PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

Love Discount Tire,they have never failed me in 40 years of using them.

 

Not so good; Lava lamp at work has refused to “lava” this entire week...



At least this is the one I got for free!

 

The “Lava Grande” in the background doesn’t work either; It turns on, but it also won’t produce the mesmerizing lava show that it’s supposed to be producing either. This one was a gift from my grandma for Christmas in 2009, and a new one is over a hundred dollars...

 

My uncle’s 1969 AMC SC/Rambler tribute; Before...

 

Work in progress...

 

Two of my favorite childhood movies ever were Beethoven and Beethoven's 2nd; Just the other day, I was reading an article from 1996 about how the first two Beethoven movies were really popular among children, and this is true. We lived in California from 1996 to 1998, and I never owned either of the Beethoven movies on VHS; However, whenever my mom took me to Hollywood Video (or stopped by to rent me some movies when I wasn't with her), I almost always requested one of the Beethoven movies. I like Beethoven's 2nd better than the first one, primarily because it has a much more believable storyline than the first, but about ten years ago I did finally buy a 2-disc set of both movies on DVD to watch in the car and I tend to watch them in chronological order. Now that my dad owns a vehicle with a built-in Blu-Ray player, I plan on buying them on Blu-Ray...

 

Is your Uncle driving the truck? He isn't at risk of a failed tire.........

YOUR choice. Not Uncle's choice.

 

Heck yeah! You lucked out, man. Keep on truckin.

 

Spoiler

In the original, Dean Jones of Herbie the Love Bug fame stars as sinister veterinarian Herman Varnick; Vets who owned their own practice made good money, even back in the early 1990s, but Varnick drove a 1990 Porsche 911 Carrera and I always had the feeling that a vet in the LA suburbs would have to have some sort of side hustle going on (it could be legal or illegal) in order to afford such a car; At the same time, main human character George Newton (Charles Grodin) owned his own business, an air freshener manufacturing company. The Newton residence was a very nice 2-story home in the suburb of Pasadena (at least the real-life house is in Pasadena; The movie simply implies that the movie is set in Southern California, based on the scenery and the fact that every single vehicle has a California plate, but no specific location is given*).


*At the very end of the movie, when the local news is covering the court case against Herman Varnick and his two cronies, George and is family are interviewed and referred to as "The Newton Family from Valley Vincent" or something like that (I've been watching the first movie on and off for almost 30 years and I still can't figure out what the reporter is saying; There are A LOT of California towns with the word "Valley" in them, so I'm guessing "Valley Vincent" was just made up to represent your typical LA suburb.*

Anyway, so George owns his own company and is obviously making a six figure salary, yet he drives a 1990 Chevy Lumina Euro and his wife drives a 1983 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser station wagon. However, considering that they have three kids and live in the suburbs of LA, a nearly decade-old station wagon makes sense; The owners of the bar where I used to work are multimillionaires. They have a few cars, but they primarily drive a 2016 Tundra 1794 with over 100K on the clock, a 2009 Honda Element, and a 1994 Land Rover Defender 90. Middle child Ted Newton is about 11 or 12, which would put his birth year in about 1980. Oldest child Ryce Newton was born in the late 1970s; So, if the station wagon is a 1983 and youngest child Emily was born in 1984, then George and wife Alice probably bought the Oldsmobile when she was pregnant with Emily. By 1992, a 1983 anything would probably be long since paid off, and if there was nothing wrong with the car, why get rid of it and have payments again?

The station wagon makes sense, but for George, I would have made his car a late 1980s Mercedes 300E or something, or perhaps a Lexus LS400. The Newton family seems partial to GM vehicles, and I think an SUV like a Blazer or a Jimmy would have worked for George as well, but a Lumina...?

