[wayne james]

Im a Union Steelworker yes I have Insurance, good old BC & BS

[Racer X 69]

Im a Union Steelworker yes I have Insurance, good old BC & BS

[Brad_Olson]

We've bought a 1979 HZ Holden Kingswood SL like the one above, with pretty much a full history.

I'm rather late to the party here but the front end looks a lot like a '70-72 Chevy Monte Carlo and the body style is reminiscent of a '68-72 Tempest/Chevelle/Skylark (Special)/Cutlass (F-85). And the Kingswood name was used on Chevrolet station wagons from at least the late '50s. You mentioned in a later post that you think the 202 CID straight 6 is of Australian heritage and I believe you're correct; dating back to the late '40s the smallest Chevy 6 was 216 CID. A friend of mine works for Ford "down under"; I'll have to quiz him on the Kingswood to see what he knows about it.

Very cool...good luck with the project!

[hks_kansei]

I'm rather late to the party here but the front end looks a lot like a '70-72 Chevy Monte Carlo and the body style is reminiscent of a '68-72 Tempest/Chevelle/Skylark (Special)/Cutlass (F-85). And the Kingswood name was used on Chevrolet station wagons from at least the late '50s. You mentioned in a later post that you think the 202 CID straight 6 is of Australian heritage and I believe you're correct; dating back to the late '40s the smallest Chevy 6 was 216 CID. A friend of mine works for Ford "down under"; I'll have to quiz him on the Kingswood to see what he knows about it.

Very cool...good luck with the project!

Thank you.

The red motor has been in a fair few capacities, I think the first one was a 149ci, then it went up to 179, then 186, then finally 202.

[Ratmagiclady]

It's been a while, how's everyone doing?

It seems the only automotive things I'm seeing out there are all kinds of new models coming out, ...some of them look pretty cool and/or have some interesting shapes on them.

[Rupert]

Well as everyone here knows I just had neck surgery and I have been on the mend. Well tonite I had a little setback. I was standing on the sidewalk 2 doors down from were I live and some A**hole saw the need to wack me in the leg with a baseball bat and try to rob me. He didn't get nothing but I got a 5 hour visit to the hospital. So the story doesn't end there, seams the fool and his crew need to send a 17 year old to the same hospital and then still try to rob someone else. Yep 3 wanna be hold ups in about 15 minutes. Welcome to New Jersey.
wayne

Don't think I know you, but as an old guy laid up here with a broken foot for a few months to come, I send my best regards for your fast and full recovery.
You know, this is a damn nasty ass world (can I say that here?) with some sorry souls wandering around taking advantage of the disabled, the elderly, and the weak. If we could change that....we damn sure would!
Mrs Rupert works all day, and I am here alone...it takes me several minutes to get from my little office to the bathroom to pee, and that's using a walker, so I am not able to fight off any intruders should they try to take advantage of my puny condition. I've though about this, so I hobble around with a little something in my sock in case that sort of thing should occur. I may be slow to walk, but I can draw fast and shoot straight!

I am liking the car talk here, and what I am missing most right now is riding around in the newly acquired little TT. Before this break, I was enjoying every minute in it. Always wanted a little Toy Car, and this one is a little jewel! So much fun on a twisty road, or just out on the open highway. So far I haven't found a thing about it I don't love!

[IMG] [/IMG]

[IMG] [/IMG]

We had planned some long trips in it this Fall...but will now have to wait until Spring....providing I heal up OK, and I am determined to do that! You do the same!

Best Regards!
Rupert

[Ratmagiclady]

I am liking the car talk here, and what I am missing most right now is riding around in the newly acquired little TT. Before this break, I was enjoying every minute in it. Always wanted a little Toy Car, and this one is a little jewel! So much fun on a twisty road, or just out on the open highway. So far I haven't found a thing about it I don't love!

