zeitgeist57

WORST BUILD UPDATE EVER J/K of course. I'm very sorry to you and your wife, Pat. Thank you for sharing your personal struggles and I hope you both continue getting to a better place. <3 Looking forward to developments when you can share. If anything on this beautiful 4th of July, you're inspiring me to update my RV thread.

Well done.

To all the OG's still trollin' the threads... My 10yo son is mental rn wanting me to find the video of when Bucky and I were street-racing my Maxima vs his Lumina. I searched the Archive for a bit but didn't find anything. I recall someone posting some old pics and vids in the last few years. Any help would be appreciated. Crazy fact is it was filmed from Bucky's passenger seat by Aaron (Beerman) if you guys remember his fate in TX from years back... Bucky says he's got it somewhere on FILM but if there's an electronic vid that would be easiest for my son to see and to stop bugging me! Crazy memories.

My parents just bought a 2017 Tesla Model S on Vroom a couple of months ago. In their 70s, they had wanted a used Tesla for awhile and my uncle bought a VW ID.4 so they wanted to jump on the EV bandwagon. My mom sent me the link: great looking Model S 75 with under 45k mikes for a market-decent price of $42k. They completed the transaction and were very complimentary of the process. They had the car delivered to me here in C'Bus (they live in CLE) so I could take a look at everything and answer car questions. The driver that came up was nice, but didn't speak english very well and didn't have any details about the car; he just had a diesel truck with a flatbed trailer and dropped off the car with a Ziploc bag of two keys. That was it. I asked my mom where the title was, and she said Vroom was going to send it to her. We put some old plates on it and took it for a drive. Was in great shape and took them to Sawmill Rd Tesla Supercharger to charge it up. There was an issue with the main dash screen (MCU) staying black, couldn't get any readings, climate control, etc...it seemed like the Tesla was "bricked" from the prior owner so I googled how to set up a used Tesla. Pretty straightforward, but my parents were very concerned that they wouldn't get much support if there was another problem after they went back to CLE. Their drive back up to CLE was uneventful but the MCU went down again. By the time they got home, they were pretty frustrated with the short experience thus far. My mother tried to contact someone at Vroom for info on this particular car and of course either no one answered the phone or the person they got was very nice but wasn't much help. She was routed to a couple of different voicemail boxes, wondering where the title was in process and any history on the car. No one at Vroom gave a last name. They were both very salty of the post-purchase support with questions. Within a couple of days, the electrician they called to set up a wall charger in their garage said the entire garage electricial would have to be upgraded at the cost of $12k, including new wiring/conduit from the house. I said that was ridiculous and they needed another electrician. By then, they had charged the car at a Cleveland Tesla station and had a problem getting their credit card to pay. It was all over. They wanted to get rid of the car. Part of it was the whole EV experience but most of it was the absolute lack of any support from Vroom. My mom spent the rest of their first week filing a refund, as they had a few days to process it (so they thought). However, they never received the title so even using the Tesla's VIN was a PITA: when an owner is already pissed enought to return the car, the even shittier refund process just cements the bad reputation. After someone in another unmarked flatbed came and picked it up, it took almost 3 WEEKS for them to get their money back from Chase Bank. They were just about to file a suit against Vroom when the payment came in. Long story but from my parent's first had experience I would avoid the online used car stores unless you know EXACTLY what you're buying and are OK with the lack of post-sale service. My mother is now verbally shitting on Vroom to anyone who will listen, and she's bolstered by the excoriating reviews I've read on Google as well. It's an efficient business model......but it's only designed to get cars into owners' hands as quickly and cheaply as possible. My parents have bought dozens of cars throughout their lives and always found good used deals on great cars for years...Vroom is nowhere close to the service you get from a dealership. Also, that refund period (CarMax, Carvana, Vroom) comes up QUICKLY. If you're on the fence on the car you bought being the right one, you need to get the refund process started right away, don't sleep on it. It was even more nerve-wrecking for me to call them almost every day for a week asking if they got a confirm from Vroom that their refund was approved, let alone the driver coming to pick it up and almost a month to get their money back.

Indeed. If you watched some of the successful hover and vertical landing videos, you HAVE to respect the SpaceX team for just grinding. Those vertical landings are something else.

For car guys at 30 years old or older, I see cautionary tales of cars that have a good run, and fall into obscurity (DeLorean, Yugo, Vector, etc) only to regerate as cult classics decades later. I think Tesla will survive only because Elon is involved in a lot of other huge business activities (SpaceX, Solar City, etc) that carry everything he's invested in. 100% spot on. In driving my in-laws' Model S and Model 3, the interiors are clean and nice places to be but it's so much better to sit in a newer premium car like Audi, BMW, Merc, etc.

FiL has a fanTASTIC mustache. The rest of the project is just OK.

After selling the Volvo a couple months ago, we’re aware that our son is car crazy and a cheap stick-shift (especially boosted) fun car is an allowable purchase. This, however, is a little too pedestrian. Fun fact: my cheap Volvo S60 killt the CTS-V. After I got Volvo and threw the baby seat in the back, I hardly ever drove the V. It was a good feeling to get the cash out of it, truthfully...was a great car but I was ready to move on. However, after modding the Volvo and doing NTR and 555, I realized after a year that the automatic SUCKS and happily sold it. The CJ-5 is a fun little city runabout, but we really need something that’s fun to drive. Something the kids can learn to drive stick on in a few years if it lasts that long. Putting this down for historical CR record. If I come across a good stick car with a friends/family/CR deal (also after the RV cabin resto is done), there’s always room for one more.

