I was taking my kids to a little local lego shop for a mother's day build thing and noticed that the care worn building behind it seems to be where someone parks their projects..
Also some trucks and a Tesla. All parked outside of what look like abandoned office buildings. An interesting parking lot.
@pip-bip Ronald McDonald has cashed in his cards and finally bought a midlife crisis ride.
(modern pic from the internet, not a photo of the one I knew)
In March's automation challenge I created what I thought of as a not exactly lovely mid-70s American sedan in a pale blue. The sort of car that was considered a “compact” in the US market at the time (they were as wide as and longer than a modern mid-sized I believe). The kind of car that made the buyers look like chumps when they were getting a full engine rebuild at 6 months while their friends who took a risk on a Toyota or Honda enjoyed many years and thousands miles of trouble free ownership.
Well, one of those mid-70s lemons also happens to have been my first automotive love, a 1975 Plymouth Valiant.
(modern pic from the internet, not a photo of the one I knew)
The Valiant in question was also pale blue, had a 6 cylinder engine and was early enough into the unleaded gas era that it said in large letters, I think in the gauge cluster, “unleaded gasoline only”. This particular example was an absolute base model with the only optional extras being an AM radio and I think maybe front 3 point harness seatbelts. For creature comforts, in addition to the optional extra radio, it had vinyl seating for 6, little doors in the footwells in place of air conditioning, and.... nothing else. The road noise with those doors open was amazing, a modern box truck is orders of magnitude quieter. It had a 3 speed column shifted manual transmission and my dad bought it new in 1975.
Over several years and with the assistance of likely hundreds of hours from the local Dodge dealership he managed to first make it road worthy and then keep it road worthy over more than 10 years. Some of the simple stuff he did do himself, such as oil changes, washing and waxing and lubing the grease points. The car was an example of why the lemon laws came to be. The fact that my dad managed over 11 or 12 years with that car and then was able to sell it as a clean “runs, drives, heat works” car is a testament to his perseverance. If he hadn’t of broken his knee, he probably would have kept it longer. (it’s hard to clutch with a broken left knee and my mom despised that car, I think in large part because of how hard it was for her to do a hill start with it)
Where do I come in? Well, I was born in ’77 and that car was a staple of my childhood.
I can remember many a weekend drive running errands or visiting my grandparents in that car. Once I got my first bike, I would pretend I was driving that car, complete with imitating the sound of the engine as I was shifting it through its 3 gears. I can remember sitting in the front seat eating ice cream cones (I usually managed to get in a “shotgun” call before my brother did).
So, when the first @automation challenge that I would be able to participate in was announced as ‘70s sedans that would be junkyard survivors, I knew what I had to do. I had to make a car that was an homage to the lemon that didn’t deserve to see 1980, but could very well have still been running in 1990, that piece of shit ’75 Valiant. The first car I fell in love with.
This is the only picture of it that I'm aware of (my apologies for the quality, this is cell photo of a '70s or '80s Polaroid)
My daily driven Honda Civic turned 16 this month. It's hard to believe that I own a 16 year old car that I trust as a daily driver that neither I (nor someone else) has had to put a lot of work into to keep roadworthy.
So to celebrate, I upgraded my Civic and it's stablemate Equinox to wireless phone charging, which was kind of a necessity since my now 4 years old Samsung will no longer reliably hold a cable in, especially in a moving environment like a car.
yes, I did take a bit of a liberty with the term "upgrade" there. Have a good day Oppo.
Late last week, after threatening for nearly a year, the day finally came to sell off my gently used well worn old friend.
Final tally, of the 5 people who contributed to it’s 214,000 miles since 2005 I’m fairly certain I’ve put in the most driving time, about 98-99,000 miles between about 115k and now.
Since Oppo is a magical place where even tales about mundane van’s can be shared, I thought I would spread out the end and replacements into a couple of posts:
Part zero: zero day
Part one: the new daily driver
Part two: the new winter beater/truck
Part three: now what should I call myself?
It requires all of this writing, because you see, for those who might not be familiar, a Toyota Sienna like this is a very versatile vehicle. It requires not fewer than 2 to 3 vehicles to properly replace it.
It was my daily driver. Once or twice, out of sheer boredom during my now 25 mile one way commutes, I applied what hypermiling techniques I’d gleaned from TV (modified as to not totally piss off the other drivers) and actually got the old thing up to 22 mpg combined.