The acting by everyone in the movie is stellar, but as I stated before the plot doesn't make much sense. Dr. Herman Varnick is a licensed veterinarian, but this is just a cover; He uses animals for unethical tests. This isn't the part that doesn't make sense. What doesn't make sense is that Varnick would pay some common street criminals to burglarize a pet shop (this is pretty much how the movie starts) and steal puppies when they could buy them legally or adopt them from a rescue organization or the local pound/shelter. When the Newtons bring Beethoven for a checkup at Varnick's animal hospital, Varnick does not realize that Beethoven is the same St. Bernard puppy who escaped from his goons at the start of the film; However, he decides from the moment he sees the now-grown Beethoven that he is the perfect "large dog" for the ammo he is being paid to test. I find it very hard to believe that Varnick could not have obtained a St. Bernard or other large breed from an animal shelter or rescue organization LEGALLY. The fact that the dog used for the ammo test had to be Beethoven is what doesn't make sense, but without that twisted plot there would not be a movie...

Varnick shows up at the Newton home unannounced, under the guise of making a house call to check up on Beethoven, and ends up staging an elaborate faked attack using fake blood; Youngest child Emily Newton, watching the whole scene from a second floor window, sees Varnick hit Beethoven before the dog lunges at him. Varnick threatens to sue the Newtons if Beethoven is not immediately brought to his animal hospital to be put down. George very reluctantly brings Beethoven to the vet and drops him off, and then the two cronies take Beethoven from the animal hospital to Varnick's secret lab. Over the course of the next several hours, George and Alice begin to realize that something wasn't right, and the whole family drives to Varnick's hospital. After a showdown that begins with the family discovering that Varnick had faked his injury, and ending with George decking Varnick and knocking him out, the family secretly follows Varnick to his secret lab/hideout. George infiltrates the building while Alice calls the police, and after hearing a gunshot, Ted jumps behind the wheel of the aforementioned '83 Olds wagon and drives it through the side of Varnick's building with his terrified sisters in the backseat; This saves the lives of George, Beethoven, and probably four dozen other dogs. Amazingly enough, aside from some superficial scratches, the station wagon does not appear to have any significant damage from being rammed through a large wooden door.

Varnick and his cronies are arrested, charged, and convicted of animal cruelty and numerous other felonies; George finally accepts Beethoven as a member of the family, Ryce ends up finally getting to date the boy she has a crush on after he see her on TV following the coverage of the Varnick case, and the Newtons act as a foster family to the four dozen or so dogs rescued from Varnick until permanent homes can be found. Happy ending

 

Did you read above? My mechanic checked out the tire and it was not punctured...

The damage was purely superficial!


The tires do only have about a year of service left on them because they have over 30K miles and are showing of wear and cracking/dry rot, but I have been satisfied with the Cooper Discover AT/3s and will be buying four more as replacements when the time comes!

 

It was actually Mavis Discount Tire; TW automatically links only the "Discount Tire" part...

I actually purchased the tires from my mechanic because he offered them at a lower price than the other shops I went to, but Mavis was offering a road hazard warranty even though the tires weren't purchased from them because my tires were still practically new.

 

One thing that diehard car people like me will immediately notice about Beethoven’s 2nd is that the family station wagon is an entirely different make and model; In Beethoven, the wagon is an Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, specifically listed as a 1983 model on IMCDB. This car sports wheel covers from a Chevy Caprice (same basic car) throughout the movie, but is clearly identifiable as an Oldsmobile...

In the sequel, the car is a Mercury Grand Marquis Colony Park, also listed as a 1983 model by IMCDB (some fans claim it’s 1981 model); The car sports wood paneling and an exterior paint color similar to the Oldsmobile from the first film, but it’s clearly a FoMoCo product rather than GM.

 

The Lumina is gone in second film, replaced by what IMCDB identifies as a 1986 Buick Skylark; Like the Oldsmobile wagon in the first movie with Chevy wheel covers, the Buick is sporting Chevy Celebrity wheel covers. My honest-to-goodness theory is that the 1990 Lumina was a 3-year lease, likely in the name of George’s air freshener company rather than George himself. The second movie takes place roughly a year after the first, in 1993; This means that the Lumina’s lease would have been up and George gave it back. A major secondary plot in the second movie is that George’s company is not doing very well and money is tight; In need of a reliable car but not wanting to spend money on a lease, he likely bought the older Buick in cash.

