trinacriabob

They might be Pacific Islanders, but I think the Samoans in the Seattle area - folks you do NOT want to piss off - exhibit "different" consumer behavior patterns. Spendy (German) iron doesn't seem like their style. It's all in the demographics. Big, big differences come into play. LOL. Diagonally opposite parts of the country, too.

My home page seems to like including video clips of dogs, bears who wander from adjacent wooded terrain into people's back yards to bother their pets or just sit in their hot tubs, and some weird run-ins with mountain lions. I had wanted to post this before. I found it. Look at the potential force of this big cat when its ears are pinned back and the widened stance of its paws when charging. That's scary 5h!t. And this kid is filming the whole thing? Well, he did not run, which is good, because you should not run since it will make it more likely they will chase you down - their typical prey runs from them. Two things came to mind: 1) he was walking backwards ... on a rocky trail ... so, had he unwittingly tripped and fallen, it would have made him look less big and the mountain lion might have taken advantage of that, and 2) I wonder how much longer this ordeal would have gone on if he hadn't thrown a rock at it ... good thing there was a decent sized rock around I think I'd rather be watching a visiting black bear in the hot tub from a sliding glass door on a rear porch perched up a ways above the backyard.

Well, we're talking about a longevity difference of only 17,000 miles ... and not knowing the relative gravity of how overheating or not servicing these units would have affected their service life. For an analysis like this, I think a bona fide rocket scientist might be needed. Not only that, both of the vehicles in question were Oldsmobiles.

I've had 2 go out. It is a weird feeling. Except for throwing rods or something else that jarring, engines seem to be better at warning their owners. It happened on the first 2 cars. The first failure was on the '76 Cutlass Supreme I got from my parents that lasted 16 years. It went out at ~116,000 miles. Sadly, it was a THM 350. Serviced at good (crazy, to some) intervals. The culprit was heat. This car ran hot. And they couldn't figure out why. We changed the fan clutch. Finally, with taking the thermostat to 180 instead of 195, it seemed to do the trick, especially with a new transmission in there. The car ran a little cool, but fired well and shifted well, and drove the big American triangle from L.A. to N.Y.C. to Miami and back without problems. The second failure was on the '84 Cutlass Supreme Brougham. I got it when it had 125,000 miles. An individual in my family who seemingly wasn't on top of car maintenance probably didn't change the transmission fluid. It was a pink brown color. It had a THM 200 (you know, 5h!t). It failed at 133,000 miles. It happened almost instantly. It wouldn't shift above 2nd gear. I had this Portuguese guy who had a transmission shop swap it out for a THM 350 lock-up. Only $ 125 or $ 150 more. I couldn't own another THM 200 again. I got it back and it shifted too firmly. I think he calibrated it that way. I told him that if felt too firm. It went up on the rack, it was down 10 minutes later, and it shifted like a dream. I have no clue what the adjustment might have been. The last 2 cars - 4T60 and 4T65-e transmissions - where I have been the first owner and serviced at good (crazy, to some) intervals have been great transmissions so far, with beautiful shift quality and consistent shift points.

Not my "brand," but they did a nice job.

They're trying to impart that their cars are low maintenance *while so many people are cursing the electronic gremlins of newer cars, for example, and the cost to repair them* when we know they're not. They make a pretty penny from fixing that sort of stuff. I now know an electrical shop in the area that has done some minor fixes for me at lower prices. They told us unleaded fuel would make our plugs last longer. It did. But the question is how much longer. They quantified it with the change to iridium plugs. Do I want to push out the spark plug change that far, and over a decade? If a major component, such as as an ICM or coils goes out before 100,000 miles, it's cheaper to have it done at the same time. I just priced this transmission, out of curiosity, on this web site. This amount does not include taxes, core, freight, and installation. https://www.gmpartsdirect.com/oem-parts/gm-trans-axle-17804441?c=Zz1hdXRvbWF0aWMtdHJhbnNtaXNzaW9uJnM9YXV0b21hdGljLXRyYW5zbWlzc2lvbiZsPTImbj1Bc3NlbWJsaWVzIFBhZ2UmYT1idWljayZvPWxhY3Jvc3NlJnk9MjAwOCZ0PWN4JmU9My04bC12Ni1nYXM%3D Since an OHV engine is easier to understand, I could get more relaxed about that. Since an automatic transmission, based on the cut-away diagram, has all this minutia, I'd rather play it safe. I already did the math earlier. I don't know what I want to do with my car ... and when.

It doesn't! They want you to service it every 100,000 miles, unless driven under more severe conditions. Just like planned obsolescence, they want your car to break down, so you bring it in to dealers to give them business or buy a new car. If I recall correctly, the oil and filter change interval for our family's '70s and '80s Cutlass Supremes, which I got as hand-me downs, was 7,500 miles. And this was with conventional oil. That was absurd. I've seen conventional oil in rental cars at 5,000 miles and it's pitch black! It was always 3,000 miles or less for us, with the break-in oil change at 1,000 to 1,500 miles to boot.

