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Peter Lombardo

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Everything posted by Peter Lombardo

  1. Great job!!! A few years ago, I built my version of the “Grasshopperâ€. 90% of my build was a copy of that truck, but I made a few changes to reflect some personal modifications to the design. I liked the Prowler dash and lights, so I carried the theme to include the grill, engine and drive train and then added some racing Porsche wheels. Your build is faithful to the original…very well done. Interestingly, I challenged myself to build this truck as there were so many modifications to complete, not having a club to push me into the build. I knew it would be a tough build, as I am sure you knew with your beautiful replica. Nice work. indexCACT0XMR.htm
  2. Obviously I collect and build model cars. When not building (most every evening), I am working, eating, sleeping, golfing or working on or driving my MGA and current restoration of my MGB. There is nothing else in my life other than the wife and grown-up kids. Oh yeah, the cats get a little time too. That’s it, boring and very repetitive.
  3. Very…. very well done. I love the way it all fits together so well. The tail lights look remarkably good on the Magnum body. I think if ever produced, this would be the most reliable Dodge ever. Nicely done.
  4. Beautiful job, I remember the car (saw every one of the shows) and you certainly did it justice. I love the colors, stance and wheels.
  5. Great build there, the color is unusual for the car but it works very well. I agree that the BRG is just to obvious for the car. I have a 1/1 MGA in BRG (brought it in that color) and all though it looks good, it is not my favorite. The MGB my son and I are currently rebuilding is painted in a hot new pearl red color very much like your build. I like the color we both chose. I also like your wheel choice...the Minilite look is great on the car. My only problem with bugeye's is that they, in real life, are just too small for me. At the British car shows, they get a lot of attention, as everyone loves the look, but I like a little more "tin" around me. Nice build.
  6. Nicely done....now keep an eye on this one when you put it on the contest table.
  7. This is the latest kit to hit my real life workbench. This is a 1977 MGB Roadster that is coming back home for the finishing work on its restoration. My wife and I purchased this in 1992. It ran pretty well, needed some body work and had those horrible ugly black rubber bumpers that our wonderful law makers forced on the world in 1974 ½ . The car was Damask Red (burgundy) with a black vinyl interior. About 7 years ago I placed it in storage in a barn where she sat providing a winter home to some field mice. About 5 years ago we purchased an older sibling for it, a 1960 MGA Roadster ( the green roadster next to the red MGB) which is complete, except for a few items that I will add later as time and available cash allow. Two years ago, we pulled the MGB engine and tranny out and started to strip the body and interior for a full restoration. The engine received a “hot†street / rally cam, heavy duty springs and valves, up rated oil pump, the crankshaft has been re-balanced, new timing gears and chains, intake valve work and larger pistons with a .030 overbore and a new exhaust header. I have a new 4 speed transmission with a completely rebuilt electric overdrive 5th speed. A new clutch and new universals round out the drive line. Because this had the black rubber bumpers, I purchased a retro fit chrome bumper set from England to clean up the look. This conversion required a little body work to accommodate the new bumpers and completely worth the time and trouble. Three years ago we purchased a complete new interior kit for this car. I have redone the seats with all new foam and tan leather seat covers. There is matching tan leather doors and all new carpeting going in later. I plan on re-facing the gauges with off white faces instead of the black ones. A new black leather steering wheel and a cd/radio combo with the speakers in bods behing the seats. The body is all metal with no bondo or plastic anywhere. The body work was preformed by my friends at Ayers Chevrolet body shop in Dover New Jersey. Jim, the body technician did a spectacular job on the body doing a lot of hand fitting to get the grill , doors and hood right. Kudos to a great job. He painted the car (sorry I don’t even know the colors name, but it is a brand new GM color. It is a deep pearl red that is on fire in the sun when it is clean. MG never even dreamed of a color this exciting. The wheels are going out for a media blast and powder coating in chrome silver in the next few weeks. The car is lowered (can’t tell now because it is missing the weight of the engine) with new lower springs in the front, new lower springs going in the rear and new tube shocks going in to replace the old lever style shocks. My son and I are doing the work on this beauty to finish this car in time for the fall driving season. I am looking forward to the next British car show here in September…we must have it done by than. Thanks for looking…I have an MGB model that I have opened the doors on and hood, will build the engine for it and paint it the same color as the 1 to 1 car. ( I have a can of this paint for the model).
  8. Of course. You know, in life I find that the truth is rarely black or white, it is most often in shades of gray. Sure many of the lending institutions are very aggressive in getting people into loans that they should not have. But, as that old saying goes, “let the buyer bewareâ€. If the deal looked to good, there is usually a problem with it. I know a number of “former automobile salesman†who jumped into the mortgage business in the 1990’s and 2000’s because there was a ton of money to be made. These guys brought their “aggressive auto sales mentality†into that business and “wham bam thank you mam†they were off and running. But as the consumer, we must be careful and not get taken to the cleaners by these vicious sales predators’. Remember…if it looks like a duck, it walks like a duck, it sounds like a duck, it is most likely, a duck. If the deal is too good, if the adjustable mortgage payment is too low now and too high after the adjustment, stay away…you will get crushed in the end and you are not a victim…you are a fool, and I think it was R.H. Whitaker who said, “a fool and his money will partâ€.