Oh, hrm. For some reason I'd thought I remembered you got an automatic or paddle shifters or something. (Though I surely would think that defeats the purpose of a sports car to a large degree if you had. I'd only really consider that as a concession to arthritis and or traffic, myself, but maybe if you're laid up that long it's something to consider. )

I only ever tried one 'auto-stick' type car: a rental agency put sweetie and I in a Mitsubishi Eclipse ragtop when we first visited here. In that case the auto-stick part was kind of meh, (really kind of vague and mushy most of the time) but better than nothing. I've heard better about other versions since then. I consider that experience sort of a proof of concept with unimpressive execution. But I blamed a lot of drawbacks to that car on the extra weight of the ragtop, which was pretty considerable. I tended to suspect that transmission wasn't set up for the extra weight. Something you might consider anyway, if your left foot'll be out of action all that long.

[grhazelton]

Oh, hrm. For some reason I'd thought I remembered you got an automatic or paddle shifters or something. (Though I surely would think that defeats the purpose of a sports car to a large degree if you had. I'd only really consider that as a concession to arthritis and or traffic, myself, but maybe if you're laid up that long it's something to consider. )

I only ever tried one 'auto-stick' type car: a rental agency put sweetie and I in a Mitsubishi Eclipse ragtop when we first visited here. In that case the auto-stick part was kind of meh, (really kind of vague and mushy most of the time) but better than nothing. I've heard better about other versions since then. I consider that experience sort of a proof of concept with unimpressive execution. But I blamed a lot of drawbacks to that car on the extra weight of the ragtop, which was pretty considerable. I tended to suspect that transmission wasn't set up for the extra weight. Something you might consider anyway, if your left foot'll be out of action all that long.

My brother has a Mazda3 5 door with sort of an autostick. You can move the selector to "Manual" and the trans will stay in the selected gear to red line, I think. Slap one way to shift up, the other to shift down. Not too bad, but I still prefer my Mazda3 5 door with 6 speed manual and 2.5l engine. Much fun on the twisties, sort of a wagon/sports car combo.

RML, if I had to fight Hotlanta traffic everyday I'd reconsider my slush box aversion. The traffic is truly a horror show.

[Rupert]

Ratlady, I drove a paddle shift TT before I bought this one, and was not at all impressed. What I noticed most was the "turbo-lull" from a dead stop, which is really a little scary. There is no lull on my standard shift, it just goes from the start.
Automatic makes sense on a lot of cars, like Mrs Rupert's Escape, or even my Ram light truck. but not much on my Jeep Wrangler or on the TT.
Fun driving is shifting those gears at the right moment, and on the TT it is quick and easy. Damn, I wish I was out there shifting right now!

Regards!

[grhazelton]

Ratlady, I drove a paddle shift TT before I bought this one, and was not at all impressed. What I noticed most was the "turbo-lull" from a dead stop, which is really a little scary. There is no lull on my standard shift, it just goes from the start.
Automatic makes sense on a lot of cars, like Mrs Rupert's Escape, or even my Ram light truck. but not much on my Jeep Wrangler or on the TT.
Fun driving is shifting those gears at the right moment, and on the TT it is quick and easy. Damn, I wish I was out there shifting right now!

Regards!

Well, we can say that for now you are shiftless....

[Ratmagiclady]

My brother has a Mazda3 5 door with sort of an autostick. You can move the selector to "Manual" and the trans will stay in the selected gear to red line, I think. Slap one way to shift up, the other to shift down. Not too bad, but I still prefer my Mazda3 5 door with 6 speed manual and 2.5l engine. Much fun on the twisties, sort of a wagon/sports car combo.

RML, if I had to fight Hotlanta traffic everyday I'd reconsider my slush box aversion. The traffic is truly a horror show.

That's true on the latter, though I would probably simply not live in a place where I had to deal with that every day.

