Miatapower List Archive

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: "Mel Hoagland" <(email redacted)>


Exhaustive list:

68 Rambler station wagon, white. Had a rusted hole in the top of one of the
fenders my friends used to use as an ashtray. One by one the teeth were
chewed off the flywheel until the car would no longer start. Was told (by
the dealer) that the flywheel was welded on, on these cars, and couldn't be
replaced. Car got me back and forth to art school and then was thrown away.

67 Pontiac Tempest station wagon, green. Uninspired, but I could fit my
entire bed inside when I was moving back and forth to college. Threw it
away.

68 VW Squareback, baby blue. Great little car. Learned how to work on cars
with the "Guide to the VW for the Complete Idiot" (or something like that -
does anybody know the exact title to this wonderful book?). Swapped the
vacuum advance for a mechanical advance distributor (realized a 5 hp gain,
which was something like a 50% increase with these cars). Drove that car for
years and it was very reliable. Bought my first set of Michelins (ZX?), and
was on my way to appreciating sporting performance.

62 Triumph TR3A, black. Loved that car, even though it needed a major
overhaul after every 50 miles on the road. Part of the mystique was driving
around with big blotches of grease on every patch of exposed skin and every
piece of clothing I owned. had a flat wooden dashboard and a first gear that
was made for pulling stumps. Had wire wheels (added by the guy I bought it
from. Got a great story about those, but I'll save it for another time. Got
married, was talked into selling the car, but I still have my Unisyn. Should
have sold the wife instead.

69 Jaguar XKE 2+2, mostly maroon. This was the ugly sister to the beautiful
XKE roadsters and coupes. Never got to drive it, but I'll *never* forget the
thrill of watching that 4 spring/4 shock rear suspension jounce up and down
on the flat bed on the way home with my new baby. Used to sit in it in the
garage getting stoned and making motor sounds (is there any question why the
work never got done on it?). Kept it for a year and was finally forced
(STILL married) to sell. Made a 60% profit on the sale, even though the
motor could not be turned over.

69 VW Karmann Ghia, tan. Fun, tiny little car you could lose behind a
beetle. Kept a windshield scraper handy for scraping the INSIDE of the
windshield throughout the winter. Saw me through the Blizzard of 78 (MUST be
spelled with a capital "B"), when I was living in Providence, RI. In 24
hours we got 48 inches of snow in that storm. Drove the car through the
worst of it to within 2 blocks of my apartment - pushed it the rest of the
way like a sled, parked it in front (couldn't push the car UP the driveway).
For the next week, the neighborhood kids used the roof of the car as the
floor of their fort, which I didn't know until the thaw. Eventually the
headlights rusted right out of the fenders. Traded it in for a Renault Le
Car for my wife (she was still around).

78 Toyota Celica, gold. My first new car! I was so proud, then some dope in
her bathrobe and fuzzy pink slippers (no exaggeration!), ran through a stop
sign at full speed and tagged me broadsides with her Ford Galaxy battering
ram. Car was fixed, but never the same. Traded it for a:

81 VW Scirocco, Grey. My second new car! My first driveable performance car
since the TR3. Loved it. Raised holy hell on every highway in Massachusetts
and Rhode Island. Drove that car for 70k miles until the marriage ended.
House went, my mind went - you've heard the drill. I drove the car into the
ground, it never recovered.

69 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, metallic green. This car epitomized the meaning
of the land yacht. I was getting back at the world for my divorce. Got about
8 mpg if I didn't touch the gas pedal, and used about a quart of oil every
50 miles (no exaggeration). Kept a case of the cheap stuff in the trunk.
Hours after I went by, you could still follow my trail. Excellent cure for
tailgaters.

? Oldsmobile Delta 88, blue with black vinyl roof. Another huge eyesore.
Used transmission fluid like the Caddy used oil. Finally wouldn't go
anymore, but the clouds of transmission fluid I could leave at will would
cause tailgaters to pull over crying and never drive again. Environmental
catastrophe, but it had has its benefits.

82 (?) Audi 4000, blue. Great little car. Started ticking, let it go for a
year. Caught fire one day across the street from a couple of kids selling
lemonade. Bought their entire stock and got the fire out. Engine was toast.
Insurance paid for entire engine rebuild, because of the fire. Mechanic told
me one valve had a hole in it you could stick your pinky through, and
another had welded itself to its seat, pulling it out of the head. I HAD
noticed the ticking had gotten much louder just before the end there (maybe
a month or two). This car was an example of German engineering triumphing
over complete and utter neglect. Not to mention the luck of having a fire
start across the street from a lemonade stand.

