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Motor, cycle, umpteen, yes? (PICS)

00:37 / 06.07.06

interested to know what people are driving/riding. post pics if you got em. mine's one of these, not as polished though....

picked it up for a song, it's as old as i am....

01:08 / 06.07.06

Jsut because I choose to be all environmentally friendly and all that.

01:38 / 06.07.06

wish we had a public transport system..... *sniff*

Jake, Colossus of Clout

05:24 / 06.07.06

Great gas mileage, pretty peppy. Love it.

Jake, Colossus of Clout

05:27 / 06.07.06

No idea why the photo didn't post.

Here's a link. Too lazy to find alternate photo.

Mine's not as well-washed and waxed, but my rims are sweeter.

05:37 / 06.07.06

nice. learned to drive in a VW Bug. beautiful things they are.

05:40 / 06.07.06

the photo did post, actually. oddly, when you try to get the url of a photo on flickr, it gives you the url of a 1 pixel image unless you're signed in. to stop hotlinking by random people, i guess.

Jake, Colossus of Clout

06:36 / 06.07.06

Like me, I suppose.

Weak.

Jake, Colossus of Clout

06:48 / 06.07.06

I suppose I should add some actual car discussion to this thread...

I'm afraid the transmission's going on my ride. I'm starting a cursory search for late-model diesel Golfs, but they seem to be really expensive and sought-after.

My ultimate goal is to buy a diesel and convert it to run on used vegetable oil via Greasecar, because my best buddy is their chief engineer and running your car on leftover oil from fast food joints rules.

Also, anyone who knows the best way to bust into the trunk of a car could help me out. I have a ridiculous subwoofer in the trunk of my old Jetta, which I wrecked. The trunk jammed during impact, and the speaker is too big to get out from the back seat. I'm not too mechanically inclined, so the only thing I can think of is "beat the fuck out of it with a crowbar until it opens. My amp and speaker have been in there for over a year now, and I miss them. Please help us reunite. Ghostface just isn't the same without brain-liquifying bass.

As an aside, might we change the title of this thread to something that indicates it's vehicle-centric nature?

ONLY NICE THINGS

07:16 / 06.07.06

Ah - I have a friend with a converted Merc. It's great - when it starts up you get a smell of chips frying. Gorgeous.

07:30 / 06.07.06

Does he want to sell it?

I am in the process of looking for an old Mercedes van to convert to run on veggie oil, which is not too difficult since the diesel engine was actually designed to run on peanut oil. Obviously this was before the oil companies realised that they had finally found a use for the by product of petrol and after Rudolph Diesel's death they named this product diesel fuel and everyone assumed the engine was invented to run on that instead of renewable fuel. Bastards.

Er, anyway.

So I'm looking for a van to buy and then I will work out of it and live out of it in the sumnmer.

08:05 / 06.07.06

I travel through mole tunnels on one of these great beasts:

or by foot, over our gold-paved streets.

08:52 / 06.07.06

I've got a skateboard, which (unlike a car) you can do kickflips with.

I had a van once, but my lunatic brother smashed it up.

10:16 / 06.07.06

wish we had a public transport system..... *sniff*

Does Brisbane not have buses? I'm sure I remember them having buses when I lived there.

Incidentally stabbystabby, do they still have those weird metal kangaroo sculptures that were on one of the streets? They were marvellously evil looking things.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:19 / 06.07.06

I used to have a 1970 VW Beetle, which I bought with the intention of having it painted l;ike Bagpuss, though I never got round to it. In the end I couldn't really justify keeping it, as I rarely drove anywhere and was spending a fortune on parking.

Any other VW fans going to Bug Jam this month?

11:24 / 06.07.06

yes and yes. the kangaroos are still there. the buses exist, but they only go through the city. so if i want to get from my suburb to, say, St Lucia (6 km away) i have to go via the city (about 25 km trip). also, they run about once an hour. there's also the train and the catamarans up and down the river, but it's just not feasible for me to work across 2 universities and live in the suburbs while using public transport.

also, it's cheaper to ride my bike. bus fares are ridiculously priced and they did away with the monthly ticket, it's pay per ride now.

14:11 / 06.07.06

Ah, Barbelith, you have such a keen sense for finding my weak Achilles heel and kicking it while I'm down, or some such mixed metaphor. My car died on my birthday last week. This loss of vehicle, which directly leads to unemployment in my line of work, is looming over my head as some hugely daunting spectre of total personal failure. I'm taking it way too hard. I had no attachment to the machine itself, but it represented self-sufficiency and opportunity and earning power and now it's all gone, gone away.

My mechanic was so gentle and kind through it all. He told me to look for a Honda, since you can't beat them for reliability. Toyotas are fine as long as you get a v4. Nissan are fine as long as you get a v6. I'm looking at used Hondas now but my credit's in the shitter and I have no cash (and no work either). I dreamed of a car with less than 100K but that's proven to be unrealistic for my budget. So I'm forced to shop for a 10-15 year old beater with 100K+ or... nothing.

Jake, Colossus of Clout

16:29 / 06.07.06

See if you can get an in to a government auto auction, where they sell repossessed and confiscated vehicles for dirt cheap.

Also, you could get a non-running car identical to your current non-running car (that has a different problem) and make one running car from both of them.

16:56 / 06.07.06

ibis take heart. I got a great car for 400$. Was a '92 honda hatchback.

look here.

My beloved Gawain is a 1973 CB 350 honda twin.

17:18 / 06.07.06

xk, that bike is probably the coolest ride in Barbelithdom

17:24 / 06.07.06

I bet you escape from a lot of Nazis on that thing.

17:37 / 06.07.06

aw shucks...I luv him muchly and yes he can out run many forms of evil.
We practice not getting eaten on the highways by big ass trucks.

I'm looking forward to riding this weekend as my injured arm kept me from doing so for the last few weeks. I promised the spouse I'd teach him how to be a byke pilot this summer which will of course justify me getting another byke! Woo!

18:35 / 06.07.06

Also, you could get a non-running car identical to your current non-running car (that has a different problem) and make one running car from both of them.

Hm, Frankencaravan... interesting. Unfortunately, though, pretty much all that's worth saving from my van would be the two new pipes I had put in the coolant system last month. Body, engine, tires, it's all basically a rusted out pile of shit. Before I bought it a year ago it lived for about a decade on a salty wet island, a good place to age a car real fast.

I'm looking to finance a $4-6000 car from a used dealership. I don't have the upfront cash even to buy a $2000 car from a private seller, and anything cheaper than that is just not going to reliable enough for me. I know a dealership's going to jack me on the interest, but I'm reconciled to my lot. This is just the way life goes for someone at my income level and general financial background. No use trying to buck the system or anything. Le sigh.

22:07 / 06.07.06

that's a lovely honda!

Ibis, sorry to hear about your car. Mazdas, particularly the mazda 121 are often cheap and run forever. pretty economical too.