Well it was one of those weeks again where not a whole lot happened in the car industry. Just the usual rumors, a totally normal instance of a supercar being recalled for fire risk, and too many “our car is better than your car” fluff pieces, all of which I found to be too boring to turn into a news piece. If I can’t be bothered to write about anything that happened this week, that means it’s time to crowd source some news instead.
So… what was your automotive news for the week? If you saw anything, fixed something, broke everything, or otherwise did anything even remotely car related that you want to share with your fellow hoon, sound off in the comments.
[Image © 2018 Hooniverse/Greg Kachadurian]
What Was Your Automotive News for the Week?
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33 responses to “What Was Your Automotive News for the Week?”
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Last Sunday I took the Mustang to its first car show. This was Caffeine and Octane, the largest monthly car show in the US now, so you practically have to get there at 6am (officially starts at 8am) to get a spot close to the action… and mind you they have a huge mall parking lot to use now. This was the first time I’ve ever gotten up early to get prime show parking for my own car, so that was neat. Even better, I didn’t eat any crowds on the way out.
Also if anyone is going to be at Petit Le Mans this weekend hit me up!-
I’m at Petit right now. Usually hang out on the outside of turn 10. Look for a Georgia Tech umbrella and a rainbow colored umbrella.
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Will do! We’ll be wandering around most of the day but will certainly end up at T10 at some point
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Last Saturday I took my Austin Allegro to the Seattle alumni gathering for Bring a Trailer. When I pointed out that I had acquired not only that car but two others (Austin Maestro and MG Metro) thanks to their site, they gave me a free license plate frame. Just one, though.
I also met a guy there who wants my Renault Fuego shop manual. I’ve never owned a Fuego but somehow I ended up with the manual at some point. This guy just acquired a nonoperational Fuego, so it’s nice to know the manual will go to a good home.-
Was your license frame shaped to fit a European plate with a US plate overlay?
Let me know if you ever acquire a Piaggio Ape. I’ll send you the shop manual I somehow collected.-
I’ve only stacked plates on my French car, for which the French plates are riveted directly to the sheet metal (with white rivets for the front plate and yellow for the rear, as was required under French law). For my British and other British-market cars I’m just running US plates, but with their original British registration numbers replicated. As one does.
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I looked at doing that for my car (minus the suffix as we only get 6 digits), but it was taken.
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A non-operating Fuego? What are the odds?
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My teammates are in Michigan for the Lemons at Gingerman. And I’m at work and my weekend will be filled with kids’ sporting activities and birthday parties. Yey, me.
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I’m leaving for Lemons at The Ridge after work today. This will be my first attempt at taking the Variomatic out of town since installing it. What could possibly go wrong?
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Uhmm… well… I’m sure you prepared well and checked everything. So nothing.
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Yes, I also assume I’ve prepared well and checked everything…
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Don’t worry, your local DAF dealer has arranged for parts delivery anywhere in the world. They’re loading the parts from the NLM Cityhopper Fokker F-28 into the parts delivery vehicle as we speak! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/38c6869da39dd28df83623c4a98c5b6d9fbdd55aa67a523c02dc39068c968933.jpg
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The Volvo got to The Ridge and back to Seattle without incident. The weather was beautiful here all weekend in mid-October. Four teams brought AMC Spirits to the race and all four turned laps. None of these statements make sense.
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Time for a lottery ticket
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Brutto Scherzo (Bad Joke)
Knock-knock.
Who’s there?
The essence of comedy.
The essence of comed-TIMING!
So, my 1991 Econoline 250 was overheating when asked to go up any kind of a hill. I changed the fluid and cap, but no luck. I read (probably on Hooniverse, HoonTruck maybe?) that poor timing could cause overheating. I took it to my mechanic for that plus underperforming in the power and gas mileage (11mpg tops!) departments. A clogged catalytic converter ($$$) was theorized, as well as poor timing.
Some chimpanzee had boillixed up the timing so bad that they had made a second timing mark on the harmonic balancer just to… I don’t know, be done with it? Brutto scherzo? To properly set the timing on that old 351 Windsor, you need to disconnect the electronic ignition. Mechanic said the connector was still in its loom wrappings and had never been touched.
