Month: May 2022

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

Memorial Day Edition of SORT
As of Monday, May 30, 2022 at 6:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
1973 Lancia Fulvia 1600 1981 Daihatsu F55 4×4 1968 Ferrari 365 GT 2+2
I was hoping to find three military style vehicles to put here, but came across just
this one, so I went with the red, white & blue theme for the Memorial Day holiday.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to (if the reserve was not met):
Sports: 2006 Porsche Boxster S Sold for $28,250 on 5/24/22
Off-Road: 1974 Ford Bronco Ranger Sold for $72,000 on 5/25/22
Touring: 1949 Buick Super Sedanet Sold for $145,000 on 5/28/22

Adventures In Picture Hanging

When shopping at Fred Meyers last week we started at the back of the store because we needed some stuff out of the Garden Department. On our way over to the grocery section we walked by the Home Décor area and right there on an end cap were these 40″ x 30″ photo prints on canvas for sale at 50% off.

As we leafed through the stack we saw a forest scene with a trail through it and Donna said, “Ooh, I like that one.” I said, “Me too!” Not only was it the scene, but it was the color too. It would fit perfectly with the greens of our bedroom colors and we did need something to hang on the wall behind the bed. When this type of synchronicity happens, we knew that this was a must buy. So we did.1

Yesterday I decided to hang it up. First up I hammered two sawtooth picture hangers into the back of the frame of the photo 5″ in from each edge to hold it up. Then I measured the wall horizontally and the space between the top of the headboard and the ceiling so that I could figure out how to put the picture in the center of the space.

The ceiling height was at 93″ and the top of the bed was 54″ from the floor giving me 39″. I then subtracted the picture height and divided it half to give me the height of the top of the picture to the ceiling, 4-1/2″ The wall was 102″ wide, subtracting the picture width of 40″ and dividing that by 2 gave me 31″ from the wall edges.

I dragged the bed away from the wall and got out my laser level and transferred my measurement to the wall and drilled two holes to mount the screws. As I held up the picture to hang it I quickly realized that the screws were no where near where the sawtooth hangers were. Doh! Homer Simpson head slap. I forgot that I had mounted the hangers 5″ in from each edge of the picture.

So, I measured five inches in from both wrongly placed screws and drilled 2 more holes. I placed the picture back on the wall and stepped back. Nice, got it two. I’ll spackle the extra 2 holes later. I pushed the bed back up against the wall, using the existing dents in the carpet to get it back exactly were it was. Stepped back again to admire my handy work and the picture wasn’t centered over the bed. #%$&#@!

The bed itself was not in the middle of the wall. One side was further right to allow Donna an easy path out along the side wall without having to turn sideways. The main bath is behind the wall the bed is on, so that my side has almost four feet of room to the other side wall.

I took the picture down and stood it up against the wall it has been leaning on for the last week and a half. Sometime later this week I will try and get the photo mounted correctly. You know what they say, “The third times a charm.” Keep your finger crossed…

7.1 miles on Fred Meyers run.
Times Miata Driven since 01/01/22: 29

 

Choosy Brians Choose Jif Peter Pan

I was aware of the Jif peanut butter recall for possible salmonella contamination, but didn’t really pay attention to it. We’ve had a jar of Jif in the cupboard, but it was half used up and neither of us has gotten sick. If it was bad, we surely would have had a problem by now.

When the local paper published the the product codes yesterday Donna asked if ours was in range listed. I shrugged (once again we have had no issues.) So she went and looked at the jar. Sure enough ours was smack dab in the middle of the recalled numbers. So, better safe than sorry, into the trash it went. On today’s grocery shopping trip we picked up a jar of Peter Pan.

The Miata has been driven 3 times since the last update. It was driven a whole 4.9 miles to go fill up the tank with premium unleaded on Monday. This was the 130th fill-up for me with this car and it took 9.347 gallons at $4.49 per2 returning a 26.08 MPG. For reference the very first time I filled up the CTBNL was on September 2nd 2016 and at that time it received 9.856 gallons at $1.699 per3 for a MPG of 25.9.

