Here’s a blurry look back at what it used to be like to sit behind the wheel of a vehicle – as opposed to a device. You will not the absence of a touchscreen – and an air bag. This latter is a thing most under-30s have likely never seen in a vehicle before.
Apologies for the blurry view. I’d get a better camera – but I have to pay the rent on the home I thought I owned instead…
. . .
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I had to google it to see it in focus, I love a RPM x 10 tach. Gee officer I was only doing 50!
Eric,
May I post a picture of the “dash” of my ’71 240Z?
Of course!
Ok, how is that done on your site?
I think you have to put it on a third party website & then post a link to it here.
’71 240Z, I wonder if it’s exactly like a 280Z? That car was an absolute blast to drive.
Via Wiki: “The Nissan S30, sold in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z but badged as the Datsun 240Z, 260Z, and 280Z for export”
Wiki image:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/1970-1973_Nissan_Fairlady_Z.jpg/1200px-1970-1973_Nissan_Fairlady_Z.jpg
Hi Helot,
The early 280Z (’75 & ’76) is basically the same car, slightly heavier, fuel injection, bigger engine, parking lights in the grille instead of under the bumper, and a 5-speed, some different console indicators to comply with the claybrook/nader “safety” hysteria. Oh, yes, a cattleshittic kuntverter. May or may not have been faster. Still, a nice sports car, and STILL fun to drive. Oh, yeah, they slaughtered the 911s in C/Production…
I’ll wait and see if Eric has any magic to reveal though.
Ha! What the, is a, “cattleshittic kuntverter”? I prolly used, & abused it. And, didn’t know it’s name? Idk.
[Disclaimer: Regretfully, I never owned one. Just drove my friends.]
I really like your comment, “May or may not have been faster”.
If yours is slightly heavier, that can be a good thing. I think.
I don’t think Eric is gonna splash any magic, this website is frugal. No bells & whistles, nor nothing fancy. Just cold hard truths.
…Brutal truths, & too many uncomfortable questions & facts. Most pansy-assed people can’t handle it.
‘“You Can’t Handle the Truth!” Scene – A Few Good Men (1992) Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9foKJ2ukNc
Hahahaha, seems I’m dating myself using car-terms from the golden era performance cars…
Cattleshittic kuntverter = catalytic converter
Yes, Eric should keep the site plain, simple, straight forward, with ZERO bells and whistles. If he gets too “uppity” and posts too many oppo-official narrative criticisms of TPTB, their lies and propaganda, and anything that offends the easily offended hypersensitive drones and ‘tards out there, he could get de-platformed, de-monetized, and the security for the site will be halted.
Yup, lotsa “pansy-assed” types floating around; far too many in fact, but that’s what happens when one doesn’t have a sense of humor, a thick “skin” from all the barbs and bloody noses from living in the real world as opposed to the safe-space echochamber.
I think the 240Zs were a tad faster than the 280Zs bc they didn’t weigh as much, weren’t strangled by the c-c. Then again, the 280Z was a decent response to the claybrook/nader “safety” and “smog” hysteria. Very easy to heel & toe in the 280 as well as the 240.
As a ironic fact, it turns out that switching from leaded gas to unleaded WAS a terriffic idea ONCE the C-C’s got straightened out. One of the main reasons the engine systems last as long as they do now. Of course, at the time, I was totally against unleaded and c-c’s but all is good now.
N
Hi Nike,
Have you got a link you can post to the dash pic? That’s pretty much the only way to post a pic in a comment here. When funds permit, I intend to have my computer guy build out a custom site with an area for people to post pics directly.
Eric,
check ur email…..
Nike
‘We are becoming a world of fast fashion and even cheaper products. A throw away world. Everything is becoming like our cell phones.’ — Raider Girl
‘When Jessica Marquez’s boyfriend ripped his favorite jean jacket, he asked if she could fix it. Marquez, a “visible mending” maker, teacher, and author, began researching hand-embroidery techniques she could use to fix the rip. She came upon sashiko, a Japanese mending technique involving a running stitch and geometric patterns.
