NOT a note from the @Curators, but a note of personal opinion from one of them...

We just lost two long-time members today amidst strong comments, hurt feelings and strong opinions. I'm not commenting on why they left or what went on - that's not my place.

BUT...both had folks that respected them here and were long-standing members many of us knew well. I get the 'I'm leaving' joke posts, but I think they're a bit in poor taste considering we just had two of our own long-time members leave us.

I mean no ill will to the people who made these joke 'I'm leaving' threads - I get it, but could we maybe refrain from doing them thanks out of respect to those folks that just left? Yes, there are always people who get along with and don't get along with any given fellow Opponaut on here, but it's not exactly a good look if either decided to come back and find they're decisions were - however harmless it is intended - being mocked by these 'theme' posts, even if they are moreso directed at one user or another

The goal is to try and be excellent here people....just my $0.02.

Hey all - little update from me.

Life has been busy...the sub teacher shortage here means I've been working every weekday, and then still doing my computer work side job on evenings and weekends, so been feeling pretty tired lately, but it's good to be wanted. One of the principals at the most local school to me actually stopped me in the hall and thanked me for the work I do and told me they are always glad to see my name on the list and for the extra I do when I'm in, so that was a really nice thing to have happen

Still VERY frustrated at the housing situation here....everything is so expensive now, but with so many people moving here this year (mostly from Ontario - no offense intended OppOntarians!), there's not much left in my area, so pretty bummed about that as I really like it here and want to stay. There was a house up the other day that was quite nice, ALL renovated inside, only 30 years old...only thing I've seen up in my price range for a LONG time (was up for $234,000). I got the email while I was teaching at work. By the time I got home from work, it was already pending....it's insane

Humdrum is still trucking along...we've only had one big snow event so far and I can saw the new Michelin X-Ice winters I picked up on rims for cheap not along ago are really great in the slippery stuff......in bad news though, I've been hearing a rattle coming from the front-left suspension. WAY back (like in 2014 just after I bought it), I'd heard a similar sound and it turned out that some of the strut-top bolts were loose, so I figured it was the same thing this time. Nope...the spring is broken on my front-left strut near the bottom.

Only a very small piece broke off, so essentially it's not quite sitting right in its resting place....so it's not going to fall out or anything and I can still drive on it, but it needs to be replaced (appointment for that booked for next week). Getting just the spring, it turns out, isn't much cheaper than getting a whole replacement strut assembly by the time they disassemble it and put in the new spring (labour costs are insane here)...so they are pricing up a used replacement strut for me (their suggestion), and also pricing up the cost of two new front struts too. I can't imagine that either will be super cheap, but at least struts should be pretty easy to replace on the Accent! On the plus side, I told them to look over all the other suspension and they said the rest all still looks fine....not bad for nearly 200,000kms living in the pothole and rust belt (though with annual undercoatings!) and being all the factory-original stuff - good on Hyundai for building a tough little car! Humdrum does have some creaks and rattles here and there due to the plastic-y interior, but she is a 10-year old bare-bones South Korean economy car, so I can forgive her for and deal with those!

Still no girlfriend which sucks....more because I haven't had much time to actually go out and DO anything towards finding somebody....COVID doesn't help with that either, so I just keep on moving forward there for the time being I guess. Maybe I can work towards this a bit on Christmas Break, but with us heading towards a lockdown here in Nova Scotia again due to a recent huge increase in COVID cases (mostly the new Omicron variant....yay!), I am doubting that's going to happen...

I took my antique Ansonia Andes clock from around 1906 in for a service to have it cleaned and oiled as you're supposed to do every 2-3 years. I had a different guy do it this time and he just called me back tonight to ask me to stop in tomorrow because.....apparently the shop that cleaned and oiled it last time DID clean and oil it, but neglected to mention that a LOT of the pivot points in the brass movement are VERY worn, so I've been running it for 2 years having it basically eat itself alive, not great... The new guy, who seems VERY trustworthy and a genuinely knowledgeable fellow tells me he counts at least 6 pivots that will need to be repaired with brass insert bushes to get it back in tip-top shape again. He hasn't done the work yet but wanted to show me in person before he did it, which I think was very good of him, in order to explain what and where repairs are needed. $120 for the cleaning/oiling and then another (at least) $160 for that....not cheap on top of my car repair, but the clock means a lot to me and I would miss its comfortable rhythmic ticking in the rec room, so needs must...I already keep instantly thinking 'why did the clock stop?' every time I walk into the rec room right now and don't hear the ticking before I remember it's not here...