As for the station wagon, the Oldsmobile was likely sold privately or given back to the agency that leased it to the producers after filming ceased; From what I’ve read, they were not intending to make a second movie, but the first was so successful that they decided to make it. They likely could not get that same Oldsmobile or one just like it, so they settled for the closest thing that they could find; The Mercury seen in the second movie is likely supposed to be the same car from the first movie...

 

Spoiler

Another side plot in the first Beethoven movie is that George is looking to expand his air freshener business, and is almost duped by shady investors into signing away his business to them; Beethoven discreetly wraps his leash around the patio table and the chairs the investors (a husband and wife) are sitting in. When the oblivious husband throws a ball for Beethoven, he takes off and drags
him and his wife for probably half a mile!

The deal is obviously cancelled, and George is upset; Alice gives George a piece of her mind, saying that the couple was “rude to his kids and treated her like dirt”, further stating that “Beethoven was the only one of them with the courage to give them the ride they deserved”...



Yet another pivotal point in the movie, right before the infamous chair ride scene, is when Emily falls into the babysitter’s pool and almost drowns; Beethoven senses something is wrong and in a classic “Lassie moment” escapes his backyard pen and runs a few blocks to the babysitter’s house where he jumps in the pool and brings Emily to safety. Beethoven makes himself scarce and heads back home right before Ryce notices her little sister in the pool; The babysitter wants to keep the pool incident under wraps, but Ryce insists on calling her mom. Alice shows up to get the kids, fires the inattentive babysitter on the spot, and brings them home. Nobody other than Emily seemed to know that Beethoven had rescued the girl...

In a similar incident of discreet intervention, Beethoven scares off three bullies who were trying to fight Ted by standing directly behind Ted, and disappears before Ted sees him; As a result, Ted believes that clenching his fists intimidated the bullies into leaving and is seen that evening making muscles in his bathroom mirror...

 

I’ve known about it for a while, but this is my first time using it...

 

Congrats man, tickled for you. Hard to tell what's happened till you pull the culprit (nail, screw, wire, etc.) out. If it ain't leaking you are good to go. Our Wal-mart would never fix a puncture that near the edge, their limit is appx. 1" from edge of tread. But our Wal-mart is strange, they look at the sticker in the door jam to see the tire size listed there. They "WILL NOT" install a tire any larger than that sticker says. Happy for you & Keep on Truck'in

 

Spoiler

Beethoven’s 2nd has much better plot in my opinion; Beethoven meets and falls in love with a female St. Bernard named Missy who is at the center of a bitter divorce between her loving owner and his total c**t of a soon-to-be ex-wife. The ex-wife, Regina (played by Debi Mazar), takes Missy from her ex and vows to keep her until he pays her $50K in alimony. Beethoven rescues Missy from Regina’s posh condo and the two end up having puppies together. In an entertaining twist of events, Ted and Emily end up rescuing the puppies from Regina but are unable to save Missy. With the help of older sister Ryce, they act as surrogate mothers to the four puppies, working in shifts to feed them and care for them. Ryce ends up lying about getting allergy shots in order to ditch school to care
for the puppies, and her mom eventually finds out when a concerned science teacher calls her. Ryce assures her mom that she is not drinking, doing drugs, or sleeping around (specifically, she said she wasn’t pregnant; I knew what pregnancy was when I first saw the movie in about 1996 or so, but I was only 7 and had no idea where babies actually came from or what sex was, so this mother/daughter discussion always went over my head until about 2000 or so ). She confided in her mom (Alice; Portrayed in both films by Bonnie Hunt) that she and her younger siblings were caring for Beethoven’s puppies; A relieved Alice agrees to keep the secret from George.

A short time later, George discovers the puppies in the basement after hearing barking, and initially refuses to let his kids keep the dogs, but Ryce gives her dad an emotional speech about the puppies are their children and he relents.

