Get Obama out of my ride

With cruisin’ season a few months away we get to
thinking of the time when gas was affordable. A
few short years ago when gas hit $3 a gallon, oil
was up over $150 a barrel. We are seeing those
prices again but oil is at around $90 a barrel.

Since a lot of experts are saying gas prices aren’t
headed anywhere but up, we wonder why. We are doing
more importing and less drilling. We can’t make gas
from coal or shale, and our food crop is being used
to make an inefficient “renewable fuel”.

Our oil companies can’t drill in the Gulf of Mexico,
but every other country in the world can. We believe
this also affected unemployment in the Gulf area
besides raising the gas prices. While Obama may do
a victory dance when gas hits $5 a gallon we still
can’t see him reaching his goal of 1 million electric
vehicles.

With that in mind we have to wonder when word is
going to come our way that the government wants to
take our old cars away. What if the EPA just said any
any vehicle made before the smog-pump era had to be
crushed? Or if they mandated a minimum mileage
requirement for all cars regardless of age?

Neither of our old cars has an overdrive transmission
so our 40′ Plymouth gets 10 mpg and our 48′ Chevy
probably doesn’t get much better. Or what if they told
us we would have to swap out our 4:11 rear gears for
some highway set? It would probably help mileage a
little, but would be a bear to launch.

And we are certainly not going to try E-15 in either
vehicle, nor want to go to the expense to convert them
to run it, natural gas, or propane.. It is one thing to
pay high gas prices for purpose but quite another to do
it just to keep the propaganda going.

We do not subscribe to the global warming, greenhouse
gas philosophy. Since we belong to a hobby group that
is a very small minority of the motoring public, we
don’t believe we contribute enough greenhouse gas to
make any difference.

Because of this we propose that the government change the
mission statement for the Just Eliminate Lies (JEL) group and
make them concentrate on all the lies being told in
Washington, D.C.
Comments are always welcome.

Up is down?

I admit to not being that sharpest tack in the box,
but every time I hear our president say the economy
is recovering I get confused. I’ll give you some of
the reasons why.

We’ve seen a second wave of home foreclosures, gas
prices are high, unemployment is still high, bankruptcies
are up, an all-time record high 43 million Americans on
food stamps, and 47.8 million of us living in poverty.

According to the Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency, there are 937 “problem banks” in our country.
And some of us think that if the banks and companies
that received bailouts didn’t, it would have not have
collapsed our country. Capitalism could have worked the
way it was supposed to.

This leads us to believe the recent “pep rallys” held
by our president are nothing more than early campaigning.
I also haven’t heard our president’s explanation for the
record high compensation of Wall Street Executives in 2010.
After these greedy capitalists caused our financial woes,
according to him, they received $144 billion in
compensation and benefits last year? And not a word of
outrage.
Comments are always welcome.

Hangover levels

Even though we longer drink, we thought we’d dedicate this post
to those who do. In honor of this we felt it only right to list the
different stages of hangovers so you can tell how much fun you
had the morning after the night before.

One Star Hangover (*)

No pain. No real feeling of illness. You’re able to function relatively well. However, you are still parched. You can drink 5 sodas and still feel this way. For some reason, you are craving a steak & fries.

Two Star Hangover (**)

No pain, but something is definitely amiss. You may look okay, but you have the mental capacity of a staple gun. The coffee
you are chugging is only increasing your rumbling gut, which is still tossing around the fruity pancake from the 3:00 AM
Waffle House excursion. There is some definite havoc being wreaked upon your bowels.

Three Star Hangover (***)

Slight headache. Stomach feels crappy. You are definitely not productive. Anytime a girl walks by you gag because her perfume
reminds you of the flavored schnapps shots your alcoholic friends dared you to drink. Life would be better right now if you were home in your bed watching Lucy reruns. You’ve had 4 cups of coffee, a gallon of water, 3 iced teas and a diet Coke — yet you haven’t peed once.

Four Star Hangover (****)

Life sucks. Your head is throbbing. You can’t speak too quickly or else you might puke. Your boss has already lambasted you for being late and has given you a lecture for reeking of booze. You wore nice clothes, but that can’t hide the fact that you only shaved one side of your face. (For the ladies, it looks like you put your makeup on while riding the bumper cars.) Your eyes look like one big red vein, and even your hair hurts. Your sphincter is in perpetual spasm, and the first of about five shits you take during the day brings water to the eyes of everyone who enters the bathroom.

Five Star Hangover, (*****)

You have a second heartbeat in your head, which is actually annoying the employee who sits in the next cube. Vodka vapor
is seeping out of every pore and making you dizzy. You still have toothpaste crust in the corners of your mouth from brushing your teeth in an attempt to get the remnants of the poop fairy out. Your body has lost the ability to generate saliva so your tongue is suffocating you. You don’t have the foggiest idea who the hell the stranger was passed out in your bed this morning. Any attempt to defecate results in a fire hose like discharge of alcohol-scented fluid with a rare ‘floater’ thrown in. The sole purpose of this ‘floater’ seems to be to splash the toilet water all over your ass. Death sounds pretty good right about now….
Comments are always welcome.