Overall though....things could be worse! My trusty car is still working and the repairs won't be cheap, but won't be THAT expensive either! I'm getting a lot of work and still have a warm roof over my head and a cat is currently staring at me for snacks.

Hope things are all well for you folks Oppo

Morning Oppo!

School was cancelled this morning because we had a snow/wind/rain storm last night and it ALL flash froze this morning...the roads are an ICE RINK and our unpaved subdivision road is literally a sheet of gray/white ice the entire way out. The DOT hasn't been here to salt or sand it yet either, so I have no idea how I am going to get out our road to work tomorrow, but it's going to be interesting...even our paved driveway is a slick of black ice. Mom's car and bro's are trapped at the top as they'll just spin out if they try to go down. I (luckily) parked at the bottom of the hill as I knew this was going to happen...

In other news, I am banished to my spare HP Stream 13 'tinkering' laptop running MX Linux 21...a dual-core Intel Celeron CPU @ 2.16Ghz and all of 2GB of unupgradable RAM. I would use my vastly better laptop, but this happened and I don't have the heart to move her

I received my Secret Senna package last week, but didn't really have time to open and inspect it until tonight!

@Peter_Black did an EPIC job and sent me an unassuming little package of awesome! When I opened it, inside was a little white box with 'Schuco' written on it....I was excited! Schuco is VERY well known for making some epic die-casts and Peter knows my tastes well for putting up with me on Oppo all this time!

So, what did I find? My own little teeny tiny East-German DDR VolksPolizei Trabant 601 and Barkas B1000 van - 2-strokes ftw!!!

Apparently they are limited edition, so this is 1 of 500, and they are HILARIOUSLY heavy, lol....like SOLID die-cast metal, and the logos and details a pretty awesome for being so small!

I only took the Trabant out for now as I don't know where I am going to display them yet, but they are awesome!

Baby Trabant for your time:

Thanks @Peter_Black !

Welp, turns out I have COVID.

I feel fine! Slight sniffles/runny nose and a slight cough. My only clue something was off was that on Sunday I was suddenly REALLY exhausted feeling aside from said slight sniffles and cough...enough that I went to bed at 9:30pm rather than my usual 12am, which is unheard-of for me. The next day, the exhausted-ness was completely gone and has been gone since! I often get allergies this time of year in the spring, so I thought nothing of the cough and sniffles as that is common for me this time of year.

But, mom started feeling like crap at the same time I did, so she took a test tonight...positive. My brother and I both took tests tonight.....also positive. Joy!

As a sub teacher, this means I am now off work for 7 days, which means no income at all for me for a week as I am paid by the day as a substitute. This also means no computer work for my side computer repair gig either as I now can't travel to my client's homes either.

And, on top of my positive of getting my beloved Humdrum back last week all fixed from her hit-and-run from the body shop....what she decided to do on the 40km drive back home from work today in a terrible rainstorm....? Exhaust leak....ARGH!

I THINK the leak is right at a bolted together flange, so HOPEFULLY it just needs a tighten and it will be fine again, but I couldn't really check in the rainstorm today without getting absolutely drenched...here's hoping that's all it is!

Also, in negatives, when I got the car back from the body shop, there was a huge chip out of the paint on my driver's door sill that was never missing before and I can't prove it was the shop (though it had to be...), so I took it upon myself to get out my small file and my touch-up paint a few days ago and go to town on all the little rusting nicks on my driver's door sill including the big one that was never there before. It's not pretty and I have no idea how long they'll last but I sanded everything down to bare shiny metal, cleaned it all off and than dabbed some touch-up paint on in two coats to re-seal it to protect the metal from more rust.
Probably not the right way to do it, but it's better than it was and it's all I had on hand...you can see the spots I touched up looking a little darker in the pics above.

You'll be seeing me around a lot in the next week...what else am I going to do while I'm stuck at home with the 'Rona?

I have a laptop for sale on Kijiji and FB Marketplace....an older HP G60. Not going to set the world on fire, but for normal everyday stuff (word processing, email, web browsing, Youtube/Netflix) it's still OK. This one works fine, but is a little rough, so I have it up for only $140.

Guy messages me on FB Marketplace:

Guy: "Is this still available?"
Me: "Yes, it is."
Guy: "can you bring it to 78 york"

...er....I live in the middle of three towns....WHICH '78 York'...?

Me: "Where are you located?"
Guy: "lunenburg"

OK...that's about an 8 min drive for me, but I'm not a delivery service.

Me: "I'm busy today, but could drop it off tomorrow, though I'd charge you $10 extra for the time and gas I have to use to bring it to you."

