Random Thoughts Thread

[ocnblu]

[balthazar]

[ocnblu]

[balthazar]

[daves87rs]

  On 5/11/2020 at 2:35 AM, balthazar said:

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Now that is a nice rear.....

[Robert Hall]

  On 5/8/2020 at 5:39 PM, Robert Hall said:

Crazy weather today... 37F and snow flurries...more like March than May...

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...and more of this today....yay

[Robert Hall]

Got an airbag recall notice email from Ford today for an '09 Ford Ranger.  To my email address, but with my estranged brother's name and truck mentioned.  That is weird....

[balthazar]

  On 5/11/2020 at 6:51 AM, daves87rs said:

Now that is a nice rear.....

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B-Body, ALWAYS, over F- or A-Body. ?
- - - - -
Ann Arbor MI '1937 :

[daves87rs]

  On 5/11/2020 at 12:21 PM, Robert Hall said:

...and more of this today....yay

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Yep, adding wind and flurries to here too..... ? 

[trinacriabob]

 

  On 5/9/2020 at 1:32 PM, ocnblu said:

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This is a nicely done ad, with mostly slick black and white graphics, not to mention that interesting building beyond, except that the verbiage is a little long.  Yes, Amoco got the logo.  But which Standard Oil was this - of Illinois, Ohio?  I ask because Standard stations in California became Chevron, which is headquartered in Concord, CA (in the East Bay) last I knew ...

Likewise, Ma Bell broke apart into a bevy of Baby Bells and now they're back in bed together again, so to speak, decades later.

Edited May 11, 2020 by trinacriabob

[balthazar]

^ Anti-trust enforcement is basically a theoretical concept for the last 25 or so years.

[G. David Felt]

  On 5/11/2020 at 1:52 PM, Robert Hall said:

Got an airbag recall notice email from Ford today for an '09 Ford Ranger.  To my email address, but with my estranged brother's name and truck mentioned.  That is weird....

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GM has done this as I get emails all the time about my parents Cadillac's. Very weird, no matter what I do to correct this or them, it always gets merged back into my email address.

Auto companies suck at keeping family members with same name separate for communications.

[A Horse With No Name]

  On 5/11/2020 at 12:14 AM, ocnblu said:

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Firebird 400 for me, please. 

  On 5/11/2020 at 12:41 AM, balthazar said:

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Pontiacs of the 1960's always look so good in white. 

 

Regardless of your politics, time we started taking care of Americans. This guy makes a lot of sense, please listen. 

[ocnblu]

  On 5/11/2020 at 1:52 PM, Robert Hall said:

Got an airbag recall notice email from Ford today for an '09 Ford Ranger.  To my email address, but with my estranged brother's name and truck mentioned.  That is weird....

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Have you checked your basement

[Robert Hall]

  On 5/11/2020 at 4:27 PM, dfelt said:

GM has done this as I get emails all the time about my parents Cadillac's. Very weird, no matter what I do to correct this or them, it always gets merged back into my email address.

Auto companies suck at keeping family members with same name separate for communications.

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What is odd is how my email got connected to him, though, considering I haven't had a Ford product registered at the family farm in 25 years..  before I got the particular email address...

Edited May 11, 2020 by Robert Hall

[riviera74]

  On 5/11/2020 at 3:46 PM, trinacriabob said:

 

This is a nicely done ad, with mostly slick black and white graphics, not to mention that interesting building beyond, except that the verbiage is a little long.  Yes, Amoco got the logo.  But which Standard Oil was this - of Illinois, Ohio?  I ask because Standard stations in California became Chevron, which is headquartered in Concord, CA (in the East Bay) last I knew ...

Likewise, Ma Bell broke apart into a bevy of Baby Bells and now they're back in bed together again, so to speak, decades later.

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The ad mentions Chicago, IL so I assume that AMOCO was based in Chicago.

According to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoco

[Robert Hall]

1970s pic of a Sohio station at Sunset & Wilshire in Steubenville, Ohio..about a mile from my childhood home..I remember riding w/ my Dad and stopping there.  It's still there, a BP station now.

[riviera74]

  On 5/11/2020 at 3:56 PM, balthazar said:

^ Anti-trust enforcement is basically a theoretical concept for the last 25 or so years.

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Try since 1981.  There has been virtually no antitrust enforcement (with very few exceptions) since then.

