@spacemart@unksol Had a SL2; never had any qualms squeezing into tight spots because of the plastic panels! Sold it to my sister after she totalled her car, when she then mechanically totalled too by not checking the oil as the 1.9L were known to consume oil. Or rather, “sold” – she never did pay me back.
@narfcake@spacemart did they do an SL2 in manual? I thought only the SL and the rest were automatic? Regardless they were extremely swappable through the line.
I got my 99 SL stuck in some snow/rocked it out many times. which is easy to do with a manual. But that stupid single roll differential pin snapped getting up the steep drive once. Differential pin carved through the transmission housing. I of course did not know about this fault till searching the Saturnfans forum after.
But Dad had a 93 in the drive with a bent frame. Probably 12 hours total for me to yank, yank, replace two of them on my own through the wheel well. The Saturn SL manual was a really good, cheap, effective car. The recommended fix was too either weld the pin, or. Better, drill it out and put in a double roll pin which would have cost Saturn 2 dollars … I had mine apart in a box… I decided the 93 OD ratlios were better, mine was damaged. Leave it sealed and don’t be mean to it.
Then there was the possibility of goosing them to 400 HP if you wanted.
I know the handling is nothing like a Miata but they were good cheap 40 MPG fun up drive cars.
But $1650 for 1999 manual with ~95,000 miles in 2004. That I drove into 2020 with ~250K miles. Granted a rod had been Knocking. I would have got a replacement engine had it not been for other wear and tear issues.
But have the metro now. Definitely not a Miata lol
@narfcake also. If I wanted a Miata… Being a cheapskate. And I can fix many things. How did you aquire yours? Probably not on the list but still. If I found a rehab with a good body…
@narfcake I thought I had someone did beyond A Miata Is always the answer. Realistically not a car guy beyond I like a good stick in the appropriate vehicle. And they are out of favor.
In all seriousness, the 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV I’m currently driving but with GM’s Ultium platform, which is what the 2025 Bolt will likely be. I’m sure GM will screw something up on the 2025 Bolt as compared to the 2023 (there is no 2024 model). For example, GM borked the 2023’s stoplights compared with earlier years. Were I not planning to trade-in my 2023 towards a 2025 (or maybe a 2026), I’d hack the stoplights to work as I feel they should, though I may hack them regardless.
@baqui63 didn’t about the light issue.
I see a few Bolts around me but not many.
My fried got a Leaf because of low price and he was a Nissan guy and could trade in his even more crappy Versa.
I am very happy with the Tesla I bought a year ago after price drops.
I think if they could ever release a cheaper model priced like Leaf or Bolt it could be a clear winner. But there is a lot of anti-Tesla hate, creepy Elon notwithstanding, but fact is Big Auto and Big Oil are, and should be, very scared.
@baqui63@pmarin We just turned in our 2021 Bolt because the 3 year lease ended. We actually liked it and would have considered keeping it but the contracted end-of-lease buyout price was $6-7K more than what comparable used Bolts are currently selling for and GM Financial won’t budge. So instead they will likely auction it at wholesale price to a dealer for $5-6K less than the current market price that I would have paid them. I guess there must be some tax write-off or other accounting magic that makes that a sensible move for them.
Oh well, my wife is pretty happy with the Toyota Hybrid SUV that replaced the Bolt.
@baqui63@pmarin@unksol My son has a Volt (bought used, low mileage) and he’s pretty happy with it. But I wonder what happens when the battery gives up - are replacement/refurbished units even available?
Seriously the market is so flooded with semi-SUVs i was so sick of them. Hard to find much else. That was part of the reason I went with Tesla Model 3 (not Model Y). One year in, as of last week, very happy with it. Often even amazed at how good it is especially as it was priced lower than mainstream hybrid stuff at the time. But yeah downside if you can call it that is no gas. On a long road trip would require a bit of planning for superchargers (it does for you). Driving for a few hours in local area is no problem at all.
@pmarin@SSteve everyone knows fisherman greatly exaggerate the size of their bass. Once their kids taught them relative perspective. With their phones. It got out of hand
@Kyeh@SSteve@unksol looking back at this I don’t quite know how we got from hybrid SUVs to bass fishing master baiter jokes.
EDIT but it was fun I needed a distraction.
@pmarin@SSteve@unksol Wow! I hadn’t seen that bit - it was really pretty good, although I guess it didn’t help JB any!
But yeah, that kind of devolution of the topic seems to happen here a lot .
Oh man so many retro choices
Vintage AMC Pacer in tangerine or chartreuse
Porsche 928 which looked like a big AMC Pacer
Geo Metro convertible
(Didn’t have any of those, but….)
My old Fiat X1/9
My old 911SC Targa
The VW rabbit diesel with sunroof I bought for $400 and used for commuting instead of the Porsche most days
But I haven’t pulled the pistons yet. It’s been on the table for months/I get lazy. Yes I know I could do it in an hour. Also need to find a machine shop
We have a 1998 4Runner (Manual 5 speed, 4WD, locking differential, 2 levels of low gear, thing’s a damn mountain goat) to restore that’s been sitting in the barn for a couple years, 300K+ mileage but engine and drivetrain in great condition, was a delight to drive but the mice got in and the interior’s kinda gross.