‘As she practiced, she realized that she wanted to start using the same technique on her own clothes. A favorite pair of jeans now has four mends, each rip patched up with darker denim and beautiful square fields of bright white cross-stitching.
‘For Marquez, visible mending “becomes a means of self-expression.” In mending an item of clothing in a highly visible style, she can turn a rip into a personal piece of art. Rather than trying to hide a garment’s flaws, she tells me, “it’s just something that becomes uniquely mine.”
‘In this way, visible mending is the antidote to fast fashion.’
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/3/25/18274743/visible-mending-sashiko-mending-fast-fashion-movement
Just spliced together a broken nichrome resistance wire in my vintage Proctor Silex toaster … then heated up a couple of slices of homemade jalapeño-cheddar sourdough. No ‘smart home’ internet connection … no douchescreen flashing recipes and ads … it’s just old-school analog: does what it’s told, and otherwise keeps its mouf shut.
“it’s just old-school analog: does what it’s told, and otherwise keeps its mouf shut.
”
HA! Perfect.
Kudos to her for trying to save her clothes. Sewing is an art form, but no amount of threading is going to be able to fix a cheaply made product. Plus, what happened to that poor sweater?!
I have a Proctor Silex hand mixer that I purchased from Walmart twenty years ago for $19.99. At that time they were made in Mexico. She is still going strong. My youngest sister keeps telling me that I need to buy a real mixer (one of those Kitchen Aid ginormous ones that take half of the counter). No thank you. Cookies dough mixes just as well with two hand held beaters and I am maintaining arm strength to boot!
“ It is sad watching these heritage brands crumble before our eyes “
And very frustrating – I have very old Van Heusen and Arrow shirts in size Large Tall that still fit fine even as the years added a “few” pounds. At 6-1 I cannot wear a standard shirt, tails way too short. Also those shirts were a no iron 65/35 cotton poly blend that looked fine out of the dryer, comfortable and wore like iron. Also reasonable price.
If I can find them, the LT size isn’t even close. Now it’s XLT that hang off my shoulders and just look goofy. So, my go to is LLBean where a LT is still the proper cut. I like the 100% cotton for comfort but they must hang dry and without the poly blend the collars fray quickly. Then the price, nearly $60 for a “casual” shirt, made in Malaysia.
Sorry, was supposed to be reply to RG below.
Hi Sparkey,
I just went through my old business suits (blazers, cashmere sweaters, silk blouses) that I was going to donate to Goodwill. Most of the stuff was 20-25 years or older that I purchased from Woodward and Lothrop and Hecht’s (may they Rest in Peace). Still in great condition, but no longer fit my frame. I asked my daughter if she wanted any of it before I dropped it off and much to my surprise she ended up keeping 3/4 of it. She said it was so much better than the crap made today. She wouldn’t be wrong.
I understand totally.
Success thru win win win !
My daughter finally allowed and now smiles when granddaughter chooses to wear her favorite hand me downs from older friends to school.
Hi Rain,
That is good to hear.
I have a few of my maternal grandmother’s leather jackets with sable fur from the mid 1960s. I rarely wear them…they are attention getters. :). I know fur is considered a no-no in this day and age, but I am sure most people believe they are fake.
I wonder where today’s kids and their clothing will be 10, 20, 30 years from. Other than a few high end clothing manufacturers I just don’t see today’s stuff being passed down a decade or a generation from now.
‘my go to is LLBean’ — Sparkey
Understand the necessity, but watch out. A couple of years ago I redeemed an LLBean gift card received as a birthday present.
Suddenly my USPS mailbox was deluged with appeals from hard-left activist groups. I complained to LLBean. They admitted to having sold my name to their mailing list clients.
It’s taken me until now to shake off these pests — including half a dozen increasingly nasty, profanity-laced snarls to the rich, zionoid panhandling operation ‘Southern Poverty Law Center’ in Montgomery, Alabama.
I won’t deal with LLBean anymore, unless it’s through a commissioned mystery shopper who takes the junk mail hit on my behalf.
