charlie8575

Too bad it can't tow like my Roadmaster, or hold eight people. Oh hell, I might buy one someday simply for the entertainment factor! Charlie Larkin

That is nice; I might go grab on of those myself.

No, I wasn't there, but Dad was. He and his friend were just leaving Concord-Carlisle High School for the day when they heard it on the radio in Bob's car. They immediately went the quarter mile or so to the State Gaurd armory in Concord and met Corporal Dee. Apparently, they hadn't received word yet, and as soon as Dad and Bob told him what happened, they went across the street to the flag. The corporal lowered it while Dad and Bob stood at attention. As Dad said to me last night, "given the situation, we felt it was only fitting to do so." Charlie Larkin

That's an accomplishment to be proud of, without question, especially considering California's bar exam is one of the tougher ones. I hope she does well, it's bad out there, even for lawyers, and I speak as a paralegal, in addition to all the other hats I wear. Charlie Larkin

Dan, I've seen his display at NNL East and met Don, Carol, and their assistant (whose name escapes me at the moment) personally. Three of absolutely the nicest, most reputable, honest people you will ever meet. Their products are good. And that Coronet 4-door is awesome. I plan to get one myself at some point. Go ahead and order, and please accept my word that you will not in any way, shape or form, be disappointed. Charlie Larkin

Thanks, Dan. You're not the first one to have said something along those lines to me. I appreciate the kind words and support. I think if a new Panther-esque car were to be introduced, I'd want it available for consumer purchase as well in Ford guise; there are some people (like me) that like all that stuff but don't have the money to blow on a Lincoln. Personally, I'd like to see that line include a new Country Sedan/Squire, as well. Roadmasters and Caprices, and the ever-so-seldom-seen Custom Cruiser (at least around here) are getting a little scarce- and VERY expensive for decent ones. That aside, Ron, I like this idea, and I think it fits well with the concept I assembled on P. 2. Charlie Larkin

Thank you, Bruce. Now if I can only convince the business schools that the old-fashioned way is the right way. Charlie Larkin

Last night, I was doing some assembly, and I couldn't hold a blasted thing, my fingers weren't working well at all. Dropping stuff all over the floor and watching those funny little lugs that've been showing up on a lot of newer molds now go flying into hither and yon, which drives me nuts for some reason. Charlie Larkin

It does rather prove my point, doesn't it? Charlie Larkin

I must say, I do like what I'm seeing. Charlie Larkin

Very nice work, Brother. What did you use for the exterior color? Charlie Larkin

Gotta agree. Miss the calls I'd hear from Harry Carey periodically even out this way. Truly one of the great personalities of broadcast. Charlie Larkin

Well, in many cases, it's not what, or how you do your job, it's who you know. That's how they get their jobs. Then they run it all into the ditch, proclaim "mission accomplished" and move on to the next cluster-bomb. Add in that all too many times, business decisions are driven by pure numbers- dollars and cents, that sense is removed from the equation. Instead, after market-studying and focus-grouping everything to death, you end up with the same cookie-cutter cars at different price points in various renderings of bland and/or hideous to please bean-counters and nannies, public and private. And that, I'm afraid, is one of the reasons why so many industries, not just individual companies, are falling apart. We're getting too much information, have become too data-driven, and now can no longer think for ourselves. Add in that, at least in my opinion (and after working as a teacher, I think I have some professional grounding in this), a lot of the people in the upper echelons of industry are, frankly, a combination of walking examples of the Peter Principle, combined with being "educated" (right now, "indoctrinated" really is looking good), far in excess of their ability to not only comprehend, but to use their acquired information in a rational, practical, and effective manner. There is a difference between "smart" and "intelligent." Smart is the ability to use your knowledge in a meaningful, practical manner in day-to-day life. Intelligent is the ability to acquire information and retain it for future use, as well as the ability to reason and use logic to at least some degree. Some people are smart, some are intelligent. Some, sadly, are neither, but rely on cunning, which is spur-of-moment use of your wits (such as they are) to get you out of a jam. People who are either smart or intelligent each present their own unique challenges. Smart people who aren't intelligent have great intuitive thinking, but can't do much for original thought and the retention of deeper knowledge. Intelligent people who aren't smart are like libraries you lost the key to, and the windows can't be broken- all that knowledge locked away and inaccessible. This is why it is so critical to develop a balance to both traits and learn how to use them as much as possible. Sadly, many people were either not intelligent enough to begin with, or not smart enough to begin with and then watched all their schooling go right over their heads, frying what capacity they might have had. It gives credence to the old-fashioned way of learning a business- internships, apprencticeships, and learning directly. It also says that we need to really think about information before making poor decisions. All of these MBA/MSF/MSM types are taught one thing- numbers, numbers, numbers, and nothing else matters, except perhaps being honest (but only perhaps). What about pride in your product? Or your work? Or even yourself instead of making such poor, ill-fated decisions and then forcing them on your firm? Full disclosure: I'm filling out my application for an MBA at UMASS so, among all my other spinning plates, I can start to teach college business, possibly full-time in the future, but at least as an adjunct or lecturer. The pot might be calling the kettle black a little in this case, but it's a real conversation that needs to happen in business schools and in undergraduate and even high school business courses. Problem is, no one want to have the conversation. Sure, mistakes will still happen, but when things are almost immediately being shown to be a bad idea from the start and you do it anyway... I really do think in many cases, us "unwashed masses" could run the major corporations of this country better than those entrusted with such duty. And there are a lot of smart and intelligent people here on this board that prove my point. Charlie Larkin

