) ...

[Nords]

Our used Prius is the most expensive car we've ever owned. In fact it cost more than the combined purchase price of any three of the previous cars we've owned. It also gets "only" 50-60 mpg in an era when most diesels and several gasoline engines are nearly as competitive.

We drive it because it's an engineering geek's fantasy fun. It's also turned out to be an excellent car for a new driver who's heavy on the gas and brakes. And finally, after watching a succession of old Hondas and Fords crumble around the driver's seat, I'm looking forward to lower maintenance/repair bills.

It's also our own little gateway car to a plug-in hybrid or an electric vehicle, which will be powered from our photovoltaic array. Perhaps we'd even be able to convert this Prius to a plug-in, although that current expense is prohibitive at our annual gas costs of $1000-$1300. However it looks like a realistic used plug-in is still 3-5 years away.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kumquat Interesting, I remember this line from the 60's. When posting it I googled the terms and got nothing? Did anyone else hear it then?

If you remember reality then you weren't doing it right.

"I used to have a drug problem, but now I can afford it." -- David Lee Roth

[Midpack]

Orange '03 Honda Element. Means I'm cheap, non-conformist (color) and have to carry stuff sometimes...