Interesting story, Jim. Hubby and I just went into LL Bean for the first time a few months ago down in Charlottesville. I was underwhelmed by the selection of women’s clothing, but hubby found several items he liked in the men’s section. He easily dropped a few hundred. When we went to check out they demanded our phone number. I refused to sign up for their rewards plan and would usually walk when I am “demanded” to supply info, but I could tell by the look in hubby’s eyes that he wanted the items so I put in the phone number of my ex best friend from high school. I hope she gets lots of mail and phone calls.
Petty? Extremely.
They demanded the phone # or otherwise there would be no sale?
An, “I can’t proceed without your phone #” type situation?
If so, wow.
A type of shrinkflation has happened to some (all?) of their products. Not too many years ago I bought their warmest parka. It wasn’t half-bad.
Thought I bought the same thing last year, only with some so-called, “improvements” which turned the parka into a miserable low-grade mild-cold outerwear. The Techno-Down was so danged thin it rendered it almost useless to me.
Then, the liners of their chopper mitts got thinner & the cuffs shorter.
It’s a trend with many Winter gear makers. Don’t even get me started how the once ultra-great Kauffman Sorel Pac Boot got transmorgified by Columbia and is now a thin soled fashion accessory suitable for maybe 40F degrees.
Anyway, Eric’s video sure was a teaser, revved it up & said, ok now I’m going for a drive & you’re not coming along. Ha!
Made me wonder, who will be the first car manufacturer to someday ‘bring back’ the retro look of analog gauges? ….Hey, a fella can dream.
They did. Most of the time I make a fuss, but hubby shook his head at me so I didn’t. He found some decent quality thermal undershirts to wear during the winter so he loaded up on them. He may have also purchased a light jacket, too.
I hate the flimsiness of most of today’s clothes. The thread is so thin and the buttons feel like they sewn on by kindergarteners during a school project. There are few quality clothes manufacturers out there, but they do cost an arm and a leg and they usually aren’t good for working in.
Yes, I’ve been noticing things like stitching of buttons, zippers & such. Never much cared to notice before.
I’ve been trying to find a pair of Winter work gloves which are warmer than my Made in Pakistan deerskin Thinsulate lined work gloves. So far, big fat nothing.
Of the gloves I’ve tried, I sure do notice the crappy stitching on some, and notice when it’s done well on others. Quality work is very rare.
Most annoying are those shrinking tongues on running shoes.
Bad move.
You should have torn up their literature and sent it back in their return postage envelope to run up their costs.
SPLC paid the postage on every one of my foam-flecked denunciations, including one that threatened to forward a large rock at their expense.
Good man.
Why analog gauges? Quick glance lets you know all is well or something going bad. The memory picture of water, oil, electric gauges. Look at the cluster, all the pointers match the memory picture all good. With digital number readout your brain has to determine “is 30 good or bad? How about 25, 40? What was that number when I looked five minutes ago?”
Digital Voltmeter and maybe clock, Analog everything else. Best way.
Notice also, the turn signal stalk is – just for the turn signals and maybe the high/low beam. Also made of metal, not plastic. It had a nice solid feel to it as well. Not the wobbly inch thick gob of plastic with cruise control & wash/wipe/butt scratch built into it these days. The first giant wobbler multi task I encountered is our ‘91 Chev truck.
I’ve restored a lot of cars. In the 19 teens, there were few or no instruments. By the 1930s the basics were there, Speedo, oil pressure, temp, fuel, and ammeter. Later some got tachs and the ammeter became a voltmeter, then they started disappearing for idiot lights as cars got reliable and Jane average didn’t look at the oil pressure anyway.
What strikes me about Eric’s TA is that the degradation had already progressed. In an enthusiast car there is a clock in the tach, a couple gage holes are blank, and the temp and oil pressure are combined.
Still and all, a real contrast to glaring touch screens everywhere.
Yes and the gauges had names not symbols!
Your comment about names on gauges reminded me of the saying about not giving names to livestock we intend to eat.
…There’s a connection there, me thinks.
An Analog Look Back
Last year a British professor, Deyan Sudjic, published a book titled The World of Analog: A Visual Guide.