The Miata was driven to my doctor’s appointment this morning for a round trip of three whole miles. The only real drive of consequence it took was a 25.7 mile evening cruise yesterday. Because it was dusk and the temps were in the upper 70’s the bugs were out in full force we managed to collect quite a few on the nose and windshield, so this afternoon it got a bath in the driveway.

33.6 miles on 3 trips.
Times Miata Driven since 01/01/22: 28

 

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

Ben Franklin Invents Bifocals Edition of SORT
As of Monday, May 23, 2022 at 6:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
2006 Porsche Boxster S 1974 Ford Bronco Ranger 1949 Buick Super Sedanet
More a fan of the Cayman, but a Boxster is pretty good looking as long as the top is down. Won’t be doing any rock crawling, but it does have 4-wheel drive and plenty of ground clearance. With today’s gas prices that 572cu/in motor is not real practical, but I’d just park it in the driveway & look at it.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to (if the reserve was not met):
Sports: 1969 Datsun 2000 Roadster Bid to $8,000 on 5/17/22
Off-Road: 1984 Mercedes-Benz 230GE Sold for $62,000 on 5/22/22
Touring: 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible Sold for $87,000 on 5/17/22

Interesting BAT Find

Out of all of the car auctions that were active on Monday the one that interested me the most was a 1970 Volkswagen Karman Ghia. I have a sweet spot for Karman Ghias anyway, but this one had been converted to an EV.

Definitely a Cars & Coffee car or short commute to work vehicle or just for around town errands as the range is a mere 90 miles. It didn’t sell at $45k because what ever the reserve was it was higher than that. But, considering that a nice gas engine Ghia would go for $35-40k on its own and the average EV price in the US is $60k, fifty to fifty-five thousand wouldn’t have been out of line. Not that I’d pay that, but it would be cool to own it…

10.7 miles to somewhere and back.
Times Miata Driven since 01/01/22: 25

 

Perplexing BAT Find

As with every Monday when I wander over to Bring A Trailer to pick out the three vehicles that strike my fancy, there are always somewhere between six and seven hundred auctions running. This means that there are plenty that could make the list but don’t.

This week there was a very low mileage 2003 Miata that sold for $13,100. That might sound like a lot of money for a 19-year old car, but with the way car prices are right now and I had to replace my current 19-year old Miata I probably wouldn’t have a problem with that sum.

I would have a problem with this particular example though, the color. Both Donna and I thought it was the ugliest color we had ever seen on a Miata. And we know from experience, we had one as loaner back in October 2003 when our ’95 was in for a timing chain replacement. I was pretty merciless in my condemnation of Splash Green – New Miata In The Garage.

So what was especially weird for me was the comment section of the auction, the first several posts from when it was listed are all in praise of the color! Some even considered it one of the best colors the car ever came in, yikes! All I can think of was that everyone was being polite, or maybe people are now so used to seeing nearly all the vehicles on the road in a monochromatic palette that runs from white to black.

Splash Green was not very popular back in 2003. While we were looking at new cars back then, we found ourselves at a Mazda dealer in Charleston, SC and as proof I offer this little story – One Last Splash Green Story. We did end up buying a 2003 Miata later that year, but it was the real best color ever on a Miata, Garnet Red.

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

Convertible Edition of SORT
The middle of May must be the start of convertible season on BAT
because of the 708 auctions today, 178 were for drop tops.
As of Monday, May 16, 2022 at 6:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
1969 Datsun 2000 Roadster 1984 Mercedes-Benz 230GE 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible
Last week on BAT we had another Javanese 2-seat sports car with 2000 in its name, but it was from Honda. Shipping is going to a lot more expensive than the typical BAT shipping because this is located in Ireland. If a classic Cadillac drop top is more your thing, you can choose one from the 40’s, 50’s or 60’s right now on BAT.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to (if the reserve was not met):
Sports: Original-Owner 2002 Honda S2000 Sold for $28,000 on 5/11/22
Off-Road: 2004 Land Rover Discovery II G4 Challenge Sold for $12,250 on 5/15/22
Touring: 2012 Maserati GranTurismo MC Bid to $48,500 on 5/11/22