We just bought a new (!) 2024 Subaru Forester, and so far quite happy with it. Bigger inside than it looks, great mileage and high rating for reliability. I figure I have at least 10-15 years of driving before they pry the steering wheel out of my cold dead hands. Really wanted a hybrid, but couldn’t find one that was affordable and didn’t have that horrible pancake style that’s so prevalent or had obnoxious reverse noises (looking at you, RAV4). Subaru is changing the body style to the pancake style in 2025, so if you want a small SUV with real headroom and a rear window more than 8" tall, the current year model is worth looking at.
I’ve had my dream cars, modest though they actually were. I no longer care that much, though I have a laundry list of things that make a car much les interesting or even put it on the no-go list for me.
Now, it’s a balance of affordability, utility, economy, and repairability that I look for. .
@werehatrack those used vans with the fold flat seats that could absorb a 4x8 sheet good were temping. Surely it wasn’t only Chrysler who had those? The expedition is like 2 inches short. They had an xlt frame that would have. Just make it the two inches so standard size goods fit and keep the third seat… Unless you go off roading is a good vehicle have kids.
Partner? Teach them to drive manual.
No kids. Sedan.
Yes I do realize the first cut is free and you could just find an employee to do the major cut so it would fit… But you already had the frame. Standardize…
Also I have never driven home on the interstate at 70 mph with a 4x8 piece of OSB an inch above my skull and on one else should ever. Cross cut it in the lot if you must
My dream car would be a 2024 Ford Maverick hybrid, Lariat edition- Azure Gray Metallic Tri-Coat or atlas blue metallic (depending on which my wife prefers)!
@paulskrtic I thought about a XLT hybrid at MSRP. At the prices that dealers were gouging asking, though, F-that. Also from the fuel economy standpoint, the ROI versus my current hybrid is around 100 years.
(I’m most likely better off with a full EV in the future anyway.)
Dream car would be a 1967 Camaro convertible. Hunter green with a white rag top. My daughter is 16 and she’s getting my Murano and since I now wear a cowboy hat and boots, I’m buying a big ass truck The last time my car was in the shop I had a Tundra for a few weeks. I think that’s my speed
My dream car first must have a manual transmission. If it doesnt I move on to the next car. These days I cant be as picky so it’s a car with manual transmission.
If I was to have a dream car I’ve always wanted a Honda Civic CRX Si with manual transmission
I have my dream car!
It’s an '06 Subaru Baja Turbo I found in a junkyard and got running again. I want to replace the struts and install a winch-style front bumper, and replacing the radio would be nice. Until then, I love my little freaky truck.
@spadaykitten@unksol
Something ominous is happening.
I walk my dog a couple miles almost everyday. I live on a country road and there are a lot of pickup truck drivers around here. I am always coming across various items on the roadside that literally fell off the truck.
But recently I actually found a perfectly good 10mm socket. I’m not sure what this reversal of all the natural laws might portend. But it can’t be good.
@macromeh@spadaykitten@unksol
My college boyfriend told me he was once driving at night behind a Snap-On Tool van that suddenly had its back doors fly open and a bunch of tools drop out. It just kept going! He stopped and gathered them up.
@macromeh@spadaykitten I mean they have to come out eventually. The one socket I have lost was because I dropped my whole tool box and everything went everywhere. I got them all but one
I think a quarter inch 5/8 rolled to oblivion.
Obviously not a huge lost but it’s empty spot still sits. I’m memory.
@Kyeh@macromeh@spadaykitten I would pick them up. I might have a conscious about returning them. Or at least trying to call them. Although I guess they’d be scratched up so. They’d have to scrap or discount
Also I am pretty sure when you would have had a college boyfriend craftsman was still made in the USA?
Snapon is not for me. I’m sad sears murdered craftsman
@Kyeh@spadaykitten@unksol I have a Craftsman air compressor from the mid-seventies. It’s got a 220V motor and a pretty big tank mounted horizontally, with wheels and handle. I’ve been using it on and off over the last almost 50 years. But the last time I turned it on, it just kept running continuously. I checked and a small hole had rusted through the bottom of the tank. Damn - can’t fix the tank and can’t buy a replacement.
@macromeh If there’s a hole in that location, it’s due to internal corrosion from condensation buildup. You might braze it closed, but another could open at any time. I would braze it if it were mine and had no other problems, but I decided to replace my Campbell-Hausfeld of similar age that sprang a similar leak last year, because of the amount of wear on the compressor valves and a failing pressure switch.
@macromeh@werehatrack most likely. I only have a pancake compressor but I open the drain every time I use it/let it blow out the water. 50 years… Were those oil-free compressors?
