trinacriabob

What did I do to my car today? A lot. Today was the day for the new Michelins! They are the latest Defender 2 design, branded a specific way for Costco. With the current sale, the package deal for everything was a nice thing to have in these inflationary times. Instead of going "Cafe 1.50," I went "Cafe 2.69," because I had a slice of pepperoni pizza and a soft drink while I waited. "Costco lunch" pickings were slim. I started out with that. As I got near the place, I drove the car around a couple more miles and pulled it up to the tire department when the tire life was at exactly 72,000 miles. OCD much, eh? The guy told me I still had about 4 mms on the middle treads, but clearly not at the shoulders. Still, that's impressive. I then went to get them aligned at a small shop I happened upon a year ago and really like, and then went for a belated birthday dinner for and with a friend. Between brand new tires, and their being balanced and aligned, the car drove as if it had less than 50,000 miles and reminded me of the incredibly quiet motoring on smooth asphalt between Portland and Seattle during the car's "early years."

Love that Iberia A340-600. Look at those engines and the open thrust reversers. The only A340-600 I've flown on was operated by Iberia ... it was a Chicago O'Hare to Madrid flight, connecting onward to BLQ from there. The 300s I've been on were from Lufthansa and Iberia. It left on time and got in a little early ... a lot of them do going eastbound since they pick up a good tail wind from the jet stream. It was still fairly dark upon landing in Madrid. Iberia and Aerolineas Argentinas were under the same umbrella at one time, with both having what they called the "arcoiris" livery going over the top of the fuselages, but with different colors based on each country's flag. On AR, I flew on their 747-200 from Miami to Argentina and back. Half empty in each direction and oh so comfortable with armrests up and laying down horizontally to sleep. This was the livery before the very last one. Nice. I like the white one above, but this very last one, below, is kind of interesting. Here it is in Auckland, New Zealand! Some early Airbus 340s had those unusual thrust reversers that stuck out, like on this one.

I was hunting around for Airbus 340 vids. How I miss this plane. Back in its heyday, if I got on an Airbus 340, I was sort of steamed I didn't get onto a Boeing 747. Now, I wish I had ridden on more of them. This video is sort of long, but very educational. For one, it pointed out that the Airbus 330 (twin) and Airbus 340 (quad) were developed at the same time and share a lot of parts ... both are 2-4-2. The 340 (quad) fell out of favor, while the 330 (twin) keeps spawning new variants, the latest of which is the -900 neo. They made 4 of the Airbus 340 - 200, 300, 500, and 600. One saw a lot of 300s and then a lot of 600s. I've flown on both. The 300 "looks" better. Yes, it was the current time's answer to the very dated Boeing 707 and its skinny engines. The 600 roars and those big engines get that disproportionately long fuselage (longer than a 747, IIRC) to rotate fairly quickly. Just great! A cool 300 version, flown by Swiss and obviously in Swiss airspace. Did I mention that I miss this plane?

I couldn't photograph it, but I saw a near perfect silver Saturn Aura sedan today. I don't see those often. I'm guessing they were possibly on the same platform as the Grand Am and Alero, but they did a nice job with this car. Toward the end, Saturn was making some nicer looking cars, quite a step up from the spartan jellybean products they initially rolled out. Some dog/car sightings ... all this afternoon: 1. I went to the AAA to load up a travel card and a little black lab puppy was hanging his head out of the car window near where I had parked and was wagging up a storm. 2. I was sitting there getting coffee and, looking at the drive through, a guy driving out of it with one of those whipped coffee drinks let his dog in the passenger seat take the first big lick out of all that whipped garbage on those drinks ... don't give your dog sweets. 3. I saw an upline SUV from which a German Shepherd had hoisted himself up via the console and was sticking his head out of it. They are all goofy critters.

Saw this at a supermarket. It's a Porsche. Don't know which model. The area is okay, hence the owner left it uncovered. Wish those burgundy interiors will become more prevalent. September, yes, but prior to the official start of autumn.

Saw this. Reminded me of so many rentals - for a great price and with great gas mileage - that I will probably never again see from behind the wheel of a small domestic vehicle. Also, there were a handful or so of goofy enamel colors (pistachio, bright green, purple, dark yellow, etc.) that were offered on the Fiesta in its final years. I'm not so sure I saw them on the final Focuses. I enjoyed my Fiesta rentals, minus one circa 2016 or 2017 to Vancouver, Canada where the automatic transmission was doing just what they wrote it would.

This is an elegant livery. No doubt. The white has helped so many 747s look better, just look at those who ultimately went that route - Air Canada, Air France, Pan Am, TWA, Aerolineas Argentinas, etc. when they had them in their fleets. I don't think Trump comes up with livery designs. Maybe somehow he hired or gave it to came up with it. I'm not a fan of the robin egg blue on Air Force One, except that we now know that livery. I do like the one above, provided that's (dark) blue and NOT black. The raked wing design on this aircraft is a thing of beauty.

It's Oscar De La Hoya, whose boxing skills took an East L.A. boy out of East L.A.

Good morning ...

