by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier
Early Sunday afternoon, my wife, Edith, and I were enjoying lunch at On The Border, a Tex-Mex restaurant, and we marveled at the number of comments on last Friday’s blog…but not about airguns. Mostly comments about cars. Vintage cars, in fact. Edith is a gear head, and so is her brother, Bob. She volunteered to write today’s blog and give you a peek into her life.
If you’d like to write a guest post for this blog, please email me.
by Edith Gaylord
When I was about 12 years old, I built my first model car. I’m not sure which car it was, but I envision the shape as being an Edsel. Not one of the sportier models, but I added flame decals on the sides and hood. I didn’t spend a lot of time building model cars, as I was also interested in girlie pastimes.
My brother, on the other hand, continued to build model cars and planes and eventually graduated to real cars. Bob’s an oil and gas exploration geologist in Houston and is well-known in his field. A few years ago, I discovered that he was also well-respected. When the Israelis discovered oil, they sent the core samples to London for further research. Bob was one of the experts called to London to review the geology and geophysics.
Bob once told me that oil people are under immense stress and some sort of unrelated diversion is required for relief. So, he’d get junked bodies of pre-Stingray Corvettes and rebuild them. When he was done with a car, he’d drive it around a bit and then sell it. Within no time, another body would find its way to his garage, and the process started all over.
This went on for some time, but then Bob graduated to other car models and those that didn’t need to be completely rebuilt. When I visited him in April 2000, I took a ride in his latest acquisition: a 1957 Ford Thunderbird.
Sitting in my brother’s 1957 T-bird.
As we drove around in the car, people waved, screamed, hollered and pointed. It was as if we were in a parade all by ourselves. Bob said he felt like he was driving Sandra Dee’s car whenever he drove it.
Bob eventually sold the T-bird and got another, switching to other makes and models. A few years ago, he bought a car off eBay Motors, but the seller had been less than candid. When the car arrived at midnight, he picked it up but the headlights didn’t work — and he drove it home in the dark. The next day, the car wouldn’t even start. He worked on it off and on for about a year. One day, he backed it out of the garage and smoke started pouring out. It was on fire! He hit the kill switch on the battery, which stopped the fire, but all the wires were fried. That’s when he decided that he didn’t want a hobby that would burn down his house. Bob called the Salvation Army to donate “Satan” (which is what he named the car), and they picked it up within an hour. And that was the end of the line for Bob’s vintage car hobby.
Edith knows best!
I remember when B.B. and I had been married for a short period of time and didn’t actually know that much about each other, he was caught off-guard by my car knowledge. We were driving down the highway when an unusual car passed us. He didn’t know what kind of car it was and guessed at the make and model. I disagreed and said it was a Jensen Interceptor. I still recall his surprised look. He knew what a Jensen Interceptor was, but how could I know what it was? Even more incredulous, how could I recognize one as it sped past us? He put the pedal to the metal, caught up with the car…and it was, of course, a Jensen Interceptor.
Bob, B.B. and I continue to love older cars. We’re avid watchers of car TV shows such as “Wheeler Dealers,” “Chasing Classic Cars,” “Kounting Cars,” the occasional Mecum auction and even attending local vintage car shows.
B.B. and I have talked on and off about buying a vintage car. I have a survivalist mentality and would like a vintage car as a get-out-of-dodge vehicle, so it can’t have any electronics. We’ve tossed around the idea of a 1950s GM delivery van, a vintage VW bus, and a deuce-and-a-half (since it can run on almost any fuel and can go just about anywhere). We haven’t done anything yet…but I think we eventually will.
Well, that’s about it. Tomorrow, the blog will return to airguns. On Wednesday, B.B. will be on his way to the Virginia airgun show.
Cars, Cars, Cars,
I lived, breathed, and ate cars forever.
I use to get in trouble when I was a kid because we would be at a family event and ole Gunfun1 would be reading about cars. Messing with a car, helping somebody with a a car. And not at the event like I was supposed to be.
But it did start changing a bit when I did a book report on cars and finally made a A in English.
And like here with the airgun blogs I met alot of interesting people. And gained bunches of knowledge thanks to the people that took the time to show a stubborn kid something.
There is just way to many things that I could talk about with cars and I am guilty of bringing cars up on this airgun blog more than once.
But when you got something that’s burning deep in the blood its hard to get it out.
Airguns and RC airplanes are definitely the other things that go deep in my DNA.
All I can say is I know what I like and I like what I know.
I have always said that the Muscle car era should be taught in history at school. It was part of what kept the excitement and economy going in the day.
There was at least 5 speed shops in my town when I was growing up. And it wasn’t even a big town.
Then there was the summer nights when you just took a cruise and didn’t worry about how much gas cost or how much you used.
Man I like cars. And then the Cars movie. Has anyone noticed what the canyons are?
Edith I would of never guessed. And I’m pretty good at reading people.
Cars, Cars, Cars that’s what my Mom use to always say to me.
Drive safely BB. I will be looking forward to seeing you on Friday!
I don’t mind a SMALL addendum about an off subject but a whole blog on something else I can get by going to another source. Why not see if pyramyd air will put up another link in their web site and let you put these self indulgences there, keeping the air gun blog for air gun topics.
