Cars

[PonyOne]

I'm currently in the process of finally getting my liscence. I'm 18 so I'm a little behind schedule, though I've known how to drive since I was 11 I only just now have bothered to do it legally.

I live in Boston, famous for having the most INEPT drivers this side of the Epsilon cluster. I own an '86 Saab 900 Turbo SPG (photo of one almost identical: http://www.saabnet.com/tsn/class/ci.php3?ph=011129pdelorie) and have found it difficult to tolerate people around here, who either crawl along or do 50 in a 35 zone, don't signal and turn on a dime, and just generally thwart all the would-be fun I'd be having with this throbbing, turbocharged chick-magnet with its velvet-soft ride and brand-new 750-watt stereo.
My purpose in posting this is threefold: first, what are your preferred methods of getting around/back at terrible drivers? What is your favorite driving music? And what type of car do you drive?

[educatedfilm]

hmmm, drivings really weird, cos when your in the car the feeling you get from music is more intense for some reason (maybe it's cos stereo only really comes to life in the car), I dont drive (with a lisence anyway) just yet (i'm 18 too), but at night it's great to listen to stuff like Radiohead (kid A), or songs like "come as you are"... songs with lots of chorus/ echo, general spatial depth to their sound... hmmmm, it's those "night time" songs, like "riders on the storm"..

It's all good really, just long it's more than a thumping bass line which is really irratating...

[lalimacefolle]

I drive a Twingo, a car that would be considered a a keychain in the US...
I weight more than it actually...
http://www.france.diplomatie.fr/label_france/FRANCE/ECONOMIE/fleurons/pics/twingo.gif
There, you can make fin of me...

[educatedfilm]

no not at all, it's a nice car (i'm not from the US by the way)... but the image of a huge man in a small car makes me smile... but that car would do fine for someone my size...

[lalimacefolle]

Looks like Jean RENO in "the big blue"

[Raskolnikov]

I drive the antithesis of lalimacefolle's car...
An 85 Ford Econline 150. It's big, it's grey, has a couch/bed, curtains (I could seriously live in this thing should I have to), and it has one hell of a rugged assed trailer hitch on the back...

And I'm comtemplating two bumper sticks for it:

"When the Lawyers are paid, I'll be able to afford sixteen more of these"
and...
"It is unwise to block in a large inexpensive van with a small expensive car"

I also want t find several antennas and a nice set of deer antlers to mount on the top... just to add that "crazed hillbilly" look to the van.


And yeah, driving it around Boston when I went to see Hempfest SUCKED. $30 flat fee just to park! Geh.

[Lordathestrings]

This was the low-rent version of the LTD. At the time it was considered a mid-size car. My father calls it 'The Truck' because I could put his car in the trunk. If I get blown off the Deerfoot Trail north of Calgary during a blizzard, I'll just live in the sumbitch 'til spring. :D

P.S. Ya gotta haveearly ZZ Top shreddin' th' speakers to complete the scene! :cool:

[Edited by Lordathestrings on 02-15-2002 at 06:54 PM]

[James]

Guns N' Roses, definately!

Specifically, Welcome to the Jungle, Nightrain, Back off Bitch, and Get in the Ring, but really any will do.

[Christoph]

Originally posted by PonyOne
I'm currently in the process of finally getting my liscence. I'm 18 so I'm a little behind schedule . . .

Wow. I remember what a big deal it was to get my drivers license. I railed on my parents until they agreed to let me get it at 16 and 1/2. Driving used to be so much fun . . . *sigh*


Originally posted by PonyOne
My purpose in posting this is threefold: first, what are your preferred methods of getting around/back at terrible drivers? What is your favorite driving music? And what type of car do you drive?

Well, there's always the ol' finger. Although you have to be careful about this because you never know who just might be in the other car. (could be a psycho with a gun or one of your grandma's card-playing friends)

I may sound like a psycho here, but I always get a kick out of boxing people in. You know those 16 year old punks with their sooped-up hondas that dart in and out of traffic and go tearing from one red light to the next? It's really fun to get in their way, box them in between cars, and then watch them swerve around in vain cursing all the while. Mwahahahah . . . !

As for driving music, well, anything hard. Sevendust, Disturbed, KoRn . . . you get the idea. Satriani is really good for road trips, btw.

As for my car, I drive a green Chevy S-10.

[PonyOne]

lalimacefolle, I love your car... I'm actually nuts over little tiny cars from Europe. My friend has a venerable 1976 Mini Cooper S, red with a British flag on the roof, and it's the biggest kick to drive. I'd really like to get something like an Alfa 156 or Fiat Barchetta, America really gets some of the dumbset, most pointless, uneconomic vehicles in the world; the Chevy Impala and Suburban, the Ford Expedition, and the most obscene vehicle ever devised: the Ford Excursion, which I'm pretty sure we export, it's a 20-foot, 3-ton 450bhp 8mpg behemoth SUV that can seat like 10... I mean come on, if you took the thing on mountain pass it'd cause an avalanche, or choke every lizard in the desert to death with its emissions and those're the only places SUV's should be...