‘The perfect antidote to your digital diet, this delightful eulogy of all things analog crosses categories and generations to celebrate the timeless allure of tactile experience and real- time interaction over the evanescence of the virtual,’ says the cover blurb.
An earlier book, by David Sax, is titled, The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter.
Auto makers such as Mercedes Benz are totally missing the boat, as they degrade their brand with cheap and nasty digital douchescreens. Probably in plastic Germany they don’t read ol’ William Faulkner’s Appendix: Compson, added to his novel The Sound and the Fury (1929) sixteen years later:
‘These others were not Compsons. They were black:
‘T.P. Who wore on Memphis’s Beale Street the fine bright cheap intransigent
clothescars manufactured specifically for him by the owners of Chicago and New York sweatshops.’Yep, ol’ Bill nailed the Mercedes buyer demographic!
Hi Jim,
It isn’t just the auto manufacturing destroying their brands, but industries across the board. I know next to nothing about cars, but I do follow fashion and retail quite a bit. Once legacy brands (Mercedes, Cadillac, Balenciaga, Gucci, Lord N Taylor, Saks, Ethan Allen, Lazy Boy) are dying a slow and torturous death. We are becoming a world of fast fashion and even cheaper products. A throw away world. Everything is becoming like our cell phones…continuous upgrades that do more to degrade the product and frustrate the consumer. Today’s world motto “trash it and buy a new one” has now become the backbone of today’s economy.
It is sad watching these heritage brands crumble before our eyes. Even worse, the non existent customer service. Everything is now through some chat box. We have lost the personal touch of connection.
I find more contentment walking through an antique store or an estate sale and admiring what quality and pride once was than anything produced today (exceptions for the furniture makers outside High Point, NC that still give a crap and who I will happily purchase from).
I used to live in High Point. At that time in my life, I was able to buy some pretty nice stuff from the storefronts representing local manufacturers. It was beautiful merch. Unfortunatley, it all got lost in house fire.
About 4 years later, virtually all of the manufacturers went to the Far East, esp china.
Hi swamp,
There are a few furniture manufacturers still down there, but many are being replaced and the furniture manufacturing being transferred to China or Vietnam. A few years back we bought a leather sofa from Hickory Chair out of Hickory, NC. Not only is it well made and has held up better than any couch we have had, but underneath the cushions is a small thank you card that names each person that worked on it from the person that handled the wood, to the leather, to the cushions, and even the tacking. About four people total and each of them signed their name what they were responsible for. I thought it was a nice touch and it made me feel good purchasing it.
…[Writes down: “leather sofa from Hickory Chair out of Hickory, NC.”]
Hi helot,
I am simp like that. I appreciate the little touches and if I can get quality pieces made here in the States I am all for it. The only other company that I know who does this is Strathberry handbags which are made in Spain. They have a little note thanking you for buying their product and the person who handcrafted and inspected it. They also come beautifully wrapped if you order directly from them.
I have gotten to appreciate those little handwritten notes you mention.
I got one with a quality sheet of felt I bought from Imperial Yarn (for Winter insole).
Another with the Structured Water Unit I’m testing out.
Maybe everyone here would be interested in it? I thought the benefits are impressive:
https://www.tiamurphyholisticwellness.com/product/nu-force-personal-water-structure-hydration-unit
I wrote down your couch mfg because every couch I have looked at has not impressed me, same with recliners. The Ashley & Lazy Boy ones in mid-priced just not what I thought they could be and I just can’t spring $1800 for a top of the line recliner.
Twice (3 -times?) what I paid for most of my first cars.
Thanks for the link. That is a good idea for an “on the go” water system.
Just to note: you may not like the price of the leather sofa from Hickory Chair. I also have a small loveseat from them that is fabric covered. I purchased this from Greenfront Furniture in Farmville. That was $1300 and I have had that one for over seven years now. Also, just as good as the day we purchased it. No cushions sagging or squeaky springs.
My feeling is buy once and never have to replace.
Yah, buy once, cry once.