Why not troll somewhere else?
The internet is a big place if the PA blog is too small for you.
This is one of the greatest online place to hangout, everyone is nice, everyone is polite and there are no peeing contest here, so what if we sometimes get a little off track.
There’s less than one off topic blog per month, there’s a blog article every single week day, no off days when BB is sick, no off days for Christmas or any other holiday for that mather so I think even non-car guys can live with ONE blog not about airguns, you’ll have 4 more gun related articles to read this week.
J-F
JeffR,
Many years ago we made the decision to allow straying off-topic. That is what makes this blog different from most airgun blogs.
It’s working well for us, and we plan to continue to do it. There won’t be many of these excursions, but we also won’t prohibit them.
Thanks,
B.B.
Ms. Edith, Mr. BB, Slinger, J-F & the rest of the Gang,
Ditto & VERY cool. Volvo, welcome home.
Shoot/ride safe,
Beaz
Edith
How do you know the people weren’t waving, screaming and hollering at you?
My father used to be a car guy. Until he had children. When he and my mother were first married, he bought a 1964 Corvette, in silver. Beautiful car. As the years wore on they sold the Corvette and bought a red Pontiac GTO and a Mercury Cougar in British Racing Green. After little Slinging Lead was born my poor parents lost any taste in cars they might have once had. The coolest car I remember them owning was a Datsun 510 wagon in orange or maybe the Volkswagen Bug. Other catastrophes included a Buick Station Wagon with fake wood paneling decals on the side, a Dodge Conversion Van, a Volkswagen Rabbit, and a very contemptuous Oldsmobile coupe.
In highschool a friend of mine owned and worked on Ford Mustangs. His car was difficult to drive for me, because it only wanted to go fast, and in a straight line. Driving through a parking lot, or through a turn was a challenge. One day he was a passenger in my lowly Volkswagen Rabbit which I had inherited from Dad. As usual I had violated my curfew, and was in a hurry to drop him off. As I headed into a turn I remember him looking at me and nearly having a stroke. His big fat pig of a Mustang would have never made the turn at that speed. But my crappy Rabbit with orange interior (yes, orange interior) could turn on a dime. I think his finger prints are probably embedded into that dashboard to this day.
Which brings me to my last point. I was interrogating my Dad one day about the Corvette, and why he got rid of it. I asked, “Did it have a V8?”
“No, I wanted the V6.”
“Why? Sportscars are supposed to go fast, why not get the fast engine?”
“Because the Corvette was a light car, and the V8 weighed a ton. When I head into a corner, I want to be able to pull out of it. Driving isn’t always in straight lines.”
I can’t say that I fully understood him at the time, but now I delight in small zippy cars with great handling like the BMW 325i, Honda Civic Si, etc.
My airgun preferences are the same. Smoothness and great handling prevail over top speed.
Mornin’ SL,I highly recommend you go to youtube and search “Volkswagon Golf” drag race or something similar.The most insane little gray Golf will show up.From the outside it looks completely sedate….but it dynos at over 1000 BHP.You’ll get a kick out of it…..and one called the “farm truck”,it has a camper top on it,but WOW is all I can say.
Frank,
They actually have a TV show that the Farm Truck is in, can’t think of the name of it but it features the top ten street cars in Oklahoma.
Thanks Volvo……I actually saw that episode on Youtube because I couldn’t get enough of that thing.Seems like a great fellow……saw him give his beat up straw hat to a small boy just because he asked for it.He takes it fishing and it does a 10.59 1/4 mile.Awesome!
I love the V8 stuff that goes fast in a straight line!I grew up wading across a creek to sneak in and watch those 1960’s drag races on a 1/8 mile track. Not sure how much tickets were, just knew it would be more money than I had.
Horsepower sells cars but torque makes me smile.
The first year 440 I have made 485 ftlbs at 2800 rpms BEFORE the headers,flow work & RPM airgap highrise dual plane intake!
This blog should have been kept for a Friday!
I’m also a car nut, I drive every car I can, whenever someone changes cars, old or new I try to test drive it.
I had 7 different cars in my first 10 years of driving, then family and responsabilties got in the way.
Edith don’t you drive a minivan? To me the minivan is the antithesis of the car enthusiast vehicule, not really good looking, not particularly fun do drive, very average handling, somewhat comfy but tons of space and a high driving position.
Most older diesel truck would make a great doomsday/bugout vehicule, get one with the camper in the back and have some solar panels fitted to the top. My parents had travel trailer with solar panels on top and batteries, it didn’t need a power outlet. The fridge, water heater and the oven/range all work on propane and there was enough power for everything else, there was enough power to get the slides in and out. The only thing that needed a power outlet to work was the AC.
Have a look at RECOIL mag and OFFGRID. RECOIL is about the “gun lifestyle” and feature a lot of bugout/prepardness articles and each issue features a tricked out bugout vehicule. OFFGRID is more about survival in doomsday scenarios.
