A Or B, Wow Or Wow Edition

Thanks to all of those readers who read the blog late in the day yesterday. I suspect searches for Cristy Lee while the Season 7 Finale of Garage Squad was airing played a large role in the surge of views and the timing.

No Kei cars today…

See the source image

From Kelways Village a picture of a 2020 Ford GT. This example is, of course, from the third generation of Ford GT.

For 2020, the engine output has been tweaked up to 660 HP from the original 647. Remember that these cars are powered by a V-6 engine. I think they are a marvel of engineering and have heard that in regular traffic they are surprisingly docile. However, on the track or just with your foot on the throttle they are a beast.

The base price for one of these is more than $500,000. The limited-edition Liquid Carbon variant is about $750,000.

OK, what car can compete with the Ford GT? How about this?

See the source image

From Car Express UK a picture of the recently introduced McLaren 765 LT. As the name might suggest, only 765 of these will be produced and, supposedly, all of those have already been sold. The LT stands for “Long Tail.”

The 765 LT is powered by a “tuned” version of the 4-liter V-8 that McLaren has been using. For this model, the engine will produce 755 HP/590 LB-FT of torque.

The 765 LT is priced at about $360,000, if you can find one to buy. Do you care that both the Ford GT and the McLaren 765 LT use titanium exhaust systems?

I hope this is a tough choice, good people. 2020 Ford GT or McLaren 765 LT, please.

#CristyLee

#GarageSquad

#2020FordGT

#McLaren765LT

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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Good Old Days

I have shown this picture before on Disaffected Musings.

This is me and three other San Diego Padres “bigwigs,” including General Manager Kevin Towers (kneeling), in the visitors clubhouse in Dodgers Stadium after the Padres clinched the 1996 NL Western Division title. The following picture has not been shown before because it was “lost” for years.

This photo was taken in the visitors clubhouse at Turner Field in Atlanta after the Padres’ win in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series clinched the title and sent us to the World Series.

At the far left is Larry Lucchino, then President/CEO of the Padres, and at the far right is John Moores, then Principal Owner/Chairman. The late Kevin Towers is immediately to Lucchino’s left. No points for guessing who is holding the National League Championship Trophy along with Lucchino.

As I mentioned, this picture was missing for many years. Larry Lucchino and I did not have an amicable parting of the ways and for many years my feelings about him were not positive. I resigned on my own terms and was not forced out, but he considered my departure as a personal affront.

With the passing of time I came to appreciate what he had done for me in terms of my baseball career. However, as I began to look for the photo, I feared that out of pique I had either put the picture in a place where it would never be found or, more horribly, that I had simply thrown the picture away.

After multiple searches I simply gave up. I did, however, make a comment to my wonderful wife in passing that maybe the picture would be found after we moved to the desert. Wouldn’t you know that she found the picture yesterday (remember, we’re still unpacking) and in a place I know had previously looked at least twice. A woman’s touch…

Can you understand why I am bitter about my departure from baseball? Can you understand why I utterly reject the notion that I am obsolete, as baseball, football and the rest of the American job “infrastructure” have classified me? Remember Shakespeare, “If you prick us do we not bleed?”

I am still far from being the dullest knife in the drawer. That I am not a coder, don’t possess the “right” degree(s) or don’t belong to the “right” groups is irrelevant from my perspective. Virtually no one else thought I could have a career in major league baseball; I was right and the rest of the world was wrong.

I firmly believe that I am still right and the rest of the world is still wrong, but the structural and institutional barriers that keep me from being more productive are most formidable.

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Stretching the concept of a segue until it almost breaks…for some fans of All Girls Garage the good old days were when Cristy Lee was on the show. I think Internet searches for her are the primary reason why the number of views for Where Is Cristy Lee? is now well into four figures. For 2020, that post has been viewed more often than the next five most-read posts combined, not counting the About page. OK, I guess you want to see a picture. If you must…this is from her website, cristylee.tv:

See the source image

As my wonderful wife knows, I think Cristy Lee is literally one of the most beautiful women in the world. I am 99% sure she would like to be known for more than her looks, but her looks are quite formidable.

