I recently took an overnight road trip with my family to New Orleans to pick up a puppy.

I already made a post on the cars I saw while there.

https://opposite-lock.com/topic/4087/dots-the-cars-of-new-orleans/16

But now, it's puppy time!

Meet Arlo, a 9 week old whippet pup! He's just the most adorable thing while also being suspiciously well behaved.

Don't be fooled, he's an adorable sleepyhead when he's not frolicking around the yard. Arlo's also pretty large for a whippet puppy.

Fortunately, he gets along great with our other whippet, Turkey, who's six years old.

And to send off this year, have the show quality whippets from that litter. There were two pet quality whippets to choose from at the breeder's place outside New Orleans and I believe we chose well.

Bonus puppy picture to anyone who can figure out why we named him Arlo.

I replaced the automatic transmission fluid and front brake pads in my car. It doesn't sound that impressive, I know, but it was more involved than you might expect.

The principle problem I had to face is that the transmission doesn't have a dipstick but rather a weep hole that only functions when the car is completely level. And is helpfully located behind the driver side wheel. AND neither my two jackstands nor my craptastic floor jack can fit under the car on level ground.

This is all the way down. Look at how tight of a fit that is! But even then, the jackstands I borrowed that are lower still won't fit and the car has to be perfectly level front to back and side to side. How does one do this?

I'll admit, this was marginally sketchy getting it standing even on all four corners, but the fact that two patio pavers is the exact right height for the low jack stands to fit under seemed too good to be true.

Oh wait, it was. One is inexplicably shorter than the other. I made up the difference with the floor jack on the side with no tire and let the short jackstand act as a safeguard in case of jack failure.

Anyways, draining the old stuff wasn't the difficult part. The ATF that came out was brown like pre-emptively changed engine oil but not black like many of the videos I watched. so I figure I caught it just in time. I have no idea the last time this was done.

This stupid weep hole instead of a dipstick was why this was so hard in the first place. The car must be entirely level for it to work. I put in 2.8 quarts with the engine off before it dripped then I turned the engine on and added 1.7 quarts when it started to drip.

And I swapped the front brake pads while I was under there. The rear drum brakes didn't need anything but you can clearly see the front disks weren't doing their best job. Pretty even wear on the rotor, though it might be time to change them soon.

The car stops so much more confidently now. It isn't running out of puff late in the travel like before. I'm sure I could have squeaked some more life out of them, but the quality of the drive is much improved. And I didn't notice any clunky shifts or slippage from the automatic and it seemed to hesitate less on upshifts. I'll have to get some more seat time to be sure, but I feel today was a huge success.

I saved a crap ton of money too. All in, I have a little under $90 in this repair and I'd be looking at quadruple that for a shop to do it. It's my first real "big" wrench and I'm proud of my work.

@hugz Reason 1:

Reason 2:

Reason 3:

Reason 4:

Reason 5:

So it turns out the answer is just almost always Miata.

It's a 2008 Volvo XC70 with 140,000 miles on it that's in better condition than I might have hoped.

For $5,000, you can do a whole lot worse in the land of fully depreciated European near luxury cars. There is a good deal of sun damage around the car but it's evident it was well taken care of for most of its life.

This particular one is a green 3.2 with the tan interior. The exterior is actually in excellent shape. I know some of you expressed concern over the mismatched headlights but I found no evidence of crash damage anywhere. No overspray, missing trim, color gradients, or anything that I could see.

Minor scrapes and dings. Only major one is this blemish on the side and some scuffs on the plastic bumpers. The paint actually is in fantastic condition.

The mirror caps have some clearcoat failure. It's clear this car spent a lot of time outside.

Which should have wreaked havoc on the notoriously fragile tan interior. But somehow hasn't? Don't get me wrong, there's a good deal of sun damage on the plastics. But usually this leather gets all dry and cracked but it's actually still supple. Someone cared enough about this car to condition the seats several times.

It's got freakin' push button start! This is the future!

The biggest issue with this car is that it's dirty. The thing needs a very thorough professional detail. The seller does a lot of mechanical work on his own but doesn't seem so adept at the cosmetic stuff. Yes, that's a lighter, but not a hint of smoke smell.

The list of recent work includes a fresh timing belt and water pump. This thing drove like it was brand new, tracking straight and true and rocking some impressively firm brakes.

The seller had been using it as his daily for the past two weeks which does give me confidence.

Well, when he wasn't driving this Jeep Grand Cherokee that he swapped a Mercedes diesel into himself. That gives me some confidence in his abilities but the car will get a thorough check with our Volvo indie soon.

So, yeah, I really tried but I couldn't get them to take it for a PPI. It makes me a little nervous honestly but we drove it a while with no problems at all. It needs new tires and some cosmetic work but was a rather impressive example of the XC70 for its age. The only issues I could find were ones all Volvos of this vintage have with nothing really caused by owner neglect other than a need for a detail. And since a Volvo of this vintage was literally the only option for some reason, the sagging headliner, sunburned plastics, and dubious build quality are something I couldn't avoid.

So thus ends the remarkably short tale of needing to replace an unreliable Volvo with much cheaper reliable Volvo. But the car really did impress me. It feels like what the XC90 should feel like: immovable and solid. This thing was unshakable on the tight winding high speed roads the test drive was on. And it was comfortable, quiet, and not-slow. It wasn't fast, but I thought the linear torque curve of the 3.2 suited it.

