Ace-Garageguy

Last trip West, in a fairly late-model Corolla (which I wrongly assumed would be stone-ax reliable) my batt. light came on north of Tucson. It went out and I kept on going. But in Phoenix, it came on and stayed on in stop-and-go traffic on I-10. Barely got it off the interstate before it died completely (in part due to the high electrical load the electric steering puts on the system). I had no tools and had to get a tow to the nearest Yota dealer. Internally shorted alternator, and replaced the battery just because. Almost a thousand bucks and two nights in a fairly expensive hotel while waiting for parts. Finished the trip, and otherwise, little car performed flawlessly.

Without "high-flotation" tires, it looks like it would just sink to the axles anyway. When I was a kid, folks on the East Coast used worn out fat aircraft tires on 4wd trucks to run on the beaches for surf fishing. Lotsa fellas used 'em out West for early dune buggies too.

Usually a good option...unless you let it expire. Which I stupidly did.

Hard to say. Most likely I'd have gotten them running well and found them good homes. I paid $5 (yup... five dollars) for the Corvair because it wouldn't stay running. Several shops had looked at it and put fuel pumps on it to no avail. The owner was frustrated and just wanted out. Turned out the eccentric on the cam that drives the mechanical pump had worn out. Weird, but an electric pump fixed it, and it was a daily driver. I bought the Isetta cheap after it had been sitting for years, and the owner didn't want to put enough money in it to get it running reliably. Same story with the Ghia.

You just get a certified copy from the jurisdiction where you were born. Most of the states have provisions for downloading the required forms. You print them out, fill in the blanks, enclose copies of any other necessary documents, and send it all in with whatever fee the state requires. I had to do it recently, have had to do it before, and it's not a big deal for a functioning adult. I guess I'm just lucky. The state I'm leaving and the state I'm moving to both have very efficient DMV operations, assuming the applicants can read and manage to get three documents together.

Geez...poor little truck. My hat's off to you sir, for taking on an obviously ambitious save. I love seeing messes like this brought back.

Yeah...decades ago, when I was elsewhere engaged in winning-hearts-and-minds, my significant other (at the time) sold my Isetta, for scrap value...along with a rust-free low-headlight Ghia and a '60 Corvair that had a trunk full of AMP electrical connectors.

Don't expect factual information from most of the media. A lot of 'em have no clue as to what reality actually is, and most of the rest just don't care. EDIT: This is NOT politics, by the way. It's simple truth no matter what the issue is.

Not a smile so much as a dark chuckle... I got a notice from LinkedIn that Twitter is looking for a "Director of Engineering, Societal Health". Boy oh boy; could I wreak havoc in that position.

Beautiful model, beautifully photographed.

Two flat tires in one day. I've put off buying new ones for the #2 truck until I get the front end aligned (after a moron ran me off the road and down an embankment a couple years back, then lied to the cops at the scene and lied to the judge...for which he paid dearly). In the interim, I've been using up my stash of old dry-rotted takeoffs. They don't call 'em "Maypops" for nothing.

And an Allison 1710 V12-powered Isetta...

Two more BMW V12-powered early Fords...

Blown BBC-powered Isetta...

VW-powered Isetta...

Blown Rover V8-powered 600...

Chevy LS-powered 2002 rat...

Z3-based Cosmotron...

More's the pity.

All right...but it's a moot point. When the potential is there to cost-effectively fuel or recharge a vehicle at point-of-use from essentially free sunshine, continuing to harp on the rest of the equation is rather like endlessly debating what form of balloon would be best for air travel...after the invention of heavier-than-air flight. EDIT: Quoting from the referenced article: "The entire efficiency question loses importance with the energy regime we’re moving into. We’re coming from a mentality where we are used to thinking about energy as a limited resource. If you have a barrel of oil, it’s extremely important to use it efficiently. However, you can use it across several days or years. Whatever you don’t use one day, you still have it for the next day. Whereas when we look at renewables, you have to use them when they’re there. We have to look at energy with new eyes. What matters is what does it cost? It’s not necessarily all about the total efficiency. Prices are low enough to make hydrogen and distribute it to fueling stations at costs that are comparable to what we’re used to today with gasoline and diesel. If you charge your car from your rooftop solar at home, it’s obviously more efficient than converting it to hydrogen first, but you won’t see people driving their electric vehicles to a solar farm far from their homes to charge whenever it’s really nice and sunny outside. That is why the two technologies will live side by side and complement each other."

AN OVERVIEW OF THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE HYDROGEN COST-EFFECTIVELY FROM SOLAR https://www.pv-magazine.com/2017/08/30/future-pv-the-feasibility-of-solar-powered-hydrogen-production/

I have before. For years. Every time this topic has come up. From wayyyyyy back when Harry was the moderator. But see...there was actually a time when I cared enough to try to dispel some of the endlessly rebleated nonsense that's presented as facts. In recent years, it has become rather like spooning water out of a pool that's being filled with a firehose. And I no longer have sufficient motivation.

READ? Surely you jest.