So hooray! Econoline now has all 210 horsepower, it goes uphill without pushing the needle past the middle, and the mileage is TBD today by taking it on a drive down the coast just for the hell of it ’cause my van fuckin’ works!
P.S. My serpentine belt was “half-worn-out”; as in, it was only half as wide as it was supposed to be, to the point that the pulleys had rust on one half and shiny on the other.
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Good to hear, I knew it wasn’t quite right when you were reporting that kind of MPG w/o towing a Chevy and carrying a Dodge up a hill, both ways. 15 is right where it should be.
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Had a distributor replaced at a dealership, wouldn’t pull the skin off a rice custard so I turned around within 2 blocks… Next day I picked it up again to be told I wouldn’t be getting a bill for setting the timing!
I’m stumped, how does a serpentine belt half wear out?-
Perhaps a slight misalignment of pulleys, forcing the belt up against an outside flange? Like a bandsaw that keeps slipping off the bull wheels?
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By and large, I am not afraid of used vehicles. Old work vans, on the other hand, are terrifying. They can be so thoroughly trashed it makes a ratty civic look like heaven.
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See, that’s why I only buy fleet maintained trucks, not Joe The Plumber crap. This one was a US Postal vehicle, but some monkey got in there and had a hard time backing out.
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So now that investment in Banksy art has peaked and stock markets are wobbly, where to put all those extra gazillions? Buy Hyundai Kona EVs! They pop up in Norway shortly after customer delivery with a 25% markup:
https://www.nrk.no/rogaland/brukt-elbil-selges-100.000-over-nypris-1.14243950
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That’s actually really interesting
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People are really clamouring for an EV without “mileage anxiety”, and the economics are still excellent because most incentives remain in place. Interestingly, the electric Kona (translates to “The Wife” in Norwegian) is a wee bit more expensive than the gasoline version that comes with a 1.0 powerhouse of an engine. Waiting lines are long for most of the new longer range EVs.
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Swapped the snows onto the SS last weekend. It snowed 8 inches on Wednesday and hasn’t started melting yet.
Thoughts and prayers to Mexico Beach, FL – the MiSSus’ aunt and uncle have had a winter home there and we’ve spent a fair amount of time in what was a beautiful little seaside town.
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I’m putting mine away this weekend. Enjoy the big girl in the snow! It’s a hoot. Sucks that the white stuff has hit so early where you are. My sister is near Duluth and I got a picture from her last Friday with snow on the ground there, too.
The guy that sits over the cube wall from me was down in the Alabama Gulf coast area this week. Curious to see what his vacation turned out to be when he gets back on Monday. Guessing he missed the bulk of it but still had a fair amount of wind and water.-
Oh we never drive in the actual snow – they use waaayyy tooooooo much salt on the roads around here. We only take her out after the snow has melted off the highways and they are bone dry. In hindsight I wish I’d have just put all-seasons on instead of snow tires.
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I’ll be putting the shows on the m3 as well this weekend.
For the first time in my 18 years of ownership I put the Thunderbird away for the winter in a non-operational state. In late spring when I got her out, after doing an oil change I had trouble getting the drain plug tight. Threads were stripped. I took her to one cars and coffee event and after noticed a steady drip from the plug. I put an aluminum pan under and had what looked like all the oil in it in a few weeks. I ordered a new pan but never got around to replacing it. So I put Stabil in it and pushed it back into corner last weekend. I hope to get it replaced over the winter so I can actually enjoy it next year.
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A new pan might be the “right” way to fix it, but if your problem is a stripped drain plug, you can get an oversized one for a few bucks, and swap it in next time the oil needs to be changed.
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I think it already has an oversize plug in it plus I think the pan gasket may be leaking. The plug had a 3/4″ hex and had split threads, like the it was meant to be thread cutting. A new pan was only $69, so it seemed prudent.
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I had to leave my Honda Fit at the dealer a couple of days ago while they waited for a part to come in. The unexpected loaner they gave me was a Ridgeline pickup, and now I want one.
I went to Radwood Philadelphia on sunday, it was pretty rad
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