I felt that's fair....again....I'm not a delivery service....

Guy: "OK, I need to go the bank."

Ok, fine, makes sense.

Guy: "Can you take me there?"

Uh......no? I'm not a taxi...plus, the bank is within a LESS THAN 10 MINUTE WALK from where he lives!!! SO...while I'm writing up a response, less than 5 mins has passed since he asked me to take him to the bank. I've not replied yet as I am eating lunch. Guy is impatient...

Guy: "i take it thats a no..."
Guy: "lets forget it then..."

............
.......
...

TLDR - I'm not a delivery service, I'm not a taxi, and people are impatient lazy assholes.

I went FAR away from classic Italians this time to the other side of the world and a lot more modern!

With the new Nissan 'Z' on the way (and here's hoping it's a good one!), I wanted to honor the history of the 'Z' by doing another one of my 'Night Cruise' series designs of one of my favorite generations of the 'Z' to put up on my RedBubble shop...the 300ZX (specifically the 2+0 coupe with t-tops!)

I know a few Oppos have one, and I know many Oppos have classic 'Z' cars, but the 300ZX has always looked so modern and suave to me, even today.

Hopefully it's a worthy tribute to a very cool car from when Nissan was in their prime!

Hi all! Update on my COVID situation....well, I feel pretty much fine now to be honest! The worst I got was REALLY tired for a day last week, but otherwise it's been mostly a sore throat, runny nose, and coughs for me. My brother caught it too and had the same symptoms, although a bit worse. Mom got it the worst of the three of us though, although she's better now...but still not feeling great. For her it's been a LOT of exhaustion, and a really phlegmy deep cough, constantly runny nose and very sore throat. She's on the mend now, but she's feeling really out of it still.

I get out of isolation on Wednesday if I test negative and I can go back to work....here's hoping as I am scheduled to teach on Thursday and have several computer repair appointments on Friday and Saturday!

What have I been up to? A whole fat lot of nothing, to be honest. A lot of sitting around and catching up on some shows and Youtube channels I follow. Got a few computers I've had sitting around ready to sell...also finally got around to creating a new RedBubble design that @pip-bip had asked me to create for him awhile back!

It's a reproduction of this rare, period vintage mug from Yugo Cars back in the 80s and early 90s! He sent me the pic awhile back and asked if I could recreate it for him.

Voila, the recreation! Not perfect as I couldn't find the exact original fonts, but I think it's pretty accurate.
Makes me think of @The-Autopian and Jason with his Yugo

What else is up otherwise? Well, I'll be calling the garage tomorrow to hopefully get an appointment booked to get Humdrum's exhaust leak fixed. The leak is RIGHT where the rear pipe connects to the mid-pipe, so I am hoping it's just a missing or loose bolt on the flange and will be an easy fix...a few more little door sill chips with rust to touch up, swap the summer rims/tires back on and she'll be good to go.

Hope you're all doing OK peeps!

We didn't get it as bad here (our power didn't go out yet, though it's flickered MANY times). EVERYWHERE around us is out and there are almost 2200 active outages affecting 412,000 households across the province according to the NS Power Outage Map:

We're supposedly listed as being without power according to the map, but we do still have it....nobody around us seems to have theirs though...

Lots of small and large branches down everywhere and out deck and driveway are COVERED with leaves and pine needles. Rain wasn't as bad as the wind here, luckily. We've not had any issues at our house here except one the wind was coming from the Northwest against our upper door into the kitchen has been so strong (though wind STARTING to die off now) that it was forcing water past the door seal all night and we woke up to a pool of water that had run along that wall and into our pantry closet

Makes me worry for the floor and the walls there and if there's anywhere there we didn't manage to get the water up (which is likely as there's little access). We've wiped up what we could and my brother is currently using a hair dryer to try and dry along the wall edge in the pantry...the force of the hair dryer is pushing the water that was still there out so we can wipe that up and hopefully dry it off some. I went into the basement and looked up right where the closests would be from directly below and I see no evidence of water from underneath, so I don't think it's too bad....worries me for mold from anything we miss though...

Pics from Halifax (1hr east of here):

Prince Edward Island has it even worse than us in places...pics from there:

That second pic is terrible with that tree through somebody's roof...makes me wonder if the house would be a write-off by the time the storm was over and they'd lose a lot of their stuff inside

There was a story of a fire truck filled with responding firefighters who had a tree fall on their truck with live wires and they were all trapped in the truck until the power company came and turned the power off to get them out too...

