Author: chuck goolsbee

Buying a new car & You’ll never believe what I saw!

Got home from work yesterday afternoon (left work early… one of the small benefits of being “the boss” I guess. But given the distance of my commute, it is a wash) so I could drive my wife to pick up her new car. Well, it isn’t a car really, and I had nothing to do with her choice, other than her choice of fuel. She picked a Jeep Liberty, with the 2.8 liter common rail Diesel. It will be her second oil-burner; she drove a Volvo 440TD when we lived in the UK. I had been looking for an older Mercedes S-class or E-class Diesel for her, but the prices for used oil-burners has gone nuts. Plus her accountant filled her in on the rules our wonderful IRS has dreamed up and her choices suddenly became very limited.

You see she is self-employed (an attorney) and works out of our home. She doesn’t really need a car at all, except to go to court, or other work related things. She wanted to have a car specifically for her business and have it be owned by the business, paid for by the business, and therefore deductible as a business expense. The IRS though says you can’t do that with a Car. But you CAN do it with a “Truck”. Sigh… no wonder there are so many SUVs on the road!

She did want a Diesel though, as she’s seen the massive drop in fuel costs since I started making my own for the TDI Jetta. The primary thing that attracted to me to my wife when I met her was the fact that she’s CHEAP. (OK, so it was the secondary thing, but over time it has become the primary thing! =)

Her choices of Diesel “truck/SUV” were limited to gargantuan pickups, heavily armored urban assault vehicles, or the “cute” Liberty. She chose the latter.

She’s a diminutive woman, and on the surface very shy and quiet, but lurking just below is a litigator that can strike fear into the heart of any mortal. She jealously guards her bottom-line, and fearlessly attacks any weakness shown by opposites in negotiation. I let her do all the car buying in this family as she is my secret weapon against car salesmen. It is a joy to watch her tear them apart. In this purchase however, I was not around, I just drove her to the dealer to pick it up. Naturally, we took the E-type. I mean, how better to add insult to injury? =)

Being a Friday afternoon in the Puget Sound area, I chose to stay off the main routes for our trip south to Monroe (a town NE of Seattle), and chose instead my tried and true “back road” that I used to take to work when my office was in Bothell (another town NE of Seattle). The “back road” is a joyful, twisty set of two-lanes that meander along the base of the Cascade Foothills from where I live east of Arlington, through Granite Falls, Lake Roesinger and ending in Monroe. The first half follows the south fork of the Stilliguamish river, the second half just follows some wonderful hilly bits down to the Snohomish river. Even though it was a Friday afternoon during “rush hour”, we only passed two cars the whole trip. Meanwhile, just downhill to the west thousands of cars were struggling along the choked I-5 and SR-9 routes. With the wife in the car I didn’t really do the usual “drive it like I stole it” but she still had to hang on to her hair & hat and did dive for the grab handle and close her eyes a few times. Mission Accomplished. =)

I drop her off at the dealer, get my first look at her new “car”, and head back north for some more spirited driving on the return trip. The road through Monroe, US2 was choked with cars, as it was around 6 pm, but once off on my “back road” it was all clear.

It was actually wonderful. Open road. The sun on it’s odd Solstice tangent course towards the northern horizon, snow dappled mountains glimpsed between tall Douglas firs and Western Red Cedars, the roar of Sir William’s Sixth Symphony echoing off it all. I had forgotten my radar detector but had thrown caution out of the cockpit, this road was all mine for the moment. I recall seeing a speed limit sign and glancing down to see the needle indicating over 2x. The car was even more confident than I, handling every curve like a dream and eating every straight away like a cop on a Krispy Kreme. I did have to slow to pass two cars, but both happened to be near passing zones. THREE times cars going the opposite direction flashed the lights and gave me the thumbs up. The last of these was a guy in a T-bucket hot rod basically out for the same ride. I guess this secret was is no longer secret.

As I neared the end of my journey, out of the corner of my eye I saw, and recognized a shape. A lithe, unique shape. An unmistakable shape. My whole head turned, then the Wilwoods brought the 65E to a sudden, straight stop, and I popped the car into reverse and pulled into a driveway.

Right here, before my eyes, in Arlington Heights, Washington of all places, is *another* Jaguar E-type!

It is an unrestored, series 1.5 2+2, in Beige (unique to 1968 I think). I look it over, grab a few photos with my cell phone (one of the rare moments without my real camera close at hand!), knock on their door (no answer), and finally write a note on my business card and leave it on the passenger-side window of the car with my phone number. I drive away dumbfounded. I never would have imagined seeing another E-type out here in the woods. The wife’s new Jeep will fit in quite well, but I always feel the oddball behind the wheel of the E surrounded by jacked up pickups and gigantic SUVs around here. I hope to meet the owner soon.