A secondary plot of the movie, as stated above, is that George’s air freshener company is hurting financially and money is tight for the family. After meeting with a banker, the Newtons agree to a loan that would result in the bank foreclosing on their house if the product flops; Luckily, the new air fresheners end up being a success and the family does not lose their home.

With money tight, George’s Velcro supplier offers them the use of his lake house in the mountains free of charge, and the family graciously accepts. Beethoven and his puppies come along as well, and by coincidence Regina and her boyfriend are hiding out with Missy in a house across the lake.

In yet another subplot, Ryce falls in love with an outwardly charming but ultimately superficial guy from her high school; Ryce is implied to be about 15 and does not yet have a driver’s license, but the guy has a driver’s license and drives a late 1980s Camaro Z28 convertible. I believe Ryce’s love interest, Taylor, to be 17 at the oldest.

Ryce and Taylor kiss in the Camaro, and Ryce is utterly smitten; Taylor’s family owns a home on the same lake where the Newtons and Regina are staying, and Ryce ends up meeting Taylor while walking Beethoven one night. Ryce ties Beethoven to a support beam for the home’s back deck and heads up to party. Someone tries to coerce the very underaged Ryce into drinking a beer, but Taylor admonishes them; Taylor, who has been drinking, then gets Ryce to go upstairs with him under the guise of enjoying the view of the lake. He locks the bedroom door without Ryce seeing and Ryce discovers this when she tries to back downstairs.

Words like “rape” and “sex” are never used, but it should be pretty obvious to anyone over the age of ten or so what Taylor intended on doing to Ryce. Taylor changes from charming to creepy in a millisecond, saying that “this would be a night she would never forget” and a calm but clearly terrified Ryce backs away from him...

In a rather convenient sequence of events, Taylor’s drunk friends are pouring beer over the side of the deck onto Beethoven; The understandably frustrated St. Bernard beings fiercely attempting to break free of his leash. Much to the enjoyment of his drunk teenage tormenters, he causes the the deck to shake. After a few tries, Beethoven succeeds in dislodging the load-bearing beam; The deck is not entirely ripped from the house, but rather gets tilted downward. A domino effect causes the back wall of the house to come loose, and one big jolt causes Taylor to go flying from the second floor into the lake; Taylor is unharmed, but his sinister plan is ruined.

Ryce thanks Beethoven for saving her, though it is never shown how she gets out of the still-locked bedroom or how the Newtons didn’t end up on the hook for paying to fix the house (in all honesty, it wasn’t Beethoven’s fault, and I’m guessing it was attributed to shoddy construction and covered by insurance).

The climax of the film is when Regina and her boyfriend end up at the same fair as the Newton family and the dogs. Regina takes the puppies from the kids, Beethoven rescues Missy from Regina’s Mercedes in the parking lot, and both groups end up in an intense showdown on cliff; Regina and her boyfriend end up falling over the cliff, though they don’t seem to get injured, the judge ultimately ruled in favor of Regina’s ex

 

So I guess this is a PSA not to bring a lifted truck or any vehicle with larger than factory aftermarket wheels and tires to that Walmart...?

My truck came with 215/70R15, but I’m rolling 225/70R15...

 

Actress Debi Mazar was younger when the movie was made than I am now, by almost four years to be exact; She was born in 1964 and wasn’t even 29 when they made the movie...

I feel old, and I’ll bet she does too!

Debi’s character of Regina is referred to as a “modern day Cruella DeVil” by some people; While the character definitely shows traits of being a sociopath or psychopath and is definitely a narcissist at a bare minimum, she does not come across as being anywhere near as evil or crazy as Cruella...

That said, Debi Mazar is HOT in that movie! She has a nice body and dresses very nice, and I can see why her ex-husband who owns Missy may have been initially attracted to her at first.

The most recent picture I’ve seen of Mazar is from 2009, which would put her age at either 44 or 45; She was still very attractive the, and I would be lying if I told you I didn’t dream of sleeping with her when I was younger! She is pushing 60 now, but I’m guessing she still attractive...

 

That is coming along nicely!