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According to the 365 Days of Motoring website, the first 426 Hemi engine was successfully tested on this day in 1963 by Chrysler. I have not been able to find corroborating evidence anywhere else regarding the date. (Oh, if you run this website why is it still an unsecured site?!)

The “Elephant,” as it came to be called because of its size and heft (it weighed almost 850 pounds), is part of the pantheon of American engines. It was first made available for street use in the 1966 model year. For me, the best use of one of these engines is in one of these cars:

See the source image

From yet another unsecured site (which is why I didn’t provide the hyperlink), autorestorationice.com, a picture of a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T. I think this is the best-looking year for one of the best looking cars ever, the second-generation Charger.

The 426 Hemi was rated at 425 HP/490 LB-FT of torque. Many automobile “experts” think Chrysler’s published output figures were deliberately understated. Some sources state the output was more like 470 HP/500 LB-FT.

Of course, Chrysler is still producing a Hemi of sorts. Some in the know say the engine’s combustion chambers are not really hemispherically shaped; I am not in the know when it comes to the modern “Hemi.” Still, a modern Hemi (say, a 707 HP Hellcat motor) and modern automatic transmission along with modern suspension and brakes in a ’68 Charger would be one fine ride, in my opinion.

OK, time for the “commercial” and an explanation: Please feel free to tell your friends about the blog and to pass along the URL (https://disaffectedmusings.com), please feel free to click on any (or all) of the related posts at the bottom of each post, please feel free to “Like” any post and to submit thoughtful comments and please feel free to click on any ad in which you have genuine interest.

The month of December has started very strongly in terms of the number of views and visitors. I hope that the monthly “record” for both of those metrics can be shattered this month. PLEASE click on as many post titles as you want and PLEASE pass along the blog URL to as many friends as possible. Many thanks.

#GoodOldDays

#IAmNOTObsolete!

#CristyLee

#1968DodgeChargerR/T

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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Monday Musings 59

Note the notification on top that I received yesterday. Thanks to everyone who read Disaffected Musings and please keep reading.

The first time I received the word that my “stats are booming” was the day that Bill James tweeted the main link to the blog in April, 2019. Yesterday’s notification was only the third or fourth time I have received that news in the nearly three years this blog has existed. Oh, Bill…please feel free to tweet the main link to the blog or to any specific post anytime you want. 🙂

Thanks again.

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Although most search terms are hidden I suspect that, once again, much of yesterday’s traffic was the result of people searching for Cristy Lee news. Oh, it’s Cristy and not Christy.

While I don’t want this blog to be a one-stop shop for Cristy Lee news, she is fairly active on “social media” and you can follow her there, I am grateful for any new readers and hope that they will read the blog even given she is not mentioned the vast majority of the time.

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Although I have shown pictures of my Corvettes here, I don’t think I’ve shown all three in the same post…until now:

The top photo is of my current Vette, a 2016 Z06 that I purchased (with the help of my wonderful wife) in March, 2019. I have driven it a little over 4,000 miles in the 20-ish months I have owned it.

The middle photo is my 2007 Vette, the only one of the three that I purchased new. I bought the car in February, 2007 and sold it in October, 2010 when I lost my business and thought I needed to raise cash. I think I drove the car about 14,000 miles in the roughly 44 months I owned it.

The bottom photo is my 2002 Corvette that I bought in March, 2004. I nearly died in February, 2004 and that experience, along with the death of my mother in January, pushed me into buying the car as I have had much interest in Corvettes for a long time. I decided to buy a used one because if I didn’t really like driving the car then I wouldn’t have paid the price for a new one and suffered the depreciation. Obviously, I really liked driving a Corvette as I traded it in on a new one after driving the ’02 approximately 12,000 miles in 35 months.