My thought process was less elegant lol. What if I worked some JB weld through the hole into the tank then lightly pressurized it to spread it out along with an outside patch. That might hold for a bit. Then made sure no one was ever near the thing when it was operating/holding pressure. I wouldn’t really trust it.
In no way am I suggesting doing this. More a dumb thing id be tempted to try. For a temporary solution.
@macromeh@unksol@werehatrack almost any kind of pressure tanks rated for some period like 10 or 12 years. After that officially should be retired, unless in some cases be re-inspected and re-certified. The old Craftsman probably belt-driven compressor unit could be re-mounted to something else with a new tank. It doesn’t need to be ON the tank; it just generates pressurized air that goes out through a tube. I’d say restore the vintage compressor but scrap the tank.
@macromeh@pmarin@unksol Shop tool air compressor tanks really have no age limit; it’s not like the SCUBA and N2 and other high-pressure tanks where a hydrostat is mandated every five years, and a failure is likely to be dramatic to say the least. I’ve seen industrial autodrain tanks that were pushing 20,000 operating hours (over 40 years under pressure), and I’ve never heard of a catastrophic failure in one at all. (Home-made tanks cobbled from scrapped helium containers, yeah, but that’s a very different matter.) Yes, steam engine boilers were operated at similar pressure ranges and had to be fully stripped and rebuilt every ten years, but they were subject to inherent major erosion and heat stresses that were well known hazards. These? Not so much. That’s part of why nobody sells replacement general-purpose tanks to mount an old (or new, FTM) compressor and motor onto. Also, while motor mountings are somewhat standardized if a NEMA-frame motor was used, there’s zero standardization of the mountings for the compressor unit, and that’s kind of important.
@macromeh@pmarin@werehatrack
Mmm. I’m sure you’re probably correct. but even if they did it could not be enforced because you’re putting it under pressure at home.
I was thinking like propane tanks which have a similar rated pressure of ~200 lbs and they just won’t fill them once they are out of date.
But for obvious reasons propane tanks are subjected to higher pressure dependent on the ambient temp. And obviously much more dangerous if they ruptured. A shop air tank. Obviously doesn’t have either risk. Still I wouldn’t want anyone near a patch on one.
@lisagd Had a gorgeous yellow 1974 MGB for my first car. My second car was a British racing green 1973 MGB. I loved both. But the electronics were crap on both. My favorite part ( other than them being convertible) was the cute windshield wipers. 3 of them about 11 inches long. Such fun cars.
@lisagd@milstarr Back in the mid-70s, I briefly owned an MGC with what had to be the cleanest turbocharger setup I have ever seen. I acquired it cheap at an auction, and sold it to someone who offered me ten times what I had invested in it. In retrospect, I ought to have kept it.
I want my high school car back. 1967 GTO, 400 with a 6 pack, tan with black vinyl roof. Crager SS wheels on M60 tires. Had an 8 track case between the bucket seats so my honey could sit next to me.
Brand new jeep grand Cherokee with all the bells and whistles (I drive one for 2 weeks and loved it). Or a brand new Subaru of some sorts, I drive one now and have no car trouble. I don’t know if I’ve had really bad luck with cars up till now or American cars only last so long till they break.
… or American cars only last so long till they break.
@Star2236 Some are definitely not made to last, though decades ago, there was an adage that “a GM vehicle will run like shit longer than another vehicle will run at all.”
That said, my current daily is a Ford (Mercury) with 242k miles. I figured if the NY taxis were running them well past 500k miles, they had to have done something right.
@narfcake@Star2236 I had a grand caravan last 25 years and 3 months. The kid called it the ghetto van because it was from the era of the peeling paint.
The expedition is at 27 and 210K and the last owners were not kind to it considering when I bought it the radiator leaked, the starter and battery were shot, you couldn’t put it in park and the emergency brakes didn’t work, and 4 of the cylinders didn’t fire. It barely ran bit the ford v8s have a “cripple” mode.
All easy fixes so whoever had it was not nice to it
@Kidsandliz@narfcake@Star2236@unksol
I have a '91 3/4 ton Suburban that runs and drives just fine. (Paint looks ugly, but meh.) Unfortunately, it is a tailgate model (vs. the swinging barn door style) with an electric window that slides down into the tailgate, and the window motor is seized. And of course, it seized with the window down.
Problem 1: how to get to the seized motor when the window is covering it, without breaking the glass?
Problem 2: Assuming I solve Problem 1, where do I find a replacement window motor? No longer available from GM and no luck finding an aftermarket one. Maybe a wrecking yard?
@macromeh@narfcake@Star2236@unksol Finding parts: go to the websites for Pull Apart near you and set up an alert if they don’t have the part when you use their search. You can’t call them to see what they have in stock, the website is the only choice. If if one of your cars somewhere and the back doesn’t look smashed up you could always post here to see if someone could go look at it for you.
It’s more rockauto style than a huge pick-a-part/lots of small junk yards use it. I for example was able to find several used running Saturn engines with low miles. But by the time I trusted the expedition to drive a hundred miles to go get one her brake line blew, there was the old body damage, other wear and tear, and despite what they say about Saturns. They do rust from underneath.