[oldshurst442]

  On 5/11/2020 at 3:06 PM, balthazar said:

B-Body, ALWAYS, over F- or A-Body. ?

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Them's fightin' words...

Period correct fightin' song.  (Accounting for both Pontiacs pictured above that is) 

Id challenge you to a drag race for pink slips if it werent for this Covid19 thing.  That and I dont own an F-Body nor an A-Body...just yet.  

So you lucky!

 

 

 

 

[daves87rs]

  On 5/11/2020 at 10:46 PM, Robert Hall said:

1970s pic of a Sohio station at Sunset & Wilshire in Steubenville, Ohio..about a mile from my childhood home..I remember riding w/ my Dad and stopping there.  It's still there, a BP station now.

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My dad used to work a 2nd job at a Standard/Aamaco station back in the late 80s/early 90s. Used to run around that station as kid.....also worked on my first cars there as well...... ?

Have a very soft spot for those stations....

[balthazar]

Sure hope this is photoshop :

[Robert Hall]

  On 5/12/2020 at 4:48 AM, daves87rs said:

My dad used to work a 2nd job at a Standard/Aamaco station back in the late 80s/early 90s. Used to run around that station as kid.....also worked on my first cars there as well...... ?

Have a very soft spot for those stations....

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Yeah, they had nice design...still remember the ding sound you would hear when you pulled in (drove over a hose to trigger it?)...   I like the clean, glassy 50s-60s gas station designs, esp. those w/ the outward leaning glass...

I also remember Boron stations that had the same logo as Sohio...not sure where I saw those stations, maybe when visiting relatives as a kid in Indiana and Kentucky. 

[A Horse With No Name]

https://hgrinc.com/productDetail/Fabrication/Used-Crescent-Vertical-Band-Saw/02202210072/

Open link, piece of GM lordstown history. If I had room in my shop, I would bring it home.

[daves87rs]

  On 5/12/2020 at 11:56 AM, Robert Hall said:

Yeah, they had nice design...still remember the ding sound you would hear when you pulled in (drove over a hose to trigger it?)...   I like the clean, glassy 50s-60s gas station designs, esp. those w/ the outward leaning glass...

I also remember Boron stations that had the same logo as Sohio...not sure where I saw those stations, maybe when visiting relatives as a kid in Indiana and Kentucky. 

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Yep, think my Dad might still have nightmares for me going over it with my bike/car. ? 

This station did have some glass like that....with my more modern brick. The owner at the time even added a little cash wash to the side for a while......

[balthazar]

  On 5/12/2020 at 2:29 PM, A Horse With No Name said:

...piece of GM lordstown history. If I had room in my shop, I would bring it home.

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2970 lbs, 220/440 A - quite the machine.
I have a Rockwell band saw, nothing nearly as monstrous. It came from Benetton- they used it to cut prototype footwear in half so no one would fish them out of the dumpster. Light use. I'll never part with it- so handy... tho it's got some quirks / not overly fast.
IMO, any decent shop needs 3 things- a drill press, a band saw and a good vintage vise.

Edited May 12, 2020 by balthazar

[A Horse With No Name]

  On 5/12/2020 at 5:11 PM, balthazar said:

2970 lbs, 220/440 A - quite the machine.
I have a Rockwell band saw, nothing nearly as monstrous. It came from Benetton- they used it to cut prototype footwear in half so no one would fish them out of the dumpster. Light use. I'll never part with it- so handy... tho it's got some quirks / not overly fast.
IMO, any decent shop needs 3 things- a drill press, a band saw and a good vintage vise.

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Agree on all 3. I have a heavyweight Buffalo 18 drill press....about 600 pounds of Iron. About 1937 or 1938.

Powermatic 87 Wood and metal bandsaw, about 1300 pounds.....I love heavy old industrial machinery. Works so well.

 

 

Similar in colors to the 69 pace car but a Z28, I like it.

V8 love for today....lets see if we can turn the volume up a bit on this one!

[A Horse With No Name]

$8500 on Facebook marketplace, other pics look very good, clean car.

[A Horse With No Name]

 

Not terribly safe without guards but I love the look of this style vintage Bandsaw.

https://www.plu.edu/marcom/news/2020/05/11/daniel-hachet-green/

 

My son, doing well.

I love this house.

[A Horse With No Name]

 

This is a Corvette Challenge car, C4...it just screams get in and drive me hard. I actually am developing a fetish for C4 vettes.