I was looking for some electric UTV during the week-end and found this great one made in Texas, it has an electric engine but can be recharged by the onboard generator which could probably be made to power your other stuff. It’s not fast with a 30mph top speed for the four seater but could probably be made to run forever with very little fuel and you don’t need any roads. They made a 4 gun rack for the four seater, talk about convenience! 😉
J-F
J-F,
Yes, I drive a 2002 Toyota minivan. We bought it used after we moved to Texas in 2003. It’s nothing special, but I love the convenience of sliding doors (I wish mfrs would make the suicide doors again…they’re so much smarter & more convenient than the standard doors we now use). If I could get a crew cab pickup truck with sliding doors for the back seats, that would be ideal.
When we lived in Maryland, we’d bought a brand new 1985 Toyota Cressida. I’d wanted a Corolla for going back & forth to work (because the old Pinto I’d been using probably wasn’t reliable enough for me to traverse the back roads to/from work). However, we ended up with the Cressida, which I drove for 18 years. It was the fastest car I’d ever driven. It ROARED!
Whenever I drove in downtown Baltimore, Tom would hold on for dear life. I had my foot on the gas pedal & my hand on the horn. No stopping, no braking. I’m normally a sedate driver (I drive like an old lady…and always have) and have no need for speed; but driving in Baltimore meant I had to deal with crazy, insane, aggressive drivers. So, I presented a good offense 🙂 Tom referred to my city driving as tronning…in honor of the movie “Tron” 🙂
As far as a camper for a pickup truck, that’s something else we’d considered since Tom drives a Ford F-150. Just one more option to consider.
Edith
“Tronning!” Perfect! Another classic B.B.ism!
-Jan
I do the same thing! I have an old truck with the good old steel chromed bumpers, try to cut me off, go ahead, try… I’m at 3 fender benders, 1 Civic and 2 Toyota Yaris, all young girls driving, the girl in the Civic didn’t stop, she punched it and left, she had a nice scar on her back plastic bumper, mine buffed right out.
The two Yaris, the girls both said the same thing “I’m soooo sorry, I didn’t see you” !?!?! I was speechless! I mean I’m not in a Smart car, I’m in a big freaking red truck 2 times the size of your car?
I’m thinking I should start putting small sticker like they did on planes during the war. 😀
J-F
p.s. you rocked that Thunderbird, you should get one
Edith,
Nice article and a welcome change from guns. I own a 1993 Nissan Sunny-no fuel injection or other electronic stuff. The most reliable car I have ever owned. Gas, oil and the occasional air filter and you are good to go.
You should get a WW2 Jeep and have a mount installed, one that will fit that 50 cal machine gun B.B. has hidden in the basement. LOL!
Pete
Cars and Trucks are fun. My son has a 2003 Mustang Cobra. The color is Sonic Blue, it looks real nice. It’s had some mods and dynos at 430 hp at the rear wheels. Me, I get by with a 2008 Tundra Off Road in Black. 🙂
Mike
I would have been waving and honking too Edith!! That car suits you,and is a real beauty.White really accents a beautiful car design.My 1966 New Yorker is in white (still looks good 48 yrs old)with only 57K miles on it.It was called the banker’s hot rod,has AC and power everything.With the first 440 Chrysler ever stuffed in a car it is like a luxury liner to drive…..can never find a big enough parking spot though.6 miles to the gallon is not to be envied either.
I love this blog! But I also love this slight off subject! My first car was a 1966 Chrysler Newport which was fully loaded with a 383 2 barrel that I bought when I was in high school for $150, it drove and ran great! I guess it was the poor mans New Yorker of it’s time? I loved that car! I owned it in High School in the early eighties so I got teased a lot, that it was just a big boat when everyone else was into new or slightly used foriegn cars. I didn’t care! I loved my boat! Thus my love for almost anything Mopar! I’ve got a 64 Plymouth Fury right now that I hope to someday fix up. Unfortunately in 1981 when I went into the Air Force I had to get rid of my 66. I got drunk at a 24 hour pancake house and tipped a down and out waitress with no transportation the keys, the car, and the pink slip.
Greg,
Have we heard from you before? If not, welcome to the blog. If so, welcome back.
B.B.
Greg your car sounds awesome…..and I think a lot of your “tipping” idea.If you would like,send me an email and I’ll send you some pics of my “beast”.It really is in amazing condition and really only a little different than yours was…….except for the monster under the hood! The 383 was and is a great mill though,and equally formidable with the right rear gearing & a 4bbl.My email address is my user name plus @aol.com.I have actually driven your old car back when I lived in South Carolina…..they were great cruisers.
I’m posting this question for a reader who asked it in the old blog.
Hello BB.
I have some few questions.
one of which:
I have a Hills pump without drypac. I’m worried for my CZ200/AA S200 getting rust inside due to the moisture. I can’t buy scuba tank since refilling station is a problem here in the Philippines. Did you have issues on cylinder rust or gun rust in years of using Hills??
Thank you in advance for your feedback.
Kind regards,
Jeffbroodwar
Jeffbroodwar,
Dennis Quackenbush and I did an experiment to find out if water stays in airguns. We introduced 35 cc of water into one of his PCPs and shot it 10 times. When that was done we disassembled the gun and tried to measure how much water was left. While there wee a couple droplets inside, most of the water had been blown out of the reservoir by shooting the gun.