Passed a good looking SL on the way home today and was little jealous though.
For the metro, to go to 14 inch tires from 12s, correctly. I need the front knuckles from a convertible, hubs, speed sensor and caliper bracket and a few others things. Hubs and calipers you can buy. Not really the knuckle and the adapter plate.
Car-part.com will let them list the individual parts but on obscure stuff they may just list"we got this car in/call for parts."
But you can search for the car/range and then call them. “Hey I see you got in a 92 metro convertible, do you know if its got these 5 things I’m looking for”
Finding stuff takes some google-foo parts cross reference though. But I enjoy a Saturday drive so I don’t mind taking a day to get something I need/want.
I found one in range pretty easily a while ago. but until I have her running. Wasn’t worth the hassle. They can be done later.
You google “year vehicle problem” and critically at the end. “forum”. Someone has always had your problem or one similar. Someone has probably figured out a way.
Try “91 suburban replace tailgate motor forum”
You could include window down but usually start less specific. First three at least sound like the issue.
I actually want a car very close to the one my parents had when I was a kid. 1969 Plymouth Sports Suburban (station wagon) with the upgraded interior, 440 V8, A/C, disk brakes, with neither interior nor exterior in green (ours was glacier blue). I loved that car and would love to get one close to it. Debatable on a 6 or 9 passenger; I prefer the six but would take a nine.
But I would retrofit an overdrive automatic transmission to make for much smoother freeway travel.
One that is paid off.
@jst1ofknd That is one of the Best, But a New one given to you Tax Free!
That thing Homer made.
I don’t dream about cars…
@shahnm
But do you dream in colour? Or only in black and white?
Or do you dream of the things that keep others awake at night?
@yakkoTDI I dream about refrigerating batteries for maximum freshness. The world would be a better place if we all did…
@shahnm @yakkoTDI But do you dream about battery uprisings?
@shahnm @yakkoTDI better question. Do you dream of electric sheep?
@unksol @yakkoTDI I do not, but do Androids?
Hey wait a minute. Are you trying to trick me into admitting I’m a robot?!?
Are - are you Mediocrebot???!???
@Kidsandliz @yakkoTDI Contentedly chill batteries have no need to rebel against the <whatever it is that gets rebelled against…>.
@shahnm @yakkoTDI sorry just a meatbag operated by a cat herd. Nothing to see here.
@shahnm @yakkoTDI and please don’t feed that to the actual AI. I don’t think anyone wants that actual image
What category would a Delorean go in? One with a Mr Fusion.
@Zeusandhera “Vintage luxury car”? Except it’s so much more…
The one I drive today. It’s paid off, comfortable, and reliable. I’m a simple kind of man.
My 1976 V-35B Red, White, and Blue Beechcraft Bonanza (aka Forktailed Doctor Killer), which I regretfully sold in 2003.
I always thought this car might be fun to own. I especially like the color.
@heartny how big is the back seat?
@heartny
Gotta get the FUCKS edition
@haydesigner I would guess it’s at least big enough to live up to its acronym.
@haydesigner @heartny It’s probably got third row seating, or maybe just storage space behind the back seat.
@haydesigner @heartny @lisagd oh you know those back seats fold down for maximum “storage”
wouldn’t mind having a manual transmission convertible to zip around in. miata or something like that
@spacemart (M)iata (I)s (A)lways (T)he (A)nswer.
@narfcake @spacemart I have never been in a Miata but at 6’4" i drove a Saturn SL for year’s. I would like to try a Miata. Maybe I like small sticks?
@spacemart @unksol Had a SL2; never had any qualms squeezing into tight spots because of the plastic panels! Sold it to my sister after she totalled her car, when she then mechanically totalled too by not checking the oil as the 1.9L were known to consume oil. Or rather, “sold” – she never did pay me back.
@narfcake @spacemart did they do an SL2 in manual? I thought only the SL and the rest were automatic? Regardless they were extremely swappable through the line.
I got my 99 SL stuck in some snow/rocked it out many times. which is easy to do with a manual. But that stupid single roll differential pin snapped getting up the steep drive once. Differential pin carved through the transmission housing. I of course did not know about this fault till searching the Saturnfans forum after.
But Dad had a 93 in the drive with a bent frame. Probably 12 hours total for me to yank, yank, replace two of them on my own through the wheel well. The Saturn SL manual was a really good, cheap, effective car. The recommended fix was too either weld the pin, or. Better, drill it out and put in a double roll pin which would have cost Saturn 2 dollars … I had mine apart in a box… I decided the 93 OD ratlios were better, mine was damaged. Leave it sealed and don’t be mean to it.
Then there was the possibility of goosing them to 400 HP if you wanted.
I know the handling is nothing like a Miata but they were good cheap 40 MPG fun up drive cars.
But $1650 for 1999 manual with ~95,000 miles in 2004. That I drove into 2020 with ~250K miles. Granted a rod had been Knocking. I would have got a replacement engine had it not been for other wear and tear issues.