  9. Interesting how fate works sometimes. The car looks a thousand times better with the simple silver paint, now don't misunderstand, the other paint was nice and interesting, but the simplicity of the silver mono tone makes it. Nice build there, very clean and classic.
  10. Hey Cal, I know that Enzo and Ferry have passed into the “great racetrack in the skyâ€, I was just trying to make a point (I am sure you realize that). Anyway the problem with the frivolous law suits is that the Trial Lawyers Association gives many millions of dollars to the re-election campaigns to their, former lawyer buddies (read that as current politicians) so that they will stifle the legislation to slow down the wasteful law suits. These @#%&%$# (gotta’ keep it clean) want their lawyer buddies to make plenty of money. They always find a way to pad their pockets at our expense. There was a proposal to have the loser pay the entire legal costs, court and lawyers ,on these frivolous suits as a method of slowing down the craziness. That got shot down because it was felt that only the very wealthy would bring these suits and risk the penalty if they lost. So, the insanity may continue on. It is amazing to me how our current culture has gotten so out of whack. There is a commercial currently running on the New York area radio stations, and I am sure it is in other markets as well, that basically speaks to people who are in debt. Now there are those who are in “controlled debtâ€, normal mortgage, car payment and under control credit cards, and then there are those who are in “out of controlled debt†which is where the credit cards are run up out of control, the house was way over their means (today we have learned of all of the banks and lending institutions’ who are writing off billions in bad loans) and the BMW and Land Rover payments rival the GDP of some small countries. So, this guy in the commercial is speaking to the latter of the two groups, and says if you have dept, you are a victim. A VICTIM??? Of what??..... their own greed….their own stupidity? This guy is pushing his debt counseling and reduction service, but to come right out there and suggest that the moron who “Over did the debt thing†is not at fault and that he has been victimized by the piranhas in the business world is just crazy. We are responsible for our actions. Period. Growing up, my Dad made that very clear to me. He taught me that I would be judged by and held responsible for everything I did. If I was with friends and one of them did something wrong ,that even involved the police, even if I was innocent, I was guilty of the decision to be there, with these guys so I was guilty in his eyes. I learned early on to think about what the potential consequences’ of my action, even the first action in a series, could be and was I ready to deal with the outcome. I think more people today should think that way rather than the way they do.
  11. Who would have thought that a relatively “weird†sign would bring such a varied set of responses? Maybe it is real, maybe not I just think it’s about time, we as a society begin to reel in and question many of the restrictions that are being placed on us. Zoom, you are exactly right about the stop lights. The town planners have them timed so that they interrupt traffic flow and keep the speed down. That was one thing with cheap gas, but today with gas more expensive than a bottle of fine wine, that needs to be revisited. As for drive thru’s, come on people, if there is more than two of three cars ahead of me, I park and go inside. Besides, at my advancing age, I should not be going to fast food restaurants anymore. As a side note, I used to say, as a joke, I wanted to sue Burger King over the use of the term “Whopper†for their big burger. Being from Italian decent, isn’t the term “Whopper†a derogatory smear on my heritage? Do you know the origin of the term “WOP� When immigrants came into this country at the turn of the last century, at Ellis Island they were broken into groups (there were many) but two of the larger classifications were with or without identification papers. Those who didn’t have papers had the classification W O P or “WithOut Papers†attached to them. I always thought that was interesting. Anyway….. The PC Police have begun to take over our life….Can I sue the dairy farmers because they contribute milk and cream to the ice cream producers, and I like ice cream and it makes me fat and leads to Heart Disease? If I am working on a model and cut my finger can I sue E-xacto for my incompetence? If I eat Fried Chicken at KFC and have Cholesterol build up in my arteries, are they culpable? If I drive a Ferrari or a Porsche too fast, have an accident and break my back, can I sue Enzo or Ferry? We are and rightly should be responsible for our actions. I know right from wrong and I am sure you guy’s know right from wrong. I do not need a government, run amuck, to tell me what I can do when it comes to personal choice. All I ask of government is to keep me safe, keep the roads “in†repair, provide an elementary school for my children (my wife and I will make sure the kids use it properly), don’t interfere too much with the economy and please collect the garbage on the days you say you will. Beyond that, please stay out of my life. I am 59, when I was a kid there was no ADS or ADD or any of that ######. Kids were kids. Some had it together early on, and some like me, took a little longer to figure it out. Point is we did not medicate the ###### out of the kids, they worked through it and adapted. I think kids are over medicated today, which will have serious consequences later in their lives. I truly long for the innocent days of my youth where the only worry was when is AMT going to come out with the new years annual kits and how can I save the $1.49 to get one.
