chuck.goolsbee.org

9/11 Conspiracy Theories ‘Ridiculous,’ Al Qaeda Says

This was posted a while back, and like other famous Onion features, it is satire that turns out to be prophecy. Proof that our world is absurd. No?

I gotta tell you, the education system in America turns out some real dim bulbs.

(Original here, hat tip to Reason magazine’s web site, who entitled it “Not the Strongest Possible Argument.”)

That’s the view outside my bedroom window this morning… and it is NOT rain. Grrrr.

The other image is the weather radar from my OSX Desktop Widget. Note that the area around my house is the ONLY lowland part of the sound getting snowed on… all the rest of the snow is up in the mountains (where it belongs!)

Still waiting for Spring.

My new exhaust arrived this week! Above you can see the new parts laid out next to the old parts. I hope to put the new ones on the car later today.

If you recall the exhaust started making nasty noises last year on the GTTSR. We could see a crack on the driver’s side muffler, but the whole horror was revealed when I pulled the entire assembly off the car. This is a stainless steel exhaust system, and as such you would think it would last a lifetime. It was installed by Classic Jaguar 10 years ago. Being an exceedingly persistent guy, I sent an email to Dan Mooney to let him know the mufflers he sold my father had cracked…

Mr. Mooney,

The stainless steel exhaust system installed on my car by Classic Jaguar has failed in a catastrophic fashion. You can view the photos here:

http ://chuck.forest.net/jag/Exhaust/

Last time I had an issue (the engine, specifically the cylinder head), you absolved yourself from any warranty as I had brought the car to somebody else first. In this case nobody other than you & I know the condition of the exhaust system - so you’re getting the first pass. As you can see the mufflers are cracked half way through. Their interiors are seriously rusted and have disintegrated… perhaps these were on the car prior to being submerged and were never replaced?

So before I shop for a replacement system I wonder if Team CJ would stand behind their product & installation during restoration. Let me know.

–chuck goolsbee
65ots, 1E10715
arlington, wa, usa

Hey, I figured “what the hell”… I’ll keep offering the guy chances to redeem himself, after all… I’m an exceedingly persistent guy! Here is his reply:

Mr Goolsbee,

As a point of order, you are not now and have never been a customer of Classic Jaguar. To the best of my knowledge, you have never spent a single penny with Classic Jaguar. Furthermore, given your inaccurate, insulting and grossly misleading Internet rants about Classic Jaguar, I hardly feel inclined to assit [sic] you with any problems you may have with your car.

For the record, although I have no doubt you will misrepresent whatever I say on your website, your father only bought one exhaust system from Classic Jaguar and that was in the spring of 1997. It was not replaced when the car was rescued from the Houston flood in 2001. As to why it was not replaced at that time, I suggest you take that up with your father. Speaking of your father, please give him my sincere best regards.

On the positive side of things, at least the failed exhaust muffler will give you the opportunity of removing one more connection to myself or Classic Jaguar from your car - something which I understand is very important to you.

Best Regards,

Dan Mooney - Team CJ
danmooney@classicjaguar.com
www.classicjaguar.com

okay…. I don’t believe I’ve ever been “inaccurate, insulting and grossly misleading” in any of my statements about Classic Jaguar. If I have Dan, feel free to point them out and I’ll correct them gladly. Anyway, in terms of a vendor standing behind their products, which CJ claims to do, what I say in my little corner of the Internet should have nothing to do with any of this, right? So to try and get this conversation back on target I replied:

Dan,

In our last correspondence you indicated that what prevented you from considering upholding a warranty on your parts and workmanship was the fact that I had brought the car to another shop. Therefore, in this instance I figured I’d offer you first opportunity to stand behind your work and your product.

Let me know if you change your mind, as I’d like to have the car on the road again soon.

–chuck goolsbee
65ots, 1E10715
arlington, wa, usa

This conversation happened over a period of two days in early February. Want to venture a guess what I heard back?

Nada, Nuthin’, Zilch.

So whose statements are “inaccurate, insulting and grossly misleading”??
“Team CJ components are the highest quality, most thoroughly engineered performance upgrades available for your Jaguar. We have invested thousands of hours of research and real world testing to ensure that our components are safe, practical, durable and easy to install. Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed. Such is the confidence that we have in our products, many Team CJ components are guaranteed for life!” “Team CJ header systems are beautifully made, superbly engineered components that will enhance both performance and the appearance of any Jaguar engine bay. Constructed of the finest quality 304 stainless steel, mandrel bent and hand finished for perfect fit, our header systems will last the lifetime of your car.” “These superb quality tuned headers have been developed entirely by Classic Jaguar. Any other stainless steel header system currently on the market is nothing more than expensive window dressing for your engine bay.” “Please do not confuse our exclusive Team CJ header system with some of the inferior products currently being peddled around the US market. By now you know our credentials - at Classic Jaguar we are building some of the finest E Types in the world and we install the parts we sell on a daily basis. The Team CJ header system is the best E Type header system on the market - otherwise we wouldn’t offer it.“

Let’s take a close look at what Classic Jaguar defines as the highest quality, most thoroughly engineered, durable, 100% satisfaction guaranteed, beautifully made, superbly engineered components that will last the lifetime of your car shall we…

Above is the old “Team CJ” exhaust section between the headers and mufflers. Note the big sloppy weld. This was exactly how it was installed by Dan Mooney’s team. Not just purchased from them mind you… purchased and installed by crack Team CJ technicians. This is what that section is SUPPOSED to look like:

There should be a flexible section between the headers and the mufflers. This allows the engine’s natural vibration to be absorbed without putting undue stress on the rest of the exhaust. I strongly believe that this ham-handed weld is what lead my “superbly engineered” Team CJ mufflers to crack in half.

