60+ year old thread.

Hmmm, thinking about my most recent post, it seems I lied; my 1970 Challenger had 4 pedals under the dash, Parking Brake, Clutch, Brake, Throttle.

 

I've had sticks for years. One of my favorites was my 1999 Nissan Maxima with a 5speed. I could leave it in second gear and not touch the clutch, which was suitable for 5 to 60mph. Mopac, Austin, TX, was the major highway through town, so as long as you could leave a gap and keep rolling, you were okay. A lot of idiots would spot my gap and jump in there. !@$%! It was a touchy clutch, so not one to teach the kids how to drive a manual.

My best for teaching manuals to the kids was my FJ40 and FJ60. My daughter loved the old FJ60, but her feet were too short! Hard reaching pedals unless sitting on the edge of the seat. Not a safe driving position. The 2F is a Chevy Stovebolt six tractor motor; let the clutch out at idle and roll down the road.

I wanted the DCLB, the back seat for my Golden Retriever. In Hindsight, ACLB with 6-speed would have been a preferred option, but my knee says, "Automatic is fine." With the automatic, heavy traffic in town, I leave "ECT" engaged for better throttle response. Open highway, don't touch it, and set Cruise Control at 65mph for best mileage.

Meanwhile, my wife is still in the Hospital. Doc is running fecal cultures to see if she is dealing with C-diff, which isn't good—surfing the web to take my mind off things. Appreciate Kurt's posting of the car meeting; my wife asked what was funny. Cobra with no fangs, but these days a replica is still fun.

Take care, everyone, and let those close to you know how much you love them. My wife grew up with her German & Jewish heritage that you don't show emotion nor say those words. I keep reassuring our kids how much I love them.

 

Web surfing. I still like older Toyota's, the Crown Wagon being interesting. 1JZ six-cylinder RWD has a ton of options.
https://www.vansfromjapan.com/inventory/toyota/crown-wagon/100112/

Never buy one sight unseen, but inspect for hidden rust as coastal vehicles can have a pretty body and hide a ton of rust. I
wonder if a 9' long Velomobile could fit in the back of HighAce? Lack of sleep, and web surfing it getting to me (lots of Youtube with cc).

 

First batch of tomatoes from our garden. The plants are loaded with tomatoes, it’ll be a bumper crop. I love fresh tomatoes in salads, sliced, sliced with a little salt or sliced with a little balsamic vinegar and crumpled Gorgonzola cheese (the really fine expensive balsamic)

 

Well, that stinks, wishing and hoping for a positive outcome for her.

In the process of string trimming, one tank of gas down and a couple more to go, and it's hot!
Pulled the trigger and ordered fuel oil this morning which comes under "you do what you gotta do", probably going to have a heart attack when I see the price of coal when I order it.

 

So... We're talking first cars? I learned to drive on my father's 1947 Dodge Liquimatic. That's a column shift with a clutch you didn't really have to use.
My first car of my own was a 1949 Ford Convertible. 3 on a tree with overdrive. Loved that Overdrive! Flipped the shifter over to the left side and freed up my right arm for other duties. Really loved that overdrive!
Then a 1931 Model A Ford, followed by a 1939 Ford 2dr with a top shifter. I learned speed shifting on that Ford. Cut down the shift lever to just about the height of the bench seat, and put on a heavy brass shift knob. Girl friend liked that shift knob, for some reason. 1st to 2nd gears was just a flutter of the gas pedal and a slam into 2nd gear. Then I learned how to rebuild a Ford 3 speed transmission. Who'da thunk that?
I paid a whole $100 for a WWII Willys Jeep while on Guam. Compound Low could climb a tree. Sold that for a small profit and bought a new Austin Healy Sprite 4 speed.
My first automatic was a 1955 Chevrolet. I think that was the one that cost me a fast $5 for the gas station mechanic to come out and put the gear selector in Park. He'd brought a jumper cable 'cause I told him the battery was dead. I blamed my wife, he got a chuckle outta that.

 

CPAP update...

