Ben

That's cool. But +1 on those exhaust exits. What were they thinking with that? It must be incredibly loud. Don't open the windows because you're downwind of your own exhaust at all times. And the heat sink into the front tires and brakes having whatever passes for a muffler stuck just ahead of the tire... WHY???

YES, YES, 1000 times yes. Rolling coal and being in-your-face assholes is the cause of this. No one at the EPA had their panties in a twist about people racing Miatas or classic Porsches or any other semi-respectable thing. But then there were too many goddamn news stories about awful assholes blowing smoke at pedestrians, cyclists, and fuel-efficient cars, too many incidents of huge trucks parked where they shouldn't be or vandalizing charging stations for electric vehicles. And so people got mad. And while national agencies don't get motivated very often by public sentiment, when a lot of people get mad at a few people (particularly when those same few people spent their money on train horns and removing emission controls instead of lobbyists to cover their asses) that moves the needle. Unfortunately, though, once a person, business, activity, or industry succeeds in becoming the negative focus of a government entity, be it the IRS, the police, ethics commission, EPA, or whoever, that's basically waking the sleeping giant. You're in for a rough ride and it won't be finished until they say it is. It's a classically predicable story--assholes ruin a good time for everyone else. A few people, shops, and businesses are probably going to get fucked. Some of them will probably deserve it. Some won't. The good news is, this will all blow over at some point. The other piece of good news is if you're modding sensibly and not being an obnoxious prick about it, you're probably going to be able to continue to do that without realistic chance of repercussions. As several people have pointed out, it has always been illegal to tamper with emissions controls on road-going cars, and yet people quite happily have done it for decades, even in states like California which are about as bureaucratically uptight about it as it is possible to be. So I wouldn't sound the death-knell for motorsport just yet.

I installed some rockin' stainless steel mufflers on my M Roadster because I had Ferrari envy and I figured this would keep me from bankrupting myself by buying an actual Ferrari. I got them all lined up perfectly and tightened up but, based on how they sound and placing my hand near the joint, I'm concerned I may have a leak. Frankly, I can't bear the thought of tearing it all apart again and spending the amount of time it took to line them up in the first place (which was way too damn long). So, help me out. Where's a good muffler place to get someone to look at and possibly correct my craptacular install? TL:DR I need a muffler shop recommendation. P.S. I did search the forum and saw people recommended Eagle Muffler. But seems like maybe they closed?

Thanks guys! I'll check these out! Anyone else want to chime in? @ Geeto: I would go but I am out of state this weekend.

Hi everyone! My father is looking for a shop to restore his 1979 super beetle convertible. It is one-owner, garage kept, and perfect mechanically. But over the years it has developed some minor rust and the upholstery, fabric top, and other more delicate bits have succumbed to age - i.e., beginning to crack, rot, and tear. Would love to hear some recommendations on restoration shops that could do this kind of cosmetic restoration. Many thanks!

Society has a lot of problems. It always has. There are crazy people on the street (more now since we cut funding for government-run hospitals). But there always have been. There are murderers and would-be murderers in the world. But that's not new either. What is new and unique to modern America? Well there's a number of factors that may be making people more unhinged, narcissistic, disenchanted, and willing to become famous by becoming infamous. But there's one pretty obvious factor in play here. Guns are tools for killing. And in the past 200 years they've gotten better and better and better. They can do it faster. They're easier to own. Easier to operate. Easier to maintain. And we have more storefronts in this nation where you can walk in and buy one than there are Starbucks locations worldwide. And if that isn't good enough for you, we have gun shows where you can buy one without even the most basic form of regulation that applies at the actual stores. And people have been buying too. We have so many of these very efficient killing tools in circulation that if they were distributed equally, pretty much everyone (even infants) could have one. And so, guess what? We have a lot of killings. If all the guns disappeared tomorrow, would people still find ways to kill each other? Of course they would. But, if want to live in a society where there aren't quite as many mass-murder incidents, maybe we shouldn't have quite so many very efficient killing tools lying around? Some of you are going to say though: What about knives? What about cars? What about homemade bombs? Fine. True. You can kill people pretty well with those too (not quite as easily as with a store-bought gun, but pretty well all the same). So let me ask you a question: What if spray paint were banned tomorrow? Would you really try to tell me that it wouldn't cut down on graffiti? Would you really try to argue that there'd be just as much graffiti because the hoodlums would come vandalize with oil paints and a brush instead? If you want fewer efficient killers, have fewer efficient killing tools in circulation. There are other causes too, of course there are. But this is just not complicated and the only reason it has become complicated is because some of us love our efficient killing tools so much that we make it complicated to avoid facing an uncomfortable truth.

Just my 0.02, but engaging in any large dollar figure transaction without a lawyer who has played the game before is a bad idea. Lots of people will tell you some variant of, "I've done it and it was fine." And that's true, as long as nothing goes wrong, you can do any deal, no matter how huge, on a handshake and the back of a napkin. But in contract law (and particularly where real property is concerned) there are many traps for the unwary which, if someone has a problem with the deal later, can come back to bite you for huge money. I see cases all the time where, if people had spent a few bucks on a lawyer in the first place, they wouldn't have wasted years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation later. In a nutshell, going unrepresented in a big transaction is like driving your car without insurance. You may get away with it 100 times. But if it goes wrong once, it is REALLY going to hurt.

Hmmm... Currently using the 135i as my daily. But I admit I am intrigued.

Ah... Sorry to have assumed then.

Easy there, children. Fully aware my post doesn’t meet the requirements for a number of reasons. Just wanted to share some nice pics I took before I sold it. Hence my explanation? But, as you so astutely pointed out, reading is hard.

What's the thought on losing the JB4?