Water doesn’t remain inside PCP guns that are shot frequently. I have never seen it as a problem, and I used to repair PCPs at AirForce Airguns for 3 years.
B.B.
Thank you so much sir for your response. I didn’t expect it’ll be that quick!
in line to your answer to my first question, it doesn’t stay inside but having water inside could cause rust right? I’m using CZ200 2 piece stock…
I’m worried and thinking if I should upgrade from hills pump to dive bottle. I learned that there’s a refilling station but it’ll take time to travel to it just to refill…
other questions are…
A. Did you have any problems with corrosion in using Hills pump? I own an S200/CZ200.
B. There might be another source of air like nitrogen here, but I haven’t checked if they can fill up to 3000psi…
C. Will the gun’s power different when filled with a hand pump compared to a dive bottle air? (I read somewhere not sure if I misunderstood it)
It sounds funny since it doesn’t have any connection to the air exit port adjustment but just to be sure since I haven’t tried using air bottle.
Will it be ok if I email you if I have questions? or just go to the blogsite?
Thank you B.B., much appreciated your response.
Kind regards,
Jeff
Jeff,
While I have seen water droplets inside airgun reservoirs, I’ve never seen any rust. And I used to fill some guns from a pump exclusively. I wouldn’t worry.
There will be no difference in the gun’s power, regardless of how it is filled. 3,000 psi is 3,000 psi no matter where it comes from.
I prefer that all questions be sent to me here, where all my readers can help me with the answers. As I mentioned in my email, I had 101 new emails this morning, and that was just since yesterday at 5 p.m.
Welcome to the blog,
B.B.
Thank you so much B.B. for your inputs and quick response. I think I’ll stick to my hills pump after hearing from someone who has in depth knowledge in all this stuff (ofcourse first hand experience in trouble shooting this kind of stuff)
Lastly, have you checked an S200/CZ200? I’m thinking that the reservoirs you tested might be aluminum reservoirs…
Given your expertise, sticking with my hills wouldn’t cause me problems right? just a little workout pains from time to time 😀
Thank you sir.
Jeff
Jeff,
Yes, there were aluminum reservoirs and steel ones, as well. Nothing corroded.
B.B.
Thank you sir, will take your word for it since I believe you have done your experiment on this.
Thank you again and hope you continue to help others on your expertise 🙂
Thanks!
Jeff
A VW microbus as a survival vehicle? While the camper is an ingenious design, all the buses have low ground clearance, a 40 HP maybe flat, air cooled four, brakes that need planning to use and the windshield washer needs air pressure to function – well you can always use the airgun pump to keep the pressure up. I like a diesel better with a bit of ground clearance – perhaps some Ford pick-up truck with an ice fisherman’s camper in the bed. A dual purpose motorcycle sounds even better but where are you going to get gasoline in the event of a crisis?
Fred DPRoNJ
Fred,
There is a diesel version of the either the Suzuki DR or Kawasaki KLR for military use. I don’t know if they are commercially available, but one could probably be found.
Paul in Liberty County
Tom, that could be your ticket to a new motorcycle!!!
J-F
J-F,
Yeah! You’d think so, but Edith says it’s curtains for you!
B.B.
And there is the matter that the last country still producing the “real” VW Bus will cease production in the next year — their safety regulations have finally caught up to the rest of the world, and fitting air-bags, et al in a 1960 VW Bus design isn’t in the books.
For the last 25 or so years of my career I received a healthy monthly car allowance plus reimbursement per mile driven. I could buy whatever car I wanted but there was one requirement I (we) had to meet. The car had to be a four door. Specifically so we could drive clients around. That was a small price to pay for the allowance but all those years I yearned for a sports car. I could not justify to my wife or myself owning a third car so my dream car had to wait.
So guess what I did a couple of years after retiring. I took the plunge and bought my dream car. Now I zip around town in my beautiful and very quick BMW Z4. God has been very generous and good to me. I should, but I won’t, get into the major health crisis He brought me through that forced my early retirement. This blog is about cars.
Thanks Edith for letting me share an instance when a dream did come true. By the way, I love 57′ T-Birds. And Stingrays. And Chevy’s. I also frequently watch those car shows.
G&G
My all time favorite, my uncle’s 1959 Mercedes-Benz 190D. Had over a million miles on it and still drove like a dream. Saw a pristine one in
Gautemala City (among all the places I have visited) in a show room
a few years back. They don’t make cars like that anymore.
Jack in Miami,
Your story about a Mercedes reminded me of a strange but true story.
When I last lived in Denver, a young woman I worked with drove a magnificent vintage convertible Mercedes sedan. I don’t remember the year or model, but it was perfection on wheels…and very large.
The woman was in her early 20s, and her family had lived next door to a kindly old man who owned the vintage car. When he went into a nursing home, he GAVE (yes, GAVE) her the car because she was always so nice to him.
She drove it around with the top down and deliberately left the keys in the ignition whenever she shopped or came in to work. She didn’t think the car suited her young, hip lifestyle and was hoping someone would steal it so she could collect the insurance.
