Rally Van! @CoolMinivan-Nobody

I mentioned on Sunday that my daughter might solo that day. I will now recount that day for you:

We left the house in the middle of the F1 race. She had to take her passport because she needs to carry identification with her to fly alone. We get to the airport, meet the instructor, and she heads over to the plane to do her preflight check. I speak to her instructor and ask if she will be soloing today. It was a cloudy day with rain in the forecast but he mentioned it should be fine since the chance of rain was higher later in the afternoon and there was basically no wind.

I go back to my car and watch the F1 race and join the Oppo race conversation. I look up to see that she is doing touch and go's with her instructor so they are practicing and it isn't time. Then on the fourth touch and go she lands. This is when it gets real for me.

She taxis over to the main plane parking lot and I see the instructor come out, close the door and tell her to head for the runway. My heart immediately jumps to 110 bpm (even as I type this my heart is racing).

I text my wife that she is going to solo. I turn off F1 and open my camera on the phone to take her video. The instructor joins me in the field with a walkie talkie that can communicate with her. I listen in as she is making her calls and she is ready to take off.

This is where I had to remind myself to breath because every moment in my life with my daughter is flashing before my eyes and I am just praying that she comes back safe.

She's all lined up to my left ready to go. She throttles up and the plane roars to life and starts accelerating down the runway. The plane pitches up and lifts ever so gracefully up towards the horizon. She reaches her altitude and banks left and is now moving from my right to left to go around to land.

At this point I start to relax but eyes are watering up and a tear rolls down my eye. My family came to this country without much. We worked hard and sacrificed so that the next generation will have more opportunities and a better life. My father's dream was to fly which he accomplished and now my daughter, first one in my family born in the US, is up in the sky flying. It just hit me how far we have come and how fortunate we are.

All this time the instructor is talking to me but there is a lump in my throat and all I can respond is in noises. I can hear my daughter's voice on the radio making her calls and she sounds like she has ice in her veins. Absolutely no indication that she is nervous.

I see her moving on my left and then she banks and starts making her approach to land. My heart beat jumps again because this is really it. This is the most important part of the solo and also the hardest. I see her coming in, lights on and the plane is getting bigger and bigger. She over the runway and then the plane glides down and lands with a small chirp.

SHE DID IT !! I'm wiping away tears of joy and relief and thanking her instructor. The instructor had to tell her to throttle down because she was ready to go up again . He asks her if she wants to go up again and without hesitation she says yes. This girl is just amazing. I'm a wreck but she's ready to go back up!

Her second landing was even better than her first! She finally comes to where we are and I am just overjoyed. We take some pictures with the plane and instructor and head back home.

We call my wife who is very happy her first born is in one piece and my father. My father was overcome with emotion and cried. I know what this meant to him and wished he was there but I didn't want to put pressure on her. She and I start talking about how she felt and she said that she was a little nervous before takeoff but then was fine. She actually started to sing Smooth Operator because she had heard if for the first time last week. Then she mentions to me that the last person who solo'd in that plane crashed it.

It was a really great day for my family and all I have to say is as much as I know many parents get their kids into sports and other activities, I really recommend flying. It will probably cost as much as what people spend on sports equipment and probably will take less time but it is a skill that hopefully they will keep forever and looks great on college applications. Thanks everyone for reading and keep reaching for the skis... I mean skies.

It's really snowing hard outside so it seems fitting that I should post about the Whiteout Supra!

This is a 1990 Supra Turbo 5 speed, Canadian Spec with Burgundy Leather interior.Because it is Canadian, it has daytime running lights and I guess it had some type of rust prevention coating at one time. The tires are Firestone Firehawk and are about 3 years old. It also has white 16" Sawthooth whees.

The leather needs some conditioning and dyeing which I have started the process. The good news is that they are not ripped and cushions are in good shape. The leather hand brake cover needs to be repaired/replaced but it works and has no rips. The interior has a couple of loose trim pieces but nothing is broken. It has an aftermarket Kenwood head unit that has wireless Android Auto which is a big plus. The PO also gave me the original stereo with CD but it is not working right. My plan is to see if I can fix the unit but keep the Kenwood for now.

The car has about 70,000 km or about 43,000 miles. It is also SUPER CLEAN! I mean you can eat off the drain wells!

All of the rubber trim is in great condition and looks almost new.

There are some paint blemishes but nothing major. The headlights work as do their washers. The power antenna doesn't work that well but I hope to find a replacement for it. I even have the targa top cover for it!

The engine is the 7M GTE rated at 232 hp and 254 lbft. It starts fine, no smoke and sounds great. I probably will need motor mounts for it and the AC will need to be recharged or converted to newer refrigerant. But no aftermarket mods which is great. The previous owner even bought a new battery just because it was 3 years old. He was a really nice guy that took great care of it.

But he did something that I cannot forgive him for which is this:

He put a stupid fart can exhaust on it!!! I can tell you that that car sounds nice but it is very obnoxious, loud drone when cruising is terrible, and it won't pass inspection! It will be remedied very soon.

The other embarrassing item in the car is this:

I've already unplugged it and will be chucking it out soon. I think it was installed during the 90s and it sounds terrible. They also cut a hole in the rear wood floor and carpet to fit the subwoofer. However, the previous owner gave me extra carpet and replacement wood floor to replace the modified one.