[A Horse With No Name]

Restored vintage Delta drill press....not mine...

[A Horse With No Name]

My political thought for the day, given how much I like this election cycle.

[G. David Felt]

  On 5/12/2020 at 8:34 PM, A Horse With No Name said:

My political thought for the day, given how much I like this election cycle.

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Here is my thought on this too:

[A Horse With No Name]

[oldshurst442]

  On 5/12/2020 at 7:57 PM, A Horse With No Name said:

 

This is a Corvette Challenge car, C4...it just screams get in and drive me hard. I actually am developing a fetish for C4 vettes.

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Same here.  C5 Vettes also. 

I posted some C4 Vettes in another thread 2-3 weeks ago, and ever since then, I fell in love with them again. The early ones. 1984-1989.  With the square flat front and concave back.   

And Ive been loving the C5 for about a week now when I saw one driving around.  Saw the same one again just now. Literally. I just came home.   I saw it 2 minutes before entering my home. I kissed the wife. She told me to disinfect my hands before kissing her, said hi to my kids and turned on the computer to log in this site, read what you wrote and responded to it with this lame post.   

 

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by oldshurst442

[balthazar]

  On 5/12/2020 at 7:25 PM, A Horse With No Name said:

Agree on all 3. I have a heavyweight Buffalo 18 drill press....about 600 pounds of Iron. About 1937 or 1938.

Powermatic 87 Wood and metal bandsaw, about 1300 pounds.....I love heavy old industrial machinery. Works so well

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• I have a Champion Blower & Forge post drill, about 1905. It works very well but I haven't mounted it yet- need to sell off my 1940 Index No. 55 milling machine to clear a post. I believe it weighs 180 lbs.
• My tabletop drill press is a Sprunger, maybe circa 1965-70. The 2nd of those 3 came to me free.

Horse- would enjoy trading pics of your/my machines here...

[ocnblu]

Sexy '73 Grand Am!

[ocnblu]

[daves87rs]

  On 5/12/2020 at 8:34 PM, A Horse With No Name said:

My political thought for the day, given how much I like this election cycle.

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Kinda hard not to say no to.....

[trinacriabob]

  On 5/11/2020 at 10:42 PM, riviera74 said:

The ad mentions Chicago, IL so I assume that AMOCO was based in Chicago.

According to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoco

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Yes, so there must have been two different companies  - Standard Oil of Illinois might have been Amoco, founded by Rockefeller - which is now BP.  They occupied what is now the AON Tower in Chicago.  The Chicago based entity's stations were always Amoco to customers.  They had a big geographic reach, IIRC.  I recall Amoco stations around Atlanta.

Standard Oil of Ohio is a little trickier.  Rockefeller was also at the head of it.  However, it showed headquarters in NYC but refining operations mostly in Ohio.

The only one that remains sort of unchanged is Chevron, previously Standard Oil of California.  Their reach is amazing.  From Seattle to San Diego to Miami and then some.  My preferred brand of fuel, along with Shell.

[riviera74]

  On 5/13/2020 at 2:08 PM, trinacriabob said:

Standard Oil of Ohio is a little trickier.  Rockefeller was also at the head of it.  However, it showed headquarters in NYC but refining operations mostly in Ohio.

The only one that remains sort of unchanged is Chevron, previously Standard Oil of California.  Their reach is amazing.  From Seattle to San Diego to Miami and then some.  My preferred brand of fuel, along with Shell.

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So did Esso and Standard Oil of New York.  These days, they are the union of Exxon (since 1972) and Mobil: nowadays ExxonMobil.  I have quite a few Mobil stations in Florida and Exxon stations are all over the South.  Their reach went national a long time ago.

[Robert Hall]

So BP still uses the SOHIO brand name at marinas in Ohio, I've seen the signs in recent years.

These towers about a mile from me (Independence, OH) were BP's Cleveland HQ for a number of years, they are now a Cleveland Clinic location, but the roof lighting at night is still BP green.

[trinacriabob]

  On 5/13/2020 at 1:10 AM, ocnblu said:

Sexy '73 Grand Am!

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I liked this car back in the day.  The front end was unique but still okay because the grille slats very vertical, without any of that '77 and '78 Firebird stuff.  The dash was great.  The only issue with '73 to '77 was the strong taper in the back, that almost flattens the trunk.  I feel that if the rear part of the car had more (upward) definition, they would have sold more Grand Ams ... and more (Grand) Le Manses.  Just a thought.  (This is where Photoshop would come in handy.)