After she told me this story, it took a few minutes to recover, and I asked her why she didn’t just sell it. She said that she didn’t want to tell the old man that she’d sold it because she felt it would be a slap in the face since he thought so highly of the car. But she thought it would be okay if she had to tell him someone stole it.
I can still see that beautiful car gleaming in the Denver sun. I can almost hear angels singing as I envision the car. Some people just don’t deserve the gifts dropped in their laps.
Edith
I think her gift should have been dropped from a greater height…..but I wouldn’t do that to a fine automobile!
Nowadays I don’t have a truck or a car. I discovered that I do not need it. I’m not working any more so I do not need to be somewhere daily. So the car would sit there doing nothing but eating my income in insurance. But I still needed a reliable source of transportation. My solution is a custom built electric bike with a cargo trailer (when needed). I have two batteries so when one runs low I can switch to the second battery for double range. For comfort I found a bike to modify that had shocks front and rear. Then I added a seat I like. Threw on some nice all terrain tires so it’s good for all weather conditions. Since bikes aren’t much good for getting groceries or transporting anything I added a cargo trailer. Now I have a reliable vehicle that is dead cheap to operate, useful, and will never ever get stuck in mud, snow, or ice. No insurance needed. No seatbelts required. No plates, tags. No helmet needed, And it is capable of carrying a load such as my kayak. I can use it to go on grocery runs etc. The down side is there is no protection from the elements. So in winter it gets a bit cold. When it rains it’s a bit wet so I need to adapt to these conditions. So I have army surplus wet weather gear. So I stay dry when it rains. For cold weather I have heavy clothes insulated to -20 degrees. I’m my own heater. Not so comfortable but I survive and I get the job done.
Way to go! If and when I retire, I will have to keep that in mind. I saw a bike that they replaced the front wheel with a rear wheel and mounted a starter and batteries on a rack above the wheel. That allows for pedaling assistance on the steep grades and when the batteries die.
Mine is a special built system. It has a special twin sprocket rear wheel. On one side is my normal gears that I pedal. On the other side is the motor hooked into a single sprocket freewheel so when I do pedal without the power there is no motor drag. It’s a 24 volt system and microprocessor controlled speed so it is as energy efficient as well. I can get up to 20 mph depending in wind and terrain and run around 12 miles on both batteries. The farthest I need to ever travel is 8 miles so I have a bit of extra miles in case I get a bit sidetracked or have a bit of short range running around to do. It might take me about 6 hours to recharge from two dead batteries but at a whole $8.00 a year to keep it charged I won’t complain.
I can get more range and less weight if I switch from lead acid batteries to a lithium ion battery set. But in a cold environment that I run in 3 months of the year that cold will kill those batteries so I stick with sturdier lead acid.
Or better yet, a recumbant bike or trike. Add baby trailer and away you go!
I used to use that set up but I found that the recumbent bike doesn’t do electric power units very well. All the weight of the bike, you and the batteries is right over the rear tire which does a number on the rear wheel. I’ve needed a new rim after a year since all that weight not only trashes the rim but also causes blowouts on that rear tire which can lead to some nasty crashes. That’s how I broke an ankle a few years back. I had a blowout the rim hit the sidewalk and the bike slammed me to the ground when the rear rim lost traction snapping my left ankle. I switched to a regular bike where my weight is more evenly distributed and balanced. So even if I did manage to blow a tire I could keep the bike under control.
I used to use a kid carrier but those are mostly canvas and rip out. I switched to a sturdier aluminum cargo trailer this year which tows the same way as the child trailer but can carry more weight much better. So what I have now is all based on trial and painful error.
You’d get along great with my dad. He’s biking around the small town where he lives, he still has his car but it hasn’t run in years but for some weird reason known only to him he doesn’t want to sell it. It’s not insured and I don’t think he has renewed his driving license.
I kinda admire you for that choice but there’s no way I could do that, I like driving too much, if I spend more than one day not driving I don’t feel good, it’s like I’m missing something.
J-F
I don’t miss my truck really. As long as I have a way to get where I need to be efficiently that is all I really want. I have a more practical look at life. As long as the job gets done I don’t much care how it gets done. More often than not I think outside the box to get things done. I want cheap transportation. I build it myself to my specs. It works or I try again. Same thing goes with the guns I build. I want something up to my standards that can do the job I want done. So I put one together that can do the job I want done. It works, I’m happy. If I have a job I need done and my gun can’t do the job I build another one or modify what I have.
Ahh, yes, cars.
For many years they were central to my life.
My first car (in 1971) was a 1969 Lotus Cortina, a boxy little English Ford sedan that had an engine massaged by Lotus and an upgraded suspension. In the late 60’s it, and it sibling the Ford Escort were the kings of the international rally world.
I had it for 3 years, it getting me too and from work on the weekends and then I’d rally it in local events on the weekends.
I remember once it nearly cost me my girlfriend at the time. I’d entered a ‘fun’ rally that started at a local pizzeria, went on a 50 mile out of town route where there would be various checkstops to verify you were following directions. It wasn’t a speed rally….if you followed the map directions properly you’d never have to exceed the speed limit.
