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slantfin
Turbo Slant 6
Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Posts: 759
Location: New England
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Post subject:
Condescending Sticker Guy
(Fri Mar 16, 2012 2:37 pm)
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I went to get a sticker today on my slant six 67 Barracuda. I usually drive across town to have a friend inspect it, but he doesn't really look too close, so I wanted to see what an impartial inspector would say. I went to my neighborhood gas station, around the corner.
The guy tried to stare me down, which doesn't work on me, since I just smile and look like I've just met my new best friend. He looked over the car shaking his head, and admittedly it could use a new top and some paint.
"Everything works," I said.
"It had better," he said. Still not charming me out of my socks.
He took an alarmingly long time on the car before me, and then finally had me drive in.
"So everything works, huh?" he said.
"You don't like old cars, do you?" I asked, sympathetically.
"You have an exhaust leak."
"It doesn't have a catalytic converter which may be why it sounds like that," I said. "It didn't come with one."
We waited for the machine to process its information.
"Are you a mechanic?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said, without going into specifics.
"Where do you work?"
"Well... I fix my own vehicles." I had assisted at a friend's garage during the late 80's, but I was going with my S.O.P. of being friendly and vague.
He rolled his eyes, and sneered for a while longer. I smiled back.
I figured he would give me a rejection sticker, but he slapped on a fresh sticker, as if it was a booby prize, without even checking to see if the horn worked.
"You came here because you didn't think it would pass at a real garage, didn't you?" he said by way of a goodbye.
"I think it would pass..." I offered, but then figured, what's the use?
Someone summed it up for me a long time ago when they said, "There are a lot of nice places in the world, and Boston isn't one of them."
 _________________ /6 '67 Barracuda convertible, electronic ignition, 4-OD, street cam, SBP KH discs, 3.55 SG 7.25" 1" t-bars. Bilstein.
340 '67 fastback, modified street racer.
Thrashed Toyota hal-pic urban survivor.
Fun, Free Charity: www.freerice.com |
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Doc
Guru
Joined: 14 Oct 2002
Posts: 4976
Location: Working in Silicon Valley, USA
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Post subject:
(Fri Mar 16, 2012 3:00 pm)
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Great story...
Some people, here in California, ask me how I 'get away' with driving "that old car"... How do you get it to pass a smog test?
I look them in the eye and say... "It's exempt".
I get a number of different reactions to that... Some ask "really... tell me more..." like they just found a gold nugget.
Others, like the Prius owner in the store parking lot, get's on a soap box about how bad my car is on the environment...
That's about the time I say "have a nice day... and walk away.
The biggest reasons I continue to drive these cars:
1) No bi-annual smog checks.
2) I can't stand new car dealers.
DD
Last edited by Doc on Fri Mar 16, 2012 5:06 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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GTS225
Board Sponsor
Joined: 01 Nov 2002
Posts: 1269
Location: Waterloo, Iowa
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Post subject:
(Fri Mar 16, 2012 3:57 pm)
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| Doc wrote: | | Others, like the Prius owner in the store parking lot, get's on a soap box about how bad the car is on the environment...DD |
*****************************************************
I read somewhere, (admittedly on the internet), that the Prius consumes more energy, from fabrication to scrapping, than an H2 Hummer. The same "story" included that the mine where the metal for the batterie(s) comes from has nothing growing around it for something like five miles, due to dust fallout.
Roger
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SlantSixDan
Board Sponsor & Contributor
Joined: 31 Oct 2002
Posts: 21883
Location: North America
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Post subject:
(Fri Mar 16, 2012 4:49 pm)
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| Doc wrote: | | the Prius owner in the store parking lot, get's on a soap box about how bad the car is on the environment... |
You obviously take the high road by just walking away. I'd be tempted to say "What, y'never heard of 'reduce-reuse-recycle'?" or I might say "Yeah, well, your low-emissions Prius cancels out my high-emissions Dart. Thanks for the subsidy!"._________________ 一期一会
By birth & parentage: US citizen, 2nd class
By choice: Canadian citizen, 1st class
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flounderguts
2 BBL ''SuperSix''
Joined: 26 Aug 2011
Posts: 18
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Post subject:
(Sat Mar 17, 2012 8:37 am)
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What's really interesting (while we're Prius-bashing) is that the Prius represents no net savings for any category.