It was my pickup truck. 4 ft by 8 ft sheets of construction material fit perfectly in the back with the middle seats out. (I always assumes the suspension would give out before you reached the ceiling stacking drywall/particle board/etc, though I never tested that theory)
Numerous loads of furniture were hauled in the van, the most impressive being when my brother and I managed to haul a full length couch and a bunkbed from my in-laws house in Huron, along Lake Erie to Dayton.
It was my winter assault vehicle beater. In the 6 or so winters it served me as the go to winter vehicle, it never slid off the country highways I drive to and from work on. As a treat, once the snow got slightly slushy, I’d always take it down into the cul-de-sac on my street, come in a little quick, throw the wheel hard over and get the rear end to slide wide.
I always said I did this so that if I lost grip while out on the road, I’d remember how to correct and regain control of the van. Yeah, that’s exactly right.
Weirdly, it became tied up with my identity. It was always meant (in my mind at least), to be a stop gap. It was 2014, my in-laws had a van they were getting rid of, my wife’s old Civic I was DDing had a transmission that was starting to go, and besides, I had a kid in a pumpkin seat in the back, and that Civic did not inspire confidence in the snow on the hills I needed to take between daycare and home. At the time, it was far and away the best option. Fast forward seven years, and I hated to let it go. The truth though, is it needs a lot of work to stay roadworthy, and I lack the skills, space and time to do the work, and I can’t justify spending thousands to keep a van worth a few hundred dollars running when there are options.
So, over the next couple of posts, I’ll detail what the successors look like: the daily driver, the winter beater, the truck and then… I guess I need to pick a new name, eh?
@jordan I've been on Oppo for so long I've forgotten what the rest of the internet is like.
Still, the one where you're having lunch after the respect complaint was funny.
So, I've been wanting to get a chainsaw for a while. In the past I had used my dad's 2 stroke from the 1970s, but it was always hard to start and left puddles anywhere you sat it down. I wanted something easier to use, and didn't really need "log this whole lot" power. So, at last I bought this:
After using it a few times, I realized it is quite possibly the most dangerous tool I've ever bought. When using it one handed, as designed, you realize just how easily you could accidentally amputate your other arm from someplace below the elbow.
I'll have to be careful with this stupid thing..
In other news, I'm in a hospital waiting room attempting to doze off on possibly the most uncomfortable couch I've encountered..
I wish they'd just pulled the leather rear sets out of a 70s Cadillac/Lincoln/any car that required a boat license. Screw style, I want comfort damn it!
(hospital visit is unrelated to mini-chainsaw ownership)
Be well everyone.
@CB this reminds me, I saw this little gem the other night.
Made me wonder how bright it was in daylight..
It’s a new car!
My new daily driver is this 2007 Honda Civic. I had originally planned to try to write something akin to a new car review for the thing, but a) I’m not really a writer so would struggle to do Oppo justice there and b) I’ve been driving a minivan for the prior 6 years, so, how do I say this. My perspective is probably a bit off. So, instead, I thought I would give you a point by point comparison with its predecessor.
First, an interesting tidbit, both of my "Japanese" cars where assembled not very far from here, in the very Japanese towns of Princeton and Greensburg, in Indiana. Yup, both are Hoosiers, baby!
Anyway, on with the comparison.
Looks: toss up
I remember reading a couple of years back that a Honda exec admitted that they’d made cars that were a bit boring during this generation, and I guess on some level I agree relative to my little Civic. There’s nothing wrong about how it looks, but there’s also not much that a Top Gear camera crew would be able to work with there either. While the Sienna is hardly a Ferrari, for a big ass box on wheels, I don’t think it looks half bad.
Both are a color other than silver, white or black, but the Sienna’s blue is a little too close to silver, so it ends in a tie.