Cruise-in dates

The picture is just to remind us we are only one
month into winter. We have no idea how long it will
hang around but thought now would be a good time to
post the cruise-in schedules for the upcoming year.

The Quad City Cruisers schedule for 2011:

April 23, Cruise-in at SouthPark Mall, 6-9 pm.
May 21, Cruise-in at SouthPark Mall, 6-9 pm.
June 11, Open Run XXIX at SouthPark Mall, 6-9 pm.
July 9, Cruise-in at SouthPark Mall, 6-9 pm.
Aug. 13, Cruise-in at SouthPark Mall, 6-9 pm.
Sept. 17, Cruise-in at SouthPark Mall, 6-9 pm.

The River Valley Classics schedule for 2011:

June 4, Cruise-in at NorthPark Mall, 5-9 pm.
July 16, Cruise-in at NorthPark Mall, 5-9 pm.
Aug. 20, Cruise-in at NorthPark Mall, 5-9 pm.
Sept. 10, Cruise-in at NorthPark Mall, 5-9 pm.

While putting this post together earlier I had
the pleasure of receiving another mailing from AARP.
They wanted to remind me that my membership had
lapsed and sent me an easy reinstatement form. To
add insult to injury they included a genuine
cardboard membership card and tried to entice me
with the offer of a free travel bag for my important
documents. Since I have no need for cardboard cards,
travel bags, or the AARP, they may be waiting awhile.
Comments are always welcome.

The big question

Sometimes it gets hard to pick a subject on which
to feature in a post. We had the State of the Union
speech, the airport bombings in Russia, the economy,
and higher gas prices plus many more to choose from.

After a lot of thought, and prioritizing, we’ve
decided one question stood out above all the rest.
How did they do it? A friend sent me a short video
and asked if I knew how it was done. I did not.

But after watching the video way too many times I
have to think that someone who stops by our blog
may hold the answer. In my lifetime I have seen
thousands of burnouts done with just about every
conceivable vehicle, but this one has us stumped.

While we have seen this happen in movies after a
burnout we have never actually seen it on the street.
We still wonder if the video was staged and all
preparation done before the filming, or just an act
of God.

Since we have an enquiring mind we’d like to
know. So take a look at this video and let us know
if you figure it out. It is less than a minute long,
the burnout is great, and if you figure out the flames
please post what you think happened. If you don’t
know, welcome to the club.
Comments are always welcome.

American cars?

A discussion with a friend some time ago came to light
again with a debate on why more Americans don’t buy
the “Made in America” vehicles. Some even claim to
prefer a foreign car.

First, a little on what ‘made in America’ means when
it concerns our vehicles. Since 1994, the American
Automobile Labeling Act (AALA) under the control of
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
has had the final say on what is considered domestic
or foreign.

Under their guidence it is required that every new
vehicle sold in the U.S. must include the location of
final assembly, the percentage of domestic content, and
where the engine and transmission were built. But, being
the government, nothing is as simple as it seems.

The AALA considers any Canadian content as ‘domestic’.
To confuse the matter even more domestic automakers are
using more foreign parts while foreign automakers use
more domestic content.

Now that we’re confused we’ll give an example. Which
would you say is a domestic automobile, the Buick Regal
or the Honda Accord? The answer may surprise you. The
Buick Regal is assembled in Russelsheim, Germany with
21% domestic content, and is built on an Opal platform.
The Honda Accord on the other hand is assembled in
Lincoln, Alabama with 80% domestic content.

Okay, you may say, but what about a Lincoln? The luxury
end of Ford Motor Company. The Lincoln MKZ has 20% domestic
content, but the motor and transmission are made here,
while assembly is in Mexico! And because of that the UAW
defines it as a foreign automobile.

Ten cars listed in order of most domestic content are: the
Honda Accord 80%, the Chevrolet Corvette 70%, the Honda
Civic 70%, the Chevrolet Camaro 66%, the Cadallic CTS 65%,
the Ford Mustang 65%, the Ford Taurus 65%, the Chevrolet
Cruze 45%, the Hyundai Sonata 40%, and the BMW 3-Series 5%.

We’re told a good way to check is the VIN number. It should
start with a 1 (U.S.) or 2 (Canada) 3 (Mexico) and (4) is
anywhere else in the world.

If you would like to check our figures, verify for yourself,
or look at some neat charts and graphs, go here.
Comments are always welcome.

A closing, SOTU, boulevards, and more

Word came yesterday that MVR Hobby will close its doors
for good on April 9, 2011. After 40 years of business
Mel has decided to retire. If he hadn’t called, we
wouldn’t believe it.

We’ve been doing business with Mel at various locations
for many years. Everything from model kits, white metal
specialty parts, thin tubing, and even our Badger airbrush
to name a few things.

