A new or at least different car

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desertbadger
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A new or at least different car

Post by desertbadger »

The old Pontiac finally gave up the ghost even though through the years I saved it's life several times. Within 30 seconds the water pump, heater core, and head gasket blew. It was on Father's Day and it was hot as hell. While the repairs needed are doable, the money even with me supplying the labor, just didn't make financial sense. So......SWMBO went car shopping and got a really good deal through Enterprise Rental a Car on a 2016 Nissan Versa Note still under factory warranty. For a smaller model car it has a surprising amount of interior room. That's kinda important since I'm 6'2" and about 230#. It has just enough creature comforts including a back up camera (I could do without this, but SWMBO needs this, believe me, jeez!) without having a bunch of expensive junk that always seem to break or malfuntion right after the warranty expires. All in all it seems to be a pretty good car and she is very pleased with it.
Regards,
David
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Squire
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by Squire »

You know you're getting up in years when an ordinary car today costs more than your first house.
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Squire
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desertbadger
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by desertbadger »

Squire wrote:You know you're getting up in years when an ordinary car today costs more than your first house.
Sadly, that is the truth!

Regards,
David
Regards,
David
CMur12
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by CMur12 »

Sounds like a great car, David.

I have always liked smaller cars, but I drive a Honda Accord to better protect an injured back. (My Accord has a stick shift, though, and it likes twisty roads. 8) )

- Murray
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desertbadger
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by desertbadger »

In 1974, right out of the Navy, I bought a new VW Super Beetle. While not a high performance car to be sure, it did corner nicely, easy to work on, and you could park it anywhere. I always remembered the price I paid; $2442.41 out the door. Wished I still had it.
Regards,
David
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by CMur12 »

David, when I was a teenager, my big aspiration in life was to own a VW Beetle. I used to go to the local VW dealer all the time, just to sit in the cars. One of the salesmen there gave me a paperback book, called The Small Wonder, that told the VW story. I used it for a report in my high school German class. I still have the book, but I never did get a VW. :cry:

The Super Beetle was really a neat car. Would that I could have a collection of all of the VWs that I admired during those years!

- Murray
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by brothers »

The current vehicles are far more dependable and comfortable (safe) than those wonderful old cars of yesteryear that dance like sugarplums around in our heads. It makes me sad when I think about those remarkable beasts and beauties.
Gary

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Kyle76
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by Kyle76 »

I still love the sound of those VW air-cooled engines on the rare occasions when I run across an original on the road. They had a very distinctive voice.
Jim
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drmoss_ca
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by drmoss_ca »

My wife's first car was a 1964 Beetle, complete with 6v electrical system. I had to push it to start it in the morning, and then she parked it on a hill to get it to start coming home. Even after that, she went and bought a 1974 Beetle and used it in the summers for several years, but I'm afraid it has sat in a garage for the last 15 years and will be a major project to get it going again, which she swears she will do one day.

Image

I think the only thing that would make her part with it would be a restored VW Camper.

This summer I have been enjoying a car I bought 27 years ago, and which also sat in a garage for 15 years. Its career of gentle summertime use came to a halt when I lost my practice partner, who decided it was too busy here, leaving me with all his patients as well as my own. But now the office building has sold, the convenient drive-in basement has gone and the 1990 'NA' Miata has been returned to life with a mere 31k km on the clock.

Image
Miata NA 4 by chrism229, on Flickr

Image
Miata NA 2 by chrism229, on Flickr

In October I intend to take it, Pippa, a camera and a bunch of colour film around the Cabot Trail for the fjord-like scenery and the fall colours. I do hope we don't break down in Meat Cove, a remote community famous for incest and probably all sorts of other horror movie themes. I think being stranded there would be like a crossover movie of Cannibal Ferox and Deliverance!

Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
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fallingwickets
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by fallingwickets »

I envy your ability to get in and out of that.....still the best little sports car ever made

clive
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by drmoss_ca »

fallingwickets wrote:I envy your ability to get in and out of that.....still the best little sports car ever made

clive
It does seem to have become smaller and lower sometime in the last fifteen years! But, yes, it was what the traditional British roadster could have been if there had been a little passion for quality and reliability. I had a nightmare TR7 back in the 80's. The timing marks were in the wrong place on the flywheel, and every time it got serviced it wouldn't run right as they re-adjusted it to incorrect timing. I had a little backstreet garage run by a pair of wonderful Pakistanis who understood badly made cars very well and they would correct it again, gleefully pointing out how sweetly it ran when the timing was set 'incorrectly'.
It's such fun to accelerate round corners while everyone else brakes. Not a powerful car (1.6l/115bhp) but very light (2100lb) and nimble and fun on small roads. Sheer cruelty to drive it on a highway; it lives for twisty roads. No need to speed - it's as much fun as one could want at the speed limit. I understand Miata have re-discovered the magic formula in the new fourth version, having rather lost it in the much heavier third one.
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
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desertbadger
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by desertbadger »

Nice story and pictures, doc!
Regards,
David
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Kyle76
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by Kyle76 »

drmoss_ca wrote:My wife's first car was a 1964 Beetle, complete with 6v electrical system. I had to push it to start it in the morning, and then she parked it on a hill to get it to start coming home.
Chris
I had a car like that. A '64 Plymouth Valiant. The trouble was, the slant-6 engine was bulletproof. You couldn't kill it, and believe me, I abused the hell out of it. The 3-on-the-tree transmission used to lock up regularly, but you just opened the hood and adjusted the linkage, and you were good to go. The body of that car had probably three times the steel of today's vehicles. It was almost dent-proof.
Jim
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by CMur12 »

A mere 31k km on an NA Miata is amazing!

My dad drove MGs (a TD, a TF 1500, an MGA, and an MGB), and he was constantly tinkering with them. Even at the time they were not known for their advanced engineering and Lucas electrics ("Lucas, the Prince of Darkness") had a terrible reputation. Interestingly enough, I don't think my dad had problems with any of these machines.

I, too, have often thought of the MX-5/Miata as the traditional "English sports car" done right. Even if there were MGs, Triumphs, and Austin Healeys today, it's highly unlikely they would have the refinement, craftsmanship of build, and reliability of the Miata.

- Murray

EDIT/Question for Chris: Does the NA Miata have power steering?
(To me, it would be a plus if it doesn't.)
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by Rufus »

My first roadster was a 1966 MGB, which I picked up in England that year. After driving it for a couple of months in England I shipped it to Hong Kong and used it during summer holidays when I was visiting my parents. It was a great little car even though the red dye on the leather seats would run into my clothes when I sweated in the heat. I didn't own another roadster until 2005 when I purchased a BMW Z4 which I still own. I don't drive it in the winters here so it only has 65,000km on the clock.
Bryan
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by brothers »

There were many, but one that stands out was my '63 MGB. My girlfriend, now my wife of many decades, and I had a great spring and summer around '67 or '68 running around all over the place with the top down and hoping it would start if I turned it off. One day my brother and I were talking and decided to trade cars even up. He had a '65 or '66? Impala. Aaahhhh! Those were the best years ever.
Gary

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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by CMur12 »

Gary, you went from an MGB to an Impala?! Those two cars are antithetical to each other!

- Murray
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drmoss_ca
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by drmoss_ca »

CMur12 wrote:Gary, you went from an MGB to an Impala?! Those two cars are antithetical to each other!

- Murray
The Impala had a large and soft back seat..... :wink:
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
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desertbadger
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by desertbadger »

drmoss_ca wrote:
CMur12 wrote:Gary, you went from an MGB to an Impala?! Those two cars are antithetical to each other!

- Murray
The Impala had a large and soft back seat..... :wink:
So did a 69 Roadrunner and the front seat wasn't too shabby either.... :mrgreen:
Regards,
David
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Re: A new or at least different car

Post by CMur12 »

drmoss_ca wrote:
CMur12 wrote:Gary, you went from an MGB to an Impala?! Those two cars are antithetical to each other!

- Murray
The Impala had a large and soft back seat..... :wink:
Excellent response. 8)

- Murray
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