Doing the math: I have driven these cars about 30,000 miles in 99 months of ownership. That’s not exactly a lot of driving and I do feel as though I have missed out on some of the potential enjoyment of these cars. I suspect I will drive my Z06 more in the desert than I did in the mid-Atlantic, but the car will never remotely approach 1,000 miles a month.

Long live the Corvette!

#MondayMusings

#BoomingStats

#CristyLee

#3Corvettes

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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Last Sunday

Before I even write this post today and before this WordPress week ends at the close of this Sunday, Disaffected Musings has had more blog views and unique visitors this week than in any other week in its history. This month, which is not yet over, has had more unique visitors than any other month. (Thanks.)

Of course, many of the views/visitors came from people trying to find out why Cristy Lee was not on the Barrett-Jackson telecast that ended yesterday. I am a little surprised that so many of her “fans” didn’t realize that the Barrett-Jackson auctions were no longer televised on Motor Trend and that contractual arrangements probably prevented her from continuing, assuming that she even wanted to.

However, more views were of the main page of this blog than of Where Is Cristy Lee? so it’s possible other events also drove blog traffic. For more than a week before the Barrett-Jackson broadcast began, the number of views referred from search engines had increased dramatically. Maybe the news that Belly Biane (intentional misspelling) is probably leaving the Oakland A’s and baseball led people to search for “Moneyball Pioneer” and that led them to find this blog.

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This is the last Sunday my wonderful wife and I will be living in this great house. In addition, this is the last Sunday I will post for awhile. I cannot say with certainty exactly how long.

My strong belief that nothing in life is all good or all bad, that everything is a trade-off is being reinforced by this move. I was very sad after leaving Wegmans for the last time. I have made a point to walk around the house and to take photos, some of which I will show on the blog after the move. I am not happy about many aspects of this change, such as leaving our wonderful neighbors. However, my wonderful wife graciously agreed to two major moves at my request so I cannot deny her wish to move to the desert.

I am hoping that a new venue is a fresh start for my life, which in many ways has become a rut. I hope that “post-virus” we will both find new friends at the numerous car events held in the desert, which has a car culture far beyond that of the mid-Atlantic.

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I was originally going to title today’s post “Lexus A or Lexus B.” I can still proceed with that idea, though.

At the recently concluded Barrett-Jackson auction, one of these was offered and sold for $440,000 all in.

This picture is of the actual auction car and is, obviously, from Barrett-Jackson’s website. Oh, this is the amazing Lexus LFA. Jeremy Clarkson, famous co-host of Top Gear and The Grand Tour, said this is the best car he’s ever driven, or at least that’s what he said after he drove one for the first time.

The LFA had to be fitted with a digital tachometer because no analog tach could keep up with its amazing ability to rev. The LFA can rev from 0 to 9000 RPM in less than one second!

The LFA’s naturally aspirated 4.8 liter/293 cubic inch V-10 engine produces 553 HP/354 LB-FT of torque. In that way, it’s like a traditional Italian “supercar” engine in that the emphasis is on high RPM horsepower and not low-end torque. (Yes, I know the Lexus is Japanese in origin, not Italian.)

OK, the LFA is Lexus A; you can probably guess the identity of Lexus B.

See the source image

From carmagazine.co.uk a picture of a Lexus LC (500). The LC is more of a GT car than the LFA, which is more of a “pure” sports car.

At present, the LC is powered by a 5 liter/303 cubic inch V-8 with output of 471 HP/398 LB-FT of torque in its non-hybrid version. A twin-turbo V-8 of smaller displacement but more power has been rumored to be in development for this car, but those rumors have faded recently.