ResMed has been having challenges due to the ubiquitous "chip shortage" and in response recently released a new machine called "AirSense 10 Card-to-Cloud"; this machine does away with the cellular interface and I believe the Bluetooth interface as well and relies instead on an SD card; given I haven't reported usage data in nearly 15 years, I don't really need those extra price goodies anyway. Today my quest, sandwiched between meetings, was to find an outfit with this unit in stock and get it ordered ASAP. Why the urgency? Recently I've noticed after nearly 15 rock-solid years, my old CPAP machine has gradually started delivering less and less pressure over the last week or three; my bet is it is going to go Tango Uniform sooner than later.

After several hours on the phone with my insurance company and over a dozen local DMEs, it became apparent this machine, while perfect for me, is not at all liked by the DMEs as unlike other AirSense 10 machines, the automagic reporting aspect of the "C2C" version has been removed and they refuse to order it. Long story short, I went on line, found a C2C in stock from one of the more popular CPAP providers, uploaded my prescription, and ordered it; the shipping confirmation I received says it'll be here Thursday.

From the "Annoying but I'll live department": by paying for it myself I'll miss out on any insurance reimbursement, however, given I still had another $500(ish) of my annual deductible to fulfil, my extra costs out of pocket (out of HSA actually) amount to about $550. I'll let y'all know how I like the new unit in a few days.

@Sprig, thanks again for the nudge, I may have procrastinated until the old machine finally died.

 

Yikes, the 2-Speed "Slip and Slide PowerGlide"?

 

It does get extremely hot in Texas, and the only redeeming part is that some parts of the state have very low humidity. I remember one year Dallas/Fort Worth was getting triple digit temps around 110-114.

Nice pics of the car show. Some really nice exotics showed up.

 

Ya, there were a whole lot of Automatics in those early married years, all but two of them from private parties. Never buy a used car from a car lot. Tricky Dick didn't get that nickname by accident.

 

When I got my license at 16 my brother who owned a trucking company in San Francisco threw me the keys to a semi and said it had to be at 101 California street in 2 hours. I said I don’t know how to drive a semi. He said you will by the time you get there.

that’s how I learned to drive a stick and a truck. Anyone that’s ever been to SF can appreciate the task…… things were simpler in the 70’s……..

 

Oh, I don't know... Granted, in the 70's there were fewer bicycles, but you still had to dodge crazy taxi drivers... And then there were those kids driving semi trucks.

 

Prayers for wife and you too.

 

Good morning fellow Porchatonians!!

 

Prayers for the wife Tom.

My Day 3 of early voting, actual day 5 of early voting is completed. One more day to go. I am no longer young.

Going to a specialist this morning for two medical problems. Should be fun.

 

Good Morning Porch Pals & Gal! Long day for a day with a nap! Lowe's delivery has no feed back loop, so first it was all day Monday, then 2 - 6. So, stripped out the frig and half the utility room in the morning, and waited. About 4, email came said it's on it's way, so got up to open the door to watch and the bell rang. They had to take off the door, but quick about getting it in. So, later, everything in the frig and freezer is cold or frozen again.
Run some errands, and paint the table at the pool today. At least I can jump in!

Exciting photo evidence of big white boxes.



Now, what do I need that's a Prime Day bargain?

 

Long night. She was back into surgery at 8:00 PM, colon repaired with a few stitches, and back into recovery at 1:00 AM. Her surgeon is our age. I hope he got some sleep last night. Sepsis is not good, but I'm still amazed she has survived. We need some rest. I appreciate the prayers.

On the bright side, the fridge is getting empty, so I finally got a chance to wash out the shelves. Things I do to keep my humor up. Oh, beef billion in the back of the fridge had "best by 2019." Hmm, pre-covid stuff, time to pitch it! My biggest challenge is lack of smell and odd taste, so I have to use caution as I tend to eat things that have gone bad—Ground Chuck in the freezer for two years. Eat or pitch? Taco night?

Meanwhile, my sweet Golden Retriever was lapping water all over the place. I didn't realize a puddle of water was on the freshly mopped floor. Residue soap and water, and my feet went out from under me. I spent about an hour contemplating life while the dogs were like, "great, you are on the floor. Pet me." It might have been a dog plot to get the sirloin I pulled out to thaw.

Never a dull moment around here. Take care, everyone.

 

Prayers for your wife for a quick recovery Tom . Sending positive thoughts out as well. I will keep you in my prayers and thoughts as well. Think positiive.

 

All good Karma for you and she Tom!

 

I've heard that about Golden Retrievers. Nefarious motives behind those big, liquid eyes...