The wife’s old New Beetle goes on eBay soon. Off to give it a wash!

Weird Seen: Jet Truck

OK, so everyone has seen the jet-powered “hybrid” New Beetle, right? Speaking as a former Beetle driver, I can confirm that the guy is insane. The VW New Beetle has the aerodynamic properties of a wing. They start to take off around 120MPH. Ask me how I know!

The thing is, the guy is using the wrong car. He needs something with the aerodynamics of either a brick, or something with some serious downforce. Also, the guy is using a little jet engine from a small helicopter. If he had some balls he’d use one of these:

What is that you ask? Well, just about the biggest jet engine you can get. Living here in Boeing country we see a lot of weird stuff on the roads. Sections of fueselage, engines, entire wings driving down the freeway. So one day I see the engine from a Boeing 777 driving down Interstate 5:

Fire that baby up and set a land speed record for a tractor trailer!

Happy Fathers Day.

A little late. I wrote this on Saturday, but have been very busy at work, so now it is late. Better late than never though:

The photo above is me & my father (out rallying in my mother’s Mercedes!) It was taken by the official rally photog for the Colorado Grand. I think I took better photos, but I was never able to capture to two of us. 😉

Had a great day out dtoday with my youngest son. It was my “father’s day” one day early. Let me tell you about it, and how it came to pass:

About 2 weeks ago I stopped at a NAPA near my office to grab a replacement brake light bulb for my daily driver (VW Jetta TDI… those Audi R10 TDI’s are kicking @$$ at Le Mans right now… Go Diesel!!!) and I noticed a flyer for a father’s day car show on Whidbey Island. I figured it would be a good day out for my son & I.

Then last weekend I had a “smoke escapes” incident that I could not find the source for. Out with the wife in the Jag, riding home from a nice dinner date, flick on the headlights and are confronted with a wildly swinging ammeter and a whiff of Genuine Lucas Smoke. Drove the rest of the way sans lights (by choice) and then could not get the smoke to reappear once back at the garage. Humpf… British cars!

So today my son Nicholas & I rolled out early on a misty day for a drive to Whidbey Island. As we left Arlington, we had another whiff of smoke. This time I was prepared and already had my dash knobs out, so I pulled over and dropped the panel, fully expecting to see The Prince of Darkness himself puffing on a pipe!

Nothing.

I was stumped. Though I noted that my ammeter was lying like a dead thing, and not wiggling when I flicked the turn signals on. =\

I stopped at a gas station to fill up, and pulled the voltmeter out of my boot and checked the battery… it was fine, with around 14V. I fired up the engine and checked again… 12V and dropping/wiggling. Damn. I assumed a had fried yet another alternator. Something about this car – it eats alternators. =\

It was still very early here on the west coast, so I didn’t want to wake Ray, so I called Wiggy to find out the model # of the Hitachi so I could grab another one. I stopped at a NAPA in Mt. Vernon, they didn’t have one, but they called ahead to Oak Harbor, and found one for me. Nick & I hit the road and made our way to over Fidalgo Island, and over the Deception Pass bridge to Whidbey. I picked up the Hitachi alternator and made my way down the island to the show.

The show itself was “OK”… the usual 50’s, 60’s cars & hot rods, with a few oddballs here and there. It was a charity show for the Alzheimer’s Society and a hospice on the island, so I was more than happy to pay my entry fee. They did have more than just cars. They had a contest on PS2’s running Gran Turismo 4, where they put everyone in the same car/course and awarded a trophy for the fastest lap. Nick & I did miserably, but it was fun. They also had a 102 year old (running!) Pope car from the Le May Museum in Tacoma. My favorite car there was a pre-war Lancia. Not a sports car, but very cool nonetheless. In the weird world of small-town car shows without much clue about non-American cars, the 65E was in the same class as this, and virtually every other foreign car there.

Nick was awesome, once again jumping out of the car on arrival and giving it a good cleaning while I went and registered.

Over the course of the day, I swear I meet over half a dozen guys who tell me they have an old E-type in their garage! Virtually all of them on Whidbey Island. One of them was even Roger Los. =) I shared the existence of this group and xkedata, so hopefully we’ll see some new guys and cars here.

