By Robert Emslie
Based on the seats and grille, I’m going with Volvo as the base for this custom laminated woodie. I also hope that the owner has stocked up on Spar Varnish.
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Jeff Glucker
Homer Formby’s ride.
I pine for this.
Son of a birch
That’s a poplar body style but I think he could spruce up the finish a little bit.
My friends would love this, if only I could cedar faces when I rolled up in it.
I knew olive yew all would start a tree pun thread sooner or later.
What willow say wood be the alder-native?
I’m afraid I’d get board of it after a while.
You should leave before you get hazel.
I think knot.
really getting sycamore and more of you nuts every week
Bet it can bark second gear…
Nice body; exterior needs sprucing up though
Saw this “Cherry” Brinco at the Arthritis Foundation Show here in Columbus in 2008:
http://www.salguod.net/gallery/arthritis_foundation_2008/images/1977_ford_bronco.jpg
Solves the rust problem. But termites, that’s a whole ‘nother thing to worry about.
I can’t imagine building that would be fun with arthritic hands.
So, the stars aligned and I have made good on my threat to buy something old, cheap and interesting as a daily driver.
First, my daughter totaled her Protege. She’s fine, but the car is not. I put it back together the last time she did this (yeah, I know), but with the leading edge of the RF fender pushed back about 4″, this one was beyond my willingness, and likely ability, to repair.
At the same time, a coworker announced that he was going to sell his 1996 BMW 318ti. He’s owned it as long as I have known him. I posted about it before. It’s an old and worn, with 240K miles, but well cared for (I have a half inch thick folder of records) and generally solid. He bought it with 70K on the clock.
It may have a failing clutch and the AC doesn’t work, the radio display doesn’t work, the sunroof has an issue and the driver’s door interior trim is loose. But, it runs and drives well, isn’t very rusty, has nearly new tires and, best of all, offered it to me for $500. Seemed like a cheap and fun way to get us back to everyone having the ability to get where they need to go, so today I bought it. It’ll come home tomorrow.
Nice! Is this the one you mentioned here a while back? Sounds like it could be a good chance to teach her a bit about cars, if she’s the least bit inclined that way. And cheaper/easier to wrench on than the Protege, assuming she continues to rely on the Garage of Dad for maintenance.
She’s not, but she did go with me last time to the PickNPull to get parts to put the Protege back together. She’s now got to learn to drive a stick since 3 of our 4 daily drivers not have clutches and she’s not at all thrilled.
Yes, same one. If it turns out to be cheaper to wrench on than the Protege, I’ll be surprised. Easier, sure, but cheaper?
After teaching 15 or so people to drive stick, I’ve found the fastest teaching exercise is to have the car running, handbrake on, and have her let out the clutch just enough that the car tenses up, pause, then put it back in. That way she will learn to get to that point and pause. When she’s consistently got that, you be the one putting the brake on and off, then she just lets the clutch out, pauses, the car starts moving, add gas, clutch the rest of the way out.
I used a similar method with her sister. No parking brake, just get the car moving using just the clutch, no gas. Once you can ease the clutch out without killing the engine, you’re ready to put the gas with it.
She and I started last night and when her left leg was getting tired I told her 5 times in a row getting the car going just by easing the clutch out and we could go home. First time she stalled at attempt #4, second time at attempt #5, third set she got it.
I taught a friend in a former ’93 245. He could turn the engine on in first and the thing would move. He preferred the old beast to his driver’s school.
I was never that good at driving stick until I learned to ride a motorcycle. At the safety course, one of the early steps was to have us siting on a running bike, both feet on the ground, slowly letting out the clutch until it catches a little, and bringing it back in again. Somehow, doing that made it click for working a car’s clutch as well.
Just a hopeful WAG. Seems like an old 3 series has a lot more enthusiasts, forums, and maybe parts shared with platform siblings than the Protege?
An auspicious beginning – before I could get it home from his house this evening (where it’s been parked for 2 weeks), someone drove by & knocked the driver’s mirror off. I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.
During lunch yesterday, I took my Honda to an exhaust shop because I had been thinking for a while that it sits lose and dangs on the undercarriage. It turned out that the sound I hear is a pretty lose brakepad in my new caliper. A thoroughly metall-on-metall-sound over every speed bump or uneven surface. And, yes, it stops upon braking. Considering that my main trouble with the Honda have been constantly sticky brakes, that’s a sort of progress…
Also: A train tunnel gets a new, second lane, in my neighbourhood. Neat machine here:
http://s26.postimg.org/g3kaz45ex/20150924_114949.jpg
http://s26.postimg.org/52p5u3d61/20150924_114957.jpg
A friend at church is a tunneling machine operator. He’s been working on this deep sewer tunnel under Columbus.
http://columbus.gov/Templates/Detail.aspx?id=38013
What a massive project! It is a very cool job to eat into mountains though.
We have one of those in Seattle. It’s quite a bit bigger. It’s also stuck, and has been so for over a year now. The boring machine (and the project) has its own Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_(tunnel_boring_machine)
Picture of crippled boring machine in situ, prior to repair.
Le sigh.
What a mess.
Exactly that. It is hard to fathom how quickly millions upon millions of dollars are spend and lost with projects like this. I have been involved in infrastructure projects and you wouldn’t believe how quickly responsibility evaporates with many parts involved. Mapping stuff, like the pipes, is always an issue. Also, the public sector on tight finances will often cut down on mapping and other pretty basic functions.
I thought of the Cumberford Martinique, which I remember from Car and Driver, way back when (but it’s not all wood):
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CMqRCpagW50/VE65TqZbpAI/AAAAAAAAJec/PXMPmHWD2Bc/s1600/1982_Cumbeford_Martinique_04.jpg
http://www.automobilemag.com/features/news/1504-one-of-a-kind-1982-cumberford-martinique-prototype-up-for-sale/
“Based on the seats and grille, I’m going with Volvo….”
I looked at the seats and thought MGB, but it turns out to be based on a Spridget:
http://www.britishinvasion.com/2001gallery/classic5.html