OK, which of these cars do you prefer? Neither is inexpensive although the LFA is in another league in terms of rarity and price than the LC. Which do I prefer? Believe me, if I could afford it I would have both. I think the LFA is a marvel of automotive engineering and it’s far from ugly. The LC is one of the most handsome cars I have ever seen. Remember that it has been named to both editions of my Ultimate Garage.

I look forward to reading your thoughts.

#LastSunday

#CristyLee

#Barrett-Jackson

#LexusLFA

#LexusLC

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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Goodbye, Wegmans

I love shopping at Wegmans supermarket. Well, I guess I should write that I loved shopping there. Wegmans does not have stores in the desert being solely Northeast/Mid-Atlantic in location.

Yesterday I went shopping there for the last time. How much do/did I love that place? For the last five years, the closest one to us has been about 18 miles away–one way–and yet it has been our main supermarket as well as our primary pharmacy. Before November of 2015, the closest one was about an hour’s drive–one way–and yet we still went shopping there on occasion.

Since 1998, Wegmans’ employees have put the company on the FORTUNE magazine’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For®. The list began in 1998. Wegmans has always ranked at or near the top among supermarkets in the American Customer Satisfaction Index® and has had at least one year as the top retailer in America regardless of sector. I miss 56PackardMan’s contributions to the blog, but especially miss him here as he spent much of his career in the grocery business. Anyway…the selection of items was fantastic (it should be in a 110,000 square foot store), the prices were very good and the service was amazing. When I asked an employee where an item was instead of being told “Aisle 8A” they would walk me over to the right location and make sure I found the item.

Before I finished loading the groceries in the Z06 (which was another reminder of our impending change as I almost always went shopping at Wegmans in our Kia Sportage, which we sold on Thursday), I took some photos of the exterior of the store.

Goodbye, Wegmans… 😦

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Thanks to all of the people who read this blog yesterday, which had the second highest number of views in a day in the history of Disaffected Musings as well as one of the top five in the number of unique visitors. Once again, people trying to find out why Cristy Lee is not on the Barrett-Jackson telecast were a large percentage of those views. I finally added a timely update to Where Is Cristy Lee? that answers why she is no longer a part of those broadcasts, at least my best guess. From showbizpost.com a picture of Cristy Lee that has been shown on this blog before.

See the source image

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Events like selling the Kia Sportage and the last trip to Wegmans are making the move more real, but for part of me all of this is surreal and won’t believe we’re moving until we’ve actually done so. My mood has been more erratic than usual and it’s intrinsically erratic. My sleep has been even more disturbed than normal, which is both cause and effect for my mood. Unfortunately, I think the hardest part is yet to come.

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On this day in 1900 the first meeting of stockholders and directors of the Ohio Automobile Company was held. You know the company better by the name it adopted on October 13, 1902: the Packard Motor Car Company.

I haven’t written as much about Packard (and Studebaker, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, etc.) lately as I used to. Part of that is explained by the departure of 56PackardMan from the blogosphere, part by the shift in the search for a Grocery Car/Taxi/Corvette Companion to something more modern and not from a defunct American car company. I still admire the cars, though, and still wish some or all of the Independent car companies had survived along with makes like Pontiac and Mercury.

Given that Barrett-Jackson has resumed live auctions, here is a picture of one of my favorite Packards, a 1956 400 model, that was sold at their Scottsdale auction in 2010.

See the source image

At the current Scottsdale auction, a 1955 Mercury Montclair convertible sold for a strong $75,900 all in. I am mentioning the car because it bears more than a passing resemblance to Packards of the same time frame. Let’s see if I can paste in a photo of that car:

1955 MERCURY MONTCLAIR CONVERTIBLE - Misc 1 - 242749

I will continue to dream about owning a car like either of these two although I know it’s likely to remain a dream unfulfilled. Once again, what is life without dreams?

