An audiophile and petrolhead's musings: in the hi-fidelity, first class, traveling set - Page 13

I didn't think about the other meaning... but whatever, it's a good term, I think I used it myself. She's spunky and kinda crazy, but that's what I love about her. In the morning she'll dance to Gnarls Barkley in the kitchen while wearing one of my dress shirts. She can pass for 20 at a glance, and she likes to call me Dad at stores and around strangers, and if you don't look closely I look like I could be. It causes lots of confusion, but she's having fun and it doesn't actually bother me. I told her after we went out a few times to always be herself and not try to be who she believed I wanted her to be. When we first started dating she was acting prim and proper, "please" and "thank you", bending over backwards trying to be a sophisticated, more mature woman. She felt that's what she needed to be, because I'm older, have some money, and am generally very relaxed. She isn't a gold-digger, but there's reality to look at too. She liked me, we have a lot in common, and she saw the possibility of not having to worry about money again. It's best to look at everything in perspective.

I think it was our third date she went with me to a semi-casual charity type dinner and she walked around with a fake smile plastered on her face the whole evening. Honest to God, she looked like she was in pain. On the way back I asked if that's who she was. Because if that was the case I didn't think we'd do well together. She didn't need to change for me, and I didn't want it. I wanted the chick in the library who got angry at the guy who was being an ass, so she threw a book at him and called him a (word you can't use on Head-Fi, but it starts with a "C"). By being herself, she is who I've wanted. (Awww... yeah, yeah, whatever.)


A `48 Mercury as a DD? As long as it isn't bone-stock. I'd get the cooling system and suspension updated, also have the powertrain rebuilt and refitted. Otherwise, it should be pretty good. Oh... brakes... yikes. Maybe get front discs too?

Yeah, obobs, trading the CTS-V was stupid. Monumentally. I got the M5 on a spur of the moment thing, and I don't regret buying it, but I should have just kept the Caddie too. I think they only gave me $25k for it and it had ~30k miles on the clock. Now that I'm building the new garage (and I decided that I am) I'm probably going to get another one, likely an `09 or `10 with a manual, this time in metallic blue.

Also, I'm in full negotiation on the Corniche, if we can bridge a small pricing gap, I'm getting it. I'm waiting for them to get back with me tonight or tomorrow because it's a consignment and they're going to take the offer to the owner. The Bentley/Rolls/Jag repair shop in town can handle the relatively minor restoration, which is mostly interior stuff. A 6.8L English V8 with 236whp and gets a massive 8mpg, very practical. Heh.

I know Jeeps today aren't what they were, but they don't seem to be that bad to me. But I did check around and very good condition V8 CJ7s, the LWB model, are going for around $10000. All things considered, I'd rather go that route. I owned a CJ5 and I loved it, but it became extremely impractical when I moved into an apartment in the city, so I sold it.
Edited by Magick Man - 9/12/12 at 3:58pm

Now you're talkin', that kicks a**. Big, sweeping fins rule! Be a boss, get one of those and use it as a DD.
Edited by Magick Man - 9/12/12 at 8:19pm

Yeah, that's an issue, though I've seen them with more modern I6s and V8s transplanted into them. I know that kills some of their classic flavor, but it makes living with them a lot more bearable. If/when I get the Corniche, it's going to be a small-scale environmental disaster. I know I'm going to want to drive it somewhat regularly, so will the Mrs, but at 8mpg it's a little silly. Neither one of us is what you'd call a hippie environmentalist, but still.

Oh, I love her to death. She's also my best friend, and we can, and do, talk about anything. When my life flipped upside down, the inheritance thing, I didn't gain friends, I lost them. Many of the people I'd known for years, even decades, turned predatory and started to act like they were entitled to me fulfilling their wildest dreams. When it became apparent that I wasn't going to do that, they became angry, even hostile. Sure, I'd pickup the dinner tab or get them something cool for Christmas, but I wasn't going to pay off their debts or hand out wads of cash. I didn't turn into Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, but in their eyes I was close enough. And most women I dated... let's just say it was like swimming around the Great Barrier Reef while bleeding. It made me kinda paranoid.

I had a habit of spending a good bit of time at the college library; one, because it was semi-social, yet peaceful, and two, because it was a good place to meet more cerebral women, this included a smokin' hot blonde who worked there (out of my league), amazing bum. I talked with her a little, usually about books and school. She was funny, smart, sort of crude, and obviously struggling to stay afloat but kept on going. Suffice it to say, I liked her. Anyhow, as I said, she was struggling, she didn't say anything to me about it, but I overheard her tell one of the girls she worked with that she'd spent all her food money that month on a vet trip and meds for her cat. Sooo, I was sneaky and found out her schedule, and ordered; pizza, Chinese, subs, pretty much anything that could be delivered, and had lunch anonymously sent to her on the days she worked. I kept that going for a couple months. Yeah, the retirement left me with time on my hands, but it was fun. Then I thought it over and stepped it up a notch, and well, I anonymously setup a literary scholarship, for her. It wasn't huge, I didn't want to draw outside attention, but it was enough to help. Later on she mentioned it to me in conversation, the whole thing, saying it was like Oliver Twist, because she was an orphan too. How she felt she had a guardian angel, she liked it even if it unnerved her a little. Well, I thought I had been smooth, but during the talk I suppose I underplayed my hand. When I returned to the library a couple days later, the jig was up, I'd underestimated her and she'd sorted it out based on our talks. Trying to deny it would have been stupid, so I fessed up. She wasn't mad, she'd figured out that I hadn't done it in expectation, so she mostly wanted to know why. I was caught flat-footed, and I wasn't trying to be slick, I just said "because if I'd asked, you might have said no". So, anyway, I guess I done good, she ended up asking me out to dinner. Shocked me, I'll tell ya. We go places and young "studs" are like, "WTF? How'd he land her?"

Actually, she used the 4-letter one that's a more feminine reference. She doesn't use it much, but it is something she'll unleash if she's really mad at someone. I don't want to give the wrong impression, she isn't swearing every breath, far from it, but she definitely isn't afraid to uncork them when the situation calls for them (I'm not either, for that matter).


Nah, stick with steel. Frankly, I'd just change the suspension, brakes, radiator, and get a solid used 289 dropped in. Would be a fine thing.