  12. Nothing more than a politically correct sign of the very strange times we live in. We will all have to get used to it. Whats next? A hybrid only lane on the turnpike? A hybrid only lane in the gas station? A hybrid owners only line for tickets to a movie? Or how about a hybrid only lane at your local fast food drive thru, or bank drive thru? Just something else to segregate us even more.
  13. Zebm1, I am done…I said my piece, readers are free to think what they will about these viewpoints…I am more interested in finishing the car on my workbench right now….November is a long way off, and much can and will happen between now and then. But one last point, you suggested that Bill Clinton is a Bonesman, he is not, but John Kerry is, Bill Clinton has participated in the Bilderberg Group which is even more of a concern. I agree that this is not the place for this debate, this about relaxation and creativity.
  14. Bill, I am sure you were only asking yourself a rhetorical question about giving up your day job, or night job as your case may be, to build models full time. I read a story in Automobile Magazine back in the early 1990’s about a guy named Miller, I forget his first name and don’t have the desire to try and dig out the magazine from one of the many stacks of mags I have. Anyway, this guy built only race cars, mostly Tamiya F1’s and Group C cars. He built them in groups of 6 or 7 at a time, of the same car, and added no detail, strictly out of the box builds. His builds were perfect, spotless and super clean. He had some small scale success selling them, in fact I even saw one of this Jordan F1’s at the NNL East show about 12 or so years ago. The point is, and I know you know it, unless you win the lottery, don’t quit your day (or night) job to look for “plastic†pastures.
  15. First, I don’t blame you for anything except a misguided understanding of what I said before. I find your retort to my complaint completely off the mark and distorted by a very “political†ideology. Clearly you are liberal in your view and want to play the “blame game†with conservatives. What I find interesting to that is that I never once spoke in “political†terms. I blame all of our elected leaders, not just those of one party affiliation or the other. Both the legislative and executive branches of our government have failed us. Both political parties have sold the “American Peopleâ€, the ones they always “pander†to, down the river for their personal gain. Let’s get real here, why do these lawyers work so hard, and spend so much money, some times their own money, to gain political office? That is very easy to answer; they do it because there is a huge pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Please allow me to hold the Clinton’s (something tells me you like them) up as a shining example of this theory. By their own admission, they were broke upon leaving the White House, in fact, they were begging us for contributions to the “Bill Clinton can’t keep it in his pants defense fundâ€. Now here we are, 7 years later and the Clinton’s have earned $109,000,000.00. Did that come from Hillary’s Senatorial salary? Did Bill invent something that earned a great royalty? No, it was earned from speeches given in foreign countries to governments that needed to “pay back†our good old ex-president for favors given in the prior 8 years. Now, before you get dizzy over this comment, the Republicans are just as guilty of the same shameful behavior, which is why, if you will think about what I said before, I blame them all. We have a catastrophic failure of leadership on our hands and it can spell the “end of our world as we know it†Whether you like the reality of it or not, we (America) are in the middle of a “Global Economyâ€. In the good old days we WERE the world economy. We saved Europe twice from a powerful aggressor. We stopped a colonial Japan from overrunning all of Asia. We beat (for the time being, anyway) Communism in Eastern Europe. Our industrial might was the envy of the free world. People from every country in the world longed to come to America and see the “roads paved in goldâ€. We truly were the “Ugly Americanâ€â€¦not you and me, but our powerful and degrading attitude toward other countries. We went in and took their oil and acted like we were doing them a favor for doing it. We exploited their “cheap workers†so we could have inexpensive shirts and jeans. We took our American dollars and trotted off to foreign countries to “see the sights, pick up a few bargains, and lay a few “tips†on the local hotel workers. Yeah, the term “Ugly American†came from how we as a country viewed the rest of the world. Well, times have sure changed because nothing lasts forever, except maybe a diamond. Other countries have figured out how to bring us to our collective knees. And our CEO’s, Elected Leaders and our Media have done us, the pandered to, American People, a major dis-service. If nothing else, our Industrial might made us a great and formable country. We have surrendered that advantage to the other counties of the world for the short term gain of the CEO’s and Politicians. The damage is so wide spread that I fear we have crossed the Rubicon. There is no going back now. The only way we can fight back is militarily. Economically, we are anemic. Our dollar is dropping and it is only because the Chinese have artificially kept their currency lower than it should be, for their personal gain that keeps us even a little afloat. So you think I am advocating “Surrenderâ€? Where did you get that idea from? I stated the problems as I see them and think that without a fundamental change in Washington and Wall Street, we are doomed. Doomed to third world