Wellm my girlfriend (not a car person) was my navigator. We got ‘lost’, and trying to make up time I stuffed it in the ditch on a country road. By the time we got her out I’d pretty much burned out the clutch. I figured we could still finish but somehow the map was…gone. My girlfriend figured that with all the getting in and out of the car to see if there was any damage…her trying to push the car, etc that the map had blown away.
So we limped back to town and met everyone for pizza.
Got the clutch replaced (yup…it was that bad) and a week or so later I was giving the car a thorough cleaning when lo and behold I found the map…all balled up and stuffed in the springs under the passenger seat…obviously done on purpose.
I dated that girl off an on for about 6 years…nearly married her as a matter of fact.
But she never offered to navigate in a rally after that experience.
That car led to 30 years of my relationship with cars. Owned and raced a Formula Ford and a couple more rally cars. My garage saw a couple of tricked out Volvo’s, an Alfa Romeo Spider and a GTV throughout the years.
And now…I drive a mini-van…oh how the mighty have fallen.
But that’s fine with me. Earlier this summer a client dropped in to show me his new Lotus Elise. He figured that being a car guy in the past I’d be excited.
Well…I put on a bit of show for him to make him feel good…but my first thought was…’damn, there’s no room anywhere to put a rifle in this thing”.
CBSD,
I haven’t heard anyone mention a Cortina in 40 years.
Here’s a true story about another English Ford. A guy I used to know drove an Anglia. It had no seats in it because he wanted to lighten the car for drag racing on the streets of Orlando…it was a sleepy little town in the 1960s. He cut off the legs of a kitchen chair and put it in the car as the driver’s seat. If he had a passenger, he’d add another kitchen chair.
One day, a cop stopped him and gave him a ticket for not having proper seats. He actually went to court to fight the ticket. This guy could talk his way out of everything, but he didn’t realize he was going to plead his case in front of the “hanging” judge.
The cases before him all ended up with fines and the judge giving the defendants a piece of his mind. The case immediately preceding his was a little old lady who was driving a car from the 1950s with a manual transmission. When she stopped at a railroad crossing, her car was on a steep incline. As she took her foot off the brake, she rolled back…right into a police car. It was just enough for the bumpers to kiss each other. The judge ripped her a new one for not being in full control of her vehicle. My friend realized he was sunk.
When he went before the judge, he told the judge that he had seats on order for this car, but the local Ford dealership was very slow about getting the seats in stock. The judge said something along these lines: I know exactly what you mean. I’ve had parts on order for my car, and they never have what I need and it takes a really long time to get it in stock. Case dismissed!
The only reason I believe this version is because he got away with this sort of stuff all the time.
Edith
maybe he should’ve stolen a set of seats from a Fiat Panda (I think that was the model)
On a mid-80s TDY to England, I ended up with the under-powered Ford something, and my co-worker ended in the Fiat.
The Fiat seats had NO foam cushions. They were simple metal tubing frame with fabric belts interwoven… Think folding lawn furniture.
That guy is a male version of my mom! She can get away with ANYTHING, my grand-father was telling me she’s always been like that. It’s like a super power! Why does it never works for me!
J-F
Here’s some good gun restoration tips:
http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php?t=41483
I never really had the money to be or considered myself a gear head, but I really enjoy a nice car, bike, helicopter, plane or boat. I’m an aircraft mechanic and certified welder by trade so I fix whatever needs fixing, up to the point of building and adapting a 327 Chevy engine into a completely rebuilt Jeep CJ7. So, maybe I have a little of the gear head gene…. 🙂 I have no brothers and my dad was a complete wash mechanically, so my exposure was more from neighbors, one of whom built 2 helicopters in his garage (along with a bunch of other mysterious stuff including a solar furnace in his back yard). Our neighborhood’s own Doc Brown!
Every once in a while I get a wild hair and modify a car or bike but it’s not a regular thing. Right now I’m more into building and flying FPV helicopters and planes and shooting both airguns and pb’s.
/Dave
I think the deuce-and-a-half will give up in conspicuousness whatever you gain in survivability. And while it will run on almost anything, it will probably consume too much of it to go far. On the subject of survivability, is it true that the old model T’s were built so stoutly that you could roll one down a hill without damage?
Nice car in the photo. My Dad claims to have driven from Chicago to Indianapolis in two hours in such a car.
All the gearheads are in one place! I have a question for you all starting with Edith. What is your opinion of the Tesla Model S that is taking the world by storm? A luxury sedan that outperforms sports cars by going 0 to 60mph in 4.2 seconds. For the few cars it can’t beat in this contest it surpasses in smoothness of ride. There is no transmission and no sensation of gears shifting. The power is infinitely responsive to the accelerator. So, the question is if your electric luxury sedan can defeat your muscle car at its own game, are we seeing the end of the muscle car era!!!!!?