The car drives straight, stops well, and shifts great. Doing the ball joints and control arms next week and probably exhaust too. Then paint correction and ceramic coating. Overall I really like the car and can't wait to have it all sorted out.

Also forgot to thank @e90m3 @adamftw @Engineer-In-Motion and @LimitedTimeOnly for helping me find a PPI place in the below post. Thank you!

https://opposite-lock.com/topic/37529/looking-for-ppi-help-in-long-island?_=1646875468455

I saw this pop up on Craigslist but no pictures. Spoke to the owner and arranged a time to see it. 1994 S600 Coupe. Silver with blue interior, only 34k miles. Only 2 owners (really only 1 since the current owner took care of the car for the first owner).

It drove well, the tires were low on pressure so there was a small vibration while driving. Everything worked except for the antennas (I guess these had little reversing antenna that popped as guides)
Other issues are that it had a accident early on in its life. It was listed as the passenger side rear bumper and based on my inspection, the rear bumper looks to be replaced or repaired.

The car will need a tune up, new tires (my goal is to eventually buy some Monoblocks)

The biggest issue has to do with replacing the wiring harness because pre 1997 Mercedes are notorious for biodegradable wiring harnesses that deteriorate over time. This car has spent its pampered life inside in a climate controlled garage and I'm guessing hasn't been subjected to harsh environments that could cause the harness to fail but I'm going to have to do it eventually.
https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/cle7ru/til_that_mercedes_benz_used_biodegradable_wiring/

These were some of the last hand built over engineered Mercedes and you can feel it. It was a $150k car back in 1994, which translates to $300k today! I made an offer at a small fraction of the original price and both the owner and I are going to sleep on it. I want to make sure I am as excited about this car today after 24 hours. It will be a cool car to have in my collection.

So I went to the shop that's working on fixing the numerous issues with the Range Rover Classic I bought and then spent two hours talking with the owner and walking around his auto repair compound. What you see is a series 1 Iso Grifo with a 327 at 400hp. The car was in Europe and still wears Swiss license plates. I have dreamed about seeing one for many years and to see one this close was amazing. I'm still giddy from it.

Beautiful fall day for a drive. The car isn't perfect but sometimes it sure feels like it.

So yesterday, my family was driving to a sweet 16 party. It was my wife, daughter, son and sister in law. The topic of conversation quickly began about dresses and accessories while my son and I just listened. There came a point where they were talking about purses and who has what purse and of course the cost of said purse. They brought up someone who had a $2500 Louis Vuitton Clutch and how expensive it was. Then my son as a joke says "Dad, I bet your Toyota clutch costs more." I was driving and it took me a second to register what he said and then I started laughing. Couldn't have been more proud of him.

Another funny thing happened later. The AC at the venue of the sweet 16 broke and they were looking for fans. We have a industrial 7 ft tall pedestal fan at one of our buildings that was close by so I went there to grab it to bring to the venue. One of our employees was there to help me load it into the van. He's from Colombia and new to our company. As we were loading it, my employee says he's really good with loading heavy stuff. I, without hesitation, say "I've heard Colombian's are really good with kilos". Another employee that was there breaks out laughing. Now I know where my son gets it from.

@tophercrowder The financial illiteracy of this country is terrifying. I feel sad and angry because so many lives are wasted by making poor financial decisions. Oh, well...off to look at what parts I need to buy for my Range Rover.

@genesis-haysenhox-dt It's called a BMW Z4. What would be great is if Toyota actually gave us a Toyota.

Took the Oldsmobile out yesterday for a ride. Since it's refresh, it absolutely rips! Spinning the wheels at stop signs is going to get me arrested especially when the cops see me laughing maniacally. Driving this thing through twisties is a lot more fun than one would expect. Hustling a 4000 pound boat around a quick right left puts a big smile on your face. I really love this car.

However, I haven't driven the Supra in a while so I went to storage to swap it out. All I can say is WOW! I knew the brakes were holding the car back so when the shop found out that the abs module was bad and gunk in the brake fluid, it wasn't a surprise to me. Now, the car accelerates like a freight train and can spin the wheels easily. The new coilovers have made the ride much more compliant(thank you @derp!). Also love this car! I'm very fortunate both of these cars are in my life. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

@partypooper2012 I'm glad you can now take a hot shower and not have to burn your house down.

@sampsonite24 That's great! Can you help an oppo out and maybe get his Q4 delivery window moved up to next week?

@Chariotoflove I was going to post that we're both middle-aged men with teenage daughters. This is the only way we feel cool. But then I got tired.

@Chariotoflove Helps clean up bad kernels.

@Chariotoflove Fibercon will definitely help clear your cache.

@CB Lisbon, Portugal to Istanbul, Turkey going the Mediterranean route in a Wrangler or Bronco. Basically do the Iberian desert, the French Rivera, Alps, Balkans, Greece, and Turkey.

@Brickman There's not a lot of fiber in Lego. Maybe you need to add in some Lincoln logs.

@trivet Combined with @Brickman's post, I think oppo needs more fiber.

@tophercrowder Segar has a more soulful voice. When he sings, you can tell he's singing from experience and emotion. Metallica is capable of this but it didn't come out in this song.

@WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAthenGTInowA4 Is it? I thought the GMC's had better materials in the Denali trims. I think the entire exercise was a big failure from all aspects of design and production. Sure they have a lot of reservations, but as Jerry said, anyone can take a reservation, following through is the hard part.