After I move out to Cali, I'm getting something else... I'd like either an American muscle car to fix up or a Triumph GT6 or something balls-out like that... provided I've got the bills.

[PonyOne]

haha... just realized I haven't answered two of my own questions...

The most common pain I get are from jerks in BMW's. I understand this isn't a uniquely American phenomenon. They've forked over $50,000 plus for their "ultimate driving machine" (as advertised stateside) and are so insecure in themselves that the only way they can feel big is by singling out other motorists and cutting them off, tailgating, shooting evil looks, etc.
Older-style Saab 900's seem particularly susceptible since at one time they cost a lot, mine was oriinally purchased for 35,000 in '86. So they pick on you for either having lost your fortne, not moving on, or "pretending" to have an expensive car.
My car has a turbo, a custom exhaust, modified computer chip, performance suspension, and a few other mods. I've spent about $2000 on it minus the stereo, but it can clock a brand new Bimmer.

So when some white-haired prick in a cardigan sweater shoots by me at 80mph on Route 2 in his 5 series and then cuts me off and slows down, I just move into the lane he was in and kick in the turbo. The thing can go from 0-60 in about 4 or 5 secs, and from 60 to 100 in about 6, so it's fun to see the look on their face when they get beaten horrendously by a car that cost 1/20th what theirs did. The same happens with the slammed Civic kids and guys in camaros and Mustangs. The only two cars I've lost to were a Corvette and an M5.

As for music, Sugarloaf's "Green Eyed Lady" is an awesome driving song. Tool's Aenema, Deftones' White Pony, a few Blur CD's, and of course all things Failure occupy my changer. I've got a pair of 10' subs in the back that get tons of bass, so I also get to mess with homies. I also have this Indian techno D&B cd I've gotten into that gets weird looks.

[Raskolnikov]

Lately I've been listening to either Clutch or Scissorfight as I drive.

And yes, the 351 v8 and four barrel carb in my van WILL put out some serious nut... you just have to give it a little bit of time to get going. Speaking of one of those "SUV" type people, I dusted one in good shape on my way to Portland, ME one day. They must have been thinking "what's this pice of sh-it doing at 85mph?" Well, after a couple of pull ahead, fall behind sessions, I got tired and put the pedal to the metal...

I never saw them again. The last I saw of them was a look of shock. My friend Carl (who was in the passenger seat showing them his nipples) still talks about it to this day...

Otherwise I'd never remember something so pointless.

[James8831]

UK prices (on all motoring related stuff,insurance,gas/petrol etc) mean we cant afford big gas guzzling muthas, which is a shame, as a teenager i used to love custom car magazines and drool over IROC_Zs, Z28s, 'vettes ,Boss Mustangs and especially Dodge Challenger/Chargers - dukes of hazzard put me off em.


As a kid i was in my brothers TR6 coming back from a well known cruise in London and this Black P. Firebird passed us.
Brother opened the the taps and i think we got to just over 100 on the Motorway trying to keep up, but that Firebird just DISAPPEARED. If I win the lottery I want a Twin Turbo Callaway Corvette (and the speed limit raised to 3 times what it is now:D)

mmmm V8s *makes Homer Simpson type drooling noise*

ON the other end of the scale you cant beat a good tuned mini, which will beat the pants of everything up to and including MK1 Golf GTIs - that was in my youth though, these days i drive a Peugeot diesel :D :D :D.


lalimacefolle, dont Twingos have the steering wheel in the middle, I beleive that Renault did this so that we could all go and visit each other all over Europe :)but they did'nt catch on in the UK.

[Lordathestrings]

Obviously, my big ol' boat of a car is not suitable for putting vehicular miscreants in their place. Except that when someone tries to cut me off, I sometimes see people realise that they're betting expensive fenders against a whole car car that cost less than two of their tires. :)

My 'weapon of choice' for shaming hot cars is my FJ1200S motorcycle. At less than 6 pounds per horsepower, (including my 210 lb.), there isn't a car on the road that even comes close to the available acceleration. And there are precious few willing to try to match the 265 kph (167 mph) top speed. At 180 kph (113 mph), I'm just getting ready to shift from third to fourth, leaving 5th for some serious speed!

The most dangerous cars on the road are Volvos, because people who buy them think the safety features will protect them from the consequences of their own mistakes. Volvos do not protect other people from their mistakes!

My prefered 'victims' are those fools who don't realize that even a 400cc 'entry level', 'beginner's bike', will blow off a hot 'Vette by a full second in a 1/4 mile drag race! Going up against a 1200cc sport-bike is sooo humiliating. Mwahahahaha!! :D

[PonyOne]

If you want to see a really kickass American V-8, http://www.buick-riviera.nl/ the boat tail Buick Riviera. One of the billion cars on my want list. There are actually a good deal of these cars overseas; my old boss from Turkey had one for his first car, and many if not most of the cars on that page have European plates.

