MORE random pics......

[syncroid]

Originally Posted by widebody911

This guy was a real crowd pleaser that day. Did he survive the hit?

[Flatbutt1]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Mike,

Heading to Moscow and Berlin in a couple of weeks, so wait until you see those photos!

Here is one I met the last time I was in Russia... and before anyone asks, she is 32 years old.

I wanna travel with Joe

[kach22i]

Mystery craft unveiled: Autodesk, HP among design partners of breakthrough "Proteus"
http://blogs.business2.com/waterlog/experimental_watercraft/index.html

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Flatbutt1

I wanna travel with Joe

You should see some of the flight attendents. Absolute knock-outs...



For some silly reason, the flight crew were very thirsty during the flight. He had to keep bringing us drinks the whole flight!

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

You should see some of the flight attendents. Absolute knock-outs...



For some silly reason, the flight crew were very thirsty during the flight. He had to keep bringing us drinks the whole flight!

Joe, don't forget to return them when the flights are done

[SlowToady]

[Joeaksa]

Byron,

If I can, I would like to return WITH one on my arm.

This is Sasha... a bit too high maintenance for me but sure nice on the eyes and a nice person, I just cannot afford her.



In a more private setting...

[Normy]

I ran across a random car show at a shopping center just north of Fort Lauderdale on Sunday. I parked my 928 on the edge, and instantly one of the perpetrators came over and told me to park in the middle of the row.

"Open your hood, we want to see the 32 valves" He said.

Bite your tongue you philistine! My 928 only has 16 valves, but it does have a whole lot of 1960's love in it's two-valve cams. Read: this Austrian-spec '85 928 makes 22 hp more than the US version with 16 MORE valves and 300 cc's MORE displacement.

Well, 13 second quarter mile times aside...I wandered and looked at the various old American "Belle Americain's", which is the term that Europeans use for the occasional old American car. I'm convinced that with the strength of the Euro, and the fact that Europeans FALL OVER when they see a '70 Cadillac with huge fenders... that this is a growth segment. Want to make money over the next 10 years? Ship a bunch of 1960's and early '70's Cadillacs to Brussels. Beaters with bad paint and a few engine issues, but intact. Do a low-buck improvement on them, which means new $1600 paint, and replacement carpet and fix all the gauges. Vinyl? If you can get it fixed for $500 then DO it. In the end: Probably about $3k worth of work. You'll park them in a wharehouse at first, but I bet over the next 10 years that they will triple in value!

You can't flip a house these days. But in a few years...you'll be able the flip the hell out of a '76 Coupe d'Ville Brougham!

In any case, the show went well. Everyone mingled, and my odd import-with-inches got plenty of attention, until the Packard showed up!

1948 Packard! I know just a little bit about these, and I know that they are powered by an inline-8 engine. When the owner pulled into the lot, I asked him via lowered window to "rev it up- I want to hear what an inline 8 sounds like" and he did it. He did it very gently, probably 3000 rpm at the most. It sounds like a BMW inline six, which means it sounds rich, but there is none of the "warble" that an even-firing V8 like my 928 or any American V8 has.

The engine is an "L-head". That means that it is just like a Briggs & Stratton lawnmower, in that the valves are actuated by a cam that is located in the crank and the valves are upside down. The head is nothing but a metal plate, and the combustion chamber has an odd "L" shape, which is totally inefficient and ultimately results in low power, low fuel economy...and most importantly, bad emissions. The area around the valves, which is remote from where the combustion takes place first, is an area where particles of gasoline can hide. They don't get burned [lost power...] and they then wind up flying out the tailpipe. Not good.

For a lawnmower? Who cares. California does, and they are probably smart to prohibit these engines and 2-stroke motors just for this last reason. I have a 4-stroke weed-whip which needs valve adjustments every six months [I guess hydraulic lifters on a weed-whip is asking just a bit much-!], so I guess the "L" head is pretty bad..

But this Packard! Road-going sex!

[sorry; I have strange interests~]

Here's the pictures. This is a 286 cubic inch engine- this is EXACTLY the size of the V8 that is under the hood of my 928! For some reason, I suspect the output of this Packard 286 is less than my Porsche 286~

N!