86 Saab 900S two-door, blue. Great car - still have it. It's got 205k miles
on it now and no matter how much time has gone by, the engine fires up
eagerly as the first crank is just getting started. The battery does die
out, but the engine is amazing. It's my pickup, tool storage and winter
vehicle.

96 Mazda Miata, black - Wheezy. My third new car, and the only car I've
owned that was built in this decade. You've all heard the stories about
Wheezy, and I'm sure there will be plenty more to tell.

There are actually others, but these are the ones worth noting. Thanks for
the bandwidth.

Mel
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Mel Hoagland
Wheezy 96/97 black FMII/III vrrooommmm

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: Joseph Haefeli <(email redacted)>


LOL! Makes the cars I've owned look insanely boring.

The only new car I ever bought was my Toy. Tercel, in '83, and I'm still
driving that thing. Just barely burning a tiny bit of oil on the original
engine. All it has ever wanted was fuel pumps, and mufflers (solved the
muffler problem a little bit by putting a glass pack on it). Paint looks
like crap. Sincerely considering painting it with Hammerite. THAT will
stop the rust tumors.

-Joseph


>Exhaustive list:
>
>68 Rambler station wagon, white. Had a rusted hole in the top of one of the
>fenders my friends used to use as an ashtray. One by one the teeth were
>chewed off the flywheel until the car would no longer start. Was told (by
>the dealer) that the flywheel was welded on, on these cars, and couldn't be
>replaced. Car got me back and forth to art school and then was thrown away.
>
>67 Pontiac Tempest station wagon, green. Uninspired, but I could fit my
>entire bed inside when I was moving back and forth to college. Threw it
>away.
>
>68 VW Squareback, baby blue. Great little car. Learned how to work on cars
>with the "Guide to the VW for the Complete Idiot" (or something like that -
>does anybody know the exact title to this wonderful book?). Swapped the
>vacuum advance for a mechanical advance distributor (realized a 5 hp gain,
>which was something like a 50% increase with these cars). Drove that car for
>years and it was very reliable. Bought my first set of Michelins (ZX?), and
>was on my way to appreciating sporting performance.
>
>62 Triumph TR3A, black. Loved that car, even though it needed a major
>overhaul after every 50 miles on the road. Part of the mystique was driving
>around with big blotches of grease on every patch of exposed skin and every
>piece of clothing I owned. had a flat wooden dashboard and a first gear that
>was made for pulling stumps. Had wire wheels (added by the guy I bought it
>from. Got a great story about those, but I'll save it for another time. Got
>married, was talked into selling the car, but I still have my Unisyn. Should
>have sold the wife instead.
>
>69 Jaguar XKE 2+2, mostly maroon. This was the ugly sister to the beautiful
>XKE roadsters and coupes. Never got to drive it, but I'll *never* forget the
>thrill of watching that 4 spring/4 shock rear suspension jounce up and down
>on the flat bed on the way home with my new baby. Used to sit in it in the
>garage getting stoned and making motor sounds (is there any question why the
>work never got done on it?). Kept it for a year and was finally forced
>(STILL married) to sell. Made a 60% profit on the sale, even though the
>motor could not be turned over.
>
>69 VW Karmann Ghia, tan. Fun, tiny little car you could lose behind a
>beetle. Kept a windshield scraper handy for scraping the INSIDE of the
>windshield throughout the winter. Saw me through the Blizzard of 78 (MUST be
>spelled with a capital "B"), when I was living in Providence, RI. In 24
>hours we got 48 inches of snow in that storm. Drove the car through the
>worst of it to within 2 blocks of my apartment - pushed it the rest of the
>way like a sled, parked it in front (couldn't push the car UP the driveway).
>For the next week, the neighborhood kids used the roof of the car as the
>floor of their fort, which I didn't know until the thaw. Eventually the
>headlights rusted right out of the fenders. Traded it in for a Renault Le
>Car for my wife (she was still around).
>
>78 Toyota Celica, gold. My first new car! I was so proud, then some dope in
>her bathrobe and fuzzy pink slippers (no exaggeration!), ran through a stop
>sign at full speed and tagged me broadsides with her Ford Galaxy battering
>ram. Car was fixed, but never the same. Traded it for a:
>
>81 VW Scirocco, Grey. My second new car! My first driveable performance car
>since the TR3. Loved it. Raised holy hell on every highway in Massachusetts
>and Rhode Island. Drove that car for 70k miles until the marriage ended.
>House went, my mind went - you've heard the drill. I drove the car into the
>ground, it never recovered.
>
>69 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, metallic green. This car epitomized the meaning
>of the land yacht. I was getting back at the world for my divorce. Got about
>8 mpg if I didn't touch the gas pedal, and used about a quart of oil every
>50 miles (no exaggeration). Kept a case of the cheap stuff in the trunk.
>Hours after I went by, you could still follow my trail. Excellent cure for
>tailgaters.
>
>? Oldsmobile Delta 88, blue with black vinyl roof. Another huge eyesore.
>Used transmission fluid like the Caddy used oil. Finally wouldn't go
>anymore, but the clouds of transmission fluid I could leave at will would
>cause tailgaters to pull over crying and never drive again. Environmental
>catastrophe, but it had has its benefits.
>
>82 (?) Audi 4000, blue. Great little car. Started ticking, let it go for a
>year. Caught fire one day across the street from a couple of kids selling
>lemonade. Bought their entire stock and got the fire out. Engine was toast.
>Insurance paid for entire engine rebuild, because of the fire. Mechanic told
>me one valve had a hole in it you could stick your pinky through, and
>another had welded itself to its seat, pulling it out of the head. I HAD
>noticed the ticking had gotten much louder just before the end there (maybe
>a month or two). This car was an example of German engineering triumphing
>over complete and utter neglect. Not to mention the luck of having a fire
>start across the street from a lemonade stand.
>
>86 Saab 900S two-door, blue. Great car - still have it. It's got 205k miles
>on it now and no matter how much time has gone by, the engine fires up
>eagerly as the first crank is just getting started. The battery does die
>out, but the engine is amazing. It's my pickup, tool storage and winter
>vehicle.
>
>96 Mazda Miata, black - Wheezy. My third new car, and the only car I've
>owned that was built in this decade. You've all heard the stories about
>Wheezy, and I'm sure there will be plenty more to tell.
>
>There are actually others, but these are the ones worth noting. Thanks for
>the bandwidth.
>
>Mel
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>Mel Hoagland
>Wheezy 96/97 black FMII/III vrrooommmm