#GoodbyeWegmans

#CristyLee

#MovingStress

#Packard

#1956Packard400

#1955MercuryMontclair

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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The Gift That Keeps On Giving

For Disaffected Musings (this blog), this post–Where Is Cristy Lee?–is the gift that keeps on giving. I wrote that post in January after she did not appear on the Motor Trend telecast of the Barrett-Jackson auction from Scottsdale. The post had more views in March than in January and after the new season of All Girls Garage premiered without Cristy Lee (she is no longer on the show), the number of views skyrocketed. The post had almost five times as many views in April as in January, nearly four times as many as in March.

I was going to show a chart of the percentage of total blog views that were of that post by month, but decided I didn’t want to bore you. However, 7.7% of all views in the “record-setting” month of April were of that post. Almost five percent of all views for the year are for that single post. Not counting the About page, it is easily the most viewed post in the history of this blog and may even catch the About page.

As I wrote in this post (also a very popular one), I think that Cristy Lee’s departure from All Girls Garage as well as the departure of Lou Santiago and Jared Zimmerman from Car Fix could very well be a matter of the company that produces both shows, Brenton Productions, needing to reduce costs. It is show business, after all. All Girls Garage costs less to produce with two hosts than with three. As for Car Fix, the two new hosts are probably being paid less than Santiago and Zimmerman would have been paid. Of course, Lee already has another gig as she is now a host of Garage Squad, which is shot closer to her home.

It could be that since both Brenton shows have been on for nine seasons, ratings have declined. That means Motor Trend receives less money per minute of ads, which means they want to pay a smaller fee per episode. Brenton Productions, which also wants to make a profit, needs to cut costs to make up for the smaller per episode fee.

By the way, as for the Barrett-Jackson broadcasts, Cristy Lee probably knew that the January broadcast from Scottsdale was the last one Motor Trend was going to do, at least for the foreseeable future. Whenever the live auctions return, they will be broadcast on the A&E networks like History and fyi. If she bailed on Scottsdale what was Motor Trend going to do, ban her from working on the auction broadcasts?

While I don’t want this blog to be a one-trick pony, if some people searching for Cristy Lee end up as regular readers of the blog, then that’s OK to me.

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This video is very funny, in my opinion. Please make sure you un-mute it before starting. Many thanks to my wonderful wife for sharing it with me.

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From Edith Wharton via The Muscleheaded Blog:

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

Please think for yourself. “Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.” – André Gide

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Numbers nerd/OCD “person” that I am I decided to go through yesterday’s listings on Bring A Trailer and see how many of them I would actually want to buy AND to drive. 332 auctions were active when I conducted my survey and not all of them were for cars. Some were for parts like tires.

First, most BaT cars have a manual transmission. I have not driven a stick for 40+ years and am not re-acquainting myself at this age. Second, A LOT of the cars are from ~~Porsche~~ and ~~Volkswagen~~, German makes that I consider to be ~~Hitlermobiles~~. If you think I am being unreasonable, even if my parents weren’t Holocaust survivors, which they were, I don’t think a statute of limitations exists for genocide, mass murder and unspeakable evil.

So, what was the number? Would you believe (I hear Don Adams in my head for some reason) just 18 of 332, or 5.4%. Of course, that percentage would be slightly higher when accounting for the non-car auctions.

This is one car that even surprised me with my interest:

1951 Ford Custom Convertible

This is a 1951 Ford convertible that is really a restomod. It is powered by a GM fuel-injected 350 cubic-inch V-8 and has a four-speed GM automatic transmission. It has front disc brakes and other modern systems although the car is not in 100% working condition.

As everyone knows, many old Fords have been fitted with a GM drivetrain. The reasons don’t matter, but people who are in denial are actually hysterical. Many of the comments for this listing are a debate about the drivetrain. Whether or not one agrees with the practice, no one with a functioning brain can actually deny that many old Fords have a GM drivetrain.

