"I Almost Gave Away The Ending" December 2, 2022

[DrTom]

One of my many jobs (and there have been a BUNCH) was a car salesman at a Pontiac/Cadillac/GMC dealership in the 70's. It was the heyday of muscle cars and literally everything came though our lot. I drove Road Runners, Super Bees, Judges, Trans AMs, you name it. However, the best was a man whose marriage had produced a child and he was informed that he needed to get rid of his XKE and get a Cadillac. Anything on the lot was fair game to drive and I commandeered the XKE. Until my later years when I finally moved to BMWs I had never driven a better handling and more fun car. It also helped that it was an absolute open invitation to young ladies who either had never seen one and wanted to ride in one or had seen one and wanted to ride in one. Sure every now and then I had to stop, raise the hood, smack a couple of things and then get in the driver seat and pound the electrical panel, but OMG what a fun ride. I actually tired to convince the person who came in and wanted ot buy it that it was not a good idea just so I could keep driving it (didn't work darn it, he bought it).

[Penny_Keatley]

On the beach! Sad to see the American youngsters get shown up by the Dutch this morning. Well, there’s always 2026!

[JAQT]

I just re-did the puzzle on paper, instead of a tablet, and the meta jumped out at me.

For me at least, sometimes the physical act of lettering, and being able to do it quickly without the need to think of the answer, helps me to see the bigger picture.

On shore! There's a wine tasting party tonight so I will delay my drink until then.

[Bob cruise director]

I hate to be the grinch in the group, but I want my cars to get me from point A to point B reliably at the least cost. So, I keep my cars until they fall apart

My track record
1969 Dodge Dart 11 years 185K miles
1977 Plymouth Volare 10 years 145Kmiles
1985 Dodge Aries wagon 9 years 145K miles
1987 Nissan Maxima 10 years 203K miles
1993 Nissan Pathfinder 10 years 172K miles
1996 Toyota Avalon 10 years 250K miles
2006 Toyota Camry 15 years 253K miles

Current cars
2008 Toyota Sienna 14 years 183K miles and mechanic yesterday said it was good for many more years
2020 Toyota Camry a baby with probably more years left than I do.

[Bob cruise director]

Oh and I tell friends who have a new driver and they want to get a car for them, the car needs to have four features

1) big and durable as the kid(s) will get in accidents - mostly minor backing into things
2) it has to be nonsexy and not fast as they will think they are at LeMans if it is a sports car
3) it can't be too powerful especially if they will be driving it in snow
4) it can''t be too big so that they could get too comfortable parking
and if I could shut off the radio, I would do it.

[ship4u]

I hate to be the grinch in the group, but I want my cars to get me from point A to point B reliably at the least cost. So, I keep my cars until they fall apart

My track record
1969 Dodge Dart 11 years 185K miles
1977 Plymouth Volare 10 years 145Kmiles
1985 Dodge Aries wagon 9 years 145K miles
1987 Nissan Maxima 10 years 203K miles
1993 Nissan Pathfinder 10 years 172K miles
1996 Toyota Avalon 10 years 250K miles
2006 Toyota Camry 15 years 253K miles

Current cars
2008 Toyota Sienna 14 years 183K miles and mechanic yesterday said it was good for many more years
2020 Toyota Camry a baby with probably more years left than I do.

I always believed that a car served 2 functions. One is to get you from place to place. The other is to make you feel good!

[boharr]

I must say that the old MG I had was something of a slow poke. Next up was a 1961 Chevy. 348cc, three deuces (with progressive linkage), 4-speed. That car was quick.

[Tom Shea]

On the ship with Isaac after a blissful couple of weeks on shore.

car talk:

I envy the 1971 SL.

We started buying the lease turn in mercedes 300E/E320/E350. We both drove a lot of miles and the missus always got the newer one and I drove the older one. Plus they come with the only 4wd outside of suburu that was around in the 90s with a sedan. We are on about # 8 or 9. Got loads of miles out of all but one of them. That one, AAA screwed up towing it and we traded it in early. Otherwise 180K was still low miles. Never a sports car, but it would only get me into trouble if I had one.

