trinacriabob

I think it's great that coffeehouse culture has become a part of Americana. And it's not only chains like (cough). It's so many independents that have rounded out the scene. There's good coffee, good tea, some food, a place to read, a place to work on a laptop, and usually a relaxing vibe. You can't beat it. This is one thing we've really done right in the New Millennium.

I found this a couple of days ago. It becomes a great video when this beautiful airplane lands and you can see all 4 thrust reversers in action. These things were a big deal in just coming from Madrid to New York, Miami, Chicago, and Los Angeles during the summer. It was an even bigger deal for these bigger Airbus planes to routinely go from Spain to Central America, Brazil, Buenos Aires, and Santiago de Chile. This plane (the 600 version) was a little bit longer than the 747-400. However, the latest 747-800 has reclaimed that distinction. I flew on this one summer, with the U.S. service provided by American, and picking it up in Chicago on the outbound and returning on the long flight to LAX. This is an incredible machine, with a more comfortable 2-4-2 seating arrangement and those 4 big engines providing the power. As they are being retired, I realize how much I will miss the Airbus 340.

It is an August sighting ... and it's not. It's more about the license plate frame. This is "clever" marketing. This dealership might almost assuredly reach a particular market segment. I wonder if people in this shopping center parking lot thought I was weird for taking this photo. And this one. What would be funny is if the guy is a teetotaler.

You come up with some pretty random ones, @A Horse With No Name. The one with the lion is corny and, yes, my dad once had that same Impala. But it was a base model coupe, so I'm thinking it had the 283 V8. He thought it was really reliable and, in his estimation, powerful. But, then, he never had a driver's license when he lived across the pond. Thinking of the maxim that, in America, "the streets are paved with gold." The couch one is downright hilarious. I'm having one delivered within a week. It should be interesting to see how that goes.

I also get a kick out of seeing the "Knight Rider" years of Firebird on the road. There aren't many left. Some of them are pretty messed up. And, like you say, you see the pop-up headlamps in the up position or, even worse, you have one up and one down! I wonder what the repair bill looks like to fix a pop-up headlamp that isn't popping correctly.

@oldshurst442 Hilarious story. Cruising around the Laurentians in the most recent of Corvettes without any of the brittle Thelma and Louise bull5h!+. Wow. I guess he got it prior to the opening of the borders. The Canadian border opened to (some of) us on August 9 but the converse is not true for the U.S. And he couldn't go to Quebec City - in the same province - to pick up his Corvette? I like how you describe the craftsmanship. Sounds nice. I think a silver one with the red interior goes to the top of the heap for me in Corvette land. So, how does the new Corvette drive and ride after being behind the wheel of one? I only began to like the full-size Cadillac once they got rectangular lamps up front and became more slab sided. They kept the stateliness but also picked up some "less is more" in the process.

I don't know if this should be in the joke thread, sort of like "Where does an elephant sit?" "Anywhere it wants." Q: Why did the alligator cross the road in West Mifflin (Pittsburgh), PA? A: Because it can. Gator on the Loose Spotted Crossing Suburban Road in Pennsylvania (msn.com) Take note of how LOW the fine is for violators who keep animals they shouldn't be keeping. It would be difficult to relate to people who have a thing for dangerous animals or reptiles as pets. I'm sure police artists can do a great job of sketching up some stereotypical offending owners.

Or like this one ...

Spotted August 8 When finned and "truly" full-size Cadillacs were still a little bit garish ... Front grille Side view Interesting but nasty color ...

This seems to be so common. Even if we have foreign friends teach us 20 words of their language, over half of them will be questionable in nature. I had a good Middle Eastern friend who was Catholic and she taught me a good number of Arabic words, including funny ones and off-color ones. "Majnoon" is their word for crazy. "Sbaleh bedah" translates into white trash. The others are more graphic. This friend attained her degree here in the U.S. with over a 3.7 GPA, so she's smart. But it's funny how she still sometimes omitted articles when she speaks, which is how I think Arabic must be constructed. She had bought a house for a good price in the late '90s and it even has a pool, although it needed maintenance because it was neglected and full of algae. She said, "I bought house with green pool."

I knew a fair number of Cubans in grade school, high school, and college. They all had a great sense of humor. A "pendejo" is basically a jerk, but it literally means a "dingleberry." "Chinga," usually said in the reflexive form as "chingate," means GFY. I took 3 years of French in high school and a year of Spanish in college. It's almost easier to retain Spanish if living in the Sunbelt, even if you've taken less of it.

@balthazar Thank you for sharing. I mean it. So I didn't have to. I assumed everyone was in on the joke. The friend I had a good laugh with about this plate option was Mexican-American and went to college with me. I believe they actually released that plate "into the wild," and, then, when the DMV got more sophisticated or was apprised, they pulled it back in. I don't know if that's urban legend - L.A. style. Either way, that plate, in which the words translated into Spanish approximate biology, is definitely "not available."

