trinacriabob

This random, weird thought went through my head: I had lunch at Costco ... but I didn't have a Costco lunch.

I have been to Greece, but not to Santorini. I know that it's built around a volcano that "sank" into the Mediterranean and that the sand on the beach is a blackish color. The Amalfi Coast (this ^) and the coastline further up at the Cinque Terre are more verdant, so more like the Greek Ionian islands (i.e. Corfu) and Sporades islands (i.e. Skiathos) where the hillsides are fairly green, even during the summer. In the Cyclades, which is what most people associate with Greek islands, the look is very parched ... a lot like Southern California's interior during the hot summer. Santorini (Cyclades) Paros (Cyclades) The Greek islands are overrun by tourists. Their populations of actual inhabitants is low. Half the population of Greece lives in and around Athens.

Better late than never. Here are some sightings from 4 days in Eastern Sicily in early February ... when things were still "normal" there. By order of comic relief: 1. a Subaru doubling as a police car (they have different types of law enforcement and carabinieri is one of the different departments). A Subaru?!? 2. They have gone nuts with these weird pastel enamel colors on small cars over there, like this pale blue-green on Fiats, Renaults, Citroens, etc. This one is in front of a funeral home. You can also see that people have been spending more money on their cars over there. 3. This made for the best laugh. It must have belonged to the guy who worked inside the gas station and ran the credit card. I can't believe they sell these in Sicily. I don't see a big V8 under the hood and I wouldn't assume an automatic transmission is a given. It's fun to spot cars that are out of the ordinary from what you'd expect in a far-away place.

I just saw one of those blurbs on the most popular breed of dog, ranked from 1 to 99, based on registrations or something like that, and it goes like this: 1. Labrador 2. German Shepherd 3. Golden Retriever It's not surprising when you think of what dogs you see around. My three favorite breeds come in at 13, 25, and 29 on the list, respectively: Australian Shepherd, Border Collie, and Miniature Australian Shepherd. For these three breeds, you need a good dose of time and energy to keep up with them.

Hertz filed for bankruptcy. Under their umbrella are Thrifty, Dollar, and more. An institution since my childhood. Now, a casualty of COVID-19. Sad. Hey, who can forget this guy ... and this particular commercial was in 1993 ... think of the timing ... the police chase of the Ford Bronco on the 405 wasn't too long after 1993 ...

@oldshurst442 Monsieur du Quebec, j'ai trouve' un YouTube situe' dans ton ville, sur une des rues principales First, can you understand what those French people talking smack in the background are saying? I had seen this about a month ago and thought you'd enjoy it. This is one sweet Cutlass Supreme. It's obviously been kept shielded from the elements. A few things: - it needs its hood ornament back ... it would look better - it would look better with the alloy wheels instead of the wire wheel covers ... and the optional all aluminum alloys were even nicer than the much used body colored rally wheels - I'm not crazy about the two-tone paint - they could have thrown on a white landau vinyl top instead ... I remembered this video since we were recently discussing the Seafoam fuel system product ... this might be considered a metallic sea foam green, but Olds called it metallic Jadestone - check out at about 2:25 into the video - this car has NO air conditioning and it's the top of the line Brougham! - I like everything else about it ... I wonder which engine it had ... there would have only been 2 gasoline options that year: the 3.8 V6 or the small Olds V8 Tres belle ... beautiful!

@balthazar and others Take note, though, that, for some reason, Sunoco has fallen off the Top Tier list, possibly due to sourcing during the pandemic. They're supposed to be the fuel endorsed by NASCAR* or some other major automotive event. * oh yeah, baby, I'm all about NASCAR ... surely I jest ... my 200 hp can get me in trouble if I wanted it to ...

I've done well with Chevron's Techron. I didn't know about Lucas until they had a stadium named after them! I know that I have an aversion to the name Seafoam, based on visualizing sea foam (great at the beach, but for my engine?) and some guys at the parts stores counters seem to love Seafoam. I will most definitely not be making a habit out of this. If I plan to continue with this regimen, I'll do it once every 2,500 or 3,000 miles. The "problem" is that I have a car that hasn't yet been tuned that still idles quietly and runs smoothly. My perception is that it running slightly better. If it's $ 1 a gallon more and the tank holds 17 gallons, that's $ 17 I am paying every 3 months for this cheap thrill. I'm barely into this new full tank with Shell 93 octane. Let me ride out this tank to see if it keeps feeling different.