As of this writing the high bid is $10,000. This is not a Frugal Friday post, but that doesn’t seem like a lot of money to me for an interesting car like this. Oh, feel free to conduct the same survey for yourself and feel free not to. 🙂

#Cristy Lee

#HilariousVideo

#1951FordCustomConvertible

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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Throwback Thursday 39

Reader Michael T is not a fan of Cristy Lee. He sent me a note through the Contact page in which he wrote the following regarding her contributions to the Barrett-Jackson telecasts, “Basically she only recited the obvious with no depth or great knowledge of the classic car hobby. Really just a self-promoter using the pretty face to weave her way through job after job and make appearances based on a really shallow resume. It will run out soon.”

Everyone is entitled to his/her view. I think Cristy Lee is/was a great addition to the telecasts. She has much experience working on vehicles and covering motorsports. Besides, no one should ever forget that TV is a visual medium. Is she an expert on automotive history? That’s why Steve Magnante and Mike Joy are (were) there.

As I have written here before, although I like (liked?) watching the Barrett-Jackson telecasts I enjoy watching the Mecum broadcasts more and that’s not just because I’m friends with Scott Hoke. The Mecum crew respect the cars and the auctions, but they don’t take any of it so seriously that they forget to have some fun. Frankly, the Barrett-Jackson telecasts are, at times, stiff. The Mecum telecasts feature conversations among the crew whereas the B-J broadcasts often consist of Person A saying X and then Person B saying Y with no real interaction.

Anyway, just wanted to make sure I’m not accused of being a shill for Cristy Lee. By the way, since the comments for any post close after 36 days, if you want to add to the conversation after that you can write to me here, like Michael T did.

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How many of you remember this cartoon?

See the source image

From a Wiki site devoted to the Cartoon Network a fuzzy photo of an image from “The Herculoids.” When I was a kid I LOVED this cartoon. Although I haven’t seen an episode in decades, I have to admit that I still get chills of joy and awe just looking at the picture and thinking about the show.

The show was broadcast on CBS from September, 1967 to September, 1969. In the life of someone whose age is in single digits, two years is a long time. From Wikipedia, “In the show, the space barbarian family Zandor, Tara and son Dorno fight alongside their giant pet Herculoids — dragon Zok, rhinoceros Tundro, rock ape Igoo and the shape-shifting Gloop and Gleep — to keep their planet safe from invading robots, mad scientists and mutants.”

Do I remember specific episodes and plots? No, I just remember the effect the show had on me. Once again, sometimes I long for my childhood, which was a time when almost anything seemed possible.

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I also long for something else that will never happen, the ability to buy and to store cars at will. I look at car listings on Hemmings, Classic Cars, AutoTrader and Bring a Trailer virtually every day. I have never needed a rationale like finding a Corvette companion/grocery car for our life in the desert. Sometimes I think that such a reason is just an excuse to keep ogling at cars, cars like this:

See the source image

From Wallpaper Cave a picture of a Ferrari 458 Spider. (Yes, the first picture I showed here was from Bring A Trailer, but they are getting aggressive at “breaking” picture links from their site.) No, we will not buy a car like this unless we win the lottery. For the nth plus nth time from the movie Diner, if you don’t have dreams you have nightmares.

#ThrowbackThursday

#CristyLee

#TheHerculoids

#Ferrari458Spider

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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April 12, 2020

Quickly…I would be remiss if I didn’t note the anniversary of my parents getting married in 1946. It’s well worth repeating that they married in a Displaced Persons camp in Austria, some would call it a refugee camp, the same place where my sister was born.

The current crisis will pass and will not last anywhere near as long as the horror of World War II. The coronavirus is not trying to harm us, of course, as it is incapable of intent. Obviously, that is not the case for the evil forces of World War II and the evil forces that have existed since the beginning of mankind.

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To those of you observing and/or celebrating today as a holiday, I hope it is as meaningful as possible under the current circumstances.

