Cars

Reggy

Reggy, the Mascot Hall of Fame Mascot.

We went to a rain storm tonight with my sister and her husband and a Greenville Drive baseball game broke out. The game was supposed to start at 7:00, but because of storms in the area it was moved to 8 o’clock. Then 8:30. The game finally got underway at 9:03. If they weren’t afraid of a little lightning and just started the game on time it would have been almost over by the time they started it. As it was we left at a little before 11:00 and the game was just in the bottom of the 6th inning.

I’ll try and blog about the Miata Club rally tomorrow It is getting late and if I try and write about it now it will be tomorrow when I finish. Let’s just say we finished 3rd (out of four cars.)

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Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 127

Just A Kid

Mmmm3 CoupeAs always when the BMW Ultimate Drive comes to town I try to talk everyone I know into participating. So far with my co-workers I have had limited success, but with the fellow MMC members I have had better luck.

This year I had almost talked one of our young engineers into doing it. He was on the fence until I mentioned that they had an M3 Coupe in the line up, then he started leaning. He currently drives a tarted up Lexus IS250 with inspirations of turbo charging it.

When Donna and I left work on Monday he said call him if they had the M3 available and he would seriously consider taking a half day off. When we saw the M3 sitting there in the morning I gave him a call, he said he would be there in the afternoon. Because it was just sitting there waiting, Donna and I took our first loop in it. A couple of miles into our loop and having listened to the sound coming from the exhaust pipes when mainlining bursts of acceleration I told Donna to call Ian’s work phone. I wanted to seal the deal and make sure he came over by having her hold the phone out the window when I punched it. He must have been working because he didn’t pick up.

Turns out he didn’t need that sound incentive because up he drove at about 12:45. At that point the Survivor Drive was in progress so there were no cars to drive. I told him to park and go inside to register. At that point of the day it was taking a while to register, so it took about 20 minutes before he showed up back outside. He had a disappointed look on his face, turns out you have to be 30 years old to drive the M3. He wasn’t to badly hurt because he had lined up a round of golf for later that afternoon, so he just got there early and hit a bucket of balls before playing.

I think Donna and I felt worse about it than he did. I didn’t think anything of it when I asked him to come drive. I thought there might be a 25 year-old age limit on the 6 & 7 Series cars, but I didn’t know about the extra 5 years needed for the M3 Coupe. Because he is so mature acting I thought he was in his upper 20’s, but as it turns out Ian isn’t even old enough to drive the 6s or 7s. He is only 23.

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Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 92

BMW Ultimate Drive Day

We drove 8 loops in seven different cars for a total of 113.6 dollars raised to help fight breast cancer.

  1. M3 Coupe
  2. X3 3.0i
  3. 650i Coupe
  4. Z4 3.0i
  5. 528xi Sedan
  6. Z4 3.0i
  7. 750Li
  8. 535xi Sport Wagon

There were a few surprises for us today. Two of the available cars actually had manual transmissions. One of the cars that had a manual transmission was the M3 Coupe. It was not on the reservation form, but once there they put you on a list (if you were over thirty, sorry Ian), and when your turn came…woohoo. The other stick shift was a Z4 3.0si, which we didn’t end up driving.There were no 1 Series or no X6 to drive (the signature car was an X6.) Both of these vehicles are supposed to join the fleet at the end of the month.

The biggest surprise was they held a survivor’s lap at 12:30 that lined up every car with a breast cancer survivor in it and was given a police escort around the course. Good for them, but they should have done it first thing in the morning, because it took a two hour chunk of time out of the middle of the day. Good thing we had the whole day off from work and didn’t do just an afternoon off or we would have only got in two laps.

The gallery is here: BMW Ultimate Drive 2008.

I’ll write more about the experience later this week too.

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Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 90

Weekend Update

Car News: For some reason the BMW 6 Series convertible is back at the house down the street. The 5 Series sedan is gone. This guy must sell BMWs for a living or he has big repair issues with the 7 Series and swaps around loaner cars.

Other Car News: Halfway between here and there, some one traded in their Hummer H2 for a BMW Z4. It is an M edition no less. So I guess I was right about the Z4M, just off by a couple houses on the location.

Outdoors: Although we do enjoy laying around the house doing nothing, it can’t be the only thing, as we found out yesterday. By early last evening we had cabin fever, so today to stave off the late in the day boredom, we went for a walk in Hitchcock Woods around mid-day.

