car

In case it wasn't completely obvious, the white car I posted a crappy photo of the other day is now my car.

I drove it today.

wow.

I feel like I'm in the lap of luxury. I'm going to make a comparison table:

1983 S10 Blazer 1998 Plymouth Grand Voyager Expresso
smelled of gas fumes Only does so while fueling
allowed exhaust into the passenger cabin doesn't, unless the door is open
~8 mpg ~+20mpg
No power mirrors Power mirrors
Has no passenger side mirror All mirrors functional
Tinted Windows Tinted Windows
Tailgate Tailgate
No back window Back window
No back window Rear Wipers
Wipers, with intermittent setting Intermittent setting on this car is actually intentional
AM/FM Cassette Stereo with line in via 1/8" patch cable AM/FM radio, no cassette or line in
2 speakers At least 4
2 door 4 (dual sliding doors)
Seats 2-4 depending on number of pop bottles in car Seats 7 with room for lots of empty pop bottles
Carburetor Carb free!
v6 something v6 3.3L (?)
Power window (trying to operate the passenger side blows the fuse) Power Windows – all of them even!
A/C and Heat (who needs a compressor though, anyway (IOW: AC setting existed, nothing else did)) Dual comfort zone with A/C AND Heat, selectable with pushbutton instead of hand in the dash pulling cables
Car loses all cabin power (lights and accessories) when you hit bumps Occasionally the power locks go crazy when you hit a bump, but that's probably something obvious
Starts up if you ask nicely Starts up if you turn key
Grinding noise when you hit bumps no noise at all. In fact, what bump?
Reeks of gas and other car fluids Reeks of soccer mom
car, go? cargo!
Floor of car contains more oil than persian gulf probably enough baby puke or something like that to make a baby out of
shares the burden of a rainstorm takes rain like a man

Yea, so as you can see, it doesn't suck. It's actually pretty cool.
woo.

19 thoughts on “car”

  1. Great to hear that you've actually got safe, reliable transportation now. I never really figured you for the minivan type of guy, however. You do realize that with all that passenger capacity you will be in demand for carpooling to 2600 meetings (perhaps it's the perfect vehicle to kidnap in?) and events like the Dayton Hamvention and Notacon.

    My suggestion, install a better radio with the ability to play your own music (CD, cassettes, iPod, etc.) not just the corporate drivel that dominates the airwaves today.

    1. Yea, it goes like this:
      "What kind of vehicle are you looking for?"
      Reply:
      a) Not made by ford motor company. Every ford (and ford nameplate) I have had has had an awful repair history, and I don't feel like rolling the dice again.
      b) Mileage – has to be decent. No SUVs, no trucks.
      c) Legroom – must exist.
      d) Cargo capacity
      "So you're looking for something like a large sedan, or minivan"
      "affirmative."

      I have kinda been interested in a minivan for a while. It seats a bunch, it can have the seats removed to carry cargo, and I can move the seats forward and camp in the back end if I want. Pretty cool stuff.

      I have had thoughts of going to notacon and dayton in whatever my next vehicle is, and picked it with that in mind. Kidnapping stormgren was also discussed.

      All my anti-commercial radio rants should indicate that I not only considered the possibility that my vehicle only had am/fm, but had planned ahead. I did. My Sirius has integrated FM modulator, and my iPod now has a fm modulator dongle.

      1. Yes, but FM modulation has such a horribly narrow frequency range. You'll be losing much of the sound quality you're paying for through the FM modulator. Switching to something in-dash will eliminate that bottleneck in your vehicle's audio system.

          1. touche πŸ˜›

            But even thinking back to previous vehicles, I can only describe Paul's audio setups as OK at best. In other words, as long as he can hear his tunes, he's happy. I get the impression that it's the music content that Paul is more interested in, not so much how good (or bad) it sounds.

  2. I wish I had a picture of the grey ghetto van I drive. I think you can picture what it looks like if I tell you it's a 1991 Chrysler Voyager and his name is Mr. Spot. πŸ˜‰ My car would be your new car's fat, balding uncle.

  3. w00t

    FORD=Fix Or Repair Daily

    another item you forgot to compare:

    Rust:
    Rust is all that is holding the blazer together
    Rust has yet to attack the minivan…

    You are going to love the van and all the room it has for your gear, etc….

  4. Man, I need to drop by the IRC channel tonight at work and see what this Big Thing(tm) really is. πŸ™‚ I've been so busy with work and moving and trying to sell my house that I've not stopped in like I should be.

    Congratulations on the purchase. Knowing you, everything is in perfect order, lol. Don't be too nervous; it'll all go smoothly, especially with having your financial house in order.

  5. Funny, I've never heard an American hospital say anything remotely close to me like that. Usually it goes along the lines of "pay. We have lawyers". Thank God, I'm not a uninsured cash payer. Unless it's immediately life threatening they often have to prepay in cash.

    And sucky doctors are universal. It took 5 years and 3 doctors to diagnose me with hypoglycemia. All sorts of expensive tests, even antibiotics were issued to me. The one test that was never issued to me was a test for reactive hypoglycemia. Thankfully I had insurance or I would never have figured out the proper treatment was just to not eat things high in carbohydrates because my body would overreact and put too much insulin in my bloodstream.

    Hell, Becky's dentist's assistant told her that the reason she had a miscarriage was due to her gum disease. It was also supposedly the reason for her diabetes too. (we opened a complaint with the state health board over that one – they were also trying to scam us into paying for all sorts of excessive dental work, etc)

    So we by no means have any less quacks here. They get the same amount from my insurance if they treat me, or see me and send me home. In fact, they may get more if they don't treat me, as it's often cheaper than paying for the treatment itself.

    So yea, fuck this system in the ass too.

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