Down at the other end of the system, between the mufflers and the pipes that go under the rear suspension we find…

… ANOTHER ham-handed big fugly TeamCJ botched welding job.

This is what it is supposed to look like:

Oh well. It is obvious that this system was doomed to fail due to the way it was installed by the inept Team CJ Ninjas of Classic Jaguar in Austin, Texas.

I bought some extra clamps to deal with the places where the old exhaust was welded. The old dirty clamps are currently soaking in some BioDiesel to clean them up. Unfortunately at the moment it is snowing(!) so even if I get the exhaust on I doubt I’ll be able to get much of a test drive.

I’ll update you all on how the installation goes soon, and tell my tale of dealing with a reputable, reasonable vendor with regards to my new exhaust as well.

Great words, written and spoken by a great man, who happened also to be a Republican.

It seems that our current Vice President, also a Republican, has forgotten those words, and their meaning. This stupid, endless war is destroying our economy. Most of the people were against it from the start (myself included), and history has shown that the reasons and justifications for entering it were lies and falsehoods… or if you want to be generous and forgiving, incorrect assumptions and wishful thinking.

“We will be greeted as liberators”

“There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction.”

“The war will finance itself through the sale of oil.”

Of course this is also the man who after having been voted in on the promise of “bringing dignity back to the executive branch” told a colleague on the Senate floor to “Go fuck yourself.”

The above is the sole digital photo I have of my old VW Vanagon. I found it in my photo library. Taken with a primitive digital camera in 1996, it was a photo of my house, which I was selling on the Internet as we planned to depart for the UK. Note the “for sale” sign in the rear window of the van as well. We sold the Vanagon to another small family in our neighborhood. I hope it served them as well as it did us. If I find a analog photo I’ll scan it and put it here too.

I noted that VW is going to be selling a badge-engineered Chrysler minivan as the VW “Routan”… what a sorry state of affairs. They teased the world with a retro-Bus 7 years ago to wrap up their resurgence of the Beetle design. It never has come to fruition. Instead we get this. below is the text of a comment I left on TTAC early this morning…

Back in the early 90s when my kids were little and my dog was big I have a ‘89 Vanagon “Wolfsburg Edition”. Built the year the Wall Came Down. I loved that box-on-wheels. So OK, 80 MPH was about as fast as it could go without being dropped from high altitude, but as a family hauler and hockey bus (I was a goalie, and my wife played “D” on local adult rec team) it was unparalleled.

Our two annual vacations were always in that machine. In winter we would load the kids in, and the luggage and skis onto the Yakima rack up top, lay down the bed in the back, throw in a cooler between the seats and drive 24 hours straight from Seattle to central Colorado where my parents live at the base of a ski hill. “Hi Mom, here’s the grandkids, see ya later!” The other trip was a summer wander all over the West, either US, Canada or both. That Vanagon was the cheapest and most utilitarian funtcional RV ever built. No, it wasn’t a Westphalia camper, but the 2-2-table-3 seating arrangement was fantastic, and terrifically functional for hauling kids. The passenger (myself or my wife) could stand up and walk to the backseat ferchrissakes! The kids could sit facing each other, even strapped into those damn car seats, and be engaged in sibling rivalry yet be out of fist range!

My only complaint was thedesign of the fold-up cupholdeers, they were all destroyed within a year of buying the thing. So were all the replacements. Just a bad design.

The tightest turning circle of any car I’ve ever owned. Very easy to maintain and self-service (important for this home mechanic!) Fun to drive in it’s own looney sort of way. You could park it anywhere as the footprint of the thing was in reality about the same as a Jetta, but with that big sliding door and the fact that the front seat riders can easily walk back to it meant that door clearance was never an issue.

I sold that Vanagon when I was transferred overseas in early 1997. I wish I hadn’t.

It is a shame that 50 years of design and refinement were abandoned by VW. The Vanagon was essentially the apogee of the original VW Bulli/Combi Bus, just with the “wasserboxer” engine in the end. Literally. Nobody thought outside the van shaped box like VW. Their products were always offbeat and unique.

To badge-engineer something from Chrysler is an insult. Though I agree with others and say that at least they’ve tarted it up beyond its ugly start. The problem with most “minivans” is that they are just station wagons with a sliding door. They are NOT vans. They lack the utility of a van. They lack the room to maneuver INSIDE that a van gives you. VW vans have a long history of being second homes on wheels and nothing from Chyrerberus is going to get that job done.

We’ve all been waiting for that New Bus to complement the New Beetle, and VW craps out THIS TURD?? Whisky Tango Foxtrot?

The server that hosts a lot of my images is down. It is my own personal box, which is almost as “vintage” as the cars it displays. It is a wonder that it works at all to be honest… clean living in a clean room I guess.

It had a minor disk issue earlier this morning and I’ve fixed it, but now I’m making a backup before I bring it back online. “Have patients!” …said the Mad Doctor!

Update: OK, as of 11:45 Pacific Standard Time the image server is back online.