Fiat 500 L The Fiat 500 L would be my rental in the next location I needed a car and it, too, seemed to satisfy the economy car with automatic category for the rental agency. The difference is that this turned out to be a fairly different driving experience. This is exactly what I meant by saying "it depends" on which 500 we are talking about. I don't know if this L version is a wagon, a cross-over, or what. The driving experience in the 500 L was quite a bit better ... almost amazingly so. The car was roomier, its front seats were comfortable, its rear seats were usable, and, to allay my issues with open backs in small wagons, there was a sliding tonneau cover that hid what you had in the "luggage" compartment. So, both the driving and day in and day out usage experiences were better. The 500 L sits higher, giving the driver a more in-command feel of the situation. And, despite that, it's well planted. While it looks and is small, it feels bigger once inside. The 500 L held the road well, was more hushed than the coupe, and handled almost deftly even though you would never want to push this car in tight hairpins. The engine wasn't completely hushed but was more up to the task. For some reason, its automatic gearbox shifted more seamlessly. I remember that the fuel economy was good, though net exactly stellar. The dashboard had more meat on its bones than the base coupe. It was still minimalist in nature, but had more information and more features, made the car easier to live in, and included more storage. The finishes on the dash weren't what they could have been, even though the steering wheel featured stitched leather, but what the dashboard lacked in fit, finish, and content was negated by the 3 main bezel instrument cluster and more. Lastly, even with the thick rear pillars at its rear corners, visibility was excellent. These were the salient things I took away from renting this smaller vehicle. I grew to like this vehicle to some degree. I certainly liked it more than the 500 coupe I had less than a week before. I'm glad that I had this Fiat 500 L in more challenging urban and mountainous areas. I don't know if I'd buy one, but I found the 500 L easy to live with for those three days. 1. If this place looks familiar to you, that's no surprise. I'm on the Italian side of it rather than the Swiss side. I've never been to Swizerland, which is only about 5 to 10 miles from where I was standing. 2. This is what the vehicle looks like from the rear. Even with those pillars and black-outs, visibility was to my liking 3. The alloy wheels on this little sled are nice. 4. This is the expanse of the dashboard which isn't as boring as that in the base coupe but still has the sheetmetal accents I didn't like 5. The dashboard is nicer than in their little 500 coupe - look at the nicer steering wheel, its inclusion of more remote toggles, 3 bezels in the main instrument cluster, nicer A/C vents, and more 6. There are 3 ( ! ) separate places to put your things - a main glove box below, a small upper glove box, and an intermediate shelf 7. It may not look like an automatic transmission, but it functioned as one. You could probably shift manually but I thought I'd pass on that. 8. The rear seat is actually usable and functional. You can also see that the seats had nicer than usual stitching accents on them. 9. This is the rear cargo area and it has split folding rear seats 10. There are even some receptacles built into the sides of the rear cargo area 11. Connectivity is important End of Fiat 500 L section