[Normy]

Check out that double-A arm front suspention with coil springs and an ANTI-ROLL bar!

Dude, this was hot-***** in 1948.

Wait a minute; My 928 has double A-arms, coil springs...and an anti-roll bar~

N

[Normy]

[In case you are wondering, I told him about the coolant leak]

I suspect a loose hose clamp. Yep- it used regular hose clamps!

N

[Normy]

OK. You show up at a car show with your Porsche, and of course, you are the odd man out. Your "import" [American-car guys still use that term, by the way~] Is the one car that is at least sporty. Yes, there are a few Mustangs. Last time I had sex on top of a woman on top of a beach ball I thought of driving a Mustang fast, so I don't consider these "sports cars"

Well, what would you expect a bunch of rednecks to park next to a Porsche? A police car perhaps?

Well, that's just what happened. I parked next to a '80 Cadillac Seville with the "buffle-back" styling...but when the 1970 Ford cop car showed up...the Seville owner removed his car and let the cop car pull next to me.

This Ford was LOVINGLY restored! I didn't get a chance to talk to the owner at length, but I did hear that the car wasn't originally a cop car. It was a fleet car, used by a taxi company in New Jersey, and then sold. The present owner was a New Jersey cop back in the early '70's, and when he retired a few years ago, he found this car and totally restored it back to a stock look...and then some. He turned it into a cop car. The red signal on the roof came from a Michigan state police car, the shotgun in the car is actually a Mattell "toy", and he bought the radios on eBay. They actually work, but are not powered.

Heh!

N!

[legion]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

Joe, don't forget to return them when the flights are done

To the fully upright position?

[URY914]

[URY914]

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by cashflyer

Just a guess... Turkey?
But the tag on the Pantera is old. They've been using an EU standardized plate for some time now.

No.

That's Brunei or Malaysia - judging from the plates and the vegetation and the people and the "Istana" reference on the truck. Possibly some of the Sultan's old cast offs.

[wrecktech]

Originally Posted by Dottore

No.

That's Brunei or Malaysia - judging from the plates and the vegetation and the people and the "Istana" reference on the truck. Possibly some of the Sultan's old cast offs.

Malaysian g/f says Brunei

[Bob Goding]

found some eleven/twelve year old 'Excellence' magazines in a bookshop, and this sketch was an M. A. Shaw advert. I scanned it and made it my wallpaper.
Quite a refreshing change from naked women!

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Bob Goding

found some eleven/twelve year old 'Excellence' magazines in a bookshop, and this sketch was an M. A. Shaw advert. I scanned it and made it my wallpaper.
Quite a refreshing change from naked women!

Bob,

Is everything all right? You feeling well? A bit light headed perhaps? There are few things in life better than naked women...

Unless its a good looking girl with a gun and hard nips...

[Bob Goding]

Sorry Guys---this is the current wallpaper!

Edited - pic removed. -Z-man.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by Normy

and the fact that Europeans FALL OVER when they see a '70 Cadillac with huge fenders... that this is a growth segment. Want to make money over the next 10 years? Ship a bunch of 1960's and early '70's Cadillacs to Brussels.

i think you think wrong on that one
sure, many may fall over when seeing one of those battleships
but of those that fall over, few would actually care to spend any cash on buying them

if you do wanna ship, you're probably better off shipping to Amsterdam, the Dutch care more for pig iron then the rest of Europe does, there's hardly any use for cars like that here, they guzzle to much fuel for our price per liter, they don't handle, don't fit our garages, etc etc

the reason Europeans fall over when seeing them , is because not many people are nuts about buying them, so when you do see one, it's like something special to see, those i know , are used for renting out for marriages or the occasional parade, you hardly ever see em used for personal driving in Belgium, some might go for a big ass cadillac or Mustang in the Netherlands ( carefully converted to run on LPG , usually requiring 2 installations because the big V8's guzzle to much for just one installation)
most French dig their own cars, the DS and what not more then any Chevy
ze Germans, well, nough said
the Brits?? it's a country full of petrol heads, sure some will like a septic car, but i'm sure the exception confirms the rule

so as investments go, i'de definately recommend against it as far as Europe goes...