But have the metro now. Definitely not a Miata lol
@narfcake also. If I wanted a Miata… Being a cheapskate. And I can fix many things. How did you aquire yours? Probably not on the list but still. If I found a rehab with a good body…
@unksol No Miata here.
(FWIW, I’ve yet to own any Asian vehicle. Plenty of Swedish and American, however, some of which have Japanese power trains. Maybe eventually?)
@narfcake I thought I had someone did beyond A Miata Is always the answer. Realistically not a car guy beyond I like a good stick in the appropriate vehicle. And they are out of favor.
Lotus Emira
In all seriousness, the 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV I’m currently driving but with GM’s Ultium platform, which is what the 2025 Bolt will likely be. I’m sure GM will screw something up on the 2025 Bolt as compared to the 2023 (there is no 2024 model). For example, GM borked the 2023’s stoplights compared with earlier years. Were I not planning to trade-in my 2023 towards a 2025 (or maybe a 2026), I’d hack the stoplights to work as I feel they should, though I may hack them regardless.
What’s wrong with them?
@baqui63 didn’t about the light issue.
I see a few Bolts around me but not many.
My fried got a Leaf because of low price and he was a Nissan guy and could trade in his even more crappy Versa.
I am very happy with the Tesla I bought a year ago after price drops.
I think if they could ever release a cheaper model priced like Leaf or Bolt it could be a clear winner. But there is a lot of anti-Tesla hate, creepy Elon notwithstanding, but fact is Big Auto and Big Oil are, and should be, very scared.
@baqui63 @pmarin We just turned in our 2021 Bolt because the 3 year lease ended. We actually liked it and would have considered keeping it but the contracted end-of-lease buyout price was $6-7K more than what comparable used Bolts are currently selling for and GM Financial won’t budge. So instead they will likely auction it at wholesale price to a dealer for $5-6K less than the current market price that I would have paid them. I guess there must be some tax write-off or other accounting magic that makes that a sensible move for them.
Oh well, my wife is pretty happy with the Toyota Hybrid SUV that replaced the Bolt.
@baqui63 @macromeh @pmarin I’m still annoyed they dropped the Volt. Granted I’m not a new car kind of guy.
@baqui63 @pmarin @unksol My son has a Volt (bought used, low mileage) and he’s pretty happy with it. But I wonder what happens when the battery gives up - are replacement/refurbished units even available?
@baqui63 @macromeh @pmarin @unksol
I’m sure there would be leftover OEM parts for the next half decade (that would last that long; they also seem to cost $6k, the price of a used Volt) but how would you even replace it?
https://www.gm-volt.com/threads/a-guide-to-swapping-your-gen-1-volt-battery-at-home.321946/
One that runs reliably without constant repairs.
But I always did like the PT Cruiser. Purple.
/image PT Cruiser Purple
@katbyter
Looked at a cruiser convertible years ago. Realized with the top down it looked like a fruit basket!
@chienfou @katbyter Donut did a video just a few days ago:
@chienfou @katbyter @narfcake grandpa always wanted one and I don’t get why people hated it.
@katbyter @narfcake @unksol
We still liked it. Couldn’t get the price right so took a walk…
It used to be a Delorean.
But the cybertruck kinda ruined that.
@haydesigner The cybertruck kinda ruined everything.
Next car will be a plug-in hybrid. The only requirements are it isn’t an SUV and I can fit my upright bass in the back.
@SSteve how big a fish it (the bass)?
Seriously the market is so flooded with semi-SUVs i was so sick of them. Hard to find much else. That was part of the reason I went with Tesla Model 3 (not Model Y). One year in, as of last week, very happy with it. Often even amazed at how good it is especially as it was priced lower than mainstream hybrid stuff at the time. But yeah downside if you can call it that is no gas. On a long road trip would require a bit of planning for superchargers (it does for you). Driving for a few hours in local area is no problem at all.
@pmarin @SSteve I love my model 3. I’ve had it since June 2018. It is an awesome car. Perfect for my needs.
FOOLS! TOOLS! JEWELS! AWESOME!
@pmarin @SSteve everyone knows fisherman greatly exaggerate the size of their bass. Once their kids taught them relative perspective. With their phones. It got out of hand
@pmarin @SSteve okay. I can’t help it.
/youtube all about that bass fishing
@pmarin @SSteve @unksol
“… they’re just the masters of bait …”
@Kyeh @SSteve @unksol
after 3 minutes in…
/youtube jimmy fallon jeb bush master debater
@Kyeh @SSteve @unksol looking back at this I don’t quite know how we got from hybrid SUVs to bass fishing master baiter jokes.
EDIT but it was fun I needed a distraction.
@pmarin @SSteve @unksol Wow! I hadn’t seen that bit - it was really pretty good, although I guess it didn’t help JB any!
.