OK, in the spirit of full disclosure, I just sold this recently. But I feel this is as good a place as any to do an "in memoriam" tribute reel: I sure do miss it when I look at these pics...

Eh... I wouldn't take on a 12 year loan on a GT4 at 104k. I think those are coming down to $50k before they bottom out and that's a lot of depreciation to eat while paying interest. But I probably wouldn't worry too much about doing it on something that I could likely sell at or prior to maturity for principle + interest + profit. Say, rosa corsa manual F430? That said, I've actually never used a car loan (though I did lease the 135i before I bought it just to make sure I could return it if the N55 motor turned out to be a lemon). So maybe I'm more debt adverse than the game I talk.

Wish I had the skill, tools, and time to whip something that cool together. Looking forward to seeing it when it is finished.

I'm pretty sure that guy pooped a little bit.

6'6" and twiggy actually sounds more like you're thinking of me. Good to know I'm not too scary.

So Trump-bashing = biased? So every news source in the US and all foreign papers except Breitbart and Fox are biased? (Oh and this is only Fox of recent days, b/c in the election, before he became the nominee, they bashed him plenty.) Wake up and smell what you're shoveling.

The authors of those articles clearly think their readers don't understand how tax brackets work. The marginal rate is always lower than the top bracket. Each bracket only applies to taxable income over the threshold of that bracket. Hence, the 90+% bracket applied to almost no one because almost no one in 1940-60 made over 400k. The point, however, is that in the 1940s-60s the top rate was 90% for super high income because we believed in taxing the .01%ers significantly on income that was so far in excess of what anyone could use to prevent hoarding and over-concentration of wealth (which is both economically and socially damaging).

The current Republican ethos relies on a lie about macroeconomics which, unfortunately, many of you seem to be swallowing. Ready? Here's the lie: Companies make hiring and location-related decisions based on tax rates. This is simply not true. Companies decide where they will build plants and offices based on the availability and expense of the labor force. If you need 500 people to sew sneakers all day, it doesn't matter what the tax rate is, you're not building your plant in the U.S. Why? Because U.S. workers won't accept $0.50 per hour to work in a sweat shop. Conversely, if you want to build a tech company, you go to Silicon Valley. It is expensive as hell there and taxes are high but that's where the good programmers live and that's where the venture money can be found. Now let's talk about hiring. Companies hire workers when there is demand for their products. When they have mountains of cash (as, by the way, many companies did during most of the Great Recession) but there’s no demand for whatever they sell, they don’t hire people and they don't feel pressured to increase wages. They give the cash out to shareholders or top execs (who are often one-and-the-same) or they hoard it for a rainy day. The widget factory, in short, hires more workers when it needs to produce more widgets. When does it need to do that? When more people want to buy widgets. When does that happen? When more people have money to buy widgets. When do massive numbers of people have more money to buy widgets? When the people who don’t already have all the money they need get more. So... If you really want to create jobs (and not just give a giant BJ to the uber-rich donor class) – create demand. If you want to create demand – create consumers. If you want to create consumers – get money into the hands of people who will spend it. Who will spend money if you give it to them? Well, poor and middle-class people will for sure. They don’t already have everything they want or need. So they will take whatever money is returned to them through tax breaks and spend it. The same, by the way, would also be true if they made more money in the first place (i.e. through a higher minimum wage). At this point, I can just hear the “trickle-down” folks crying out in protest. Rich people and companies, they’ll insist, will spend more money if you give them more money. They’ll invest, hire employees, and spend that money on wages which the employees will then spend. Remember the “job creators?” But the reality is, rich individuals don’t hire people. There is no benefit at all, whatsoever, to giving a rich individual more money (as the expansion of the estate tax exemption does on a staggering scale). A billionaire isn’t going to change their consumption patterns because they get a tax break – there’s only so many houses, yachts, and sports cars one can really use. And, as I discussed above, companies don't spend cash on new hires just because they have extra cash. The hire when they need help. They hire when there is demand for whatever they're selling. So if you want to stimulate an economy create demand. Put money in the hands of people who will spend it – i.e., people who don’t already have more money than they can spend. This tax "reform" is hugely expensive and it is based on a lie: it won't stimulate the economy in the sense of creating jobs or increasing wages (though it will probably give a boost the stock market and line my pockets). Just in case you think I'm full of shit, check out the history. This isn't the first time we've cut taxes or declared a tax holiday. Such things have never historically led to wage increases or job creation. BTW, the decade most Trumpites think of when they think "Make America Great Again" is the 1950s. From 1943 to 1964 the top income tax bracket was more than 90%. How about that?

Didn't this thread start out being about Tesla? Nice acquisition!

No. Cycling is still a go. But, it must be said, cycling is mostly a recreational trails/weekend activity. The motorcycle was seeing a lot of downtown riding during rush hour when people have cellphones in their hands, coffee to spill, rage to vent, and generally crazy driving characteristics. Had a number of close-calls due to inattentive morons. So, at least with respect to that kind of riding, I suppose I see her point. I'm still open to taking it out for the slow-paced cruise now and again. But I don't think that low level of use justifies ownership of it in the long term and I don't want to let it sit. I'd rather someone else enjoy it.

Yeah. The parking people downtown will get you for it. I even had one of them give me a hard time once for my front plate (even though I clearly display one) because it is mounted on the upper passenger side corner of the windshield. He was under the impression (legally incorrect) that it had to be mounted on the front bumper. Didn't write me up for it, but wanted me to move it. Fat chance.

Thanks fellas!

So it seems my gentleman sausage is good for something other than recreation! But, in conjunction with that result of that happy observation, my wife has intimated that she would prefer I not ride a motorcycle anymore. So: $5000 gets you: Full advert with details is here: https://columbus.craigslist.org/mcy/d/royal-enfield-bullet-c5/6419834523.html

Love it! Not sure I'd fit though...