Wondering when the new Boeing 747-8i is to make its debut as Air Force One. Doing some reminiscing and found a photo of Varig Brasil's jumbo. Brazil's flag carrier hasn't operated in a long time, but they were definitely THE Brazilian airline, even with nonstops from LAX to GRU (Sao Paulo), and maybe even Rio. Here's their 747-300 approaching the south runway at LAX: Here's their very last livery, with the jumbo flying in front of Sugarloaf Mountain and Rio's beaches on approach to GIG (Rio de Janeiro International)

I ignored the cars. They're not my style. However, I like and am getting used to the new skyline of Lower Manhattan. Sooner than later, I want to go to the observatory at the top. I've gone to the upper level of the previous WTC twice - in 1984 and 1996. I've never been to the Empire State Building, but I've walked past it. The WTC site has a much nicer position, with views of the harbor, other boroughs, and more of the bridges. Also, downtown Manhattan can be really cool on an off-peak Sunday because it was surprisingly quiet. I've actually parked my Cutlass on or near Wall Street for free, walked to Battery Park, and boarded the Staten Island ferry, which is a great adventure in and of itself. It was also a relief from being at the house of my eccentric but brilliant NYU schooled chemist uncle, where the lodging was free. I've always found that NYers are goofier, funnier, more direct, and friendlier than one might think. OTOH, Chicagoans are defensive about their city and area to the point of coming across as insecure. You can have the Windy City. I got my hands on a National Geographic when I was a kid, and saw how all the boroughs are laid out, on islands, with water all around, and with topography and knew this city and metro area were a gem. Four out of five of NYC's boroughs are on islands. Only the Bronx is attached to the very bottom part of New York state.

It didn't used to be, but today is always a difficult day. Never forget.

Rest in peace, Queen Elizabeth II ... it would have been nice to see both the Queen and Prince Philip become centenarians. Like most Americans, I do not follow the royals, but one good memory of the Queen would be her christening of the QE2 some 55 years ago, in 1967. The superstructure would need to be completed and outfitted after the launch of the hull. The ship - the famed QE2 - was finished and first sailed to NYC in 1969. They haven't been sliding them into the water for decades. They build them in dry dock and then "add water." Also, the champagne bottle HAS TO break. It would be bad luck if it didn't, they say. There wasn't all the technology we have today, but, in many regards, these were probably simpler and better times.

You got them all, and you got them in ascending order, by division! There we go: unified grille on Chevy and Buick, split grille on Pontiac and Olds I doubt that these were anything but reliable ... you can probably get an in-line 6 in all of the base models ... maybe even a "3 on the tree" (lol) but I hope people wouldn't have done that! I liked the curved and mirror-imaged taillamps on LeMans coupes that had the finned back lites, say around '67. A good many of those seemed to have 326 motors.

@David The price point is also a little high. Or it can go there quickly.

I just saw this photo. I had completely forgotten that they made these and couldn't even generate an image of it in my head if told about it. Cutlasses couple sales far exceeded sedan sales in several of its generational designs. However, it's not totally ugly. They did the best they could with it.

Put French onion dip in front of me and I become dangerous.

Good photo, but I don't know what I think about this car. I only know one person who has a Stinger. It is the first year model and it appears to be working out fine.

Good ... a September thread is up and running. Seen on the 1st of the month while driving through a borderline industrial / residential area. I couldn't believe it. I had to turn back! 1980 was a good stepping stone from the oversized headlamp 1978-1979 models to the 1981 shovel nose refresh, which sounds like a negative but was definitely successful. Except for the windshield, the aftermarket exhaust, and those too wide whitewalls, this Cutlass Supreme Brougham coupe is in great shape. I wondered which engine it had, but I wasn't about to go knocking on doors to find out. Seeing this view from off in the distance is what got me to drive around again. If anything, this 1980-only treatment really connected this smaller model to the highly successful 1976 model with quad rectangular lamps and twin waterfall grilles.

I almost forgot about this one. It was really obnoxious and stereotypical, but hilarious. (In this live rendition, he involves the audience) This guy's fame turned on a dime, and he got rich off this one song skyrocketing.

Yes, I have had the Elantra and Forte as rentals several times. I believe I've had an Optima once. When it comes to Hyundai and Kia, I almost like their Accent and Rio, respectively, more. They're like personal go karts. Sadly, those have gone from 6 speed automatics to CVTs. I've had rentals with both types of transmissions.

All this talk and arguing about Toyota ... what a coincidence. I had to rent a car for two days just a few days ago. I had requested a compact. When I got there, I told the rental agent I preferred something with a trunk. So, he gave me a Camry, which I had rented in Houston a year or two ago and reviewed here. So, I live with this car for 2 days and take it out of town. The driving was 65% interstate, 25% two-lane rural highway with some stops and speed zones, and 10% stop and go city driving. I got 35.9 mpg - or let's just say 36 mpg. (Had it been all interstate, it would have pushed 40 mpg). They were able to do this with with 2.5 liters worth of engine, no turbocharger, and an 8 speed automatic transmission, which is the best part of this powertrain. For this, I give Toyota some credit. I like my own car with over 100,000 miles much more than this car, but I sure don't have many options on what to buy these days. (I'm not looking to open up a discussion on EVs and the future right now ... I'm just venting). I'll say that, compared to my GM car, you feel the cheapness when you slam the doors shut or have to use the prop rod to keep the hood up. If the few cars I sort of like can be purchased new within the window of time I foresee, I will be somewhat happy about that. (I recently learned the VW Passat is also gone, and I like the Passat much more than any Asian car of the same size.) If not, and I wind up buying one of the remaining sedans left on the market I'm lukewarm about, it looks like I will have gone from loving cars to merely liking them.

Heard this last week at a restaurant ... heard it tonight at a restaurant. This is one goofy song that stays with you for a while after you hear it.

I was randomly thinking what an epic commercial this was some 10 years ago ...

For everyone mentioning shingles, the reason some might have gone for an update is because, in the last 5 or so years, they went from the one injection regimen to Shingrix, a two injection regimen. I got the Shingrix series a few years ago ... one less thing to worry about, I hope.