MVR Hobby is now located at 3515 Spring Street here in
Davenport, by the HyVee on East Kimberly Road. If you are
interested in the model hobby, be it cars, trucks, trains,
boats, diecast, hot wheels, or books, MVR has always been
our first stop. We’ll stop by several more times before
it closes for good.

We did not watch the State of the Union speech as we don’t
follow them anyway. I believe the last I’ve seen was a few
minutes of one of Bush’s. That was more than enough for this
lifetime. It seems to us these speeches are a combination
campaign speech mixed with all the bull they think we can
handle.

A friend asked me if the traffic calming boulevards on
River Drive could be used as a floodwall. At first glance it
sounded pretty far-fetched, but the more I thought about it
the more feasible it sounded. If they did sandbag all the
intersections, the river side would be under water and the
north side would have one way traffic. Perhaps they are
good for something after all.

With the city threatening to raise taxes over free parking
downtown we’ve noticed other issues have taken a back seat.
It appeared the city was ready to push for the four-year
terms for the City Council, and then nothing. It makes a
few of us wonder if they won’t just wait until the last
minute to announce it will be on the ballot.
Comments are always welcome.

Just a couple things

After a busy day yesterday we can only hope that today
is less hectic. We are getting prepared not to watch
the state of the union speech tonight and our planning
is almost done. Not sure what we will watch, only what
we won’t be watching.

With cruising season getting closer every day, we have
to wonder how things will work out if gas is at $5 a
gallon. Everybody from financial advisers, political
talk show hosts, to Donald Trump have said it’s going
to be that high this summer. We hope they’re wrong,
but it is coming.

At that price it would cost us $100 to fill up the
500. We can remember when you could buy a beater for
that kind of money. We also wonder what, if any,
impact the 15% ethanol blend will have. While the EPA
feels it will be a big seller, we have our doubts.

We saw in the paper today that the City Council is
having trouble trying to keep free parking downtown.
Once again we have those white elephants, also known
as parking ramps, and need the revenue from the meters
to pay for the ramps.

My memory might not be the best, but I seem to remember
being told while the city was pushing the project that
they would be almost self-sufficient. That the
occupancy rate projected would make them almost free.

If the city can’t figure out how to cover the cost of
removing the meters permanently, how can it afford a
bridge to Credit Island? We know, separate funds that
can’t be put to other uses.

This is a perfect example of why 4 year terms aren’t
needed. The current Council voted to try free parking
to see if it would work and now after a year, don’t
know how to pay for it. Shouldn’t they have planned
out how to make up the revenue that wouldn’t be there
anymore before testing the waters?
Comments are always welcome.

New numbers

We have another poll covering between 1-15-11 and 1-21-11.
These numbers do not represent the number of arrests or
tickets issued and we don’t imply that they do. We will list
the calls for the week mentioned and then the average for
this year to the last date listed, and the average from the
final poll of last year.

The week saw 30 assault calls, 18 burglary calls, 7 disturbance
calls, 14 larceny from a building calls, 11 larceny from a
vehicle, no shots fired calls, and 8 vehicle theft calls.

This brings the average over the first 3 weeks of the year to:

assault average is 18.6 per week
burglary average is 18 per week
disturbance average is 14.6 per week
larceny from building average is 16 per week
larceny from vehicle average is 7.3 per week
shots fired average is 2 per week
vehicle theft average is 4.6 per week

The averages from last years survey were as follows:

assaults averaged 16.33 per week
burglary averaged 28 per week
disturbance averaged 18.66 per week
larceny from building 6.66 per week
larceny from vehicle 11.33 per week
shots fired averaged 2 per week
vehicle thefts averaged 5 per week

Looking at the averages it appears that assaults are up,
burglaries are down, disturbances are down, larceny from
a building is up, while larceny from a vehicle are down,
shots fired are steady, and vehicle thefts are down slightly.

There are the numbers; some crimes were up during the latest
week and this raised the average, others were down and lowered
that average. When we get a little farther along we will look
to determine if there is a trend.
Comments are always welcome.

Some car things

We have a few things going on but thought
to take some time for a few updates. We
had the indoor car show this weekend and
from what we saw it had a good turnout
and a lot of neat rides. We took a few
pictures that can be seen here.

One guy who had a car in the show posted some
pictures here. It may sound hard to
believe, but the car looked better at the show
than it does in the pictures.

We have the cruise-in schedules for both the
Quad Cities Cruisers and the River Valley
Classics car clubs. The Cruisers will have their
cruise-ins at SouthPark Mall while the River
Valley Classics will move theirs back to the
NorthPark Mall.

We’ll post the schedules on friday as part of
the upcoming events. If you plan on attending
this years Torquefest, we also heard that the
Drive-In movie will be ticket sales only. There
are a limited number of tickets available but
they can be ordered early.

We also have the latest edition of our extremely
unscientific survey of police calls and will post
that soon.
Comments are always welcome.