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I guess many people discovered only yesterday that Cristy Lee is no longer part of All Girls Garage. (The show is broadcast on Saturday morning; yesterday’s airing was the second episode shown without her.) Once again, Disaffected Musings had a large number of blog views (large for this blog) from people trying to find out where she is and why she is no longer on the show. From cristylee.tv (I don’t think the site is being actively updated), a picture of Ms. Lee:

See the source image

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To rebuff those who blindly criticize American businesses as heartless and avaricious I show this link to a story about General Motors reopening a factory in Warren, Michigan in order to manufacture face masks. This is hardly the only example of such actions by US businesses.

I could use this space to criticize the quarterback of Satan’s Minions…uh, the Dallas Cowboys…for hosting a birthday party yesterday that was attended by 30 people, but I would never do that. To quote Satchel Paige once again, “There are some people that if they don’t know, you can’t tell them.”

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Despite the emergence of the 2006-07 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS as a strong contender for Corvette companion/grocery car after the move to the desert, a final decision has not been made. However, the fact that my wonderful wife is on board with the project makes the purchase a virtual certainty although, of course, the timing is not completely under our control, as current events strongly demonstrate.

I will almost, notice I wrote “almost,” regret the day we actually purchase another car because the hunt is so much fun. I don’t know if I’ve written it here before, but for me a reason I miss my childhood is that it was a time when almost anything seemed possible. As I have aged the universe of possibilities has narrowed almost into nothingness. I suppose that is a common experience, but as someone who is not the dullest knife in the drawer and someone who has always expected a lot of himself, this narrowing of possibilities is extremely disappointing and even frightening.

Here is a car listed in Hemmings that appeals to both my wonderful wife and to me, a 1969 Mercury Cougar:

The stance seems off, which could be an indication of trouble, but with an asking price of $9,900 no one should expect a Grade 1 car. The mileage is a little more than ideal (89,059), but the car is more than 50 years old. Ah yes, #somanycarsjustonelife…

#April12,2020

#DisplacedPersonsCamp

#CristyLee

#CorvetteCompanion

#1969MercuryCougar

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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Random Is As Random Does

Cristy Lee must have been a popular search topic yesterday as this blog had a relatively high number of views from people looking for information about her. This post was their first stop, but I put a link to this post in the first one and that drew views as well. From showbizpost.com a picture of Cristy Lee:

See the source image

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I don’t like cars that are bagged and slammed with giant wheels, which I call clown cars. To me, that “look” has no balance and shows no finesse, nuance or even thought. Oh, try driving a car with air suspension hard in a corner. Can you say body roll?!

Yes, different strokes for different folks. I am not going to retell the Waylon Jennings story, but no one’s view on what makes a car look good is universal. I don’t have to like bagged, slammed cars with giant wheels no matter how many other people like them.

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From Coco Chanel via The Muscleheaded Blog:

“Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.”

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Here are some posts from photobyjohnbo that have some great pictures of Arizona, IMO:

Cellpic Sunday-5 April 2020

But I Digress…

Cellpic Sunday-16 February 2020

I fervently hope that my wonderful wife and I will be living in Arizona by this time next year. I would be okay if that sentence were amended to read this time next month.

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Automobile-Catalog is a great source of information. When I show the torque rating for the engine of an older car, the odds are the value came from Automobile-Catalog.

That site also shows interior dimensions including trunk capacity. My wonderful wife has shown some interest in the search for a “cool” grocery getter that we would acquire after we move to the desert. Given my wife’s interest I guess it would be more accurate to describe this “new” car as a Corvette companion and not a Z06 companion, per se. I am absolutely fine with that.

What do you think of this car?

