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Unfortunately Christmas celebrations will be postponed this year. Due to unfortunate circumstances the Christmas spirit has left us.
It's kinda funny actually, ive been watching videos from the 20s-50s of how this or that was made. I say funny as these older cars, aside from japan, were built to last 10-20 years...on purpose! And today my friend with his two year old equinox phones to tell me his rad is leaking for the second time, ball joints are bad, and a few other problems. I know for a fact all four of his aluminum alloy "performance" rims are corroding under the chrome powder coat and are leaking air slowly, along with three other people I know.
Yet my 1985 car with steel rims hasnt lost a pound of air in over a year and I do not park it in a garage like the others do. I even have less problems than my friends with new cars have. Just seems that new cars,reguardless of manufacturer, are not built to last more than a few years.
Real pity after watching these old documentarys really. You could tell that the manufacturers cared more about the car they built than the "bottom line"
Some days are better than others for me. It hurts when I think " oh i can just call up dad and ask...oh no i can't" then I just cry. This christmas is going to hurt. Christmas was my mom's thing years ago when she was around. Now with dad gone along with a good portion of my family who have also passed away... it gets harder and harder to feel anything but pain.
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hugs, hon
wish you lived closer, so we could have you over for Christmas dinner ...
I really wish you didn't have to
go through all that so lonely.
I know from your writing how kind and warm you are.
You have helped me pass many hours, and I wish I could do the same for you during these lonely times.
I know how much holidays can hurt when you're alone
I go through it every year and I'm so relieved when it's over and I don't have to think about Christmas and what it's "supposed" to be like with family and friends and gifts and parties (and what the hell is wrong with me for being so adrift and isolated?) for a whole eleven and a half months. So hold onto your online friends---they save my life every year---and...
~HUGS! Veronica
What borders on pure insanity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
Holidays can be rough.
My late wife GRADUATED 8 1/2 years ago. She was bedridden for the last 9 years of her life with me as the primary cargiver while working full time and being heavily involved in our church. I miss her every day and take comfort in knowing that when my time comes we'll be reunited.
She knew she was dying in those last weeks and could see how difficult it was for me feeling so hopeless to help her. She comforted me by insisting she WAS NOT DYING. Instead she was preparing for the greatest final exam. She'd be GRADUATING to the next life. I've shared her words with pastors and others faced with the end of a loved one's life. It did for them what it did for me. It comforted me and gave me hope, I look forward to graduating.
The day before she graduated, she gave me another bit of advice I hold near and dear to my heart. She assured me that she'd be waiting for me in heaven but that I should take my time.
I live my life to honor her.
May God in whatever form you belief takes, bless you.
I hope you have a Merry Christmas.
Boys will be girls... if they're lucky!
Jennifer Sue
Can't Agree With You on Cars...
It's the more recent ones (since about 1980, I think) that have six-figure odometers. The older ones -- our family always bought cars new and then ran them into the ground, or else handed them down to younger relatives -- weren't expected to go more than 75,000-80,000 miles without serious work on the engine. (Then again, in days of shorter commutes or actually living in the same city where one worked, one might get ten years or more out of a car with that kind of mileage. Then again, long vacations by car were more affordable on 30¢ gas, even at 13 mpg.)
My parents' '95 Camry was handed down to me in '03 with 70,000 miles on it; I drove it for another 100,000 or so before it died in 2015. (If I were the kind of person who could do my own repairs, it might have been salvageable; but I was quoted well over a thousand US$ to repair it, and the car wasn't worth that much by then.)
Eric
Keep in mind that the older
Keep in mind that the older engines, while intended to be rebuilt regularly, were also easier to remove from the car and easier to rebuild. Going back to an old V8-60, someone who knew what he was doing could pull it, rebuild, and put it back into the car in a day. Now, it could take a day just to get the damned thing out of the car, and untold amounts of damage to things around it. You also have to drop it out of the bottom of the car - which requires both a hoist and a vehicle lift. That dates back to at least 1981 - the Ford Escort took my father and I three days to do an engine swap (and then he forgot to seal the transmission)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Old cars
I cut my teeth on 1950s cars. My first car was a 1951 Plymouth, that my dad bought to drive while he did some engine work on his 56 Ford. That would have been in 1963. It had 80 K miles on it when he bought it. A few years later, I upgraded to a 55 Ford with over 50K. The Plymouth was sold to a friends dad who had plans to convert it to a short coupled dune buggy. It as a great car, but did have some blow-by so it used oil at highway speeds. (The reason I upgraded to the Ford, I was living in Astoria and driving to Portland, OR every weekend.)
My 1970 Maverick (my first new car) had a 140K on it when I sold because I was tired of driving it. The new owner stripped the interior and raced it.
However, I'm currently driving a 2008 Chevy Uplander. It's had no major work done on it. I can see it's history on CarFax from the day it was new. It started as rental in California, was in Nevada and Idaho before it came to Oregon, where I bought it with 88K 4 years ago. I currently have 128K on it. It seems to be doing fine, though I did have to put new front hubs on it last year. (I'm a DYI mechanic so it only cost me $180 in parts.)
It was then that I really missed my dad. He's been gone since 1992, and I still think I should be able call and ask for advise while doing car repairs. He was a baker, but could easily been a line mechanic. From the time I was 8 years old, I was holding wrenches on the other end of bolts for him. I learned all I know about working on cars from him. He was a perfectionist, some of which I inherited from him. Because of that my Maverick, which had points and condenser (remember them?) ignition only needed a tune up every 20K miles because I was particular about how I set the points and gapped the plugs.