On the subject of shooting, I looked at the gun magazines in Safeway the other night, and what do I find but a whole magazine on military surplus rifles. This wasn’t some special edition of Guns and Ammo. This was a whole magazine devoted to military surplus. Where does this stuff come from?! Perfectly suited to me! There was even an article on the Mosin-Nagant 91/30 sniper. Flipping through the article, I saw that the official test of this rifle involved placing 10 shots within 1.38 inches at a hundred yards, and snipers were expected to land shots accurately out to at least 600 yards. So, much for my theory about the overly thin barrel of the Mosin as a limiting factor for accuracy. I make that 10 shot requirement to be well inside of MOA for five shots. No more excuses. To complete my Russian sniper scenario, it will have to be MOA or bust. The magazine also said that the triggers that were lightened for these sniper rifles got as low as 6.5 pounds(!) With my 4.25 pound trigger there is really no excuse.
On the subject of military guns, I see from the photos that the Kenyan military besieging the shopping mall in Nairobi has quite a collection of hardware. M16s next to FN FAL rifles, maybe more. How do they manage the resupply on that I wonder.
Matt61
Matt61,
Funny you should mention the Tesla. During lunch today, we were watching a Modern Marvels TV show that featured the Tesla coupe in one of the segments. There’s a lot of resistance to change, especially when it’s really expensive.
Edith
I not far from my house has one, I must admit that thing looks gorgeous. I’m not a big fan of pill shaped cars usually but that thing looks much better in person than in pictures, it’s long an sleek, I think it could have a bit more character but it still looks nice.
The guy who raced Porsche cars (a few of witch are now in Jerry Seinfeld possession) I was talking about over the week is an well known and renown car enthusiast/critic here in our french speaking part of the country and publishes a car guide that’s seen as the automotive bible here.
He said a few years ago that electric cars were not good for us, and they were all boring to drive and that they never should have been brought back (they had many electric cars in the early automotive years) and that it was just a fad… he just ordered himself one, the guy who drove Porsche all his life (he’s in his 70’s now) said on a radio show he does on the week-ends that he made a mistake and that an exciting electric could actually be made! But there’s only one sure way to find out… and it’s to try one yourself.
Personnaly I think it makes a nice second car but in both our countries the distances we sometimes have to travel would make that thing highly impratical. What are you supposed to do when you wish to go to the cottage for the week? It’s a 6h drive, you don’t have enough juice to make it there.
J-F
Generally speaking, I visit airgun blogs to read about airguns, not cars.
Steve Case,
Yesterday, the blog was about airguns…well, actually, it was about scopes. Yet, the conversation turned to cars, and today’s blog was a takeoff on that. We don’t have hard-and-fast rules here, except for keeping it clean and family-friendly.
Edith
ohhh, I knew that was coming.
300 days of the year one can come here and get the best info there is on airguns on the net…and one day it’s about something else and…
Steve,
Generally speaking, so do the rest of us. But since we are human and like to share our other interests with each other, we do. This is more of a free-form forum without people getting too touchy about ot subjects. Have you read all of the archives?
/Dave
“It is written, ‘Man does not live by airguns alone, but by many topics on this blog'”
And no one ever complains if you’re off topic in the comments section so if you have an airgun question feel free to ask and people will help you out. There’s a blog article about airguns and the discussion goes to cars or cameras or stereo equipment or music or RC plane or firearms or family members.
Today we have a blog about cars, most people own at least one car so it reaches pretty much every one but if you don’t like cars feel free to talk about airguns, we’ll join you in the conversation because we all like airguns too.
J-F
Steve Case,
I’ve looked at many shooting related blogs, and none compare with this one. Usually you just get a lot of opinion, and some ego-flexing. This blog provides so much in depth information that it might some heads spin. it does mine on occasion. Many of the air-gun specific blogs that are presented here cover details that not all readers are interested in. Some only read, some read and participate, but all are offered an opportunity to learn. But, again, not air-gun specific blogs here cover material that is of interest to everyone. Sometimes you might as well be talking about cars. 🙂
Many of the comments go off on wild tangents, and yet they become the very threads that generate the most activity. That’s OK. We don’t get beat-up for opening up a bit from a personal perspective. Also, we also don’t all agree on everything, and can disagree about something completely (even bitterly), and yet we are mature and reasonable enough to not let our differences get in the way of everything that we have to offer each other.
This blog is super rich with information, but not just from our hosts, Tom (B.B.) and Edith Gaylord. At one time or another, all participants have provided valuable information that helped someone. That information doesn’t have to target everyone, and it often isn’t even air-gun related.
Think of this blog as a club. We are human beings first, and airgun enthusiast second. After completing a 5 or 7 part series on one particular airgun related topic, it’s kind of nice to sometimes make a turn, instead of going straight. Again, sometimes the most active threads of discussion have nothing to do with the blogs subject matter. In this case, the blog followed a previous thread of discussion.
Oh, and if you’re not interested in ANY blogs subject matter, you are ALWAYS welcome to inject your own thread of discussion.
Victor
I was reading through the reply’s and it made me think of something.
I remember when I was a kid my Dad hated working on cars put he was good at it if he had to. And none of my relatives messed with cars.
I don’t know how I got so involved with them. I know in school it was all about who had the fastest/quickest car.
One of my friends Dad drove the semi trucks that delivered the new cars to the dealerships.