We seem to like license plates and license plate frames here. I was looking for the California symbols that you can put on plates and found this first. So here is the CA specialty plate with 4 symbols you can put in, shown at the bottom right hand. I've already mentioned "(HAND) NOW GFY" a while back and I guess C&Gers didn't find that funny. I still laugh about visiting a college friend in SoCal in 2008, having coffee, checking out the DMV site and entering different license plates, and seeing that "BREAD 8" came up as "not available." We almost spit out our coffee. But, if someone lived in CA and loved C&G, they could get "WE (HEART) CARS." If it's not already spoken for. Score!

We think a lot alike. The main difference is that I would omit the Impala SS from my list and start with the Caprice Classic. The Impala SS was too flashy for my taste and wouldn't have suited me ... then or now. I also agree with you on the wagons, with the Olds rendition of the last full-size wagon easily winning that hand.

It looks like a cross between a Dodge Stratus and a Toyota Corolla. Especially the red one. I'm not convinced. But never say never. We all got used to a 4-door Pontiac Grand Prix. Some of us even bought them ... or planned to.

I had forgotten all about these engines. Mostly reserved for their big boulevardiers. Remember the Ford Elite? They could be had with different V8s: 351, 400, and 460! "Interesting," though not necessarily attractive ...

The last spotting yesterday, in the evening while refueling. A Buick Roadmaster sedan in very nice condition. The guy told me it was a 1992. I'm not a fan of the roof treatment. Maybe in Palm Beach ... It had the corporate GM 5.7 V8 that I believe was the Chevrolet design and not the Olds design. I prefer the '94 to '96 Chevrolet Caprices to this model if going the large RWD route.

I wasn't used to the stickers. They put on license plate frames when I was growing up ... and no sticker. Many people think dealership license plate frames are ugly, too. I'm sure they'd remove the sticker. Once I started seeing them, usually on out of state cars that had been brought into the state, I, too, hated that look.

I spotted a fair number of unusual cars yesterday. Here were some at the same place, which was closed by the time I drove by on a Saturday evening. Funkily modified Bel Air convertible A Cadillac Allante convertible - - - - - A Camaro Berlinetta - late '70s to early '80s ... Side view - wire wheel covers ? hard pass - in great shape For a wedding invitation? Yes. For a Camaro? No. Come to think of it, the Firebird Esprit of the same years also used cursive badging. This unit is not air conditioned. Crank windows! And, the dumbed down climate control is to the left of the driver. Under the hood must be a Saturday mechanic's dream. Camaro and Berlinetta inscriptions, along with some pinstriping If that's one tailpipe at the left, it could be a 250 in-line 6. If there's another one, it's probably a 305 V8. Because I'm not sure of the year, there could have been a 231 even firing V6 or the small Chevy 4.4 V8 at the very end of this model run. I got into this car because I had one of these, although not a Berlinetta, for a couple of years. It was fun to drive and it was a comfortable car up front. It was a second car I had alongside one of my Cutlasses.

Also spotted yesterday ... ^ As Nancy Reagan would have said, "Just say no." ^ Just say yes, except to the ridiculous hood ornament. This guy did a great job of keeping this old school Coupe de Ville true to form in all other aspects. Great old school black - red pinstriping - black vinyl top - burgundy interior combination. You should have seen how grand this car looked as it was pulling in to the service station.

Spotted yesterday, on the very last day of July 2021 ... It had @balthazar written all over it. I wasn't expecting this. I had to pull over. I am guessing it's after the "Bonnie and Clyde" days, but maybe not by much It already came this way.

@David ^ The above practice is far less common in the West than it is in the East, Midwest, and South. It is an obnoxious practice, it's free advertising, and it's irrelevant if you move out of that area, thereby blighting your vehicle. It's probably not as common in the West because distances are greater and density is lower. Just a thought.

I always thought my car, a 2008, was worth about $4,000, plus or minus. In looking at the ads, they are asking $5,000 to $6,000 for them. Whether they get it is another story. But it incentivizes me to take good care of the car. After a little over 100,000 miles, it got its FIRST tune-up a few months ago. Yesterday, I took it on a small one day road trip. Almost all flat, freeway, negligible traffic, cruise at 63 mph the whole way. 31.5 mpg on the outbound, with A/C on, and 34.3 mpg on the return, with no A/C and cooler outside. (I could be 1/2 a MPG off, but close.) That's phenomenal for a 3800 V6 and a 4 speed automatic, and tells me it's real tight. Makes me wonder if I can, and should, keep putting off the purchase ...

Wow. I didn't realize that. It's the "reboot" of an older interior, and a very good job of it. Like that dome light on the side of the console. I think I see a manual window crank. If so, that's wild.

Yes. I also remember how nice the sweep of the dash is, and I liked the circular gauges and how they lean back. The last Riv's exterior was a little strange from some angles, but, from the inside, I think I would have liked being its pilot.