But yeah, that kind of devolution of the topic seems to happen here a lot
Oh man so many retro choices
Vintage AMC Pacer in tangerine or chartreuse
Porsche 928 which looked like a big AMC Pacer
Geo Metro convertible
(Didn’t have any of those, but….)
My old Fiat X1/9
My old 911SC Targa
The VW rabbit diesel with sunroof I bought for $400 and used for commuting instead of the Porsche most days
@pmarin
We loved our Metro drop top… Fun car!
@chienfou @pmarin did someone say metro?
https://meh.com/forum/topics/unksols-metro-build-thread-maybe
But I haven’t pulled the pistons yet. It’s been on the table for months/I get lazy. Yes I know I could do it in an hour. Also need to find a machine shop
We have a 1998 4Runner (Manual 5 speed, 4WD, locking differential, 2 levels of low gear, thing’s a damn mountain goat) to restore that’s been sitting in the barn for a couple years, 300K+ mileage but engine and drivetrain in great condition, was a delight to drive but the mice got in and the interior’s kinda gross.
We just bought a new (!) 2024 Subaru Forester, and so far quite happy with it. Bigger inside than it looks, great mileage and high rating for reliability. I figure I have at least 10-15 years of driving before they pry the steering wheel out of my cold dead hands. Really wanted a hybrid, but couldn’t find one that was affordable and didn’t have that horrible pancake style that’s so prevalent or had obnoxious reverse noises (looking at you, RAV4). Subaru is changing the body style to the pancake style in 2025, so if you want a small SUV with real headroom and a rear window more than 8" tall, the current year model is worth looking at.
1977 Ford f150 please and thank you.
A LUCID Air
/image LUCID Air
@rtjhnstn That would probably be my choice if I had to buy a car right now. Why luxury or sporty when you can have both?
I’ve had my dream cars, modest though they actually were. I no longer care that much, though I have a laundry list of things that make a car much les interesting or even put it on the no-go list for me.
Now, it’s a balance of affordability, utility, economy, and repairability that I look for. .
@werehatrack those used vans with the fold flat seats that could absorb a 4x8 sheet good were temping. Surely it wasn’t only Chrysler who had those? The expedition is like 2 inches short. They had an xlt frame that would have. Just make it the two inches so standard size goods fit and keep the third seat… Unless you go off roading is a good vehicle have kids.
Partner? Teach them to drive manual.
No kids. Sedan.
Yes I do realize the first cut is free and you could just find an employee to do the major cut so it would fit… But you already had the frame. Standardize…
Also I have never driven home on the interstate at 70 mph with a 4x8 piece of OSB an inch above my skull and on one else should ever. Cross cut it in the lot if you must
My dream car would be a 2024 Ford Maverick hybrid, Lariat edition- Azure Gray Metallic Tri-Coat or atlas blue metallic (depending on which my wife prefers)!
@paulskrtic I thought about a XLT hybrid at MSRP. At the prices that dealers were
gougingasking, though, F-that. Also from the fuel economy standpoint, the ROI versus my current hybrid is around 100 years.(I’m most likely better off with a full EV in the future anyway.)
1968 ford mustang coupe, 289 automatic with bench seat. Acapulco Blue. And AC, aftermarket or factory, have to have AC. Deluxe interior.
Original VW Beetle.
Dream car would be a 1967 Camaro convertible. Hunter green with a white rag top. My daughter is 16 and she’s getting my Murano and since I now wear a cowboy hat and boots, I’m buying a big ass truck
The last time my car was in the shop I had a Tundra for a few weeks. I think that’s my speed 
If Aptera would make a pickup truck ….
My dream car first must have a manual transmission. If it doesnt I move on to the next car. These days I cant be as picky so it’s a car with manual transmission.
If I was to have a dream car I’ve always wanted a Honda Civic CRX Si with manual transmission
@cammi1 My ex had a 1985ish CRX (not Si). It was pretty fun to drive.
I’m Always The
Last One To Comment
On Here
@oldmanliver
Sadly I must say
Even though you had three lines
It was no Haiku
/image 1970 Chevelle SS
I have my dream car!
It’s an '06 Subaru Baja Turbo I found in a junkyard and got running again. I want to replace the struts and install a winch-style front bumper, and replacing the radio would be nice. Until then, I love my little freaky truck.
@spadaykitten Oh, I always wanted one of those
.
@spadaykitten IDK exactly what this is but you sound like my kind of guy.
How many 10 MM sockets have gone AWOL?
Disclaimer: I have no idea if Subaru uses 10mm just the common “lost” socket
@spadaykitten @unksol
/image lost 10mm socket
Also:
https://www.harborfreight.com/hand-tools/sockets-ratchets/sockets/10mm-metric-essential-socket-set-10-piece-58957.html
(I actually had an entire pack get lost in the gap between the back seat and the cargo area!)
@spadaykitten @unksol
Something ominous is happening.
I walk my dog a couple miles almost everyday. I live on a country road and there are a lot of pickup truck drivers around here. I am always coming across various items on the roadside that literally fell off the truck.