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: Michael Gregor <(email redacted)>


Tally ho:


86 RX7
87 5.0 GT (N20)
64 VW Variant
74 Nova (383 stroker drawthrough carburated turbo at 6 PSI)
86 Shelby Shadow TFI (14 PSI)
91 Galant VR4 (18 PSI)
54 Chevy 210
92 Miata (greddycharged? ;-)
84 S-10 Blazer 4x4
96 4Runner (supercharged) 4x4
70 RS Camaro 350


MG


Joseph Haefeli wrote:

> LOL! Makes the cars I've owned look insanely boring.
>
> The only new car I ever bought was my Toy. Tercel, in '83, and I'm still
> driving that thing. Just barely burning a tiny bit of oil on the original
> engine. All it has ever wanted was fuel pumps, and mufflers (solved the
> muffler problem a little bit by putting a glass pack on it). Paint looks
> like crap. Sincerely considering painting it with Hammerite. THAT will
> stop the rust tumors.
>
> -Joseph
>
> >Exhaustive list:
> >
> >68 Rambler station wagon, white. Had a rusted hole in the top of one of the
> >fenders my friends used to use as an ashtray. One by one the teeth were
> >chewed off the flywheel until the car would no longer start. Was told (by
> >the dealer) that the flywheel was welded on, on these cars, and couldn't be
> >replaced. Car got me back and forth to art school and then was thrown away.
> >
> >67 Pontiac Tempest station wagon, green. Uninspired, but I could fit my
> >entire bed inside when I was moving back and forth to college. Threw it
> >away.
> >
> >68 VW Squareback, baby blue. Great little car. Learned how to work on cars
> >with the "Guide to the VW for the Complete Idiot" (or something like that -
> >does anybody know the exact title to this wonderful book?). Swapped the
> >vacuum advance for a mechanical advance distributor (realized a 5 hp gain,
> >which was something like a 50% increase with these cars). Drove that car for
> >years and it was very reliable. Bought my first set of Michelins (ZX?), and
> >was on my way to appreciating sporting performance.
> >
> >62 Triumph TR3A, black. Loved that car, even though it needed a major
> >overhaul after every 50 miles on the road. Part of the mystique was driving
> >around with big blotches of grease on every patch of exposed skin and every
> >piece of clothing I owned. had a flat wooden dashboard and a first gear that
> >was made for pulling stumps. Had wire wheels (added by the guy I bought it
> >from. Got a great story about those, but I'll save it for another time. Got
> >married, was talked into selling the car, but I still have my Unisyn. Should
> >have sold the wife instead.
> >
> >69 Jaguar XKE 2+2, mostly maroon. This was the ugly sister to the beautiful
> >XKE roadsters and coupes. Never got to drive it, but I'll *never* forget the
> >thrill of watching that 4 spring/4 shock rear suspension jounce up and down
> >on the flat bed on the way home with my new baby. Used to sit in it in the
> >garage getting stoned and making motor sounds (is there any question why the
> >work never got done on it?). Kept it for a year and was finally forced
> >(STILL married) to sell. Made a 60% profit on the sale, even though the
> >motor could not be turned over.
> >
> >69 VW Karmann Ghia, tan. Fun, tiny little car you could lose behind a
> >beetle. Kept a windshield scraper handy for scraping the INSIDE of the
> >windshield throughout the winter. Saw me through the Blizzard of 78 (MUST be
> >spelled with a capital "B"), when I was living in Providence, RI. In 24