status. Without the energy that we need, and need now, we can’t possibly hope to progress in this world. China is where it is all happening now. They are the new leader of the industrial world….not us. I have to tell you, for his own personal gain, Al Gore has single-handedly done more damage to the American future that any group of people. He has the environmentalists worked up into a frenzy. Without cheap plentiful energy we are screwed. Your misguided views about the land that the oil companies have rights to are just that, misguided. That is the liberal spin, and spin only. All of the “Big†major oil companies are foreign owned, look it up if you don’t believe me. We can’t build new refineries because the regulations are so strict, it does not pay. The last time we tried to open a nuclear power plant, the public and government outrage was so bad, it was shut down before it opened (Indian Point, NY). We are in big trouble, that is a fact, not a declaration of surrender….understand the difference. It matters not who signed the “Free Trade†agreement, Bush, Clinton or Bush Jr., it would be signed because Big American Business and Big American Government wanted it. Look, Bill Clinton signed NAFTA; you did not mention that little tidbit. I was dead set against NAFTA back then and I am more against it now. NAFTA was pushed hard by Big Business and Big Government but it screwed the little guy. If you are as liberal as I think you are, based up your comments, why did the poster child for liberalism, Bill Clinton, sign it when it only stood to take factory jobs from America and relocate them to Canada and Mexico? This is not about Liberal or conservative. It is not about Republican or Democrat. It is about our very survival and our way of life. The two biggest problems, among many, are the loss of manufacturing jobs in American and the complete lack of a cohesive energy policy. You can blame who ever you want for that. I blame the short sided view of the American people. We, as a general rule are too worried about whether our team makes the playoffs. We care what some misguided movie star said or did way too much. Millions of Americans care more about who won American Idol. We have lost sight of our responsibilities. You get the government you deserve and we have the government we deserve. This is not what our founding fathers envisioned for us. Think about it. They were very careful to design a Representative form of government. That means, WE would represent OURSELVES. Not some bloated self-righteous bureaucrat who hangs around in Washington for a few weeks a year and networks himself into deals to earn millions. Our government is for sale to the highest bidder. Just how long do you think that can go on? The original plan was for US, to elect a REPRESENTATIVE, from among ourselves, you know, farmer, factory owner, merchant, someone who understood what we are and what we needed from our government. That person would go to the capital twice a year and represent us. Remember, a government OF the people, FOR the people, BY the people….that’s a laugh. I am not so naïve to think that we, in this day and age with the complex problems the world offers, can be governed on a part time basis, but do you really think any of your elected leaders know what you think or want from them? I’ll answer that because it is an easy one, NO. They tell you what they think you want to hear. Like I said, you get the government you deserve and we deserve the ###### they are giving us. Oh, yeah, one last note to you, I guess you agree with Obama that Middle America is filled with scared hayseeds who cling to guns and religion. That is a very scary thought, it is scary that you believe it and scarier still that Mr. Obama could actually preside over the death and destruction of America as we once knew it. Sorry, I did not want to make it a personal attack on any one politician, but the reference to guns and religion was just too easy for me to not to comment on. Something tells me this debate will go on.
  16. When I was in the Navy (please, no stupid jokes about the Village People), anyway, we would routinely send one of the newbee, green peas down to the Boatswains locker (tool storage area on a Navy ship) to get “batteries for a sound powered phone set†or a gallon of “prop washâ€. Same kind of fun with the uninitiated
  17. This is an excerpt from my posting last week of the 1971 Plymouth GTX where I spoke about how great this dry pigment is. I also posted the pictures of the 1950 Chevy pick up painted with this stuff in the "under glass" section. Buy this stuff...use this stuff...love this stuff...do not fear what you don't know, when it comes to paint, that is. Just a little side note, the accent color on this car, as I said before is super copper Pearl, but that is not the whole story on that paint. This stuff, Jacquard Products, Pearl Ex Pigments is my new favorite kind of paint. This is a pigment that is ground down to 10 to 60 micron size particles…I can only say that it is a very, very fine powder. I mix about a ¼ teaspoon of the powder with about 1 inch of clear lacquer (this becomes the “carrier†of the pigment) and about a ½ inch of lacquer thinner in a small paint bottle, shake it up and pour it directly into my air brush. (all measurements are estimates, so if you try it, experiment with the measurements to find a consistency that you like). This pigment comes in 40 different hues and many are duo tones that change color depending upon the viewing angle. I have 13 bottles and the colors that I have used have worked great. I pay $3.99 per bottle, with many, many applications per bottle, they are very cost effective. If you spray them on and don’t clear