@balthazar Assuming I do this every 30,000 miles and it costs $ 169 each time, doing this 4 times will cost me a total of $ 676. That would theoretically take me up to 149,999 miles before I'd do it again. I have always had pale pink fluid on the transmission dipstick. I know other intervals are possible. However, I sleep a little better at night sticking to this routine. Spending less than $ 700 over the span of 10+ years on your transmission's "health" seems better than, say, spending $ 200 on a flush at 100,000 and then having the unit quit at 150,000 miles, requiring over $ 2K to fix or R&R. I'm of the school of thought that I do not want the valve covers off the engine nor the transmission pulled out of the car while I own it. I like things how they were put together in the factory, and with all the sophisticated provisions to make sure the tolerances were right and tight. @David Yes, the service advisor and I discussed that that can be done. It would be close to $ 400. So far, I have done: drain and drop, drain and drop, fluid exchange, and drain and drop. With over 100,000 miles and the vehicle's age, I will not be doing another fluid exchange. At what interval are you having the above described work done?

It's very nice. Thank you. The rear fender skirts would have to go. I'd have preferred that the rally wheels not be body colored. Someone blew it by not getting tan seat belts when they went all out otherwise with the high line model. That said, this is an interesting color combo and more common on European metal than on American cars. I think I've seen this before. The car was being sold on Long Island (Lawn Giland). - - - - - So, you go to the casino buffet the day they're featuring that special price. You think "a dollop of this and a dollop of that." When you leave, you vow not to go to another buffet for 3 months. I find this to be less of a problem with Brazilian steak houses. Their main items are better prepared and probably less fatty, and they don't have that many/any casserole type dishes. Plus, dessert is never included, and, with the price of the rodizio being high enough, I know I won't order dessert. 1. The salad was good and I love artichokes and tomatoes 2 Pizza, filled pasta, baked fish, and green beans - all good 3. Linguini with shrimp (a little spicy, didn't finish), a potato hash type casserole (eh), and a sweet potato (I've grown to love these) 4. Generally, I haven't got great desserts but, this time, they were all good - the brownie (excellent), the chocolate swirl cake, the kolaches, the oatmeal raisin cookie, and even the pumpkin mousse these ladies at the adjacent table said they were enjoying - - - - - How I would eat in the college cafeteria on the regular back in the day and NOT put on any weight is beyond me. Things have changed. I do stick to my once every 2 or 3 months rule.

I took the car in for a transmission fluid and filter change at the dealership I like to use. (This was the drop and drain variety, which enabled them to put in a new filter and gasket, as well as check the pan for possible shavings and unwelcome residues and sediment.) This was the 4th time I've done this. I do it at about 30,000 mile increments. - - - - - So, in addition to putting up this post, I'll try to make it "educational:" 1.) When you do the service this way, it's different from a flush, because transmission fluid in the torque converter remains in there. However, the majority of it is drained out. 2.) Doing it this "old school" way is said to be easier on the seals and other components within the transmission. A B-O-P advisor approaching retirement in the 2000s (!) told me that, if starting out with a reliable transmission, doing a "drop and drain" with a filter every 30,000 miles, even if some old fluid is in the torque converter, will probably allow the transmission to last as long as a similarly reliable engine. That's because the fluid will never get dirty "enough." This is what I did with my last car, and the entire powertrain racked up over 270,000 original miles. 3.) There are times when you can't do it this way because some units are sealed and CVTs can only be serviced via the flush (or fluid exchange). 4.) There are times when you should do this and not the flush. That's when you don't know the service history of the car, or the transmission hasn't been serviced, which may later cause the transmission to malfunction ... or fail. You might be in a situation where the transmission fluid is dirty, dark, and full of contaminants and, all of a sudden, it has new fluid and cleansers assaulting it, the seals, and all that. I was once at the Grease Monkey chain's store in Bothell, WA (yes, Bothell, WA) because they used Castrol oil and they were never pushy, and there was a lady there with a W-body Cutlass Supreme. So, in talking about our cars, she told me how she went to one of those quick lube places, agreed to have them flush out the transmission that had never been serviced in over 150,000 miles, and the transmission failed shortly thereafter. I didn't say a word.* * it would be interesting, and depressing, to know the annual dollar value of needless and even harmful auto services that are sold to women, and even some men, who don't understand how cars work such that they can't "fight" back

I find some old photos and laugh. It seems the past was better than the present. There was less negativity. Here is a photo of my very first car. It was a hand me down from my parents. This car lasted for 16 years and, even though the weather got to it, the intake and exhaust system must have remained in great shape, since the quiet and rhythmic hum of the Rocket 350 V8, both inside and outside the car, sounded similar to when it was new. I can't tell if the center caps are there or not. I could never hang on to them on my 1984 Cutlass Supreme. That's what happens when you park them at commuter rail stations. Here it was in a subdivision outside of Atlanta - near Stone Mountain - that was being built out. This would have been some 30 years ago. While never slow paced, metro Atlanta would not be anywhere as slow paced as this photo might suggest. Good times.

