In the same vein as Bring A Trailer and Barn Finds, LockingHub.com is nothing but 4x4s of various flavors.
File this under helpful to have: Let’s Do Drum Brakes, Part One. I certainly need a refresher course.
Dash cams are huge in Russia, where insurance fraud is rampant and terrible drivers are common. I’m driving through the west side of Baltimore every day, which resembles Russia in many respects. This gets filed under “Nice to have when we have some more money: dashcamtalk.com reviews and compares most of the major models out there right now.
Lord, be still my beating heart: Vintage Step Vans.
Add this to the list of Stuff To Do: How To Assemble A Stupidly Basic Road Trip Tool Kit. I have the socket kit (with an upgraded wrench), jumper cables, a pile of paper maps, a multitool, knife, shovel, and blanket. JB Weld, zip ties, silicone, duct tape and wire all ride in the Scout, and they should be in the other two cars as well. As well as a tire patch kit.
I just made a mess of myself. Look at this and weep: the 1937 Ingalls Special. It’s not the most beautiful roadster I’ve ever seen, but everything is purpose-built. I’d take this over a Lotus 7 any day.
Here’s the build thread for a very internet-famous garage (a picture seen on a thousand car enthusiast Tumblrs): The 12-Gauge Garage. What can I say; it’s inspiring. And the guy has a race-ready 911 Porsche.
Found, inexplicably, in the parking lot at the Lowe’s this afternoon. Badge engineering at its finest: this was GM’s way of spreading the Nova love across their nameplates, at least from 1973-75. It was wearing Arkansas plates, which explains its stubborn grip on existence.
I had the pleasure of riding in a coworker’s Hyundai this afternoon on a trip to D.C. Her car is tricked out with all the modern amenities, including a nav system, Bluetooth connectivity, heated leather seats, and a backup camera. While I’d never buy a Hyundai myself (too many memories of first generation models in the repo lot with paper-tin sheet metal and medieval engineering) I was impressed by the integration of technology in this one. Maybe in ten years when I’m shopping for my next car, I’ll graduate up to the whiz-bang model like she has.
Ugh. I’ve spent the last week knee-deep in WordPress, resurrecting one site from the dead, building another, and preparing for a third. It’s actually going smoother than I thought it would, for having been away from anything under the hood more than a year. What I remember came back quick, what I forgot was easy to refresh, and what I’ve learned has been relatively quick and painless. I don’t know if it’s my mindset, if I’m cresting a mental peak, or if shit just got a little easier since last year, but I have a lot more respect for my own skills today.
Thanksgiving was great, as usual, and the house is quiet now that everyone is gone. We’re on the tail end of the leftovers, which is good because I’m getting sick of turkey, and bad because there’s nothing else in the fridge to eat. It was great to see the family. Renie helped me rake all the leaves up and throw them into bags or into the compost bins out back, and the very next day a strong wind kicked up and blew more back into the yard. So it goes.
The Saturn is no longer with us. A man with a tow truck came yesterday and pulled it out of the driveway, closing another automotive chapter in our lives. I was sad to see it go but happy to have it out of the driveway and off the insurance policy. Hopefully it will make MPT some money and kick back a little tax writeoff.
Speaking of cars, I found an iPod adapter for my Honda this afternoon, which appears to be compatible with my stock radio (I was under the impression I needed to have an XM-ready model). Apparently half the dashboard has to come off to access the radio, but once it’s in place an iPhone can be connected to and controlled by the radio, as well as the steering wheel buttons. Slick.