One of my favorite car quotes is regarding bmw vs. mercedes. From car and driver in the late 70s/early 80s: drive the bmw for 0-60. drive the mercedes for 60-120. Fastest I've ever been is as a rider in the death chair when a colleague was driving another colleague late for a flight to the Dusseldorf airport. 280 kph, which translates to very fast. Now it's 85 on 95 or slower.

[PHOFER]

I was lost at sea until one oddity I could not understand revealed the channel to the lagoon and the beach. Ashore!

[mrmd]

Ashore thanks to a nudge from my usual source, WLW! What a cool mechanism. Very subtle, as my mother would say.

[BarbaraK]

OK, if we're talking cars, here's my favorite. A 1990 Mazda 323. Don't laugh! It was a great little car.

When it was 5-6 years old, my husband said the radiator is leaking; you need to get a new car. I said, if the radiator is leaking, I need a new radiator. He was amazed I wanted to keep it but put a radiator in it for me. It was nearly 20 years after that I finally got rid of it.

[LadyBird]

I hate to be the grinch in the group, but I want my cars to get me from point A to point B reliably at the least cost. So, I keep my cars until they fall apart

My track record
1969 Dodge Dart 11 years 185K miles

That takes me back--my first car was a used 1974 Dodge Dart Swinger. Faded yellow with a faded black top. The engine had a tendency to flood, so I became quite adept at popping the hood, taking the cover off of the carburetor, and poking a stick through the butterfly valve. It happened so often that I finally just kept a stick in my back seat--it beat looking under the trees in the parking lot for an appropriate sized stick. The horn also had a tendency to spontaneously start honking, so I also learned how to disconnect the horn in a pinch.

My other memorable car was a Mercury Villager van, which I literally drove into the ground. Smoke was pouring out from under the hood (okay--maybe seeping) as I drove it into the dealer's lot to trade it in for the next car. I wasn't TOO worried about the smoke as it had happened once before. When the kids and I were driving home from the pool. I had them use one hand to hold their swim towels over their nose and mouth and have the other hand on their seat belt buckle--just in case we needed to make a quick exit. Not my finest parenting moment!

[JoeS]

Ashore. Spent major time tracking a rabbit which totally led me astray. Accidentally bumped into the right mechanism and smooth sailing from there. Clever, and amazing implementation.

[WDunbar]

Saw nothing for a long time and then suddenly got it all at once. Huh. Nice one!

[ship4u]

I drove old MG's and Jaguars for years. They were great fun to drive, but they were not the most reliable. I remember pulling behind an MGB with a bumper sticker that said, "Every part falling off of this car is genuine British Leyland."

I eventually moved to German engineering when a friend offered me his 1971 Mercedes SL.

top up shade.jpg

Your house looks pretty nice, too!

That house is one of my favorites here in Shaker Heights, Ohio. At the time, it belonged to one of our wealthy customers, the wife of the guy who invented Mr. Coffee. She let me shoot a photo of my car there for fun.

[hopijr]

Ashore.

[edestlin]

Ashore. Late getting to the puzzles this week but (after a couple of rabbit holes) I finally saw it.

[Ben B]

We are on the beach! Once again I demonstrated my “warning track power” by seeing some things but it took a consultation with son to hit it out of the park. Loved this puzzle.

And for the record my first car was a 1974 Chevrolet Laguna with a sun roof!

[boharr]

Ok. Oldest first car. Me: 1952 Plymouth. No, I didn't buy it brand new!

[ship4u]

The Mercedes SL was a beautifully designed car and a lot of fun. But it lacked the zip of a genuine sport car and was more like driving a miniature open air sedan. Then I was smitten with the most recognizable design ever created and it had it all.