It is a truly global car, with parts manufactured by lowest bidders all over the world...USA, Canada, Taiwan, Malaysia, India, Japan, Australia, Sweden, Spain, UK...the list goes on. All of those parts are shipped to the assembly plants (one in Saitama, the other in Mississippi...I think)
Between the massive amounts of energy required to manufacture the battery, the giant amount of diesel burnt to not on assemble all those parts, but to ship them around the world...and the large amount of petroleum needed to produce the large amount of plastic in the car to make it light...the car is anything but carbon-neutral. Even though it has the lowest emissions of any car (other than electric or fuel-cell) currently sold.
The study I read indicated that the Prius only becomes carbon neutral after the car has been driven over 80000 miles. Of normal driving. If you are stop-start urban driving, the threshold is a much lower 34000 miles.
I guess we lose sight of the bigger picture in our race to become greenest on the block. I wonder how the carbon footprint of driving a 64 valiant for 50 years compares? Without all that plastic, battery, and shipping...do you think we might be greener than people assume?
I'm going to search for the article that itemized all of this. It was written in 2009 as part of a doctoral thesis...when I find it I'll post it here.
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1962 D100 Utiline
1985 Nissan 720 ST 4x4
1999 F150 XLT V6
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Andy's GT
Turbo EFI
Joined: 24 Feb 2004
Posts: 1371
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Post subject:
(Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:01 am)
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| SlantSixDan wrote: | | "What, y'never heard of 'reduce-reuse-recycle'?" |
saw a kind of cool sticker the other day that said "reduce, reuse, recycle, rebuild"
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SlantSixDan
Board Sponsor & Contributor
Joined: 31 Oct 2002
Posts: 21883
Location: North America
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Post subject:
Re: Condescending Sticker Guy
(Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:04 am)
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| slantfin wrote: | | "You have an exhaust leak." |
Bulk wrap. If you did, he wouldn't have given you a sticker.
| Quote: | "Are you a mechanic?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said, without going into specifics.
"Where do you work?" |
You missed an opportunity to say "Utopia Planitia" (where Federation ships are built in "Star Trek")
| Quote: | | "You came here because you didn't think it would pass at a real garage, didn't you?" |
Sounds like he has a lot of pride and confidence in his work, eh? Sheesh._________________ 一期一会
By birth & parentage: US citizen, 2nd class
By choice: Canadian citizen, 1st class
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Doctor Dodge
Guru
Joined: 12 Oct 2002
Posts: 3188
Location: Sunnyvale, Calif.
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Post subject:
(Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:22 am)
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Don't get me wrong, I have no "ax to grind" with the low emissions vehicles and how they are making their way onto our roadways (and "culture") but I don't like being lectured by any vehicle owner (or mechanic, inspector, etc) about my choice in the vehicle I decide to drive.
DD
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slantfin
Turbo Slant 6
Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Posts: 759
Location: New England
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Post subject:
(Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:54 am)
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Or as Jeremy Clarkson says, "Pr-eye-us."
I think a well-tuned slant six can have low emissions, if it's able to be efficient, with optimized combustion at the right operating temperature.
The "real garage" comment was a slow pitch across the plate, but since he had given me the sticker, I just kept on steppin'. I gather he was filling in at the place, and thought I was through there every week with a junker. The irony is that I went there for a legitimate safety inspection and instead got a big pile of unprofessional prejudice. I went there because it was the closest inspection place to where the car is parked.
Jeremy Clarkson:best car in India
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64 Convert
Contributor
Joined: 03 Nov 2002
Posts: 940
Location: Texas
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Post subject:
(Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:25 am)
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| The son of a friend bought a Chevy Volt last month...the one taxpayers subsidize to the tune of $7,000.00 per unit. Well, it's been over 80 F the past week, so he turned on the air conditioning. Total distance he was able to travel on a battery charge...20 miles. Then it had to charge all night before he could get another 20 miles from electric power. Without the A/C on, he gets about 28 miles in normal driving conditions.