GLWS. Legit interested in this but spoke to the wifey and absolutely do NOT need another car.

Wow, the transformation is subtle but looks awesome. I'll bet it will ride/handle 100x better as well. Great job!

...aaaaaaand that will be the NICEST that thing will ever look. Until Tim gets his hands on it again.

Welcome back, old timer! 2nd for Northend Wrench. Also, Lucore Automotive in Plain City also does a good job with these sort of bolt-on modifications. They are down Industrial Pkwy from the newer Costco off of 33. Austin @ Lucore is on CR, longtime member as well.

"when buying becomes reflexive, and investors feel that the most dangerous move is not to buy, prices can quickly break free from fundamentals." Admittedly, there's not been much of a historical or regulatory "fundamental" when it comes to crypto. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-10/is-everyone-making-money-but-you-the-fomo-economy-of-memes-crypto-housing?srnd=premium Another interesting article came out today talking about the global capital ratio standards that banks will likely have to hold in order to cover the risks associated with crypto holdings....it's going to be expensive for regulated industries to participate in the market!

Columbus Car Audio has a car tracker with starter cut-off, $299 for the tracker with another $100 for the starter immobilizer, but it would need to have a tracking service added for $120/year that enables full tracking, hotspot notification, etc...pretty pricey.

I get that for sure. Trying to help with a specific ask. That may be more than this person can handle. Also may be difficult to swap in and out easily. That is a good idea, may keep that in mind.

I received an awkward, "youre-the-car-guy" inquiry from an extended family member regarding a leased 2019 Grand Cherokee V6. If the owner wants to install an immobilizer/kill switch on a modern vehicle, is there any decent tech available out in the marketplace that people recommend? Anything DIY that I can install after they buy it? This would stop a normie younger driver from using the car if they're not allowed. If it was an older vehicle, I could see a hidden battery cut-off, or fuel cut-off valve. But for something this modern, and LEASED, I don't want to cut it up to install something. Short of going to Columbus Car Audio, open to CR's feedback. Thank you!

I appreciate this pages' dialogue, and will certainly agree it's not just a "Made in China" issue...COVID has affected many supply-chain processes in North America as well, anyone with family, friends or a business interest in logistics/trucking will tell you of the shortage of people and the hasty movements back to a "next normal" as the country and world opens back up. Not to change the topic, but given the nature of this thread: It's interesting to see where both sides are coming after Kamala for the way she's not helping the Biden administration better manage the border crisis (as she's been tasked to do). Trump tried to build that stupid wall but also used the courts and legislative process to discourage immigration, a short-sighted way of managing the continuing crisis. Biden's not doing much better to re-organize our immigration process, and people are just going to keep coming to America.

https://www.autoblog.com/2021/06/08/2022-ford-maverick-2/ Hybrid for $21k that’s got a pickup bed? These things are going to sell.......as well as they can thru a chip shortage. I’m a fan. Not my purchase but I can see a ton being bought up.

Guys, thanks a ton for everybody that came out this morning. I think the turn out was great in Whitehall, with the only problems being not enough parking and horrendously bad conditions on the lot. It was really tough to see the parking lines. I’ve gotten great feedback so far, and Byers and Lindsay are also very happy so will have more meets to come. I’m happy to announce that our next event will be Saturday, June 26 back at Lennox town center. We will be having our 9 AM to 12 noon Cars&Coffee event, following will be a “F9” Fast and Furious showing at their massive Dolby Atmos theater. Tickets will be $12 each. Wanted to reach out to CR first; if you’d like to pre-order tix please email me at columbuscarsandcoffee@gmail.com. Seating is limited to 200 (some handicap accessible as needed). I’d love to say that we’d be going back to Lennox on a more regular basis, but I appreciate the dealers’ support, and we’re going to use their lots and connections for most of the summer. More events to come. I’m going to be redoing my website, so I can capture email addresses and keep people in the loop. Will update the schedule of events soon. Thanks again for all my CR bros that came out and had fun. Open to new ideas as well!

I'm starting a Shitbox Turo that weekend...$100 for the day, enjoy a '75 Jeep, '79 Lincoln, or an '01 Silverado.

Two crises that we're going to be dealing with for years to come: 1) Employment - getting millions of people off of $750 government unemployment payments and into lower-paying but economically-vital jobs, WITHOUT causing a U.S. economic correction. 2) Resource/supply chain control - after decades of letting China do the economic "dirty-work" of the world's consumerism, we're now in a position where China controls production of virtually every product the world needs: even if they don't build it, they likely control the raw materials or supply of products needed for finished goods. Both of these are of our own doing, and neither will be easy to control if we try to reinstitute balance.

Planet Fitness said they’re still requiring a mask. I comply, even though a lot of folks take them off after getting thru the door. Anywhere else they took down signs requiring a mask, I’m not wearing one as I’ve been vaccinated. Menards still strongly recommends wearing a mask. Most people are still wearing one so I’ll wear one too to make people feel comfortable. Panera, Rita’s, some local restaurants...no mask sign, I’m not wearing one.

Love it. Do the stickers, f the h8rs Engine Masters on Motor Trend did some tests and E85 on a boosted engine definitely caused IAT to come way down, making more power on the same level of boost.

I have a $20ish Harbor Freight Cen-Tech unit that does a fine job reading and clearing codes with no fuss.

Not a fan of the LED’s but the shots are great. Downtown provides some excellent backdrops. Well done!