I'd consider trying to put a standard in my Volvo, though I don't know how feasible that conversion would be, (I'd have to see if the requisite parts could come from a 740, and it'd probably make more sense to simply trade for one. (These apparently never came with standards, you see.) There's an electric overdrive that might come in handy under some circumstances, though. If I come into enough money I want to have this one fixed up for my friend's granddaughter. She's very safe, though this is accomplished with hundreds of pounds of extra steel apparently. But anyway, what they call traffic in my area really isn't much of a thing. To me, anyway.

Don't think I've much personal experience of a Mazda made since, oh, I dunno, the mid-eighties. I remember my friend's was pretty easy to work on, anyway.

[Racer X 69]

RML, if I had to fight Hotlanta traffic everyday I'd reconsider my slush box aversion. The traffic is truly a horror show.

I cuss the Atlanta beltway every time I have to pass through the Peach state. It is always "on my mind".

[Racer X 69]

It's been a while, how's everyone doing?

I've been running my butt off.

Made a pass out your way late July when the Mothership was supposed to get me straight back to the homefront so Mrs. Racer and I could go camping. They had me run some tooling to Calexico, then sent me to North Charleston with more tooling.

When I complained they said, "We need a favor".

Some favor.

I got stuck at the California/Arizona border for 3 days in 130 degree heat waiting for an oversize load permit. Then a drive tire exploded 50 miles into the desert and tore the step off of my truck. Oh, and it was 150 degrees out there. Delivered the tooling 4 days late, the riggers were pissed. Mine was one of 3 truckloads of parts for one tool, and was supposed to get there first.

It was last.

Finally got to go camping, on the Mighty Columbia River in Eastern Washington. Took a day trip to a wind farm. Neat stuff. Got pictures but they are still hiding on a memory card.

Then the Mothership sent me to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with a swimming pool bulkhead, Another oversize load, I was almost 100 feet long.

Here are a couple shots I took out on the Canadian Prairie:



I always love the drive up into the Canadian interior. The prairie is beautiful, and earlier that day it was sunny. It was sunny later that day too, but the thunderstorms roll through all the time.



Note the red and white Circus Banners. Apparently in the French speaking parts of Canuckistan they find it cumbersome to spell out OVERSIZE LOAD, as it would look like this: charge surdimensionnée

And someone in the Ministry of Transport must have felt that a simple "D" would suffice. Ergo the "D" Panels, as the red and white Circus Banners are known as up there.

They bounced me home (ran me back empty) from Canuckistan, 2,200 miles.

On my way home I stopped overnight in Post Falls, ID. In the morning I filled my fuel tanks and was making my way through the parking lot to the street when some dope in another big truck backed into the side of mine. He hit me so hard it shoved my truck sideways about 4 feet. The ICC bumper on the back of his trailer ripped the side of my truck open like a sardine can, including the left fuel tank.

Now I had just filled the thing up.

It holds 300 gallons.

And as I sat there, dazed and confused, I saw a river of diesel fuel flowing out from under the front of my truck. About $1,000 worth of fuel.

As if that wasn't bad enough, this guy could neither speak, read or write English. Well, he could say just enough to tell the police that came that it was my fault he backed into the side of my truck.

So about 6 or 7 hours of a hazmat crew cleaning up 300 gallons of spilled diesel, and a mechanic came out and disconnected the fuel lines to the left tank, and we separated the two trucks and the foreigner drove away.

Me?

Well I had to go find a room for the night because my truck had to go to a shop and get looked over to insure that it was safe to drive the last 300 miles home.

And now I am in a spankin' new truck.

A 2013 Volvo.

It is big.

It is black.

It feels like you are riding down the road while sitting on your davenport, while it is floating in the belly of a whale.

So I have nicknamed it Monstro.

For the whale in the Disney adaptation of Pinocchio.

Here are a couple shots of it:





It really isn't so bad. Much roomier than the Junkliner was, the refrigerator has a bigger freezer, and the lower bunk (yes, it has bunk beds! even a ladder to get to the top bunk!) makes into a table with seats on either side, like in a camper. Also much quieter and it drives like a Cadillac.

[Ex Finn.]

I've been running my butt off.

