What Car Did You...

[SC Tiger]

24 minutes ago, Eric said:

You know how many times I have parallel parked, in the last 35 years? Maybe five or six times. 

I'm pretty darn good at it and I've probably done it a dozen times at the most.  Some weekends we go up to the small NC mountain towns where you still have to parallel park in some areas.

But even then, you can often either pull straight in, or find a bank or something that is closed.

[sdsnet]

1973 Mazda RX2 Gold with black interior, manual trans.  I loved that car.

Picture of a similar model.  I thought it was so fast back then.

[tous]

4 hours ago, Eric said:

You know how many times I have parallel parked, in the last 35 years? Maybe five or six times. 

I rarely need to parallel park as well.

It was a useful skill back in the olden days.  Towns were laid out differently with all of the businesses along Main Street and few parking lots.

Parallel parking is still the norm in the European cities I have visited.

Given the manner in which I see folk park in parking lots, I imagine that parallel parking would totally flummox them to the point of  insanity.

Until there is an app for that;, then they'll be all right.

NB I had two points deducted from my driver's road test because I didn't turn my wheels to the curb after executing perfect parallel parking.

I was robbed!

 

Edited November 16, 2018 by tous

[deputy tom]

For ten years as a delivery driver I had to parallel park maybe 48 times a day.  I'm glad it wasn't my vehicle. tom. 

Edited November 16, 2018 by deputy tom
spelling error

[Bud0505]

1965 drivers ed. Local Ford dealer donated a ‘65 Galaxie, three on the tree and a 390 v8. Paralell parking, taking off off from a steep incline without rolling backwards or stalling all part of the test. And we never saw any videos/movies.

[tehan2]

It was 1985, and I took the test on my mother's '77 AMC Hornet.  Looked just like this one (this photo was stolen from the internet).  HUGE piece of crap,  mechanically I don't remember it being a problem, but by 1985 it was rotting away.  It was more bondo than metal

 

I was supposed to take it in my father's '85 Ford Escort diesel... but it was a cold morning and he didn't plug the block heater in and the car wouldn't start (also a file photo)

 

 

 

[Eric]

2 minutes ago, tehan2 said:

It was 1985, and I took the test on my mother's '77 AMC Hornet.  Looked just like this one (this photo was stolen from the internet).  HUGE piece of crap,  mechanically I don't remember it being a problem, but by 1985 it was rotting away.  It was more bondo than metal

 

I was supposed to take it in my father's '85 Ford Escort diesel... but it was a cold morning and he didn't plug the block heater in and the car wouldn't start (also a file photo)

 

 

 

 

I bet that thing had a zero-to-sixty time of eventually.

[tehan2]

1 minute ago, Eric said:

 

I bet that thing had a zero-to-sixty time of eventually.

I'll share a funny story... my dad drove truck.  Just day runs after we were born, not over the road.  His Hub was about 60 miles away.  He bought the diesel because of mpg commuting to and from work. 

I'm the middle of three sons, and we always tried to have dinner together at the kitchen table.  My father's favorite discussion after he bought this thing was how much we was spending in fuel.  He'd brag that he was getting 50, 60, 70 mpg (I forget the real number).  After a few months of this we started siphoning diesel out of the car to shut him up.  then a few weeks would go by and we'd put it all into the tank. 

He'd be wrenching all weekend trying to figure out why he went from 60mpg, to 20 the following week, then he's say he was getting 80 or so a few weeks later. 

my brothers and I swore to secrecy, none of us would ever tell.  My father stared getting sick about 7 years ago, and passed away last year from Alzheimer.  A couple years ago when he was having a fairly lucid day, we told him what we did and he laughed his ass off.  It was the first time in a while we laughed as a family again.

 

[Eric]

2 minutes ago, tehan2 said:

I'll share a funny story... my dad drove truck.  Just day runs after we were born, not over the road.  His Hub was about 60 miles away.  He bought the diesel because of mpg commuting to and from work. 

I'm the middle of three sons, and we always tried to have dinner together at the kitchen table.  My father's favorite discussion after he bought this thing was how much we was spending in fuel.  He'd brag that he was getting 50, 60, 70 mpg (I forget the real number).  After a few months of this we started siphoning diesel out of the car to shut him up.  then a few weeks would go by and we'd put it all into the tank. 

He'd be wrenching all weekend trying to figure out why he went from 60mpg, to 20 the following week, then he's say he was getting 80 or so a few weeks later. 

my brothers and I swore to secrecy, none of us would ever tell.  My father stared getting sick about 7 years ago, and passed away last year from Alzheimer.  A couple years ago when he was having a fairly lucid day, we told him what we did and he laughed his ass off.  It was the first time in a while we laughed as a family again.

 

That's a great story, man. Thanks for sharing it.

[janice6]

On ‎11‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 3:20 PM, Borg warner said:

The Pacer was very futuristic.

Problem was that nobody told the "future" about it.

[janice6]

1 hour ago, Bud0505 said:

1965 drivers ed. Local Ford dealer donated a ‘65 Galaxie, three on the tree and a 390 v8. Paralell parking, taking off off from a steep incline without rolling backwards or stalling all part of the test. And we never saw any videos/movies.

Even though I already had my DL, High school required that you took the drivers training course.  I would get in the car ( a Ford with a three speed.  Remember earlier I said my dads car had "fluid drive" and you didn't have to shift it manually, just lift your foot off the gas and it would shift itself) and the instructor would talk to the other guy about how to drive, then turn to me and tell me to take it to a nearby small town and "get the Carbon out!

I didn't have any problem with this.  However, at the end of the course the Instructor said he felt that I deserved a special award for being the only person he knew, that could take off from a light in third gear and not kill the engine.  I would sometimes expect it to shift like the Chrysler.