About TG

TG

The only problem with them is I knew a guy who had one and he had to pop the top out to drive it and his eyes were pretty much even with the top of the windshield

TG

i was lock step with them up until the Civic SI. I don't care how well it performs - it just screams 'souped up grocery getter' and I half expect to see it with peeling window tint, a 1 foot high wing on the back, and a stainless steel muffler with a 3 inch outlet

TG

I have many-a-time dumped the oil out of an R12 compressor, refilled it with the appropriate R134a oil, swapped fittings and charged R134a with no additional work. I have never seen it pose a problem. Obviously I wouldn't recommend this on your numbers-matching shelby mustang, but on your moderate value daily driver collectable you will likely get away with it. Even if you don't, you will simply wind up doing the work that a full 134a conversion would have required anyway

TG

I have 5 cars and a 10 mile commute - so 'daily' driver is definitely doable - but not for a quarter million dollars

TG

There are so many better ways to go with things. Simply applying the weight saving and aerodynamic techniques used on a car like a Tesla would yield considerable efficiency gains for a gas or hybrid vehicle. Vehicles now are heavier than they were in the 70s. My sister did not believe this until I informed her that her 3-series beemer weighs more than my 65 Impala

TG

Sticking with the theme, i would anticipate that the 1950s Tesla would have no evidence of grille openings and would probably have muted lines, limited use of chrome, and a groundbreaking fiberglass body

TG

take all of the politics and conspiracy theories out of the mix and transportation fuel boils down to a simple formula of energy density.

TG

My garage has three available bays, but #3 never had the overhead door installed and was covered with tin siding when I bought the place. I stud-walled it in so I would have some actual storage space in my garage - then I went and bought more cars and put in a carport. That is where I put the brakes on - and for good reason. I have 5 total - one 'under construction' and the four drivers. I can cycle through the four drivers without ever encountering one with a dead battery, and I can keep them up and still have time for #5... and that's the key for me. I don't want garage trophies or tomorrow's barn finds. If I'm not driving them and keeping them maintained, it is time to make some hard decisions

TG

An 06 Ford GT, a 550 transaxle, or ten to twenty moderately priced collector cars... Tough call

TG

The potty chair seat went for $44K

TG

I had a chance to buy one of these back in my younger dumber days in the 90s fairly cheap. Half of me wished i did, the other half of me is glad i didn't because i would have destroyed it whooping on it

TG

I could see it being very easy for repair/restoration costs outpacing ROI on one of them very easily. I looked at a fairly poor condition 70s era Rolls a few years back and told the seller he would have to pay me to take it in order to make it worth my while

TG

As an Allante owner I find this article interesting as one of the biggest criticisms against the Allante is it's relatively low performance to sticker price ratio. Even when the Bentley horsepower ratings started to improve in the 80s and 90s, you are still looking at 300hp vs a sticker price of 250K versus my Allante's 200hp vs 55K. I don't get the mentality of the collector market sometimes

TG

My mom had a Tempo - it was baby blanket blue, and when you drove it and pushed on the accelerator, the only indication that anything was happening was a slow climb of the speedo needle that was detectable if you watched carefully. Not the GLS model you are referring to, but that impression will always be burned into my mind when I hear the word Tempo. The 968 on the other hand - I've never driven one, but I did have a NA 944 for awhile that was a little lacking in squirrels under the hood, but that car handled like it was on rails. I could nearly instantaneously whip the wheel 180° and navigate a right turn without slowing appreciably and not get one iota of wheel chirp. That car made up in handling what it lacked in horsepower I get restoring something unique 'just because'. I think the Tempo vs Porsche comparison might be a little off tho

TG

I had one myself that was frequently mistaken for a Mustang. They are nearly unobtainable now. The big downside is that I put three engines in that car during the same general period of time that I ticked off 290,000 miles on my '79 Coupe Deville. That experience has forever left me with the notion that the mantra of superior Japanese quality has a healthy dose of hype attached to it

TG · ‎13-05-2021

There is something about it that is growing on me... and since enough collectors out there hate it, it can probably be had fairly reasonably. maybe it'll end up next to my Allante