Is Tamiya making the Mk. II again? I might go grab one of those. I like old Jags. Charlie Larkin

Give me a Town Car. I, for one, still equate size and luxury. When I pay more, I expect more, and not useless gee-gaws I can't figure out how to use or that I simply don't want in the first place. I want a big, comfortable interior- one that actually is spacious, not just "spacious-feeling." I also expect it to have a large trunk and seats that I fit into and won't disturb my slightly-sciatic left leg on a long drive. Along with that, I expect as close-to-perfect as possible fit and finish and genuine durability and longevity. I know, how horrible of me that I actually expect value for my money. Even though a lot of the undercarriage and mechanical parts have been shared amongst various Ford products for years, with Lincoln, it used to be you got something for your money. The gorgeous styling of the 1956-57 cars, the absolutely take-no-prisoners quality control of the 1961-'69 Continentals, some kind of new or innovative idea in a car. Those all made a difference in making a car better. More room. More trunk. Better seats and better interior materials. Strict quality control, which even in the dark days of the 1970s, Lincoln, as best it could, from historical record, tried to maintain, even going so far as to order the removal of Thunderbird production from Wixom because the Ford-brand guys couldn't (or wouldn't) dance to the Lincoln division's fiddle. Even into the 1980s and '90s with some platform sharing, when you bought a Lincoln, you got extra. Lincoln, I think needs to start doing the following things. 1. The Navigator is a cash-cow for them, and is still quite popular. I would suggest offering more unique styling on the outside to further differentiate it from an Expedition. For a little better mileage, I think the diesel V8 should be offered as an option, as well. 2. They MUST bring back the Town Car- as Harry noted, they need a direct competitor to the Chrysler 300. If they took the Mustang chassis, and really stretched and widened it, you'd have a large, well-handling, 4-door sedan. This car needs to be V8-only, but I also think a hybrid version with a smaller V8 and an electric motor should be available for anyone that wants it, and I can see the limo companies flocking to that in droves for the improved gas mileage. The lack of a separate frame might still cause some trouble amongst the coachbuilders, but I highly doubt full frames (much as I'd like to see them), will be returning because of nanny-state and nanny-insurance edicts. This might also set the stage for a return of the Crown Vic. Oh, and it has to be six-passenger, using the real Twin Comfort Lounge seats, not those goofy buckets with the center lump. 3. Again, using the Mustang, I think we're due for a Mark IX. Lincoln seriously needs the halo product. Re-use all the underpinnings from the 'Stang, and change the interior, sheetmetal, and wheels. A V6 and V8 should be available- your choice. Consider a convertible, too. 4. The Taurus and MKS can be ordered as AWD, too. I wonder if, with some modification, a rear-wheel-drive, longitudinal-mount engine platform could be worked up, and offered as a slightly smaller sports-sedan, perhaps with a de-bored Coyote V8 (say, back to around 250-260 cu. in.,) which would still have plenty of pep and a little better mileage. Or, perhaps an AWD-only A4/A6-fighter keeping the as-existing orientation? This should be the Continental. 5. Let's face it, some people actually like smaller luxury cars. Again, using a more-or-less unmodified Mustang chassis, a new Zephyr could be built as a four-place four-door sports sedan. The twin-turbo V6 would be a good choice for this car. I could also see a hybrid small V6 or a diesel V6 as an option. Notice that I'm calling for a minimum of six cylinders. I think one way they could really trump Cadillac is moving to all luxury-car-level engines. The proliferation of 4-cylinder engines in Caddies is both troubling and puzzling, then charging outrageous extra sums in most cases for a six-cylinder engine. Personally, I still think a luxury car should have a V8, period, although with the smaller cars, I can and will accept a well-designed and engineered six-cylinder. 6. As an alternative to the SUVs, perhaps a Zephyr wagon could be offered? If one was built, I'd buy one, and I think a lot of people would if we don't do a repeat of Cadillac and not promote it. In addition, they really need to start offering some nice colors and better interior color choices, too. Charlie Larkin