> >hours we got 48 inches of snow in that storm. Drove the car through the
> >worst of it to within 2 blocks of my apartment - pushed it the rest of the
> >way like a sled, parked it in front (couldn't push the car UP the driveway).
> >For the next week, the neighborhood kids used the roof of the car as the
> >floor of their fort, which I didn't know until the thaw. Eventually the
> >headlights rusted right out of the fenders. Traded it in for a Renault Le
> >Car for my wife (she was still around).
> >
> >78 Toyota Celica, gold. My first new car! I was so proud, then some dope in
> >her bathrobe and fuzzy pink slippers (no exaggeration!), ran through a stop
> >sign at full speed and tagged me broadsides with her Ford Galaxy battering
> >ram. Car was fixed, but never the same. Traded it for a:
> >
> >81 VW Scirocco, Grey. My second new car! My first driveable performance car
> >since the TR3. Loved it. Raised holy hell on every highway in Massachusetts
> >and Rhode Island. Drove that car for 70k miles until the marriage ended.
> >House went, my mind went - you've heard the drill. I drove the car into the
> >ground, it never recovered.
> >
> >69 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, metallic green. This car epitomized the meaning
> >of the land yacht. I was getting back at the world for my divorce. Got about
> >8 mpg if I didn't touch the gas pedal, and used about a quart of oil every
> >50 miles (no exaggeration). Kept a case of the cheap stuff in the trunk.
> >Hours after I went by, you could still follow my trail. Excellent cure for
> >tailgaters.
> >
> >? Oldsmobile Delta 88, blue with black vinyl roof. Another huge eyesore.
> >Used transmission fluid like the Caddy used oil. Finally wouldn't go
> >anymore, but the clouds of transmission fluid I could leave at will would
> >cause tailgaters to pull over crying and never drive again. Environmental
> >catastrophe, but it had has its benefits.
> >
> >82 (?) Audi 4000, blue. Great little car. Started ticking, let it go for a
> >year. Caught fire one day across the street from a couple of kids selling
> >lemonade. Bought their entire stock and got the fire out. Engine was toast.
> >Insurance paid for entire engine rebuild, because of the fire. Mechanic told
> >me one valve had a hole in it you could stick your pinky through, and
> >another had welded itself to its seat, pulling it out of the head. I HAD
> >noticed the ticking had gotten much louder just before the end there (maybe
> >a month or two). This car was an example of German engineering triumphing
> >over complete and utter neglect. Not to mention the luck of having a fire
> >start across the street from a lemonade stand.
> >
> >86 Saab 900S two-door, blue. Great car - still have it. It's got 205k miles
> >on it now and no matter how much time has gone by, the engine fires up
> >eagerly as the first crank is just getting started. The battery does die
> >out, but the engine is amazing. It's my pickup, tool storage and winter
> >vehicle.
> >
> >96 Mazda Miata, black - Wheezy. My third new car, and the only car I've
> >owned that was built in this decade. You've all heard the stories about
> >Wheezy, and I'm sure there will be plenty more to tell.
> >
> >There are actually others, but these are the ones worth noting. Thanks for
> >the bandwidth.
> >
> >Mel
> >--------------------------------------------------------------------
> >Mel Hoagland
> >Wheezy 96/97 black FMII/III vrrooommmm