I had a bra for my first car, back in 1980, this blue X1/9. It did not actively wreck the paint, it protected it. And in the rain it did not need to be removed, but you don’t want to leave a wet bra on your car. You need to remove it and let it dry. Like a wet t-shirt, if you can envision that.
And I currently have a bra for my ivory 356. I put it on for long road trips to protect the paint.
Bras are fine and they do a good job. When installed correctly they do not damage the paint.
I saw a Shelby GT350 Mustang cruising past the ice cream stand we were at. No idea of which year (1965-70) but it was cream colored and in reasonably good shape. Sounded great!
I saw a late 70’s/early 80’s Mercedes 300D in Bandon, Oregon on Saturday. Didn’t get any pics unfortunately. I do love those old Mercedes but keeping them maintained is a financial bottomless pit and so would likely never own one again (I had a '90 300E).
Not a car, but this morning I passed an Aprilia motorcycle in Seattle. I think this is the first one I’ve seen up here, and they were fairly rare when I was in my native land. (I bought my Yamaha YZF-R1 from Marina del Rey Yamaha Aprilia. )
I’m down in the Los Angeles area right now. This morning I pulled into a gas station, and at the next pump was a woman in a very well maintained early to mid 1970s Mercedes 300SEL. I just thought that was the most L.A. car ever. It was the two door version, too, which I understand is fairly uncommon. I would have liked to take a picture but I seem awkward with her standing right there.
I went grocery shopping after work yesterday; on my way back to the bus stop, a bag in each hand, I was passed by another ~60-year-old Mercedes going in the opposite direction. This one was tan; the one 21 months ago was black.
Coincidentally, there is a Mercedes dealer on that corner.
Around these parts I see one almost daily. They are a statement vehicle, a statement (to me anyway) like people who have more than 5 piercings on their face, on their nose, tongue, eyebrow, ears, cheek…
The more I see them, the smaller they seem to appear. I don’t know who is butting them but I actually met someone who said they like them: my mother in law. My wife and I were shocked to hear that from her.
A Land Rover Defender, in use by British Airways at Heathrow. There were two parked there, as well as newer cars. I thought it must be from the 90s, but the license plate says it was manufactured in 2014, and at last registration (one year ago) it only had 70,000 miles. https://www.checkcardetails.co.uk/cardetails/wg14eod
Driving up the pacific coast highway today, I saw a very well preserved early 1980s Ford Econoline van. It had two tone paint—brown and cream, which seems very of the period. And it had what looked like the original hubcaps, with “Ford Motor Company” stamped around the center. And the odd thing was that it had Vermont plates. I’d expect a vehicle that old from Vermont to be completely rusted out.
I cut my teeth learning how to work on cars on a mid 80s ish Econoline. 350, I think. It looked just about exactly like the free candy van.
Summary
Between it being more spacious (and higher off the ground) than a modern car engine, and me being about 15 years old, I could get under it and sit up or climb into the engine bay and perch on the block/frame. Whenever my grandpa would see me doing that he’d tell me (not jokingly) to take the valve stems out of the front tires so I could actually reach everything. Having to refill two entire van tires all the way back up always seemed like more work than it was worth just to reach those last 4 spark plugs (and trying to get that interior panel back on is a PITA). And besides, it’s not like we were using all that skin on our knuckles and arms anyway.
What were we talking about?
I only slipped off the bumper one time doing that. I smacked my knee pretty bad on the way down. And that was like 5 years ago.
Thanks for the closer-ups. I’m going to make my hunch it’s a clone, though still arguably a very nice car.
The “Ralleye II” wheels should be sans trim rings on The Judge ( though I’ve seen an actual Judge owner install them once ). The hood scoop inlets should be functional rather than blocked off with decorative ribbed plastic…hard to tell from the photo. There are some other details, but I digress.
I did the tour of Warner Brothers Studios this morning. There was a lot of set dressing left over from Young Sheldon, which just wrapped filming there a few months ago. As we were riding around on the little cart I noticed a brown and cream colored 1980s F150 (come to think of it it’s the same color scheme as the Econoline I saw yesterday) parked outside one of the sound stages. I initially assumed it was just an employee’s vehicle or a work truck used around the studio, but then it hit me—that was Sheldon’s dad’s truck from the show!
The more I look at that pick up truck picture, the more I’m thinking about having it printed. I have a few other pictures that I’ve had printed on aluminum and I think this one would look really good like that as well. I think the glare in the picture will work well with the look the aluminum gives it.
Cropped or uncropped? I almost kinda like the yellow stanchion in the picture.
(ETA: the other pictures I have rectangular/wide, so uncropped it is)