Bill, the Riviera, in my opinion, is one of the best kits AMT ever made. Someday soon, I'll be building mine, I hope. The lowrider, from what I understand, does have the 425 in it as well. I'm not sure if it's pure stock or has some dress-up items, though. As to the presence of other stock parts, I'm not sure. Charlie Larkin

Nice work salvaging the interior. Charlie Larkin

What- she doesn't like trees and quaint New England village commons? If I ever hit the lottery, Weston is on the "consider" list. Charlie Larkin

The Big Dig is finished, although there's still a lot of little ongoing projects and maintenance. The original $2 billion price tag will now be $22-24 billion with interest, etc. The general consensus is that it's helped, especially north-south travel, where most of the traffic comes from. I've often thought, though, that as much as the new Rose Kennedy Greenway is, which resulted from them being able to tear down the old elevated Central Artery (I-93, which is the tunnel now), I've thought that they should have kept at least one of the two decks for extra capacity, and it's starting to show we probably should have. The other major problem that's accompanying this is that the long-promised improvements to the subways and commuter rail, which were supposed to accompany the whole fiasco, never happened, and probably never will. If they do, traffic will ease considerably. Charlie Larkin

They don't help. The Back Bay section of Boston is actually a grid, very much like you'd see in New York, but 400-year-old narrow streets and big, grand buildings from the 19th Century that made them narrower add to the problems. The outlying neighborhoods of the city, most of which were originally their own towns (like Mattapan, Dorchester, Hyde Park, Readville, Charlestown, South Boston (not to be confused with the South End), West Roxbury, Roslindale and Jamaica Plain) add to the silliness in their own respects. Allston and Brighton (so cheek-by-jowl, they're usually referred to as Allston Brighton, despite being two separate areas technically), have the added problems of large college student populations (B.U., Wheelock, Emmanuel, and a couple of other small colleges), and they're a zoo nine months of the year. If you go to Beacon Hill or Downtown Crossing (right near Boston Common), you'll see the type of patterns you're talking about. The other sections have unique problems, too, mostly very narrow streets. Beacon Hill, Charlestown, the North End, the South End, Roxbury and Dorcester, I believe are the oldest sections of Boston and Greater Boston, and it shows in their street, ahem, "system." Incidentally, Hanover Street, in the famous-for-Italian restaurants North End, is the oldest street, existing centuries before the Pilgrims, as it was the main path the Indians used to get to the water. Charlie Larkin

I had noticed that, too, Rob, but going in and out of Town on Rts. 9 and 20, and the occasional use of the Pike, and, if coming from someplace besides home, or needing to go to a different part of Boston, 128/93/95/3 (depending on what part of the road you're on and if you're in the part that you're magically heading north and south at the same time), those Russian dash-cams do a pretty good job of capturing the flavor of stupidity you'll see in rush hour here. Billerica to Weston- that's a nice (and big!) step up. Weston is a pretty little town, I'm about 25 minutes west via Rt. 20. Weston, which was expensive then, I believe is now in the top 10 or 20 for average home prices (tear-downs start at around $800,000). Charlie Larkin

I stay mostly in the western section of Middlesex County and Worcester County and avoid the mess.... Charlie Larkin

And why I stay out of the City as much as possible. Even Marlborough (35 miles west) can get really screwy over the last few years because for whatever reason, 495 has become a real problem. I'm just waiting to see what happens when the office parks go to full occupancy instead of the 30-50% they're at now.... When one of the cars is sick, I ride in with Dad to the VA in Jamaica Plain where he works, and let me tell you, they should've worked in a verse about Rt. 9. As you well know, Mike, even in less-dense areas, 9 (which goes from Downtown Boston to the New York line), can become a massive trainwreck (proverbially, of course), with little provocation. Charlie Larkin

Very nicely done. Charlie Larkin

The '66 Riv has a very nice Nailhead. AMT's '66 Wildcat 425 is also very nicely done, hole in block or not, it looks really good assembled and detailed. The '65 Riv engine leaves a lot to be desired, but can look acceptable with good painting and perhaps an aftermarket distributor to replace the molded-in one that doesn't look so hot. Charlie Larkin