This is 2 reviews in one. Like the title of the review says, with a Fiat 500, it depends. Here, I'm not talking about their reliability. That's a big question mark across the board. I'm talking about the driving experience in the 500 and how it varies by the model you have. In this case, a while back, I had 2 back to back Fiats in different places, given to me by the rental car to fulfill the economy car with automatic criteria. Fiat 500 coupe This is the reboot of the old school Fiat 500 coupe of yesteryear that people laughed at, stereotyped as the prototypical Italian car, was once truly ubiquitous, and could be picked up and moved by 2 or 3 strong people. The difference is that the more recent one is bigger, has cleaner sheetmetal, is tech savvy (from digital odometers to check engine systems to connectivity). While it may be cute, the basic Fiat 500 couperis basic transportation. And, even though it has a back seat, it's only meant for 2 people (and 2 small people, such as children) at the very most. This is because of the tight rear leg room and quickly raked roof line of the coupe. The trunk isn't that roomy, either. The driving experience is underwhelming. Power is suitable for most things except tricky passing. The automatic transmission shifts decently enough though it doesn't approximate the more seamless shifts of smaller VW or Citroen automatic econoboxes. You will definitely feel what your tires are doing. Perhaps too much so, as what is transmitted through the steering wheel almost gives you TMI. The ride is a little busy, but it's certainly better than that of older entry-level Fiats. The dashboard is simplistic. Basically, it's one big center oval with all the information arranged in or near it. With the Fiat 500 being simplistic all the way around, infotainment and climate controls are equally so. When it comes to the center stack, that's not such a bad thing. And, if it's a rental, you want to be able to quickly decipher the infotainment and climate control systems and be safely on your way. The one thing I did not like is that the dashboard has metal that was the same color as the car's exterior. In this case, the car was white. Hence, large expanses of the dashboard were of white sheetmetal with black inserts for the functional areas. I didn't mind parting with this car after having it for 3 days. Fortunately, those 3 days were in an area that was not at all demanding in terms of driving requirements. This Fiat 500 coupe reboot is aimed at the same type of buyer that would buy the VW "Bug" reboot ... and who might even put the flower in the vase on the dashboard (was that a hippie thing?). While this Fiat is larger than a Smart (for two), in terms of what it can do, it doesn't seem to be able to do much more. This is the kind of car you buy because you specifically want to ... or want to make some kind of statement by having it as you set of wheels. There are some smaller Euro and Asian automatic vehicles I have actually come to like. The basic Fiat 500 coupe is not one of them. 1. The location was inspiring. The car was less so. 2. Its lines are nicer than the original car from the '60s and '70s that it mimics 3. I forgot - it had a nifty glass roof that was fortunately tinted but required that the A/C be turned on at all times 4. With the sun setting behind me and not knowing Photoshop - yet, I couldn't get my shadow out of the passenger door 5. It's pretty much all here in that one pod. Thank goodness for a decent looking leather stitched wheel and steering wheel remote audio controls. 6. I will have to hand it to them for including a temperature gauge, which has always been important to me. Also, at 3,747 km, this is a young car - that's about 2,400 miles in U.S. terms 7. Kudos for a simple infotainment center and easy to use climate control. A big thumbs down for the white sheetmetal on the dashboard. End of Fiat 500 coupe section.

You learn something new every day, so they say. In reading tidbits about auto care - here, on other forums, and in magazines, I read that it's a good idea to run a tank of the high octane Top Tier fuel (93 octane) every 3,000 miles or so (along with a bottle of fuel system cleaner, though probably not at the exact same time) if your car runs on regular unleaded. For the first time ever, I put the 93 octane in my car, which runs on regular 87 octane. Am I supposed to feel a difference? You tell me. It seems to run, start, and idle great. The premium fuel doesn't come by cheap, so I only plan to do this intermittently.

macabre

I found this photo you might enjoy. It was taken in 2013. The subject is a 1977 vehicle, hence it was 36 years old at that time. Confidently holding its own on a rural stretch of interstate, this Cutlass Supreme (Brougham) sedan was in damn fine shape, with whitewalls, base wheel covers, and most likely an Olds 350 V8 engine under the hood. If it was pampered like that, it has seen at least 40 years of motoring by now.

Just an FYI ... and I was surprised (shocked) to see this. Maybe it's just a blip, but Sunoco is, at this time, not listed in the guide to Top Tier gasoline. https://www.toptiergas.com/licensed-brands/

I happened onto a really tasty pasta sauce flavor - mushroom and green pepper. I recommend it!

GMC/Chevrolet ahead of Ford. That's good. As for the #1 ranked (according to that list) Toyota Tacoma, are dealerships currently delivering them during the current pandemic prepped, sanitized, and disinfected with "the aroma of Tacoma?"

I'm not laughing AT you. I'm laughing WITH you. Since you like Americana and vintage items, you don't need to travel all that much, let alone by air, to enjoy those things.

spliced into this YouTube video "One Tree Hill" by U2 I have seen this exact spectacle - and a spectacle it was - various times over the years ... and was even allowed to ditch school for it, as in, "Yes, you should go!" Adieu, QE2!

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?

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.) 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.

So damn easy! Thanks. When I pull up the menu at the left of my screen, it is available under Photos ... and also directly under Video Editor, which is nested under Photos as well. You just name the "new" project and get to work. This is going to get interesting ... and time consuming.

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.

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.

Happy Mother's Day to the Moms in your lives ... and even to the Moms who are C&G members - we've had some on the forum.

I'll have to look. Any specific instructions on where to find it? Thanks!