Junkman

Did you create an Excel table for those calculations?

What a beauty! I bet it has low mileage. Then again, so does the Titanic.

Any cheaper and you'd have to buy a moped.

Yeah, it would take quite some doing to come up with something that looks worse. Still, Opel managed.

There you go. You get that from very few modern cars. I presume he even meant a US Gallon (the only thing that's bigger in the UK)?

Yeah, even a pack of cigarettes. Gives a whole new meaning to 'smoking kills'.

That's why they aren't on top of the dashboard.

None of the techies seem to. That's clearly reflected in the products they come up with.

I have never read a better justification for making something absolutely bloody useless. Next thing is selling phones with blank buttons? Too bad most of them are multi- function. That's exactly what I need. Some dimwits protecting me. Common sense would dictate to design storage areas in cars so they are safe, not useless.

That is so true. Our daily lives are run by some 30-something certified nerds that still live with their mothers and have never done anything but computers. You can see this with the menus at ATM machines, the credit card thingies at cash registers, mobile phones, car infotainment systems (BMW iDrive anyone?), VCRs, DVD players, those stupid electric maps, and of course all kinds of software for PCs. Even bloody washmachines, for crying out loud. One of their primary goal seems to be to miniaturize everything to a size, that even a car modeller can't operate it anymore. Not sure how this is in the States nowadays, but here in England, they rolled out a new generation of bank card readers in shops and made the displays so small, that I now have to get out my reading glasses when I want to pay. I also noticed, that they make the numerals on the instruments of new cars smaller with each new model. I don't need glasses for driving, but in new cars, I need them to read the speedo. Another thing is that many things are just ill-designed for no reason whatsoever, apart from people who came up with it must be just braindead, or not have any real life experience. For example, my wife bought a new telephone for our landline. It's a docking station with two wireless handsets. She asked me what to look for and the only thing I told her was to make sure that the buttons are big enough that an adult human being can still press them without having to use watchmaker tools. The ones she bought have big enough buttons, all right. But the numerals are dark grey on black buttons. So if I want to dial a number, and there is so much as the slightest line-of-sight obstruction, like for example being in the house and not out in the garden in bright English sunshine, I have to switch on the lights, dial the number, and then switch off the lights again. Speaking of newer cars, even the dashboards are aerodynamic now. They often have something for putting small stuff moulded into the upper pad on the passenger side. These placement areas are carefully designed to only work when the car is 100% stationary. Should the car be ever so slightly in motion, the stuff falls on the floor. OK, that's all not really technology, but I see analogies. Everything is callow and half-baked and corners are cut just to bring it to the market, or the people who made it were inept to think things through. Yeah, if you can't connect to the internet, please visit www.something.com for assistance.

To use a Crosley for all those usual commutes I make would probably not be such a bad idea. I reckon 35-40 to the gallon? You'd have to pay a lot of money for one of these nondescript econoboxes of today that in the end don't give you better mileage. But the latter aren't road tax exempt, you can't run them on a classic car policy, and you can't fix them yourself if something breaks. The Crosley is the kind of car I miss in today's lineup, a bit like the 2CV. They say there is no demand for them. I doubt that. There are no offerings, that's the point.

Oh, aye, the internet certainly is a blessing and I cannot see any disadvantages caused by it for me. But would I still be able to live in comfort if it ceased to exist tomorrow? Certainly yes, because I know what it was like before it was invented and that wasn't such a bad life either. Where (and when) I grew up, they still charged for local telephone calls. So people physically went to other people's places if they wanted to chat. Everybody had a roll of paper and a pencil near the front door, so you could leave a message if they weren't at home. Not saying that I want those days back, don't get me wrong.

Aye, he with the hardware, she with the software.

Lovely, innit? Kind of a mix between baby poo and gone off English mustard. Very inspiring. I hope I can match it...

Hands were quite busy when watching a movie with a girlfriend in them good old times, lemme tellya.

It's a Bristol Lodekka. Completely different bus.

The Nomad box is a bit odd, at least I find it odd. Everything is written in German. German only, nothing else. I have only seen them tri-lingual before, even in Germany.

I had one since 2003! And it plays tunes. Since last year I even have running water and an indoor toilet.

Well, for some reason my camera takes pictures, and they are transferred to my computer when I connect a cable. I can then upload them to photobucket and post them here with an 'img' link. I'm technically so retarded that I will do nothing that could possibly disturb this setup. Never touch a running system. I have yet to own a mobile phone. I have no idea how they work or what I'm supposed to use them for. I sometimes have the impression I'm the last man walking this planet who has never used such a thing. All my cars and motorbikes still have carburetters and I am not inclined to ever own one where they replaced it with witchcraft, or where the camshaft is driven by a rubber band which renders me penniless when it snaps. I never watch the telly, because I find it is an insult for any intelligent form of life, but I can watch video tapes and DVDs without having to ask my daughter to start the machines for me. I can make my own DVDs from video snippets I have on the 'puter with Nero Movie Maker. And they work in other people's DVD players, too. I am unable to tell the time when looking at a digital clock. My primary source of information are ancient obsolete ROMs on cellulose basis. They are written in a code comprising only 26 different symbols. Its called the alphabet.

Only the ones from USA. The ones from Hong Kong or China they don't touch. I can explain why, but that doesn't change the fact or make the kits cheaper to obtain.

Ya well, I hardly ever drive through Bünde. Also, the customs and excise might be lower in the Netherlands and you might not have this stupid processing fee for each parcel. Which online shops do you use?

Not sure whether you can make an accurate US trailer out of it at all. But the least thing you'd have to change is the bogie. That requires altering the rear portion of the frame, since European trailers don't have sliding bogies.

Yep, the high tech. The curbside usually sells for a lot less: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=2&_nkw=gunze%20jaguar&_dmpt=UK_ToysGames_ModelKits_ModelKits_JN&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m283

It is a nice kit, congrats. Yes, European semi trailers have been tri-axle and single-tyred since the Seventies as standard. The Heller kit depicts one of the early versions from the Seventies with the 80 profile Michelin Pilot X tyres. The tyres became wider and lower profile in later years and today they are mostly 385/65R22. There are few trailers left of the type the Heller kit resembles and every time I see one, it makes me chuckle at the thought that a 30+ year old device is still earning its bread. the nice thing about it is that it looks correct behind any tractor, be it from the Seventies, or today.