Scary stuff! The storm is supposed to start dying off here around noon today, so in another 4hrs from this post.

Let me preface this by saying I live in the relative middle of nowhere. There's a pretty big town (Bridgewater) about 15 mins away, but Halifax (the provincial capital) is an hour away and very little of interest ever happens around here.

That being said, as I was out and about doing my computer work the other day, I noticed a sign saying a local car club was going to have a little show at local antiques shop....which happens to be like....3 minutes from my house!

I've not really treated myself to any 'me' time in awhile, so I took it upon myself to go if I had time today and, as my morning appointments finished in enough time, I was able to stop in and....boy howdy, am I glad I did!!!

The first thing I saw was a very modified Foxbody Mustang...very cool but no pics as this caught my eye. This was a 100% original Dodge...the paint was faded, it had a few little rust spots in places, the vinyl top was worn....but you could tell it was well-loved and everything on it came on it from the factory. Cool old thing!

I loved the two-tone blue/white color combo on this old Meteor - Meteor was a Canadian-only brand of Ford, basically selling in the lower price segments of the market

Next to the Meteor was this INSANELY mint Lincoln Town Car - it had a digital dash, or so it looked, so I have no idea how many kms were on it, but it could not have been many at all!

Here's something you definitely don't see anymore....ever........at all. It's an accessorized Mercury Zephyr coupe in a surprisingly good-looking two-tone beige/brown! These were basically just a rebadged Ford Fairmont of the time.

Next was this very cool hot rod - Ford I think...?....not really my thing, but it was a drag car and sure is menacing...

Next up was this sporty Dodge Aspen....love the logo script on the front fenders!

Then we had this hot rod. I know it's a Ford because it said so.....it was VERYYYYY modified. I really liked the handpainted pinstriping details though....a lost art that...

Next to it was this '57 Chevrolet. These were my favorite car growing up as a kid (how my tastes have changed! ), but I still think they are gorgeous now, especially with the gold badging in a bright color with the chrome!

Such cool details all over these 50s machines...

These are pretty rare up here...and I think pretty rare in general, if I'm not mistaken? It's an AMC AMX in a lovely shade of orange!

And next to that AMC was this modified Foxbody Mustang convertible.....loving the customized side skirts...5.0 'Stang!

And, in complete defiance of everything 'Stang stands for....was one of my favorites of the show, this absolutely lovely Ford Model A roadster in a very pretty green and light yellow paint scheme. I am doubting this was a factory combo, but is looks very nice on this old girl.
Amazing details...

That motor looked so original it almost made me wonder if it's never been opened in it's life....knowing how durable those old Model Ts and As are, I wouldn't be surprised if it never has!

Next to the 'A' was a very cool Datsun 280Z! Digging the engine bay on this one....Straight-6 goodness!

I loved seeing that it still had it's original little engine bay work light!

Oh, now here's a pretty rare one! A North American spec Ford Capri! Amusingly enough, as far as I know, they were never sold as the 'Ford Capri' here, but only as the 'Capri' under Ford's Lincoln-Mercury dealership network. I didn't see one Ford badge on this one! Even the steering wheel simply said 'Capri' in the center!

Next we had another Meteor in a lovely light blue....this one would be around a 1959 model or so.

Next to that Meteor was this gorgeous old 1947 Mercury Eight!

Just past this was a late 70s Corvette and 2 modern Mustangs....but oh boy, next to those, well....I'm saving that for last because it was my second favorite car of the show and, to me, the star of the show...so, we move onward!

This lovely Thunderbird was gorgeous and had all sorts of wonderful little details....I liked the badge 'gems' in the hubcaps!

Then, we had yet another AMX! I've seen very few in my lifetime, but here are two at one show! This one had some cool red pinstriping:

Next to that we had a 100% stock Chevy Vega....yup...definitely not modified at all...

Next to that was my third-favorite car of the show, which we will come back to as you guys have seen me mention it before!

But nearby was this early 50s Ford Crestline in a lovely light mint green. Love the Crestline logo embedded in the front tip of the side chrome strip - classy!

Last, but not least before we get to the best stuff....was Mercury Marquis, which I haven't seen one of since I was a kid! This one had been quietly breathed upon and blacked out a bit!

BUT, now it's time for my third-favorite car of the show, the piece de resistance! It's the Citroen SM I've mentioned here before! :
I just love these things! So French and sleek with so many cool details! This one is an NA-spec car, I believe, but has Euro headlights on it

Sadly, the gentleman that owns it (who I vaguely know through one of my computer jobs) has it up for sale now....I hope it goes to a good home!