Komen’s Coming: They have got the BMW Ultimate Drive map for 2008 online. Shiny new BMWs with pink vinyl accents will be stopping in Augusta on Tuesday, March 25th. Donna and I will be putting in for our vacation day tomorrow.

Innings Pitched. Yesterday was the first official workout of Spring Training for pitchers and catchers in Fort Meyers. The FRS title defense begins soon.

Everthing Happens For A Reason: Only two of the famous numbers were picked in Saturday’s PowerBall drawing — 4 & 8

Sunday Night: And it is time to go watch some Law & Order: Criminal Intent on Bravo.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 40

Where Is My Kevlar Underwear?

Because it was a borderline nice spring day and we were buoyed with optimism from our last successful visit, Donna and I decided to walk to Roma Pizza for some lunch. As we approached the end of our street there were two white Ford Crown Victorias parked side by side with one person leaning in the window of one of the cars. As he stood up he velcroed something black around his midsection.

When we reached him, Donna asked him if it was safe to keep walking. We weren’t too far from home and didn’t mind turning around now. He said, “Yeah, go ahead. There was an armed robbery at a quick cash place on Whiskey Road.” We continued on our way.

Hey, wait a minute, there is one of those places right next door to our destination. As we walked we discussed if maybe we shouldn’t be walking around here right now. When we arrived at the shopping center there were police vehicles everywhere. City cops, county sheriffs and the State police were milling about law enforcement vehicles of all shapes and descriptions.

While we were eating a local news crew set up outside and created quite a stir among the patrons and staff alike. There presence let us know that something important had transpired.

Too bad that it wasn’t during the local mid day news broadcast, because then we could have watched the live news feed on the TV above the bar with one eye while seeing the reporter and camera man with the other as we ate our pizza.

And it was a good thing that we didn’t start out for lunch a half hour earlier or we might have stumbled onto the robbers as they exited the cash place through the back door.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 38

The Incredible Shrinking Car

A few months ago some new folks moved into the neighborhood about 5 houses down. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen them out and about. Which is probably not unusual, because I’d bet they’d say the same about us.

I’m a car guy, so I noticed right off what vehicles they owned. On the side street from their house there is an old flat bed truck, which I assume is the fellows work vehicle. Some times it is warming up when we drive by on our way to work in the mornings. Her car (I’m guessing) is a less than 2-year old white Lexus IS 250. I know it is this new because it is the new body style. His car (again a guess) was a black 2006 or 2007 750i BMW. Again I it is of this vintage because of it’s toned down “Bangle-butt” rear end and that is when the “5”-liter engine was available.

German cars are known for their good brakes and part of the reason for that is the type of brake pad they use. But the down side to the pads is that in short order they turn your shiny silver wheels to dark gray then to black because of the dust they give off from use.

When they moved in the BMW’s wheels were shiny. I don’t think he ever washed those wheels in the first couple of months they lived there. Eventually they looked about the same shade of flat black as the tires. One evening on the way home I noticed the wheels were bright again.

The next day on the way home, there was a silver 650i convertible parked next to the Lexus. He washed the wheels because he was trading the big sedan in on BMW’s big 2-door ‘vert.

After a couple weeks, the wheels on the 650i weren’t even dull silver yet, it was gone. Now there is a gray 550i BMW sedan in the driveway.

Somehow I don’t think there will be a 3 series car there next. The Lexus IS is same class car. I’m betting that sometime in March there will be a black Z4M Coupe there.

Spacebar

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Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 37

Everything Happens For A Reason

We went out for a bagel for breakfast. Right here in Aiken. The MMC did drive to Saluda for breakfast, all 2 cars of them. I guess we weren’t the only ones who decided not to for go a 60 mile drive in the cold rain to eat when there were places closer to home. We then picked up a few items we missed on yesterday’s grocery shopping trip and spent the rest of the day inside watching the rest of Season 1 of TDTVS.

I was outbid with 7 hours to go on my first attempt on eBay to buy the second season. Eighteen hours left on try number two. I don’t want to pay more than twenty bucks (with shipping) unless I have to.

I’ve been considered buying one of the McFarlane’s action figures Series 1 or Series 2 just for the cool little toss ins. With Hurley you get a replica of the winning lottery ticket. Sun includes a life size recreation of an Oceanic boarding pass and with Kate you get that little model plane from her childhood sweetheart.

Yeah, I got it bad. At least I haven’t bought a T-shirt — yet.

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Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 15