Condition: advantage, Civic
When we first agreed that we’d take my FiLs Civic for much less than market value back in the summer of 2019, the Sienna had around 210k miles on it, the Civic had about 34k. Yeah, I didn’t mistype there, the Civic had less than 40k miles on it when we acquired it. As of today, the Civic is pushing 67k, and the Sienna was sold with just over 214k. We really lucked out in terms of the how the Civic held up because, from what I can recall, I believe effectively the first 24-28k miles were put on it during it’s first 4 years on the road and then did at best 1,000 miles per year. This, combined with the knowledge that my FiL would not have been at all focused on it while his wife was dying, meant I fully expected there to be several “sitting unused for long periods of time” type issues. So far, the worst that we’ve found were some rust issues around the brakes that required replacing parts. Otherwise, it seems to be just about as sound a little runabout as it was 10 years ago. By comparison, the Sienna had several issues running when I sold it off. Beyond the niggling cosmetic things, the transmission was starting to show some worrying reluctance from time to time, there was an exhaust leak and it likely needed a new cat. Also, it did this fascinating thing when it was cold, wet and 30 to 50F (-1 to 10C) out. The “power” in power steering and power brakes would be intermittent. You could feel the power surge on/off/on/off as you were driving down the street. I finally, learned that it if I stopped it and let the engine run for about 10 minutes it would resolve itself and not return. At any rate, the missus had been agitating to get rid of the Sienna since 2018.
Power: advantage, Sienna
If you lined them up for a quarter mile, put equal drivers in both cars, and if neither car shat itself between the start and finish line, the Sienna would win. (and that’s with the Sienna being due for fresh plugs and fresh front tires)
Looking it up, I realize that this is likely down to the Sienna leaving Indiana with over 200hp, while the Civic likely had less than 120hp back in the day. While both are surely down on power due to age, the Sienna likely started with nearly 50% more, and unless you load it up with passengers, that’ll give it the edge.
Handling: advantage, Civic
There are two tales I think tell the story here. A few years back I was reading a review of the then new Sienna, and the reviewer when he got to handling described it as handling like “a top heavy marshmallow”. Mine, had nice well worn springs, shocks and other suspension components, which made that tendency to really lean into the corners even more pronounced. The other tale, is of a place called Gurneyville Road. This is a lovely little lightly traveled country road that kind of ungulates along with the countryside. There is one little hillock on there where, I didn’t actually hill hop the Sienna, but at the posted speed limit of 55mph (88kph) I got the weight on the front suspension light enough that the tires completely lost grip. The Civic takes that hill at 55 without batting an eye, I could probably take it at 60 without getting hoppy. I’m sure the Civic is little more than competent by most folks standards, but after the Sienna, it felt like a go kart.
Practicality: advantage, Sienna
I am enjoying having a Civic back in my life, they are simply good little cars. That said, the Sienna can haul construction material in the morning and most of the Brady Bunch in the afternoon. No contest. Now, that said, on this front there are other vehicles in the stable that will fill the role of hauling large amounts of crap or people around.
Cost to live with: advantage, Civic
Beyond the most obvious, with my style of driving and their condition, the Sienna was returning roughly 20 mpg in mixed driving and the Civic is returning around 29-30 mpg. (given the EPA estimates for the Civic I do still wonder if there is something me and my mechanics are missing that should be replaced based on age..)
The big thing is maintenance. The Civic is chain driven, the Sienna uses a belt. That belt is due to be replaced every 90k miles, and if you’re not handy enough to do it yourself, that’s $1,000 in 2018 prices. The Sienna is also due for plugs every 90k. three of the six are laying right in front of you (given a torque wrench, even I could change those). The other three though, are snuggled up against the firewall, which means it’s also a slightly pricing thing to get them changed. The Civic’s 4 plugs (I don’t even know the interval yet), are sitting right there in front of you when you pop the hood.
Comfort: toss up
This would go to the Civic (largely because of the handling), if it weren’t for one serious flaw. Starting in this generation Honda decided that there were no longer tall people who drove Civics, and if they did, they wouldn’t mind sitting with their knees straight up, so they put the parking brake lever right where my right knee belongs. This is a (checks google) 8th gen Civic. The 9th gen, Honda left me knee room. The 10th gen, they decided that plastic housing for a cubby was more important than my knee. I’ve not seen an 11th gen in person yet, but I highly suspect that they are still convinced that a crappy piece of plastic to house a cubby is more important than my knee.
Anyway, rant over, as you can see I created a solution that works well enough, but it’d be lovely if I didn’t need it. As vans go, the Sienna was never terrible, but it was bouncy enough to give at least one passenger motion sickness, so yeah, it’s a toss up.
Brown manual diesel wagon: toss up
Neither car is brown, minus one to both. Neither is a manual (though Honda at least made gen 8 Civics with a manual), minus one, still tied. On diesel, both use NA petrol engines (which is just as well, when I talked about buying a diesel once, the missus said she’d likely ruin it by accidentally putting regular gas in it), another strike. (though I will say, as the exhaust leak on the Sienna got more pronounced, it did sound more like a diesel)
On wagon, one is a van, so it arguably is more practical than a wagon. That said, this type of van is what killed off the station wagon, which counters that practicality. The Civic is the right height for a wagon, but is definitely a sedan (saloon). At the end of the day, neither is substantially more brown manual diesel wagon than the other.