Anyways, I'm excited about this latest acquisition, even if I won't get to see it again for several months. Ask me anything and feel free to share any concerns you might have.

Fellow Oppo and collegiate @Taylor-Martin dropped by yesterday on his way through Atlanta. We saw some cars, some graves, and an accident.

He couldn't get to where I was waiting because a car had rear ended another car and was blocking traffic. The driver was so traumatized by the airbag going off she didn't want to move the thing, so he offered to. Problem was, once it was rolled back out of the way, the parking prawl and handbrake refused to function, meaning we couldn't disengage ourselves from the situation. Some nearby rocks chocked the wheels and we were off. What a nice man.

We ended up at Oakland Cemetery for a bit, but it's not as pretty in the winter.

Took a wrong turn and ended up at the famous Krogg St Tunnel, which I've never been to before. It's quite an experience, being rather long and rather dark plus having every inch covered in street art.

Now, for the cars. This has got to be a classic Mini, but I don't think it's the red one I saw a while back.

Then we saw a very nice bright yellow Land Rover Defender. @Just-Jeepin would approve.

Not only is it yellow, it's a rather uncommon LHD Defender 90 with only minor modifications. The few I do see tend to be ludicrously overdone four door high budget restomods. Plus, this one was a manual and most of the ones I see tend to be LS swapped ones with the accompanying GM slushbox. It probably is still rocking its original powertrain, which is a rarity in NA Defenders in my experience.

Anyways, I can confirm his TSX Sportwagon named Iris is quite a beauty and was clearly living the #wagonlyfe carrying all that camping gear.

Masks were worn, fun was had, and good was done. What more could you ask for? Oppos are the best people.

GM and lighting the reverse lights up when you lock and unlock.

But yeah, Ford and their keypads and capless fuel fillers. Ugh.

. . . but they're poorly framed and in portrait mode. Still, I'm grateful because otherwise I wouldn't have learned someone is crazy enough to drive this Datsun 410 wagon to Costco.

I've cropped them to spare you the pain of portrait mode.

There can't be too many wagons left in this good of condition. It's a very nice restomod.

The script on the side says Bluebird which was the name of the car in Japan. Was this a trim level in the US or something? Or is it just an aftermarket touch?

I can appreciate the fact that I got three angles from my dad. The red on gold wheels really works well here.

You really don't see non-Z Datsuns on the street. Considering I'll be up very very very late tonight working on a school project, I'm glad I've been able to start my day with receiving intel on this interesting wagon.

@ttyymmnn I really love the irony of this one. Because as a result of thinking about how to maximize their life, they've actually limited themselves to a single sidewalk square for several hours.

This truck could be in excess of 25 years old now. As weird as it seems, a desirable single cab in this condition is definitely nearing collector status if it hasn't already reached that point. It was the color that really caught my eye with its beautiful blue tint and glassy smoothness. In order to really appreciate the condition, zoom in on the full sized image. Stunning.

This is filed to DOTS but more like down on the patio. For some reason, people like to drive down this pedestrian walkway and park their vehicles under this building in an area heavily trafficked by pedestrians.

Another hot lap of the sun complete! Post quirky French things.

I'm very fortunate to get to go back home, though it's drawing to a close. I did get to play the single greatest driving game of all time (fight me).

And I got a (much nicer than I asked for) dashcam from my parents. It's got a front and rear facing camera! Fuse adaptor kit coming soon.

@way2blu I've got a lot to do and don't have time to give my car attention. It really needs attention. Filthy and needs an everything. Ugh.

Nice gif though.

@mm54 Is that some sort of dystopian chicken substitute because all the real chickens died?

I have to admire how much their graphic designer leaned into the weirdness but like did they not market test at all?

@aestheticsinmotion Who loses the company? I'm not sure how not meeting expectations but being profitable is worse than losing money but delivering our crap.

@dtg11 said in Recent DOTS:

New Mercedes G63

I don't even take pictures of the AMGs anymore. Living in a major city will do that to you. Not common but not uncommon.

That said, I saw only 3 TourXs last year so good spot! A great looking wagon.

Caterra is an odd one too.

@aestheticsinmotion said in Looks like I'm back to working seven days a week!:

Considering annoying my roommate and planting some potatoes.

Why would this be annoying?

Anyways, RIP everything besides work. How does more than doubling wages help a struggling company? Is it just meeting targets?

@silentbutnotreallydeadly I've never had a Facebook account but I'm counting Instagram in that.

@rallydarkstrike The original fault was with the installer. Get an independent to look at it in a way where they arent only diagnosing might cut the bullcrap

@looseonexit said in I-40 Bridge Fracture Follow Up - Inspector Fired:

They were going to re-inspect the other bridges he looked at.

Re inspect EVERY bridge, not just the ones done by that poor sap.

@silentbutnotreallydeadly said in Gaza is just like most Facebook offroad groups.:

and they can leave voluntarily to go somewhere else safer.

Facebook doesn't want them to know that though and with their market share it's not always possible.

@svend said in Thanks, I love it - Land Rover Content:

it's just doing what it does with no shouting, 'look at me!'.

Well they do certainly stand out in the US as there are so very few of them around. But they're also so utilitarian their "styling" is simply a byproduct.