Later in the afternoon, Nick went off to the swingset, while I set about replacing my alternator. So I get all the tools out… I know exactly what I need. If anybody needs a pit crew alternator replacer for their E-type Jag, I’m your guy! I’m usually a slow mechanic, but I’ve done this so often that it goes very fast. I remove the top nut and take the tension off the belt and right before my eyes the source of all my problems is revealed:

As I push the alternator toward the engine, the main wire breaks off. It was badly corroded and the crimp on the O-connector was almost burned through. It was ‘barely there’ until I broke it by moving the alterator. Well, this was a lot easier to deal with than a full swap! I jump back to the boot, and pull out a new O-connector and the crimp, snip off the munged end, and put a new end on. Presto!

The only issue I had then was what to do with my new alternator. I figured I’d put the right pulley on it and throw it in the boot. With a replacement on board, I assume the one on the car will last forever, right? 😉

The show came to an end. Nick was very sad that we didn’t win anything… but given that all foreign cars were lumped in one class, and from what I could see the cleanliness of the car was the main criteria. Given that I don’t subject the 65E to any full-body Armor-all dips, and drive it too much (and don’t wash it enough!) so we didn’t win.

What I did win was a great drive home, and that’s fine with me. The weather cleared, and the alternator was working again, so I fired up the Valentine1 and drove it like I stole it. For the first time since the engine rebuild I *really* pushed the car, and it drove like a dream. We took back roads most of the way, and violated the law whenever possible. 😉

The highlight was passing a couple of Navy kids in a rice rocket sport compact car (they never saw me coming) and having them try and keep up with a car more than twice THEIR age. They would catch me in traffic, but as soon as we passed, I would walk away from them every time. What a joy!

Pics from the day here.

Diesels Dominate Le Mans Qualifying! And I begin to quantify how dumb Americans are (and not just about Diesel.)

Who says you can’t go fast, cheap? Have a look at this!

Can’t wait to catch some coverage on speed channel over the weekend. Le Mans has always been the place where the vision of future car development is seen. My 60’s E-type was the direct descendant of the Le Mans winning D-type of the 50’s. So by the teens we’ll all be driving fast, yet economical and eco-friendly veggie oil-burning cars perhaps?

Oh wait, I already am! The future is now! 🙂

Speaking of Diesels and my foolish countrymen who refuse to use them, sell them or buy them… have a look at this. I happen to own a Dodge 1500 RAM pickup… that is not a Diesel. I wish it was, but it isn’t. The wife bought this as a tow vehicle for her (damn) horses, and I will admit it is handy to have around when hauling something is required. It usually lives out in the barn where the veggie oil fuel system runs, and very rarely gets driven. We’ve had it for 7 years and maybe put 15k miles on it. I brought it to work this week because we needed to haul some stuff needed for our datacenter expansion and I attempted to replicate Clarkson’s feat while driving what is basically the standard American vehicle… a truck-chassis based, non-aerodynamic, mid-sized V-8 powered, slush-gearbox, gas guzzler. I drove it to work, then around town on errands, and home. The highest I let it rev was 2000 RPM, and that was on a very steep uphill grade in West Seattle… the normal rev range was 1200-1700 RPM, cruising on the freeway @ 55 or 60 MPH (in the right lane only, like a decent human being should at this speed! {for my British and antipodean readers, that would be the left lane… aka the “slow lane”… a concept that Americans outside of Montana are completely unaware of… grrrr) I maintained a steady 1500 RPM… and used the cruise control whereever I could.

I did not run the tank dry, but just down to half. When I refilled the half-empty tank last night, it cost me $54.10(!) and I had only run it 165 miles. Just over 11 MPG.

Jesus H. Krist on a pogostick! I have NO IDEA how the average American family can afford to drive these Tahoes and Explorers?!?! This is insanity. I buy about ~5 gallons of Diesel fuel a week from the pump, and burn about ~5 gallons of my own home brew, and rack up over 450 miles doing it. AND I drive around with a lead foot most of the time.

Next week, I’ll track for you how much fuel I burn, and what the costs are to me to do it, while driving as I do “normally”… then I’ll try another week and drive like I did in the truck, with maximum fuel savings in mind, and document the results. Should be interesting.

Here is another metric of how dumb my countrymen can be… most of them will be watching NASCAR make nothing but left turns while I’m watching Le Mans. sigh.

A little rice with your sauerkraut.

I saw this one a few years back on Bainbridge Island. Something of a parody on wheels n’est pas?

* PVC? Check
* Snowboard/wing? Check
* Coffee can exhaust with real coffee can? Check
* Lime Green paint? Check
* Home made “ground effects package”? Check

All that’s missing is the “V-tec” and “bad boy club” stickers and it will be up for a starring role in “Fast & Furious 4”