TG · ‎13-05-2021

Hei-think-it-el Kareen-n-roller over if I take a turn too sharp

TG · ‎11-05-2021

I have the 'normal' 1 series and even without the twin turbos it's a lot of motor stuffed into a tiny little car, so its a solid performer without drinking a lot of gas. I would like the third pedal, but I have to admit I am faster without it. It lacks a little something in curb appeal, but the flared fenders on the M version address some of that. I can understand why it is maintaining its collector value

TG · ‎10-05-2021

A Jensen Interceptor. Never heard of them before then. It was a 10K intact running car, and I would have bought it if I were not between careers at the time. Haven't come across one for less than 30K since ...and if there is one thing I HATE is people removing proper drivetrains from older cars and replacing them with fuel injected engines. My neighbor had a Packard 115C and he wanted to put a SBC in it - and I told him the amount of butchering he would have to do to the car and frame was beyond sacrilege. The Packard pictured above would probably be a 6-figure car if someone hadn't turned it into a Ford truck. If you don't like old cars pleeease stop buying them people

TG · ‎07-05-2021

granted we have a few V8 RWD throwback models kicking around, but I always wondered why if the prevailing chassis of the day is a transverse 6 cylinder why hasn't NASCAR incorporated this? sure the platform is a little bland... but maybe because no-one is seriously racing that platform

TG · ‎05-05-2021

I could see a strategy of stockpiling chips coming back to bite you if there is a significant change in the electronics industry that instantly makes your inventory obsolete

TG · ‎05-05-2021

I work in a facility designed in the 70s and built in the 80s that is full of 70s era analog equipment that has been chugging away for nearly 40 years. All of the latest generation of knuckleheads want to go through and replace everything with digital. Most of the digital upgrades to date have gone obsolete within 10 years of installation - meanwhile the old analog equipment keeps chugging along. There is something to be said for keeping things simple - even if it won't link with your cellphone

TG · ‎05-05-2021

Before 'barn find' became a thing, my concept of a 'barn find' was a running or nearly running condition survivor - which I think a healthy portion of that collection qualifies

TG · ‎05-05-2021

That situation breaks two of my general rules of collecting - (1) don't buy more than one of the same car, and (2) don't buy more cars than you can keep legal and operational (with exception of one 'in progress' project) I'm guessing that postal worker had some family money sprinkled into the mix

TG · ‎04-05-2021

If they are drunk enough they will squeeze into my quasi-back seats without much complaining

TG · ‎04-05-2021

Front wheel drive and two automatics... I'm out Before reading that though i would have gone with the BMW. Not necessarily because I think it's the better car, more because I have already been through a few rounds of disassembling and reassembling BMWs to perform relatively minor repair work - and I would stick to the enemy I know

TG · ‎29-04-2021

It had both... but the processing speeds weren't what they are today

TG · ‎29-04-2021

I had a 79 Coupe deVille that had (2)90,000 miles on the odo when i finally sent it to the boneyard. Every line of cars has it's bad years

TG · ‎29-04-2021

No multipoint electronic fuel injection in 1975? maybe not a first but probably a first for America

TG · ‎29-04-2021

I currently have a 4.5 which is essentially the same engine as the 4.1... 150K miles and no problems. The early aluminum engines required some care that I think a lot of folks didn't keep up on - which I think is part of why the 4.1 and Northstar got a lot of early bad press. The big issue with the 8-6-4 that I heard from a lot of folks that had them is that nobody knew how to work on them. All you had to do was unplug the actuators on the heads and it ran like a standard V8. People will tolerate a lot of technology related headaches on a BMW - but on an American car it is unforgiveable

TG · ‎25-04-2021

I think what makes a GM, Ford, or 'other' fan has a lot to do with your first car and what you have the most spare parts of in your garage

TG · ‎21-04-2021

Other than engine location and size - there is a remarkable amount of similarity between your lotus and my similar vintage vette I had it out the other day and noted that the front end had a remarkable amount of wobble to it... I thought I had a wheel coming off. Then I remembered that my leaky power steering will grow a remarkable amount of play when the level is low. It doesn't whine to warn you that it's low either. Panic #2 was that I overfilled the tank and it pushed gas out the vent - I thought I had a broken fuel line a little too far from home to limp it back

TG · ‎16-04-2021

That guy won the most toys contest

TG · ‎16-04-2021

Before the hybrid/EV craze hit I often wondered if the one-person car might be the efficiency solution of tomorrow

TG · ‎16-04-2021

ah the good ol days where manufacturers all did something different and everybody wasn't building the same car... I did a search on 2.0l engines and one list shows 20 manufacturers currently offering one...