coat them, they will give you that great “satin color primer†look that look great on neo-rat rods and customs. When you clear coat the color, it gives you a nice bright look that will buff into a high shine. You can mix different pigments together to create your own custom colors too. One word of caution though, if you will be masking (using tape or any kind of masking agent) over the painted on pigment surface, be sure there is a good dry strong coat of clear over the top, or you may pull up some of the paint when you remove the tape……been there, done that, not going back again, thank you. Other than that one precaution, I love this stuff, and oh, yeah, I found some of the basic colors at A.C. Moore and Michaels, but found a more extensive selection at a well stocked artist supply shop (art store), also, you can go on line, just google “Jacquard Productsâ€. Their website will list the stores in your area that stock the stuff, and one more thing, I use Lacquer as the carrier but you can use Tamiya clear or even Enamel paint, but it will take longer to dry. If you haven’t tried this yet, take a look at it, I just painted a 1950 Chevrolet pickup truck with a beautiful light green/yellow duo pearl that is awaiting some flames to be applied) yes, it has been clear coated) and it “looks marvelous†(Billy Crystal, Saturday Night Live, circa 1985)
  18. Gregg, I was oversimplifying the situation because of time and space, but wanted to get the point across that our trade deficit is very dangerous and that having China, as one of the leading holders of our debt, is even more problematic. I do not view China as our friend. Japan, South Korea, Great Britain and a handful of others, yes. But the Chinese, Saudi’s and other Arab nations would, in my view, cut our economic hearts out in a heartbeat. Today they need our consumers of their goods and services (oil and cheap stuff) and our Dollar as the world currency, but when the day comes, and it will, that we are no longer needed, they will drop us like us like Hugh Hefner dropped sleeping partners. Today, our trade deficit is in excess of $376 Trillion, yes with a T. Below is an excerpt of a short essay written in July 2005, just three years ago. Now, maybe I an idiot, I certainly am no leading Economist, but Mr. Roberts is. Three years ago the trade deficit was a fraction of what it is now, so the danger of what Mr. Roberts is pointing out have been amplified many times over. America likes to think that we have a strong military to keep us safe in a hostile world. That may be true against bombs and missiles, but we are extremely vulnerable to an economic attack, primarily of our own doing. As America produces less and less durable goods and relies on other countries for manufacturing and other countries for energy, we WILL fall victim to their economic manipulations. We have had, and currently have, a huge transfer of our wealth to other countries. As we squander our hard earned wealth and world economic leadership, we sow the seeds of our own demise. WE WILL GO DOWN WITHOUT A SHOT BEING FIRED. You can take that to the bank. Please, if you, who are reading this, and have gotten this far in this conversation, please take the time to read the excerpt below….it is not too long and it is very insightful. As it opens, Mr. Roberts is taking about the sums of (our debt) money owned by other countries. Remember, this was written in July 2005, in the past three years the situation has only gotten much worse. Our elected leaders have NOT lead us down a safe or secure path. This should scare the “BeJesus†out of you….it does me. “These sums give these countries enormous leverage over the United States. By dumping some portion of their reserves, these countries could put the dollar under intense pressure and send U.S. interest rates skyrocketing. Washington would really have to anger Japan and Korea to provoke such action, but in a showdown with China—over Taiwan, for example—China holds the cards. China and Japan, and the world at large, have more dollar reserves than they require. They would have no problem teaching a hegemonic superpower a lesson if the need arose. Last year the U.S. trade deficit with the rest of the world was $617 billion. In the first quarter of this year, our trade deficit is $174 billion—$35 billion higher than in the first quarter of last year. If this figure holds for the remaining three quarters and does not increase, the U.S. trade deficit in 2005 will be $700 billion. Offshore outsourcing makes it impossible for the U.S. to rectify its trade imbalance through exports. As more and more of the production of goods and services for U.S. markets moves offshore, we have less capability to boost our exports, and the trade deficit automatically widens. Economic catastrophe at some point in the future seems assured. In the meantime, even a small country could pop the U.S. housing bubble by dumping dollar reserves—which is some fix for a superpower to be in, especially one that is disdainful of the opinion of the rest of the world. Comeuppance can’t be far away. The hardest blow on Americans will fall when China does revalue its currency. When China’s currency ceases to be undervalued, American shoppers in Wal-Mart, where 70 percent of the goods on the shelves are made in China, will think they are in Neiman Marcus. Price increases will cause a dramatic reduction in American real incomes. If this coincides with rising interest rates and a setback in the housing market, American consumers will experience the hardest times since the Great Depressionâ€. ________________________________________________________ Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under President Reagan.