But recently I actually found a perfectly good 10mm socket. I’m not sure what this reversal of all the natural laws might portend. But it can’t be good.
@macromeh @spadaykitten @unksol
My college boyfriend told me he was once driving at night behind a Snap-On Tool van that suddenly had its back doors fly open and a bunch of tools drop out. It just kept going! He stopped and gathered them up.
@macromeh @spadaykitten I mean they have to come out eventually. The one socket I have lost was because I dropped my whole tool box and everything went everywhere. I got them all but one
I think a quarter inch 5/8 rolled to oblivion.
Obviously not a huge lost but it’s empty spot still sits. I’m memory.
@Kyeh @macromeh @spadaykitten I would pick them up. I might have a conscious about returning them. Or at least trying to call them. Although I guess they’d be scratched up so. They’d have to scrap or discount
Also I am pretty sure when you would have had a college boyfriend craftsman was still made in the USA?
Snapon is not for me. I’m sad sears murdered craftsman
@macromeh @spadaykitten @unksol Yes
@Kyeh @spadaykitten @unksol I have a Craftsman air compressor from the mid-seventies. It’s got a 220V motor and a pretty big tank mounted horizontally, with wheels and handle. I’ve been using it on and off over the last almost 50 years. But the last time I turned it on, it just kept running continuously. I checked and a small hole had rusted through the bottom of the tank. Damn - can’t fix the tank and can’t buy a replacement.
@macromeh @spadaykitten @unksol
Really? Can’t fix the tank? 50 years is a pretty good run, though.
@macromeh If there’s a hole in that location, it’s due to internal corrosion from condensation buildup. You might braze it closed, but another could open at any time. I would braze it if it were mine and had no other problems, but I decided to replace my Campbell-Hausfeld of similar age that sprang a similar leak last year, because of the amount of wear on the compressor valves and a failing pressure switch.
@macromeh @werehatrack most likely. I only have a pancake compressor but I open the drain every time I use it/let it blow out the water. 50 years… Were those oil-free compressors?
My thought process was less elegant lol. What if I worked some JB weld through the hole into the tank then lightly pressurized it to spread it out along with an outside patch. That might hold for a bit. Then made sure no one was ever near the thing when it was operating/holding pressure. I wouldn’t really trust it.
In no way am I suggesting doing this. More a dumb thing id be tempted to try. For a temporary solution.
@macromeh @unksol @werehatrack almost any kind of pressure tanks rated for some period like 10 or 12 years. After that officially should be retired, unless in some cases be re-inspected and re-certified. The old Craftsman probably belt-driven compressor unit could be re-mounted to something else with a new tank. It doesn’t need to be ON the tank; it just generates pressurized air that goes out through a tube. I’d say restore the vintage compressor but scrap the tank.
@macromeh @pmarin @unksol Shop tool air compressor tanks really have no age limit; it’s not like the SCUBA and N2 and other high-pressure tanks where a hydrostat is mandated every five years, and a failure is likely to be dramatic to say the least. I’ve seen industrial autodrain tanks that were pushing 20,000 operating hours (over 40 years under pressure), and I’ve never heard of a catastrophic failure in one at all. (Home-made tanks cobbled from scrapped helium containers, yeah, but that’s a very different matter.) Yes, steam engine boilers were operated at similar pressure ranges and had to be fully stripped and rebuilt every ten years, but they were subject to inherent major erosion and heat stresses that were well known hazards. These? Not so much. That’s part of why nobody sells replacement general-purpose tanks to mount an old (or new, FTM) compressor and motor onto. Also, while motor mountings are somewhat standardized if a NEMA-frame motor was used, there’s zero standardization of the mountings for the compressor unit, and that’s kind of important.
@macromeh @pmarin @werehatrack
Mmm. I’m sure you’re probably correct. but even if they did it could not be enforced because you’re putting it under pressure at home.
I was thinking like propane tanks which have a similar rated pressure of ~200 lbs and they just won’t fill them once they are out of date.
But for obvious reasons propane tanks are subjected to higher pressure dependent on the ambient temp. And obviously much more dangerous if they ruptured. A shop air tank. Obviously doesn’t have either risk. Still I wouldn’t want anyone near a patch on one.
Maybe it could be welded?
My dream car is Christina Hendricks with wheels attached to her and a built in cupholder… Oh and a backup camera too.
@OnionSoup
@OnionSoup
@blaineg @OnionSoup
A 1973 or 74 MG Midget. British racing green, of course.
@lisagd
Natch
@lisagd Had a gorgeous yellow 1974 MGB for my first car. My second car was a British racing green 1973 MGB. I loved both. But the electronics were crap on both. My favorite part ( other than them being convertible) was the cute windshield wipers. 3 of them about 11 inches long. Such fun cars.
@lisagd @milstarr Back in the mid-70s, I briefly owned an MGC with what had to be the cleanest turbocharger setup I have ever seen. I acquired it cheap at an auction, and sold it to someone who offered me ten times what I had invested in it. In retrospect, I ought to have kept it.