TG · ‎16-04-2021

Moral: if you spend 300K hand-building a car, it comes out better than a Safarikar, and it hangs around long enough... it will be worth it

TG · ‎15-04-2021

Every time I park one of my older cars in a parking lot, and can see it from 200 feet away amidst a sea of roundy looking grey and blue sedan/suv/minivan looking things - I realize that taste isn't what sells 90% of cars. Even if someone comes in looking at the red 5.0 mustang... they are still going to leave with the latest greatest Blandomatic Boringmobile

TG · ‎15-04-2021

If you're connected with the company, I can see buying the last Plymouth even if it's a boring one. Anyone else... different story. I can see that car with a 1 foot wing in the back and offset tires in about 3 years

TG · ‎15-04-2021

My first car was almost a TC3. Stepdad used to buy cheap cars, run them till they dropped, and park them out back for a year or two before junking them. The TC3 had a broken shifter that he swore up and down his buddy was going to weld back together and wouldn't let me have it. It eventually got junked. Next up was a 78 Fleetwood Brougham which I wore him down and finally got... and got running. Been a GM man ever since. Could have been a Mopar man...

TG · ‎15-04-2021

My mother had a neon which I discovered had the water pump under the timing cover driven off the timing belt after the pump shaft snapped and chucked the belt. I validated that it was an interference engine and told her it was a gamble to put a belt and water pump on it... and sure enough the thing ran for several years after that

TG · ‎15-04-2021

I remember seeing a letter from DaimlerChrysler to the US EPA essentially demanding that the US conform to German emissions regulations so they don't have to build two platforms or they would sell off Chrysler. I'm guessing we said no and the rest is history

TG · ‎12-04-2021

It is amazing how many of the general concepts of 'modern technology' have been around for quite some time

TG · ‎08-04-2021

There are plenty of people scrubbing CO2 out of industrial applications that I don't think anyone is manufacturing CO2 expressly for this process. Considering that the air reduction process that AirGas and others use to make industrial gases, it is entirely likely that it came directly from that. Nobody burned 5 tons of coal to make dry ice for blast cleaning

TG · ‎07-04-2021

I have always thought a battery-assisted hybrid with regenerative brakes in an otherwise fairly efficient package would probably do more for the carbon situation than EVs ever will. Most folks don't realize that it takes the same relative amount of energy to push your car along whether it is being produced locally under the hood or being tapped off the grid, and close to half of what a power plant generates is lost in transmission losses.

TG · ‎07-04-2021

Trains run on steel rails and don't do a lot of stopping and starting. They can take their sweet old time getting up to speed and slowing down again, which is why their 900 RPM redline motors can hum along in their efficiency comfort zones and maintain one of the lowest cost per ton*mile rates in the transportation industry. Not really a good analogy

TG · ‎07-04-2021

My Allante still doesn't get any love... except from me

TG · ‎06-04-2021

The linked article had what I was looking for... pictures of the engine. I believe GM built 5 turbine powered semis, and even Toyota threw their hat into the turbine ring. Fuel economy killed the GM experiment, but believe it was excessive cabin heat that put the coffin nail in the Toyota attempt

TG · ‎05-04-2021

Restored... no, but when I moved in to my current abode, my two garage doors were just doors. No springs, no cables, no locks. If I had my wheaties, I could heft one up, shove a 2x4 under it, and get things in and out of the garage. After a crash course in Garage Door 101, I got the doors sprung up and locked down and got my two cars inside... then I bought 2 more and had to put up a carport...

TG · ‎05-04-2021

The love child of a DeLorean and a Pacer

TG · ‎05-04-2021

Most of my thoughts are already pretty well captured in the comments... with one exception I never actually knew how tchotchke was spelled