  19. This is a 1950 Chevrolet pick up truck. I started with the “Street Machine†version of the truck, kit number AMT 6681. This so new, the white glue holding the headlight lens in still isn’t dry yet. The top has a rather severe chop of a scale approx. 6 ½ inches. I filled in the rear quarter roof windows and opened and hinged the doors. I opened up two air intake vents/scoops in the side of the hood to service the fuel injection system. I replaced the engine with a 283 small block from a 1955 Chevy coupe and used a hilborn fuel injection system from my parts box. Interior seats came from a 2005 Chrysler 300C. The wheels came from the 1931 Revell Ford sedan kit. The ride height was dropped about 6 scale inches to get it down where it belongs. The pick up bed was hand painted, bare metal foiled and the tailgate has some HO scale chains to stop the gate in the down position just like the real one would. The truck was primed, covered in a light coat of white and then a coat of Mopar Cypress Green. All coats were sanded in between then it was top coated in Pearl Ex Pigments #682 Duo Green Yellow mixed into clear lacquer. After a few coats of that it was sealed with clear gloss Lacquer. When dry, it was sanded down with a polishing set of progressively finer grits. The stripes were part of a leftover set from a Plymouth Road Runner I did 18 months ago. These were designed in the computer and cut out of vinyl. The front is Tamiya white covered with Pearl Ex silver violet duo (flip/flop) than HOK Violet Pearl and at the end, HOK True Blue Pearl, all topped with clear lacquer, sanded and polished. I’m pretty happy with it, I love the fat fendered cars and trucks from the 40’s and 50’s and this truck, with the severe chop and low stance, has a neat cartoonish look to it, also, I love these style cars with flames, any kind of flames, so I like this one. The Pearl Ex paint is also great to use, I will be doing a few more with the other color pigments I got from the art store. Thanks for looking.
  20. I think I am going to upset many of you with this set of remarks, but here goes. The American automobile industry is in dire striates…..they are in big trouble. You know there is a problem when GM and Ford stock are both under $10.00 and very close to $5.00. The price of gasoline will continue to rise. We will be over $5.00 a gallon around Labor Day. The Detroit 3 (can’t call them the “big 3†anymore) do not manufacture enough vehicles with the kind of mpg numbers that American’s (fickle Americans) want now. Chrysler builds absolutely nothing today that is fuel efficient, at least to the fuel efficient standards of the Japanese, Koreans or Germans. And if that is not bad enough, hold on to your hats because here come the Chinese and the Indian’s. They build very nice and fuel efficient vehicles. India’s Tata, a large industrial company that builds many things, including autos just completed the purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford (you know, these companies have had more owners than Christie Brinkley has had husband’s) Anyway, Tata has plans to build and sell a 4 passenger auto, here in the USA for $2,500.00. The only thing that can change that price upward is the cost of steel going up substantially. The Chinese will be here soon selling cars and further damaging the market share of the once big 3. It is a very sad commentary when GM sells more cars in China than they do in America, but that is the case. Ford is only surviving today because of sales in Europe and Asia. Both Ford and GM lose money, a lot of money, here and any profit they show comes from overseas. I predict that 50% of the domestic auto dealerships in America will go away in the next 3 to 5 years. That is not just idle speculation, that comes from over 35 years in and around the retail auto business…mark my words. In 5 years you will not recognize the auto industry here in America, hell, in 5 years, you will not recognize the American business landscape. Labor costs, health care costs, pension and factory operation costs will have spelled the end of what little manufacturing there is in America. Here is an example of what I am talking about…a few years ago an axel manufacturing plant was thriving in the Indiana. Recently, they were forced to close down because they were not competitive in the marketplace. Literally, just down the road, a brand new state of the art factory was constructed to build axels for cars, only this one is owned by a Chinese company. Many of the workers from the American plant applied for and received jobs at the new plant. Big difference is the pay…it’s about 60% of what the workers used to get, and the benefit package is much less. The workers are happy though, at least they are working. There is a new world order coming, and we will not be at the top of the pecking order. Look, I don’t hate America, on the contrary, I love this place…but we have been sold down the river. Recently, there was a delegation from the Detroit area in China. They were “courting†many Chinese companies to come to Detroit and build a factory to employ their out of work workers. Detroit feels they missed the boat with the Japanese companies who located most of their factories in the south because the southern states “gave away the candy store†to the Japanese with huge tax breaks and incentives if they located there. Detroit can’t afford to miss out again. Sorry, but I think the handwriting is on the wall. We, America, don’t make anything any more, our wealth is all going overseas. Our Dollars are becoming worthless and our stature in the world is falling fast. Our elected leaders have sold us out for their personal gain. They do not work for us, they work for their re-election campaign. We need term limits on ALL ELECTED officials, all the way down to dog catcher. We need a comprehensive energy policy. This ###### that we can’t drill for oil here in America has and will continue to cripple our economy. Hell, I think it is already too late to help it now. Bill Clinton (I said this before) vetoed the bill to open the ANWR area of Alaska to drilling in 1994. Our oil companies cannot drill in the Rocky Mountains, off the coast of Florida and California and not in AWNR in Alaska. Gentleman, we are screwed. We are being held (our economy) hostage by foreign countries that openly want to damage us. What the hell is the matter with us? There is this overwhelming attitude in America right now that we are somehow evil and deserve punishment. The out of control environmentalists are killing our once great way of life. We have people in our government that tell us what we can eat, where we can eat it and how we must dispose of the leftovers. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not a polluter. Yes I drive a car powered by hydrocarbons and yes I create garbage in my day to day routine, but give me a break, I will not apologize for that. Trust me, either Israel or the US is going to have to stop Iran’s nuclear program…that must happen, and when it does, the price of gasoline is going through the roof. John McCain and that other guy that I can’t bring myself to even say, is not what this country needs right now. We need strong unafraid leadership. The news media has pushed their agenda on us, we (America) has been pushed into accepting one or the other of these guys, but trust me on this also, neither one will successfully guide this country through the turbulent waters that lay right ahead of us. Sorry to be so negative here, but I fear it is too late, the die is cast. The energy problem is too big, too fast. Our economy can not adjust quick enough. Sure we need alternate forms of energy, but the bulk of our economy runs on oil. You car will not run on wind, wave, sun or nuclear power right now, and we do not have the battery technology to use electric cars yet, at least in the numbers and distances that we need. We need oil right now, cheap and plentiful if our economy is to survive, and buy us time to develop alternatives. This energy crisis came on too fast and too severe for us to work out of now. Wake up America…it is slipping away. Our trade deficit with China is staggering. They are using that money to buy our debt, build their infrastructure and build their military. At some point, they will drop our debt on the market, our economy will crash and they will have us without a shot being fired. I can go on and on about this, but I am sure I lost most of you two pages ago. I said this before to Ed Shaver, God help us, but why should he when we have taken him out of our schools, our lives and out of our country. Hold on gentleman, there are dark clouds gathering on the horizon and they are coming from the east this time.
  21. Lyle, you must have glued that ladies feet to the floor or she would fall on her.....ah..ah... face, yeah that's it, for sure. Oh, yeah, great look Ford, as usual, too.
  22. Ok guys, you don’t know me from a “hole in the wallâ€. Maybe I’m full of “it†maybe not. But I have some insight into the car business that you may not know. I spent just over 30 years in the car business. Over those 30 years I worked at or ran just about every franchise there is. High end luxury imports, blue collar domestics and everything in between. Near the end of my run in the “businessâ€, I ran a Chrysler Dodge Jeep store, a Mazda store and an Infiniti dealership all on the same property and under two roofs. Right there is a great cross section of the automobile business. The Chrysler Dodge Jeep store was a “breakthrough†dealership. That meant that we were in the top 50 Chrysler Brand dealerships in the U.S. Representatives (usually the dealer principle, though I was the Controller/General Manager of our store) would meet about every 7 months in another location somewhere to “benchmark†a well run dealership or two and a related business in that market. We would have access to the factory key guys and we got to see everything coming down the pike before the other dealers and we got to express our worries and concerns right to the guys who, if they wanted to, could “make things happenâ€. First, I can assure you that there is no planed obsolesce built into to any part of a vehicle. The manufactures, all manufactures, want every vehicle to be problem free because they understand that your experience, total experience will determine whether or not you will buy another vehicle of that brand. Back in the day, guys were strongly loyal to a make. My dad was a Ford guy that is all he ever owned. One of my best friends, while growing up was a devoted Mopar guy; another friend’s dad was a Chevy guy. Today, most buyers are not brand loyal, they are payment loyal. So manufactures can’t afford to burn out customers with poorly built or designed products. When you look at a Ford for instance, you most likely think it is all Ford engineering that you are looking at. That is really not the case. True, Ford designed the vehicle. They choose the platform, the size, the market it is directed at and the price points they want to hit, but that, other than final assembly, is usually it. As much as 80 to 90% of the vehicle is supplied by sub contracted vendors that produce the parts to the spec’s that the factory asks for. These vendors work very closely with the factory on the design and implantation of the components in question. Once designed and built, the parts are sent to the factory for final assembly by the vendors. You might be surprised to know that the same vendors make parts for competing brands. So much of the design of the parts is controlled by the cost of the part. The bean counters have a very tight control on the development costs that go into a new vehicle. The factory dictates to the engineering staff the cost structure they must work within and then it is up to the engineers, working with the supplier to find a way to get the best component for the cost. It is critical to the factory that the vehicle hits the cost structure that they plan so that the vehicle can be competitive in the marketplace. For instance, a Chevy Malibu and a Ford Fusion must be priced in the same ballpark if the two are going to compete with each other. The factory knows the labor costs, the factory overhead, the health care and pension costs per vehicle, so in order to fit into a price point, the variable is the design and parts cost. The target is set, and the supplier must fit his piece into the puzzle that makes up the car. So what makes up the difference in vehicles and reliability? Why does a part work great on manufactures vehicle and