  On 5/13/2020 at 5:00 PM, riviera74 said:

So did Esso and Standard Oil of New York.  These days, they are the union of Exxon (since 1972) and Mobil: nowadays ExxonMobil.  I have quite a few Mobil stations in Florida and Exxon stations are all over the South.  Their reach went national a long time ago.

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I knew of ExxonMobil.  We had a lot of Exxon stations when we lived in California, but probably more Mobil stations.  I don't see as many of them around when I'm there on vacation or visiting.

I did not know of Esso and Standard Oil of New York.

Edited May 13, 2020 by trinacriabob

[riviera74]

Esso essentially WAS Standard Oil of New Jersey, which became Exxon in 1972.  Not sure when Standard Oil of New York became Mobil though.

[Robert Hall]

Beautiful weather today.  Planted some trees, enjoying a margarita now.  Ordered some bbq, going to start a fire later.  Enjoying isolation. 

[trinacriabob]

If you could go somewhere on an airplane - say a 1.5 to 2.5 hour flight - would you do it?  And, if you were able to, what precautions would you take ...  that they are not already taking for you?  

[balthazar]

  On 5/13/2020 at 5:46 PM, trinacriabob said:

 I feel that if the rear part of the car had more (upward) definition, they would have sold more Grand Ams ... and more (Grand) Le Manses.  Just a thought.

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Pontiac sold 43K GAs in '73- I think that's pretty good. GTO was down to 4800 sales (same body of course).
IMO the nose is great- far more appealing than any other A-Body GM of this generation. But yes- the tapered deck wasn't my favorite, but it fit the car well. The short-lived ducktail spoiler from the '72 GTO (or the Can Am spoiler of '77) looked good. Different... but similar :

[oldshurst442]

  On 5/14/2020 at 1:13 AM, trinacriabob said:

If you could go somewhere on an airplane - say a 1.5 to 2.5 hour flight - would you do it?  And, if you were able to, what precautions would you take ...  that they are not already taking for you?  

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1.5 to 2.5 hour airplane ride?

From Montreal, that would land me where?

North?

No thanx. I could drive up north.  No need to take a plane.

East?

Just as with going north. Id rather drive to Gaspesie or the Maritime Provinces. 

South?

The US?

That take me to NYC about?

Yeah....  I LOVE New York. But now may not be the time to visit NYC.  Montreal is faring better than NYC, but that aint saying much...  No thanks.  I am not about to cross the border. Closed or not...

West?

Past Toronto?

There isnt much past Toronto...  perhaps a longer plane trip west would be good. Id go to Banff or Northern British Columbia but that is longer than a 2.5 hour plane trip.  So we are looking at about Toronto and a little past Toronto.  Well...Toronto as with the  NYC/Montreal comparison. Toronto is faring better than Montreal, but that aint saying much also. Toronto could easily have a deadlier 2nd wave as much as Montreal could.    Past Toronto and  Id rather just be locked up in my basement. Id rather just stay put.

So yeah.  Montreal aint so bad in other words. 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by oldshurst442

[G. David Felt]

  On 5/14/2020 at 1:13 AM, trinacriabob said:

If you could go somewhere on an airplane - say a 1.5 to 2.5 hour flight - would you do it?  And, if you were able to, what precautions would you take ...  that they are not already taking for you?  

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I prefer a good auto drive over a plane ride. So nope, will pass, keep my comfort, space and health safety for taking a drive over flying.

Yes I realize it will take me 4 times or longer to travel the same distance but still would rather drive and see North America.

[balthazar]

I would prefer to drive than fly also, but auto travel is no where near as safe as air travel.

[ocnblu]

  On 5/13/2020 at 5:46 PM, trinacriabob said:

The only issue with '73 to '77 was the strong taper in the back, that almost flattens the trunk.  I feel that if the rear part of the car had more (upward) definition, they would have sold more Grand Ams ... and more (Grand) Le Manses.  Just a thought.  (This is where Photoshop would come in handy.)

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Here's a "photoshop" showing the very same concern, remedied for the 1974 (and up to '77) model year.  The extreme taper was gone after 1973.  The '73 quarter panel and trunk lid were one-year part numbers, with subsequent years raised with more of an abrupt drop-off, as shown.  I like all of them myself, '73-'77.