Well, Thanksgiving, and tryptophan, can actually wean you from food ... for a while. As far as cooking goes, I can't cook which, in my case, is probably a good thing. - - - - - Per today's C&G homepage, happy birthday wishes to @riviera74 ... and many more.

Random thought: I seem to think about food a lot ...

I'll sneak this in one day after the "deadline." Seen on November 17. I wouldn't even remember what this vehicle was called. It appears to be a full-size Chrysler product, a rust bucket that still runs. The best thing about the photo is some fall color.

Greens can be a negative. Very few of them work. As for boring, I've been boring for a long time. But, at the same time, reliability can be a good form of boredom. I filed away this photo within the last few days. It's very green. I saw this within the last 6 months from a DART rail train going through a nice part of Dallas. This thing is a fright.

I hope that we'll be better equipped to deal with this crap and not alter how we live our lives. It never ends. I also hate the term "bucket list." I probably use the term "to do list" more. I recall that AF had 3 nonstops a day from Montreal to Paris, all on different wide bodies. You might get on either a 747, a 777, or an Airbus 340! I once flew from YUL to Paris on the evening 747. It was a fantastic experience. I got to sit upstairs. I didn't even ask for that. I got upgraded. Then, the flight is less than 7 hours. Then, based on the direction of the take-off, I got to see the Oratory, Mont-Royal, Centre-Ville, and the river from my window. I only wish I had had a better camera. AF does not plan to put the A 380 back into service. And, if they did, I doubt they'd use it for Montreal. I was scheduled on an AF A 380 from Atlanta to Paris, and connecting onward to Italy, in June of 2020. Obviously, they cancelled the trip and put the miles back into my account. I was counting the days for the trip ... and to fly on that behemoth.

Why do I feel like I'm watching the beginning part of "Live and Let Die?" They can't do stuff like that anymore. Not P.C. But my friends and I sure liked it. - - - - - On a different note, some good news for plane buffs: You can realistically fly on an Airbus 380 in the near-term future. And you don't have to be flying Emirates, Singapore, or Qantas to do so. British Airways has it on the MIA-LHR (London Heathrow) schedule. You don't need to be going to London (and I wouldn't necessarily want to, since they drive on the wrong side of the street and it can be hazardous to cross the street with an American frame of mind), but you can take it elsewhere to Europe. I thought it might be back on the JFK-LHR route. Instead, they are running several 777s a day on that route.

As far as the kits, some of the over-the-top heavily padded vinyl roofs and altered window schemes because of them, and some Cadillac interiors like one called "Maharajah" cloth in the mid-'70s, I'd agree. If we're talking a pared down and tasteful Regal S/R coupe or Cutlass Salon coupe, with sport wheels and gauges inside, I disagree. NOT ok: VERY ok: I'm only speaking for myself: when we've gone from a market where I couldn't decide what to buy because there were so many options to a market where I don't know what I want to buy next because I don't like anything, that's a real downer.

The money they want for it is also an insult, especially since it's so far from being stock.

I don't know about this one ... https://classics.autotrader.com/classic-cars/1976/chevrolet/monte_carlo/101541727

The cleaning up of the downsized Monte Carlo First try - 1978 NO - I felt they had blown it ... compared to the other downsized GM A-body intermediates - - - - - Second try - 1980 MAYBE - the front end is definitely an improvement, as are the nicer taillamps in the rear, but the over-the-top fender sculpting remains - - - - - THIRD TRY - 1981 to 1987/1988 YES - this is finally somewhat of an attractive vehicle - less is more - and, with the eventual base 4.3 Vortec TBI V6 (and about 30 extra hp) over the 231 c.i. V6, it might get the nod.

Yesterday - Thanksgiving day: Saw a purist current-gen base Dodge Charger - red exterior, black interior - pulling out of a diner (couldn't take a photo). I realized you don't see many of the base RWD model. Most have a spoiler, some decal options, and whatnot. Today: Saw a metallic mint green Monte Carlo coupe ('83 or '84, based on the color) going the other way on the freeway (couldn't take a photo). It was in damn near perfect condition. (How the '81 refresh helped that model, with oversized headlamps and exaggerated sheetmetal sculpting prior to that.) - - - - - December, and the official start of winter, are not too far away now.

Q: How much did the pirate pay for his earrings? A: A buck an ear.

Did you hear about the semi that crashed into the median on busy (insert name or number of major freeway near you)? No. It was carrying boxes and crates of Vicks. . . . There was no congestion. .

I think Toyota will do fine, but could do better ... numerically. Their product, which felt and, even smelled, "different" from American cars a long time ago now offers a feel that Americans can feel at home with in no time. However, what puzzles me, is how, when other automakers - VW, SEAT, Hyundai, Kia - are making their sedans and coupes more attractive, Toyota's are becoming uglier.