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#71
The Lounge / Re: A new game... Post pics fr...
Last post by BruceK - February 22, 2026, 03:56:31 PMAlso saw this Holden Ute that was just imported from Australia. It doesn't meet the 25 year old rule as it is a 2009. But we were told this could be imported because it had been federalized by General Motors who was planning on importing these Utes under the Pontiac brand. Those plans fell apart when General Motors went through bankruptcy, and the Pontiac brand was subsequently discontinued. Apparently, Holden in Australia had produced 1500 (?) of these models with Pontiac G8/GTO front styling, and then decided to sell them domestically alongside their Holden brothers. Not sure I got that story completely correct but that's my understanding.
#72
The Lounge / Re: A new game... Post pics fr...
Last post by BruceK - February 22, 2026, 03:49:51 PMAlso saw this very original 1961 Jaguar Mk II. The background is an American servicemen in Germany purchased it brand new and brought it home to Oklahoma. Sometime in the early 1960s it broke down and was placed in storage for 30 years. Then it was purchased by someone in Texas who just stored it for decades. Finally, it was recommissioned but left totally unmodified. It's rough, but very original and solid.
#73
The Lounge / Re: A new game... Post pics fr...
Last post by BruceK - February 22, 2026, 03:43:46 PMMore
#74
The Lounge / Re: A new game... Post pics fr...
Last post by BruceK - February 22, 2026, 03:40:54 PMSaw some interesting stuff at a car show this morning. This custom COE Ford truck was built in Germany using some obscure European Ford truck cab mounted on a 90s Chevrolet Caprice wagon frame and running gear. From a distance it looks bigger than it is, but up close it's probably just about 6.5 feet tall.
#75
The Lounge / Re: F1 2026
Last post by MiniDave - February 20, 2026, 09:30:21 AMWell, all sorts of interesting things going on in F1 right now!
Lets start with Aston Martin, who's season so far is a complete shit show, the car is slow, the Honda engine vibrates so badly it can't be revved over 11K, the self built transmission fails due to the engine vibration, the engine is way down on power, and because of Newey's insistence on packaging everything so tightly it's overheating too - so first thing they had to do was cut holes in the body to let in some air. Alonso has to be just tearing his hair out - shades of his days with McLaren Honda! And of course Lance is even slower - he thinks they're about 4.5 seconds off the other teams right now. Newey says it can all be fixed and they'll get it sorted - Alonso hopes it's raceable by mid-season. Right now it's too slow to make the grid!
Mercedes - everyone thinks they're sandbagging in the pre-season tests. They already are under the gun because of their variable compression engine (which Red Bull seems to have done too) George is smiling and Kimi set the fastest time on one session, so......make of it what you will. Their car has been dead reliable too.
McLaren - seems to be just quietly going about their business, but I don't think they're going to be running away with it this year. They will be in the front tho, no question.
Ferrari - well, I don't know what to think, they were already quick - especially Le Clerc - then they sent Hamilton out with the cleverest, most outrageous rear wing anyone has ever seen, and if it works you'll see it on every team by mid season. You have to see it to believe it!
Red Bull - Verstappen is saying this isn't racing, because you have to manage the battery so much - the cars actually can run out of battery before the end of some of the longer straights and actually slow down as they're only running on the ice then. Add in all the moveable devices, push to pass button (I mean boost button - sorry) and it's a LOT to manage. I think it could make for some really exciting racing actually. But their car is surprisingly quick, tho Max says they're 4th fastest.
Several teams are having a really good pre-season. Both Audi and Cadillac have been almost trouble free and have been running mega amounts of laps, learning how to run an F1 team as much as anything.
HAAS also had a good pre-season and I expect them to be fighting for 5th most of the time, along with the Williams and Racing Bulls.
Alpine, despite having the trick hot Merc motor, seems to be picking up where they were last season - fighting with Aston for last.
So it seems business as usual at the front, with the big four taking their expected places, the mid a tight fight again with maybe some new faces in 5th -7th, and the woeful Aston and alpine at the back along with Audi and Cadillac.
1st race is on Apple on March 5th, however Apple have been showing the pre-season stuff too and are supposed to be showing all of the P1, 2 and 3 along with qually just as before. I think it's simply going to be the Sky Sports feed, but we'll see.
And then there's this little tidbit..... https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a70418348/formula-1-2026-imax/
Lets start with Aston Martin, who's season so far is a complete shit show, the car is slow, the Honda engine vibrates so badly it can't be revved over 11K, the self built transmission fails due to the engine vibration, the engine is way down on power, and because of Newey's insistence on packaging everything so tightly it's overheating too - so first thing they had to do was cut holes in the body to let in some air. Alonso has to be just tearing his hair out - shades of his days with McLaren Honda! And of course Lance is even slower - he thinks they're about 4.5 seconds off the other teams right now. Newey says it can all be fixed and they'll get it sorted - Alonso hopes it's raceable by mid-season. Right now it's too slow to make the grid!
Mercedes - everyone thinks they're sandbagging in the pre-season tests. They already are under the gun because of their variable compression engine (which Red Bull seems to have done too) George is smiling and Kimi set the fastest time on one session, so......make of it what you will. Their car has been dead reliable too.
McLaren - seems to be just quietly going about their business, but I don't think they're going to be running away with it this year. They will be in the front tho, no question.
Ferrari - well, I don't know what to think, they were already quick - especially Le Clerc - then they sent Hamilton out with the cleverest, most outrageous rear wing anyone has ever seen, and if it works you'll see it on every team by mid season. You have to see it to believe it!