My friend back in Seattle has an A2 Golf GTi, I suppose that'd be a MkII in the UK. Has lots of mods to it, it's a really quick car. Looks cool too. In the US Hondas are all the rage for people into tuning cars. There's a guy on my block who has a '93 Civic that he's invested well over $10k in. It's got this retarded looking aerodynamics kit, a bright blue and yellow paintjob, and he got the intereor custom finished in white and blue leather. Hideous. And more than anything else, stupid. I'd rather buy a Monte Carlo SS (another American car to check out) or an older 5 liter Mustang, plus I'd still have like $10k lft to invest to make it even better.

In New England, Volvo drivers seem to be fairly reserved, most of them are leftists, old hippies and the like, and they put Greenpeace and Peta stickers on the tailgate. BMW drivers are just plain jerks, money can get you anywhere here and the established wealth is terrible in terms of attitude, so they seem to think that their car allows them to ignore all traffic laws.
Then their wives rive the behemoth SUV's, the worst issue with them for me aside from the poor mileage is that their lights are directly leveled with my head, serving to blind me. a few days ago I was driving up the country road to get to my parents' place when some lady in a Mercedes G-Wagen (second worst SUV behind the Excursion) comes up and flashes her xenon blue high beams straigh in my mirror... which only ensured that I drove 25 mph in the middle of the road for the rest of my trip. Learn how to position all your mirrors to shine back in someone's eyes, it does wonders.

Lordathastrings, you and your bike embody the guitar-dude mindset more than me and my piddly little Saab ever could... I'd love to get one but my girlfriend would commit suicide. So I'll have to wait for the rockstar years for my Ducati 916...

[James8831]

except for the gravel rash . Personally i think FJ12s are top bikes all round, although Yam tends to be eclipsed by the Kawasaki legend for big bikes- which is 70% truth 30%BS from what i know about the old Zs -Z1s and Z900s can handle quite badly at certain speeds - but i guess that is part of the macho appeal..

I used to have mostly Yamahas when i was a teen and my RD250 could take most things (not necessarilly with me on it), but that was the perk of being a trainee bike mechanic - cheap bits :D

Dont start me woffling about me youth, cos i'l go on about bikes all year ...but I knew this mad Scotsman who wrote off a car with a Laverda 1200 he broke his ankle, but he put the passenger in hospital . They were SOLID bikes, the forks and frame needed a bit of work after.

He also had a race tuned RD400*mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm*. Can anyone say "Wheelie" :)

[PonyOne]

I always wanted to try a Bimota, but I've never seen one in real life...

[Raskolnikov]

If I'm going to get a motorcycle, it's going to be a Harley. I don't need to go fast, so I might as well cruise with comfort and style.

The one older car I'd like to get my hands on is a late 60s LeMans.

[Lordathestrings]

Originally posted by James8831
...but I knew this mad Scotsman who wrote off a car with a Laverda ...:) Och, aye! Now there's a lad 'oo keeps sum'at big under 'is kilt! :D

Rask... I wouldn't recommend a Harley if you want comfort over a long haul. But then, what would I know, I only rode from Vancouver to Ottawa in three-and-a-half days! :cool:

[Raskolnikov]

I've found Harley's pretty comfortable, but I've never been able to get comfortable on a "rice rocket."

Oh, and on the subject of SUVs:
They're most dangerous once they get north of the Boston area, north of Manchester, NH and into my territory... The owners of these vehicles generally delude themselves into thinking that four wheel drive + all season radials = "WOW! I can do 80mph in a blizzard!"

[PonyOne]

Story that my dad (a national guardsman) told me about...

During last year's "NOREASTER" up in NH, a corporal friend and a specialist were driving a hummer between bases and cut through the white mountains. It was snowing like mad, and they were doing about 40 mph on a straightaway. Suddenly, out of nowhere, some type of larger SUV barrels past them and then switches lanes abruptly, almost causing a wreck, then shoots off at at least 65 mph. One of the army guys notes that "that asshole will end up in a ditch" and they continue.

About five minutes later they notice that the tracks from the SUV start fishtailing and then go through a guard rail and off into a ditch. They pull the Hummer over to discover the SUV on its roof, with the guy driving beside it on a cell phone, one of your typical polar-flece wearing wussies.

They get out and the corporal yells down "You okay?" to which the guy answers "yeah," shaky and nervous. The corporal goes "Good, jerk-off" then they get back into the hummer and drive off.

Stupid yuppies.

[Raskolnikov]

"No, I don't want any money for pulling you out of this ditch. All I want to know is HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET YOURSELF IN IT? WHAT KIND OF IDIOT ARE YOU?"

It's good to be a hillbilly Vermonter.