I was a teenager then before I got my driver license probably early 70’s. He would have the semi full of cars parked in front of his house. And I couldn’t wait to see what he had on there next.
I could just spend hours checking them out.
But I have always liked Guns, and Airplanes too. I was going to go to school to be a airplane mechanic when I was a kid but got the job at the machine shop that I still work at.
Well either way I’m happy. And I have had a bunch of cars, radio controlled airplanes, helicopters and guns through out time. And like I said I thank the guy upstairs. Have had alot of fun.
We are fortunate! Try FPV! It’ll take up whatever is left of your life! 😀
Thanks, Edith! For letting us see yet another side of you and Tom! 🙂
/Dave
A bit off subject, but this weekend I adjusted the front lenses on my fixed parallax scope and now I can see clearly at 25 yards. Now if I can just do something with this trigger.
Anyone know if you could get this blog on a droid phone directly? If so, what is the best app to accomplish it with?
Thanks
I just come here with the regular internet browser on my phone (Samsung Galaxy S3), turn it sideways and zoom in to get just the text and it works fine. I’m not sure what you mean, you’d want just the text without the pictures and side menus?
J-F
I hoping for an app that would link directly to the blog, for example like Facebook does. Rather than having to open internet explorer and then find PA and the blog – it would be set to go directly to blog and comments.
Just put a favorite on the blog, that way when you click it, it will always bring you to the newest blog and comments (that’s what I did).
Use that link:
/blog//
That way you’re on the new blog not a particular article.
J-F
Hi, Volvo. Great to hear from you! Since Google killed Google Reader, I’ve been reading my feeds, including B.B.’s blog and its comments, using Feedly. I must admit that I don’t use it on an android, but unless their android app is somehow vastly inferior to their browser and IOS offerings, I can wholeheartedly endorse it, even sight unseen!
-Jan
Thanks Jan, I will give it a try.
Late to the blog and what do I see? My dream car in white!!
Such beautiful lines, there’s any number of extraneous body parts I’d trade for one of those bad boys….or the new Porsche Spyder. Too bad everything else made today looks like a Hyundai.
I enjoy the off-topic blogs and this one was a nice good one as we love our car and trucks here ,as well as our tractors ,backhoes ect… The part that I don’t understand, and thought was the saddest thing in Edith’s story was that her brother quit the hobby he enjoyed , because of a minor mishap with a problem project? That would be like if BB had quit shooting because of his mishap with the Nelson Lewis gun .
Robert,
Bob is a cautious guy and he’s also 70. So I think it was a combination of concern plus the general slowing down that happens to all of us.
B.B.
Robert from Arcade,
Bob wanted a vintage car to tinker with, not require major work (which he’d done for decades). So, the car disappointed him.
He still enjoys life. In fact, I think his work is his hobby. He loves what he does. It seems to be the same as oxygen to him. I don’t believe he’ll ever retire. Retire to do what? He’s already living the dream 🙂
Edith
Edith , I understand , glad he’s enjoying life.
My brother just sent me this video, which was a Dodge Brothers promotional film for their cars. I think I’ve found our get-out-of-dodge car:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/nq2jY1trxqg?rel=0
Edith
Edith
That was a way cool video.
And who says you need a 4wd. Reminds me of when I was kid on the farm. 🙂
well besides airguns and powder guns. I have a few antique farm tractors. I have dads last 2 he bought new 1 was in 1952, the other in 1960. I have 5 others. last year I showed 1 at our local antique show and won first place as my tractor I showed was 1 out of only 301 built of that model. I was offered a sizeable sum for it but declined as im giving it to my daughter . anything old like that gets my eye quick. kudos to you edith and tom
rw
I think tractors are cool too.
I don’t know much about the antique ones. I know we had a wide front 50 something Ford tractor that was grey and blue (or grey and red) in color if I remember right. I drove that on the farm all the time when I was a kid.
I shouldn’t even write about this. But me and my buddy got in trouble one time by my Dad and his Dad. One of us was driving the tractor while the other was setting on the hood (with a airgun). We was driving beside the cornfields and flushing out rabbits. I think I was 13 then.
Yep we thought it was cool. Until they got ahold of us. Never did that again.
Oh yeah, I do like the hot rod truck and tractor pulls also.
And cowboystar dad, I have always liked the Rally cars.
I was upset when Dodge didn’t offer a AWD SRT4. They supposedly made a AWD PT Cruiser in Mexico that the US didn’t get. I would of least liked to drive the AWD PT just to see what they were like.
Gunfun1,
Tractors are another commonality among airgunners. In fact, I wrote a guest blog about that:
http://airgun-academy.blogspot.com/2009/05/you-know-youre-airgunner-if.html
Edith
Edith
I Just read the tractor blog.
That is one thing that I have found about hobby’s. You meet people with similar interests and then find out that there are other interests that you have that are the same.
I knew this car blog was going to be cool. And we even went off subject and talked about tractors and (air guns). 😉
Edith: ignore the naysayers…they’d likely not be happy with much of anything.
I very much enjoyed learning more about you.
(I grew up with a Ford tractor and a sports car.)
:~>