Red Bull - Verstappen is saying this isn't racing, because you have to manage the battery so much - the cars actually can run out of battery before the end of some of the longer straights and actually slow down as they're only running on the ice then. Add in all the moveable devices, push to pass button (I mean boost button - sorry) and it's a LOT to manage. I think it could make for some really exciting racing actually. But their car is surprisingly quick, tho Max says they're 4th fastest.
Several teams are having a really good pre-season. Both Audi and Cadillac have been almost trouble free and have been running mega amounts of laps, learning how to run an F1 team as much as anything.
HAAS also had a good pre-season and I expect them to be fighting for 5th most of the time, along with the Williams and Racing Bulls.
Alpine, despite having the trick hot Merc motor, seems to be picking up where they were last season - fighting with Aston for last.
So it seems business as usual at the front, with the big four taking their expected places, the mid a tight fight again with maybe some new faces in 5th -7th, and the woeful Aston and alpine at the back along with Audi and Cadillac.
1st race is on Apple on March 5th, however Apple have been showing the pre-season stuff too and are supposed to be showing all of the P1, 2 and 3 along with qually just as before. I think it's simply going to be the Sky Sports feed, but we'll see.
And then there's this little tidbit..... https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a70418348/formula-1-2026-imax/
#76
The Lounge / Re: How's the Weather Today?
Last post by MiniDave - February 19, 2026, 06:33:01 PMI left at 2 pm to drive up to Prather Racing, we took Scott's racecar up so he can drop the motor and gearbox in at a later time.....it was 64* when we left, it was 34* at 6 pm when we left Wakarusa to come home! Dropped 30* in just a few hours.....
We're headed for highs in the low 30's the next few days, then it will be 70 next Monday - welcome to Kansas!
We're headed for highs in the low 30's the next few days, then it will be 70 next Monday - welcome to Kansas!
#77
The Lounge / Re: How's the Weather Today?
Last post by BruceK - February 19, 2026, 03:58:32 PMIt was a sunny 82° here today in south central Texas. That's alot warmer than some past Februarys. A month ago it was 14° here, which is pretty cold for these parts. We've gone from having the heat on to the air conditioning on in just several days.
#78
The Lounge / Re: Tig Welders
Last post by MiniDave - February 17, 2026, 02:40:08 PMSo, my go to place for fittings and such could not come up with an adaptor to make my hose work with my gauges, so we whacked off the end and crimped on a straight 1/4" pipe fitting, which let me hook it all up. It'll work out OK cause if I need to use or demonstrate the old welder I can still hook it back up to the bottle.
Next up I decided to clean up 35 years of filth on the cart I made - that's everyone's first welding project when they buy a welder, build a cart for it! - I made mine out of an old hand cart I got from HF for $10 on sale, should have bought another cause they're like $60 now, and mine was "convertible", in that it had a set of casters so you could roll it flat rather than upright.
Anyway, once that was done I had to make a few modifications to make the new welder fit. First I had to move the bottle over to one side from the center, then I had to cut out a section of the cross piece as the gas outlet ran right into it. It wasn't structural so it doesn't affect the strength.
Next I need to figure out where to hang the cords and see if there's a way to bolt it down just in case. I simply ran a couple of screws thru the back flange on the old one, this one's not made that way. I'm also thinking about raising the front edge up so I can see the buttons and readouts better, I don't know if that will be necessary but we'll see after I use it a few times.
Lastly, the cords come out of the front and stick out quite a ways, I don't know if that will affect where it fits under the bench or not - we'll see.
My TiG torch is on the way, should be here next week.
Next up I decided to clean up 35 years of filth on the cart I made - that's everyone's first welding project when they buy a welder, build a cart for it! - I made mine out of an old hand cart I got from HF for $10 on sale, should have bought another cause they're like $60 now, and mine was "convertible", in that it had a set of casters so you could roll it flat rather than upright.
Anyway, once that was done I had to make a few modifications to make the new welder fit. First I had to move the bottle over to one side from the center, then I had to cut out a section of the cross piece as the gas outlet ran right into it. It wasn't structural so it doesn't affect the strength.
Next I need to figure out where to hang the cords and see if there's a way to bolt it down just in case. I simply ran a couple of screws thru the back flange on the old one, this one's not made that way. I'm also thinking about raising the front edge up so I can see the buttons and readouts better, I don't know if that will be necessary but we'll see after I use it a few times.
Lastly, the cords come out of the front and stick out quite a ways, I don't know if that will affect where it fits under the bench or not - we'll see.
My TiG torch is on the way, should be here next week.
#79
Cars for sale/wanted / Re: '63 Morris Mini
Last post by MiniDave - February 16, 2026, 05:04:55 PMYes, I know..... 
I sent her a note to ask..........again.
Edit: Susan called me this morning, she feels that her Mini should bring $25-30K, I'll see about getting some more pics.
It is a Morris Mini, it has a really strong running 1275, so the motor is not original. I put a factory gas tank in it as it had a 5 gallon safety cell in the middle of the boot. It does have disc brakes and 10" steel wheels with hubcaps. It drives really well and I think everything on it works as original.
What do you all think about her idea on the price?
I sent her a note to ask..........again.
Edit: Susan called me this morning, she feels that her Mini should bring $25-30K, I'll see about getting some more pics.
It is a Morris Mini, it has a really strong running 1275, so the motor is not original. I put a factory gas tank in it as it had a 5 gallon safety cell in the middle of the boot. It does have disc brakes and 10" steel wheels with hubcaps. It drives really well and I think everything on it works as original.
What do you all think about her idea on the price?
#80
Cars for sale/wanted / Re: '63 Morris Mini
Last post by BruceK - February 16, 2026, 04:46:35 PMThat's usually not a winning strategy for selling something.