fail on another when they are sourced from the same supplier? One day we were in a meeting (this was a Ford meeting, we had 30 brands at our dealership group) with a rep. from a supplier for high pressure lines and fittings on engines and transmissions. My service manager was with me and he was very well versed in both Ford and Chrysler products having been a service manager for both brands. He saw that this supplier made the same components for both Ford and Chrysler engines. He also knew that these parts worked great on the Ford truck engines, but failed quite often on Dodge truck engines, so he asked the rep. The rep laughed and quietly said that he knew that and it was because the design spec’s provided by the factories, for the same kind of lines and fittings were set to different standards and costs. The Ford parts cost more, therefore, they were stronger and held up to the stresses applied in daily use. The Dodge engineers had less money available for that part in order to hit the cost target, so that was the best they could do. I also ran an Infiniti store right next to the Chrysler Dodge Jeep and Mazda operation. Infiniti makes a great product. When I left the retail side of the Auto Business, I brought an Infiniti because they just are well made vehicles that hold up in day to day running. I drove Chrysler products, Mazda products and Infiniti products as demos over the years, and when it came time to lay out my hard earned dollars, I was getting an Infiniti, Period. In 5 years the car has been a blast to drive and totally bulletproof. Gas, oil changes, brakes and tires…that is it. My wife had a Mazda, now a Nissan, same thing, nothing more than the same things. But, for the most part, the vehicles cost more. They have a higher target price to meet so the components can cost more. And even though they cost more, the lease residual percentage is higher, a lot higher (the banks trust that the car will last and hold its value) so because with a higher residual offsetting the higher initial cost, the lease payment is competitive with the cheaper domestic vehicle. Also, there is an inherent cultural difference between American companies and Japanese and European manufactures. Non American manufactures seem to take more pride in getting it right. Every final assembly factory, regardless of the brand has a room at the end of the line. This is where they bring the vehicles that just don’t meet the standards on the final inspection. This is where they get the things fixed that the assembly line did not get right the first time. I have toured many automobile factories and I can tell you that the “Import†brands have far less vehicles in the “repair†room on any given day. Lexus gets the car right the first time, and they forced Mercedes to clean up their act because they had many sloppy cars come off the line in the old days, and then a technician would “Fix†it. That got just too expensive in today’s market so they changed their ways . It is like everything else in this world….you get what you pay for. A Lexus or BMW will outperform a Ford or Chevy when you consider strictly reliability. Just like a Historic Racing Miniatures Cobra Coupe will blow the doors off an AMT “whatever†when you consider detail and quality. But, $180.00 is much more than $14.95….you get what you pay for.
  23. Thanks Steve...I used to love to watch F1. Back in the early 90's, I would get up early on Sunday (if there was a race on), make a pot of coffee, set the VCR and watch the race live and tape it for later viewing too. I thought Senna was the guy to watch. I was watching the day he died in Imola when he hit the wall at 180 mph. It was never the same after that. I enjoyed watching Hill, Mansell, Hakkinen, Schumacher and Villeneuvue win championships, but without the crazy Brazilian Senna running, I just didn't care as much. Most things I read about Ayrton were not that flattering, but I didn't care about his personal life, I was fascinated with his driving talent. You are absolutely right about the Prost / Senna wars. Senna actually took Prost out of the last race of the season one year so that he, Senna, would win the championship. I think what Senna did to Prost in the Japanese Grand Prix in 1990 sums up the bitter rivalry better than anything. Senna held a very slim lead over Prost (Senna was driving for McLaren and Prost for Ferrari) going into the last race of the year. Senna deliberately crashed into Prost, taking both of them out of the race, thereby securing a world driving championship win for himself at McLaren. There was no love between them. Most authorities give the edge to Senna in shear driving talent but the edge to Prost in intelligence. Prost was nick named the “Professor†because he could give a “lesson†to just about all drivers, but Senna wasn’t having any of that. Aah, those were the days.
  24. Great flames...no, I mean GREAT STRIPES that have GREAT FLAMES...very well done...the wheels ain't bad either and the stance is just perfect.
  25. Very nice build....I also did one of these many years ago, this is a really wonderful kit to build. Tamiya F1 at it's best. I love the way the outer body "skin" fits over the the carbon fiber chassis. I built my kit before it was illegal to say the word "Camel" in public because "Joe Camel" would make 5 year olds take up smoking. I went the conventional route and modeled the Senna version, putting him in the car as well, because back then...he WAS the man, period. The only reasons Nakajima was allowed to drive for Lotus was, 1, Honda wanted a Japanese driver somewhere in the cars that ran Honda engines, and 2, Senna was hands down the best driver of the day, spoiled and self centered beyond belief, Senna would never allow a strong second team driver to get anywhere near his team. He felt that he was the best (he was) and therefore he should get all of the "resources" of the team. Lotus was a little limited in finances, so Senna took nearly all the cash and technical savy that Lotus could gather. Anyway, very well done, Steve. P.S. I forgot to mention the third reason for Nakajima being there, he brought a lot of "Japanese" cash in the form of sponsership to the team....he basically paid his way into an F1 ride.
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