Fahrvergnegen: advantage, Civic
The Civic has a sunroof, corners on the country roads massively better than the Sienna and even though it’s one of the most boring generations of Civics made, it’s still in many ways a fun little car to drive. (it would be much more fun with a third pedal, but increasing I’m shouting at the clouds there..)
Family opinion: advantage, Civic
My kids I’d say loved both cars, though my oldest who is not too many years away from turning 16 has already expressed a desire to have a “little red car like the Civic” when the time comes.
My wife has yet to express an opinion about the Civic, and grew to dislike the Sienna by 2017 or 2018 at the latest. Also, her first new car purchase ever was a 2004 Honda Civic, in silver (it happens), with a manual (and that in spite of her having bad knees).
So, I suspect she also has a soft spot for Civics as well at this point.
So, Oppo, if you came into a very low cost Honda Civic that was 12+ years old with barely enough miles on it to be broken in, what components would you think about replacing based on the “things can wear out from age in addition to mileage” idea?
@Mazda616 said in Where are people getting their money?:
Are people just that comfortable being up to their eyeballs in debt?
Yes. Many many people either are comfortable with it or are too uneducated on financial matters to know better. That said, in fairness I come from a family where being tight with your finances and discreet about any money you do have are somewhere between a tradition and an ingrained imperative.
When we bought our house, we bought for much less than the bank was willing to loan us. My wife and I split time across 3 cars whose average age is currently 13 years old. I could walk into almost any dealership tomorrow and my signature would buy me any car they had on the lot. Until those 3 aging beasts force my hand, I won't be doing it. Our "good" furniture was from Ikea and the other stuff was bought used or is stuff we're still using from back when we had separate apartments prior to 2005.
On my cul-de-sac, 7/10 houses own some manner of boat. I have zero desire for a boat.
I could go on, but some folks desire for something shiny and new outweighs any sense of sound financial management and they are one bad day away from a spiral towards bankruptcy..
@facw said in I bought a two stroke thing:
1965 Ford COE with dump bed! - $4,800 (Valley Center Ks)
Top Gear was never bold enough to drive a 58 year old dump truck long distance!1965 Ford COE with functioning dump bed.
Runs and drives.
Clean title.
Basically 100% original.
I wonder if I'd need a CDL to drive that legally?
@davesaddiction there's nothing I can say to do justice to how horrifying/unbelievable that is..
@Roadkilled said in G’night, Oppo:
I have never driven in London, or even England for that matter. I have driven in Scotland, including in Edinburgh. I can't recommend it, but Scotland doesn't have nearly as good a system of public transportation as London. If you want to drive in the highlands, get as small of a car as you can. Some of those roads are very narrow.
All of this explains why the F150 is just not nearly as popular over there as it is in the US..
@HFV_Junkyardin said in Well That’s Annoying:
@siennaman what year is your car? If it’s newer than 2016 you the back up camera is a “safety item” and you should be able to get it repaired under warranty.
It's a 2013 and only did it once or twice.
@PowderHound said in Can your pickup truck do this?:
@Zaphod-s-Heart-of-Gold with a sawzall all things are possible.
So jot that down
Was hoping for a Sawzall reference. Left satisfied.
@ttyymmnn said in Good Morning, Oppo:
One of the things I really dislike about modern cars is how high the sill is. You can't put your elbow on it anymore.
The cost of side impact safety, especially in a world where the "family car" is as tall as a bro dozer was 30 years ago..
@Cé-hé-sin there is definitely an element of this stateside too. I've walked past a few ID4s where the only reason I knew it was electric was from walking past it in a parking lot and knowing what an ID4 is. For the uninformed, it looks like any other VW SUV..
@Krusty-Walnut @siennaman
Aussie Roo Bars can often extend over the front wheels along the wing and down because kangaroos, etc... can run into the road clipping your front wing.
While the regular bull bar is common, some roo bars maybe more favoured out in the sticks.
Yeah, I kind of suspected as much. In these parts we have issues with deer, but they more bound into the roadway, where it sounds like roos can side swipe you out of nowhere in ways that we never see from any animal in North America..