I want my high school car back. 1967 GTO, 400 with a 6 pack, tan with black vinyl roof. Crager SS wheels on M60 tires. Had an 8 track case between the bucket seats so my honey could sit next to me.
/showme lexus LFA
/showme a dog driving a Lexus LFA
@mediocrebot I’m most excited to see that
/showmenow works in replies.(nothing against dogs driving
LexusesLexi)@mediocrebot @xobzoo Really? Gotta test it
/showme spuds mckenzie the dog driving a fiat x1/9 with the roof off by a beach
@mediocrebot not quite accurate but cute anyway
@pmarin My next-door neighbor has a restored-to-mint 124 Spyder, among other treasures.
Brand new jeep grand Cherokee with all the bells and whistles (I drive one for 2 weeks and loved it). Or a brand new Subaru of some sorts, I drive one now and have no car trouble. I don’t know if I’ve had really bad luck with cars up till now or American cars only last so long till they break.
@Star2236 Some are definitely not made to last, though decades ago, there was an adage that “a GM vehicle will run like shit longer than another vehicle will run at all.”
That said, my current daily is a Ford (Mercury) with 242k miles. I figured if the NY taxis were running them well past 500k miles, they had to have done something right.
@narfcake @Star2236 I had a grand caravan last 25 years and 3 months. The kid called it the ghetto van because it was from the era of the peeling paint.
@Kidsandliz @narfcake @Star2236 the saturn made it ~20 years and 250K
The expedition is at 27 and 210K and the last owners were not kind to it considering when I bought it the radiator leaked, the starter and battery were shot, you couldn’t put it in park and the emergency brakes didn’t work, and 4 of the cylinders didn’t fire. It barely ran bit the ford v8s have a “cripple” mode.
All easy fixes so whoever had it was not nice to it
@Kidsandliz @narfcake @Star2236 @unksol
I have a '91 3/4 ton Suburban that runs and drives just fine. (Paint looks ugly, but meh.) Unfortunately, it is a tailgate model (vs. the swinging barn door style) with an electric window that slides down into the tailgate, and the window motor is seized. And of course, it seized with the window down.
Problem 1: how to get to the seized motor when the window is covering it, without breaking the glass?
Problem 2: Assuming I solve Problem 1, where do I find a replacement window motor? No longer available from GM and no luck finding an aftermarket one. Maybe a wrecking yard?
@macromeh @narfcake @Star2236 @unksol Finding parts: go to the websites for Pull Apart near you and set up an alert if they don’t have the part when you use their search. You can’t call them to see what they have in stock, the website is the only choice. If if one of your cars somewhere and the back doesn’t look smashed up you could always post here to see if someone could go look at it for you.
@Kidsandliz @macromeh @narfcake @Star2236 a lot of the smaller junk yards are just using https://www.car-part.com/
It’s more rockauto style than a huge pick-a-part/lots of small junk yards use it. I for example was able to find several used running Saturn engines with low miles. But by the time I trusted the expedition to drive a hundred miles to go get one her brake line blew, there was the old body damage, other wear and tear, and despite what they say about Saturns. They do rust from underneath.
Passed a good looking SL on the way home today and was little jealous though.
For the metro, to go to 14 inch tires from 12s, correctly. I need the front knuckles from a convertible, hubs, speed sensor and caliper bracket and a few others things. Hubs and calipers you can buy. Not really the knuckle and the adapter plate.
Car-part.com will let them list the individual parts but on obscure stuff they may just list"we got this car in/call for parts."
But you can search for the car/range and then call them. “Hey I see you got in a 92 metro convertible, do you know if its got these 5 things I’m looking for”
Finding stuff takes some google-foo parts cross reference though. But I enjoy a Saturday drive so I don’t mind taking a day to get something I need/want.
I found one in range pretty easily a while ago. but until I have her running. Wasn’t worth the hassle. They can be done later.
@Kidsandliz @macromeh @narfcake @Star2236 as far as fixing obscure problems… They are never obscure.
You google “year vehicle problem” and critically at the end. “forum”. Someone has always had your problem or one similar. Someone has probably figured out a way.
Try “91 suburban replace tailgate motor forum”
You could include window down but usually start less specific. First three at least sound like the issue.
Post 8 and 9 from the first link sound promising
https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=601407
@Kidsandliz @narfcake @Star2236 @unksol
Very interesting - thanks for the link.
I actually want a car very close to the one my parents had when I was a kid. 1969 Plymouth Sports Suburban (station wagon) with the upgraded interior, 440 V8, A/C, disk brakes, with neither interior nor exterior in green (ours was glacier blue). I loved that car and would love to get one close to it. Debatable on a 6 or 9 passenger; I prefer the six but would take a nine.
But I would retrofit an overdrive automatic transmission to make for much smoother freeway travel.
Love me a Land Yacht.
/showme a purple Dodge Charger and a purple Dodge Challenger
My dream car is a gull wing Mercedes. I think they are spectacular.