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slantzilla
Board Sponsor & Moderator
Joined: 17 Oct 2002
Posts: 9361
Location: Park Forest, Illinoisy
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Post subject:
(Sat Mar 17, 2012 6:48 pm)
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| 64 Convert wrote: | | The son of a friend bought a Chevy Volt last month...the one taxpayers subsidize to the tune of $7,000.00 per unit. Well, it's been over 80 F the past week, so he turned on the air conditioning. Total distance he was able to travel on a battery charge...20 miles. Then it had to charge all night before he could get another 20 miles from electric power. Without the A/C on, he gets about 28 miles in normal driving conditions. |
I've seen the subsidy number as high as $250,000 PER CAR when you figure in all the money GM got for developement and testing.
I think the Volt is a repeat of the failed EV-1 project. GM spent a billion dollars of taxpayer money at the governments request just to prove an electric car is a novelty at best until someone invents a magic battery.
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Proud supporter of Mike Jeffrey Racing Engines since 1999.
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DusterIdiot
Board Sponsor
Joined: 29 Oct 2002
Posts: 7135
Location: Salem, OR
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Post subject:
Hmmmm...
(Sat Mar 17, 2012 8:50 pm)
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| Quote: | | GM spent a billion dollars of taxpayer money at the governments request just to prove an electric car is a novelty at best until someone invents a magic battery. |
I'm curious what happened to the project that was working on a fuel cell to replace old gel cell in the electric car. A few years back they were making some good headway on something you could pour a common available liquid into, the mesh/media broke it down and the loose electrons provided power... (probably got nixed by NASA).
We have 2 generations of Prius's at work...they get OK mileage, but I would bet my life behind the wheel of an old valiant with bad bushings and a slant six to get out of a big rigs way, than those things...they have the worst steering...everybody is fighting for the honda hybrid, oddly enough.
I'd definately be interested in seeing what the carbon footprint of a current production compact car is...anybody who has seen my parts stash and the fun I've had at junkyard can say I do reuse/reduce/recycle...
-D.Idiot
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SlantSixDan
Board Sponsor & Contributor
Joined: 31 Oct 2002
Posts: 21883
Location: North America
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Post subject:
(Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:30 pm)
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*shrug* I donno. The taxicab companies in Vancouver and Portland seem to like the Prius quite a lot, and they're catching on in Seattle and New York City, too._________________ 一期一会
By birth & parentage: US citizen, 2nd class
By choice: Canadian citizen, 1st class
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Brussell
EFI Slant 6
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 452
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Post subject:
(Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:43 am)
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Start of a greener future I think, shame that it's paved with wasted money, long term projects without good results and morons who tell you how to live.
At some stage when Hybrids etc are the majority of cars, the carbon footprint will lower since more factories will be avail meet supply on demand. I've seen a lot more hybrid cars around lately in the city where I live. Still think keeping a slant six is better!
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SlantSixDan
Board Sponsor & Contributor
Joined: 31 Oct 2002
Posts: 21883
Location: North America
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Post subject:
(Sun Mar 18, 2012 8:52 am)
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| Brussell wrote: | | Start of a greener future I think, shame that it's paved with wasted money, long term projects without good results |
That's how all progress happens: slowly and expensively and with poor early results, and then it gets gradually better and less expensive. There are vastly more cars driven vastly more miles today in 2012 than there were in 1962 when the very first thought and effort started being directed towards emission control, but the air in every populated area is vastly cleaner now. That's a freakin' miracle (not really, it's the result of an enormous amount of brainpower applied to the problem), but to get to this point we had to slog through a period of cars that ran poorly and were troublesome to repair. And the same is true of roadway safety; despite a lot more cars driving a lot more miles, we've got historically low rates of traffic-related death and injury -- because of government intervention and despite auto industry foot-dragging.
We humans are not very good at grasping and understanding the effects of our choices on those with whom we share space and resources on this one and only planet. Unfortunately, we tend to hog unless we're not allowed to. "Nanny state" types of complaints in response to these unpleasant but necessary first steps towards relieving a real problem are just as thoughtless, selfish, and narrow-minded today as they were in the 1960s and '70s._________________ 一期一会
By birth & parentage: US citizen, 2nd class
By choice: Canadian citizen, 1st class
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