From this Hemmings ad and, obviously, GarageKeptMotors is a picture of a 1969 AMC Javelin in Bittersweet Orange with a two-tone White and Red interior. OK, a photo of the interior:

The car has what I assume is the original 290 cubic-inch V-8 with, unfortunately for performance, just a 2-barrel carburetor with the “Shift-Command” three-speed automatic with floor shift. An odd thing about the carburetion in the ad is that in standard catalog of® American Cars, 1946-1975 by John Gunnell the “Base” V-8 for 1969 AMC cars is shown as having a four-barrel carb. However, that engine is shown as having 225 HP, BUT there are numerous references to the 200 HP Javelin V-8. From what I can gather, the higher HP engine in that displacement was only available with a manual transmission. Oh…according to Automobile-Catalog the 1969 Javelin has a trunk capacity of 10.2 cubic feet. Is that a big enough trunk for groceries given the car does have two rear seats?

The Javelin was part of my wonderful wife’s Ultimate Garage, was among the list of the cars that just missed the cut for my Ultimate Garage 2.0, and is a product of a defunct American car company. That checks a lot of boxes. Oh, the asking price is “just” $19,900 although I think the car is worth closer to $10,000-$11,000 especially given it’s not the high-performance V-8. What do you think?

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Saturday In The (Virtual) Park

First…Cristy Lee is recovering from an appendectomy AND she is no longer on the cast of All Girls Garage. In a long “social media” message she noted her hectic work and travel schedule for 2019 and stated she needs to take better care of herself in the future.

Ostensibly she is supposed to continue on Garage Squad whenever that program resumes production—it is in a coronavirus hiatus—but somehow I get the feeling she won’t. When we attended her live interview during the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale in January of 2019 she mentioned that she had been involved in fixing houses before her days on Velocity/Motor Trend and that “something was in the works” for a possible return. Cristy Lee on HGTV and/or DIY? Those networks are under the Discovery “umbrella.”

When the announcement was made in May, 2019 that Cristy Lee would be joining Garage Squad I sent her a tweet (I still had an active Twitter account) that I hoped the news didn’t mean she was leaving All Girls Garage. I guess it did…from her Twitter page, I assume, a picture of Cristy Lee:

See the source image

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The town in which we live—we don’t actually live in the incorporated part but have a town zip code—has a population of a little more than 30,000 but seems to have enough parks for a place with 100,000. These parks look nice, but were seldom used even before the coronavirus. I guess their mere presence is a positive, but I have often thought at least a small percentage of these parks could be used for more productive activities.

I am also still a little mad that the town tore down a very old mill tower and used some of the bricks in a new park at the site. From an Evil Empire blog a picture of the tower:

See the source image

Of course, the town council claimed the tower was too expensive to maintain and that its “memory” would be preserved in the new park named for the mill. I miss seeing the tower, what can I say?

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This Carbonhans Blog article compares the C8 Corvette to the Lamborghini Huracan Evo. The subhead reads, “With six figures separating their prices, are these mid-engine sports cars even comparable? Yes.” Here is an interesting passage:

“Surprisingly, the Corvette streaks to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds (as tested by our friends at MotorTrend), matching the estimated figure for the Huracan Evo. The European boasts a higher top speed of 202 mph, whereas the Corvette tops out at 184 to 194 mph, depending on equipment. Since there are basically no places in America for owners to probe those speeds, the Lambo’s lead here is negligible. What counts is that the C8 can hang with the Lamborghini in straight-line speed—with less power (but greater torque) and without all-wheel drive. Oh, and for less than a third of the price.”

I think if you’re interested you should read the article yourself. Once again, the Corvette is simply unmatched in bang for the buck among performance cars anywhere in the world. OK, a picture from the Carbonhans piece:

2020 Chevy Corvette vs Lambo Huracan EVO 1

With all that is going on the C8 has been lost in the maelstrom. Of course, that pales in significance to other manifestations, but just sitting stuck in your house under a stay at home order and moping is probably not good for anyone. This, too, shall pass although it will pass like a giant kidney stone, wreaking much havoc and with the potential to cause long-lasting damage. As I have had (at least) six kidney stones I have some knowledge on the subject.

Please feel free to post thoughtful comments. I always welcome them, but they are particularly welcome now.

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