Last Call: Makes Learning Fun! Edition


This 7-inch tall tabletop cutaway engine is designed to teach the fundamentals of internal combustion, but I would love to have one on my desk because coolness. $349 is a bit steep for a slightly-larger-than-palm-sized toy but it seems a fair price, as it’s constructed almost completely of cast/machined alloy and includes a small electric motor that rotates the whirry bits at a speed suitable for grasping what does what when. Santa could do a lot worse for the money.
Source: Banggood.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 64 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here

22 responses to “Last Call: Makes Learning Fun! Edition”

  1. Fuhrman16 Avatar
    Fuhrman16

    If only we knew someone who was into these…

    1980 HM Vehicles Free-Way

    1. dead_elvis, inc. Avatar
      dead_elvis, inc.

      Take a gander at the most recent comments on that auction.

      1. Zentropy Avatar
        Zentropy

        Haha, he’s already onto it.

    2. mdharrell Avatar

      I’ve picked up three vehicles thanks(?) to BaT, so, having learned nothing, I continue to check fairly regularly.

      Rare UK Econobox Import: 1982 MG Metro

      BaT Success Story: 1982 MG Metro (Hauler?)

      Non-USA 1983 Austin Maestro

      Never Seen One: 1982 Austin Allegro 3

    3. nanoop Avatar

      I’m seeing these mentioned here for years now, but only today I came up with these lines:
      HM-Vees, aren’t thewe thoseawful gas gargling eyesores?
      and/or
      Her Mileage Varies

  2. outback_ute Avatar
    outback_ute

    Instead get a 120 year old car with external valve train and open crankcase?

  3. JayP Avatar
    JayP

    Here’s the dope on buying the ecoboost. It’s long so grab a drink.
    Some of it is my fault, but if I’m totally honest I can put the blame on some of their tactics. All of these little things add up.
    Spot the car on autotrader but it’s not on the dealer’s site. I request info, get the vin and confirmation the car is for sale. I was concerned there was an issue or it was a ghost on AT. I had a busy Saturday and didn’t think I’d visit until Monday. Salesguy said this may be a Black Friday deal and to to come in soon. That and once the car is out there, they’d sell from under me.
    I see the car Saturday, 7:30 or so. Take a test drive and started working on a deal. Salesguy shows me the MSRP, the Ford discount, the dealer’s discount, the added $500 tint job (that’s OK), the TTL… I got the price out the door. With cash and trade I’d ballparked the monthly payment.
    In the meantime, I’d filled out a loan app.
    Here’s where things get dorky… I was planning on paying cash instead of a loan. But I wouldn’t get the funds until the end of the week. The pressure was to get the car now. Apply for a loan.
    2 things – I have an alert on my credit which made an 8pm loan app on a Saturday look suspicious. AND I’m on my ex’s mortgage. She missed one payment and has been one month late for 3-4 years. So there’s that.
    Finance guy rushes in, said it’ll be $500+ a month. I asked what the length was… 60 mo. Yep. Wheels off at this point. $30k on a $16k loan. The finance manager came out and reminded me of the ex’s issue. He said he will explain to the lender’s Monday and see what they can do.
    Monday. I look for the car on AT. Gone. Look up the car on google – shows up as USED. Strange. I’m thinking the car was hidden for a reason. I get a call about noon that they secured a loan and to come in.
    Keep in mind – I’ve been looking for a sub-$20k ecoboost for 2-3 years. I’m a little excited.
    I get to the finance guy, he pulls out some diagram of what is covered under Ford warranty and what isn’t.
    PLAN A is all this platinum coverage.
    PLAN B is this, but less coverage.
    PLAN C if you don’t want all that.
    Beside each one was a $ value. I ask which is the lowest since he’s writing upside down in the best AMWAY handwriting. C? Good.
    He gets the paper work, puts a hilighter on all the places I need to sign. He strikes up that he’d worked on hardware my company makes when he was deployed. Asked how I got on there, etc.
    I sign, Paperwork done, and I’m in my new car.
    Tuesday.
    I get the paperwork out, start checking everything.
    A total of $8000 was added to the car. MPP stuff. Even gap… despite I put $6k down and will pay it off in a few months. It was over $600/mo on a 7 yr loan.
    I know I can cancel in 30 days by writing to the administrator but that’s 3 weeks and a mess. I give my buddy at Lambo a call and he said to get back to the dealer ASAP. If they haven’t sent the docs out, they can update. I did.
    He rewrote the contract minus all that crap. He was pissed.
    Here’s where it gets wanked.
    When he was going over the plans we had A, B and C. All were adding to the loan. PLAN D should have been the “no options” choice.
    He never gave me that option. It was there. I could have read the docs and seen it. But I trusted him.
    I barked for a few minutes that this was deceptive. When he started chatting me up, he had me distracted. I could have read the paperwork and stopped right there.
    Lesson – no one is looking out for you at the dealer. They’ll take every advantage to get one over on the customer. You look out for yourself. You be the jerk. They do this every day.
    One last thing – I saw the salesguy on my way out. He mentioned he needs 5 stars. That there is a box on the form for me to bitch about the finance. Totally tossed that guy under the bus.
    Thursday I met with my pal and bought him all the beer he wanted.

    1. Victor Avatar
      Victor

      Want to say you should read the paperwork carefully but I know they give you a mountain to throw you off reading it all. That said those are some devious assholes. Was this at an authorized FORD dealer ?

      1. JayP Avatar
        JayP

        Exactly. They have this down where even a car guy like me gets overwhelmed.
        Its a good schpiel.
        Yep. New from a Ford shop.

        1. Victor Avatar
          Victor

          You got hustled .

          1. JayP Avatar
            JayP

            Yes, I did.

  4. Victor Avatar
    Victor

    Built a visible V8 model many years ago. Good instructional for a car minded youth. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6f7cf3060a475dd6bdea662af984a8b55be70368772a144cedb4e2f43d28e574.jpg

    1. JayP Avatar
      JayP

      That’s in the closet to get built… someday.

      1. Victor Avatar
        Victor

        Built mine when I was 14 trying to understand how they worked.

        1. JayP Avatar
          JayP

          I had the 2.3 turbo Ford Visible engine in the day!

          1. Victor Avatar
            Victor

            Mine was 292 / 312 Ford Y block from the sixties.

        2. 0A5599 Avatar
          0A5599

          I got the visible Wankel as a birthday present when I was too young for it. I wonder where it ended up.

          1. nanoop Avatar

            I think they all ceased production. It might return as visible range extender?

          2. Lokki Avatar
            Lokki

            I have Good News and Bad News:
            W
            You can get one on Amazon!

            But… apparently it isn’t a very good model…

          3. nanoop Avatar

            In true enthusiast manner, people telling about radio shack trips and resoldering attempts still gave four stars….

  5. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    Here’s the Bentley CEO explaining why their SUV exists: “There’s an upper spending limit for SUVs at around 160k€. We have solved this problem”. Yes, he says “problem” and, yes, this is his angle to explain why they make an SUV. Sigh.
    https://mobile.twitter.com/ralphruthe/status/1068940351061266432