Much pretty Maserati V6....

SPHERES! Citroen's famed hydro-pneumatic suspension on view for all to see. He actually had it parked with the suspension set to the highest setting as well, so it had some good off-road cred going on!

I love how the hood Citroen logo vent acts as the air intake for the cabin!

The engine design is just bonkers....it's TECHNICALLY a mid-engined car because the transmission is in FRONT of the engine....heck out the crazy jackshaft and belts that come forward from the engine to run the power steering and the A/C compressor!

And now we get to my (well, it just has to be, doesn't it?) favorite car of the show! It actually wasn't there and I was literally just walking out to leave when it puttered in and, of COURSE, how could I leave then??? FIAT 500!!! I've been up close with two in Lunenburg before when workers had them outside at a local collector's garage, but the owner wasn't there at that time, so I spent very little time there.....so this was the first time I've been able to spend time near one and appreciate everything! It's funny because I heard it before I saw it and despite never hearing one in person before, knew exactly what it was! (don't worry, that blue smoke was from a nearby BBQ, not the 500! )

Epic!!! I got to chat with the owner, a really nice guy named Ron who imported it from Napoli in Italy. It's a 1971 FIAT 500F, the 'F' being the 'base model' 500 at the time. You could've splurged on the fancier 500L if you had the cash, and that would've got you a padded dash, different gauge cluster, chrome bumper guards and a few other cool details, but no...this one was gloriously simple like all 500s are!

It had a lovely tan interior with white wheel and trim...

...and the wonderful fabric sunroof almost all classic 500s came with as standard, which means lovely interior pictures!
The car is factory-original, so the 499cc, 17hp Inline-2 and 4-speed non-synchro gearbox were resting in their house at the back and made a pleasant, cheerful and eager-sounding noise.

I so desperately want one EVEN MORE THAN USUAL now! It was like a cute little puppy in car form!

But, as amazing as that little 500 was, even if it was my favorite at the show....I had to save this ride for last.

OH yes....it's an Alfa, but this is not just any Alfa.

Recognize it yet? It's an Alfa Romeo Giulia...but a very special Giulia (literally and figuratively!), it's a Sprint Speciale! 1 of 1400 ever built....here in semi-rural, middle of nowhere Nova Scotia!!!
It was heart-achingly beautiful in a deep wine-ish red...so many wonderful details, like these authentic glass-lensed original Carello lights!

Or the original Italian plate hiding under the Nova Scotian plate on the rear!

You can tell every curve on the car was drawn by eye and by hand and that it is something very unique...


And the Giulia script on the front fender badges is amazingly Italian and 50s/60s at the same time!

Not sure what year this beauty was, but I was graced by it's prescence

Sadly, then it was time to head home for lunch...but don't worry, Humdrum was in good company in the car park!

@CarsOfFortLangley Wow that is hideous...

@Shop-Teacher Sounds like an epic time! The wedding venue choice is AWESOME! Kudos to @Miss-Mercedes on that one and once again, congrats!

Also.....@Miss-Mercedes is going to buy that Flixible, isn't she...

@pip-bip YESSS! FSR Tarpan! I love these crazy Polish things! They were a Chevy Avalanche-style sliding rear cab wall before the Avalanche was a glint in anybody's eye.

@Borsuq sent me a very cool enameled tin mug of one

@HammerheadFistpunch I 100% completely don't care about the Hummer EV. EVs I can get along with...the Hummer EV is just a pointless overweight, expensive luxury toy.

None of this surprises me.

...any chance you could move the event to MANY thousands of km East so I could come?

@AestheticsInMotion Oh man, that really sucks....rather than sell the Husky, would your friend let you do it up for long-term storage and keep it in the corner of his garage for awhile?

@Svend said in For RallyDarkstrike, the Suzuki Alto:

@dogisbadob
Suzuki might pick it up, they did with the Toyota Corolla aka Suzuki Swace, but that doesn't help as the U.S. doesn't get Suzuki. Doh.

We used to get Suzuki, but they pulled out quite a few years ago

@amoore100 I do really like the current Twingo...very cool little car!

@MM54 Yeah, that's one thing I didn't like about my Subie...some stuff is more annoying to work on. Spark plugs are one example...on the Accent they are dead simple and accessible, but can be a faff to change on Subie boxers...

@Svend I would DD it! I love simple, effective and reliable basic cars! Those rear windows are wild though...I know of pop outs like that on things like the rear windows of vans and 3-door hatches, but I've never seen it on a 4-door!!!