Made a pass out your way late July when the Mothership was supposed to get me straight back to the homefront so Mrs. Racer and I could go camping. They had me run some tooling to Calexico, then sent me to North Charleston with more tooling.

When I complained they said, "We need a favor".

Some favor.

I got stuck at the California/Arizona border for 3 days in 130 degree heat waiting for an oversize load permit. Then a drive tire exploded 50 miles into the desert and tore the step off of my truck. Oh, and it was 150 degrees out there. Delivered the tooling 4 days late, the riggers were pissed. Mine was one of 3 truckloads of parts for one tool, and was supposed to get there first.

It was last.

Finally got to go camping, on the Mighty Columbia River in Eastern Washington. Took a day trip to a wind farm. Neat stuff. Got pictures but they are still hiding on a memory card.

Then the Mothership sent me to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with a swimming pool bulkhead, Another oversize load, I was almost 100 feet long.

Here are a couple shots I took out on the Canadian Prairie:



I always love the drive up into the Canadian interior. The prairie is beautiful, and earlier that day it was sunny. It was sunny later that day too, but the thunderstorms roll through all the time.



Note the red and white Circus Banners. Apparently in the French speaking parts of Canuckistan they find it cumbersome to spell out OVERSIZE LOAD, as it would look like this: charge surdimensionnée

And someone in the Ministry of Transport must have felt that a simple "D" would suffice. Ergo the "D" Panels, as the red and white Circus Banners are known as up there.

They bounced me home (ran me back empty) from Canuckistan, 2,200 miles.

On my way home I stopped overnight in Post Falls, ID. In the morning I filled my fuel tanks and was making my way through the parking lot to the street when some dope in another big truck backed into the side of mine. He hit me so hard it shoved my truck sideways about 4 feet. The ICC bumper on the back of his trailer ripped the side of my truck open like a sardine can, including the left fuel tank.

Now I had just filled the thing up.

It holds 300 gallons.

And as I sat there, dazed and confused, I saw a river of diesel fuel flowing out from under the front of my truck. About $1,000 worth of fuel.

As if that wasn't bad enough, this guy could neither speak, read or write English. Well, he could say just enough to tell the police that came that it was my fault he backed into the side of my truck.

So about 6 or 7 hours of a hazmat crew cleaning up 300 gallons of spilled diesel, and a mechanic came out and disconnected the fuel lines to the left tank, and we separated the two trucks and the foreigner drove away.

Me?

Well I had to go find a room for the night because my truck had to go to a shop and get looked over to insure that it was safe to drive the last 300 miles home.

And now I am in a spankin' new truck.

A 2013 Volvo.

It is big.

It is black.

It feels like you are riding down the road while sitting on your davenport, while it is floating in the belly of a whale.

So I have nicknamed it Monstro.

For the whale in the Disney adaptation of Pinocchio.

Here are a couple shots of it:





It really isn't so bad. Much roomier than the Junkliner was, the refrigerator has a bigger freezer, and the lower bunk (yes, it has bunk beds! even a ladder to get to the top bunk!) makes into a table with seats on either side, like in a camper. Also much quieter and it drives like a Cadillac.

Nice looking rig, you hit that shutter button at just the right moment to catch that lightning in the background.

[Ratmagiclady]

And now I am in a spankin' new truck.

A 2013 Volvo.

It is big.

It is black.

It feels like you are riding down the road while sitting on your davenport, while it is floating in the belly of a whale.

So I have nicknamed it Monstro.

For the whale in the Disney adaptation of Pinocchio.

Here are a couple shots of it:

It really isn't so bad. Much roomier than the Junkliner was, the refrigerator has a bigger freezer, and the lower bunk (yes, it has bunk beds! even a ladder to get to the top bunk!) makes into a table with seats on either side, like in a camper. Also much quieter and it drives like a Cadillac.

Well, at least some good came out of all that: got you back in a Volvo rig, anyway. Sure does look big. More fuel cost to it, though?