In those days, being a mechanic was an art as much as science.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
The Ford Maverick. That's
The Ford Maverick. That's the first car I clearly remember from growing up that my family had. Then they went to a Ford E-150 van, and a Ford Escort. (and many others since then)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
no offense but going from a
no offense but going from a plymouth to a ford is not an upgrade but a downgrade if anything. I have driven and worked on chrysler cars for almost all of my life. I have worked on gms, fords, imports (bmw, vw, volvo, asia cars, even an italian i cant remember what it was but not one of the bigger names. Hard to get parts for.)
Funny thing. Chrysler cars in the 60s had odometers that went up to 999,999 miles. mid 80s cars had speedos that went to 99,999 miles. I know im driving one, drove last one till about 800k kms ( had to park it because body rusted out after 30years go figure, engine has never been rebuilt nor does it need it and I smoked a 6.1 hemi in it before parking it *^_^*) one before that was kcar drove it to almost 1 million miles. Makes it hard to guess what actual mileage is. New cars (ford, chevy, dodge, imports) most are blowing up in first three years, trans, engines(ford not kidding) and with the smaller tires and bigger rims the drivetrain is not lasting long at all.
Poiint I was trying to make was that i watched a video of a morris engine (surprise it was the mini before they were known as mini cooper) and the engines manufacture was like wow. Diamond cut pistons, work hardened cylinders( which means that the cast iron was very hard and durable) and polished forged crankshafts. I know from experience that forged crankshafts take a ton more abuse than cast cranks.
Side note. from 1955 to current all chrysler products the engine is put in from the bottom of car not top. The bodys were dropped onto front assembled drivetrain and bolted in. Trust me it's way easier to get the 426 hemi into some of the 60's cars from bottom than it is from top! Heck changing the spark plug on a c body 1970 440 car you have to lift the engine to get at one!
Pontiac Grand Prix - WORST
Pontiac Grand Prix - WORST damned design for installing an engine I've had the mispleasure to work on, and that includes the 1981 Ford Escort I owned for years. To change the oil pan gasket, you have to hoist the engine so you can remove some of the mounting brackets for the engine! I mean, seriously? What idiot thought that putting the oil pan on top of an engine bracket was a good idea.
Apparently it was _all_ of the cars that used that engine, as well.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
WORST
Renault Fuego to change oil filter remove front bumper, grill, passenger side fender and wheel a three hour job for a properly out fitted auto garage
Have a good day and enjoy life.
I'm glad I've never had to
I'm glad I've never had to work on a French made car. That sounds like someone designed a car, then just picked whatever engine would fit in the compartment designed by someone else.
I believe that all middle to upper management at the auto companies should be forced to replace all 'normal' replacement items on the cars that they manufacture before they can sell them.
Serpentine belt, alternator, starter motor, oil, spark plugs, transmission fluid, radiator coolant, brakes (drum and rotor), shocks, brake fluid, power steering fluid, timing belt, battery, and idler pully - at a minimum.
On a well designed car, all of those short of the a/c compressor should be replaceable in one day by one person with normal tools. If it requires a person at the top and one underneath to replace one of those parts, the project manager should be fined. If you can't replace one of those parts without risking skinning your arm, the engineer AND the project manager should be fined. (I had a scar for five months from replacing my serpentine belt, because they gave less room than I had to replace the timing belt on that 81 Escort. ) There is NO excuse for not having room around the engine.
For that matter, I think that unibody construction is the work of the devil. If you have to use a cutting torch to replace a dent from a fender bender, that engineer should be fired. You want to save weight? Quit using B Pillars, use suicide doors, and make the side of the doors where they meet thicker and stronger so they lock into a roof beam and underbody beam. Put the seat belts into the seats themselves, and make 5 point harnesses optional. Then ban air bags.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
funny thing about seatbealts.
funny thing about seatbealts. Chiropractors dont generally like them that much because the sudden strain and release puts peoples joints out of place, every single time
Solid frame cars have twist issues that unibody do not. Still the "cab over" design where the windshield is way out front of the dash has never really looked all that good to me. Not functional either on most vehicles..
Worst car to me? Smart cars! I mean really it's so dang small Its like have a paper box around a bicycle and calling it safe!
It is not the managers that need to do the replacement of parts its the "engineers" that design them. Most have never even seen a wrench let alone a screwdriver.
Most of the engineers have
Most of the engineers have never seen the car. They're told "The engine has to fit in this space, with mounting points here, here, here, and here." My father's a mechanical design engineer, that's how most projects end up working nowadays. In the early days, one person would design most everything. Now? One team does the body, another the transmission, a third the interior, etc - and they aren't allowed to work together. Everything's fed through the management groups.
So, if the _managers_ are forced to do the repairs, the engineers won't be given such garbage for specifications.
The chiropractors I work with are just as anti-airbag as I am. I've never heard them mention any complaints about what seatbelts do, because they do the job well - which is to keep you from leaving the car during an accident. I have heard them complain about the damage done by explosives, however :)
As for the Smart FourTwo (I think that's what you're referring to), they're not really any worse than any other small car. They're just more pretentious. For a city like Boston, the old Peel Trident or P50 would be a great vehicle to have (well, without the 'mix oil in the gasoline' part). Small car, low top speeds, can be parked in a lobby, and able to navigate narrow surface streets with no problems.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.