turboDan - blog

Why American Cars Suck

Posted by Dan on Wednesday, March 22, 2006 at 9:04 PM

I like American cars. Actually, I should qualify that before I get inundated with e-mails from friends asking if I've had a head injury lately. I like old American cars. Detroit used to be the innovators. Well, if not truly innovative, they at least were never short on strange and interesting ideas. Take, for example, the gas turbine-powered Chrysler Ghia coupe.

On the way home from work today I pulled out behind a very interesting (read: I had no idea what it was, other than American and old) old car. I caught up to it quickly and managed to make out the Pontiac logo on the rear deck lid and a "Le Mans" badge as well. The other thing I noticed was the sound. It was very odd for a car of the late 50s/early 60s. It didn't sound like a V8, and as I later came to find out, that's because it's powered by a HUGE 4 cylinder. The car I saw was a first-generation Pontiac Tempest Le Mans (see pic at right, courtesy of Hub Cap Cafe). Some very interesting design and engineering went into this car. To begin with, it had a 4 cylinder engine (albeit a 3.2 liter 4 cylinder) in a time of V8's and inline 6's. It had a flexible drive shaft in order to minimize the ever-present driveshaft "hump" that intrudes into the passenger compartment of rear-wheel-drive cars. Also, to promote 50/50 weight distribution, the transmission was mounted at the rear of the car, with the differential. I find this strange as from what I've read, the car was otherwise not designed to handle well, but as I said... interesting ideas nonetheless.

So... what happened to Detroit? Unions. Specifically, the UAW. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against organized labor. Unions have their place and function. The problem comes when the union grows too powerful and the company ends up at the mercy of said union. This is what has happened with the UAW. It is beyond me, when companies like GM are reporting $10 billion or more in losses for 2005, how the UAW can argue about things like exactly how GM will let workers go, and how many plants will be closed. What they fail to see is that if they keep squeezing GM, and they go bankrupt. It might be nice to make $30 / hr screwing bumpers on pickup trucks, with full health benefits and a comfortable retirement package, but when the company signing your checks is in the financial shape that GM is, I fail to see where the union thinks they can continue bargaining. If the American car manufacturers don't do something about the unions, and do it quickly, they will lose out to the foreign manufacturers, who are building plants in their own back yard, with non-union labor, and very attractive wage/benefit packages. I think a lot of this hinges on the UAW getting its head of out its collective ass and realizing that it can't continue to demand the level of hourly wages and benefits it has from the big 3 in the past, and still have a company to come to work at in the future.

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Victory

Posted by Dan on Tuesday, March 21, 2006 at 9:28 PM

Remember my UPS rant from January? Yes... January. It's been a full THREE months since I first built and shipped my friend's computer, and a full TWO months since I received it back in a damaged state (you can find the original post here). After much more legwork than I should have done (keep in mind I paid for the insurance when I initially shipped the computer), and after providing pages and pages of documentation (repair estimates, proof of value, etc), then waiting around for the local UPS store to process... I HAVE SUCCEEDED! I have (rather, had... it is now in my checking account) in my hands an insurance claim check from UPS. Actually, it's from the UPS store. This is where things get interesting.

NEVER (I can't say this loudly enough) ship via a "UPS Store." You lose all of your ability to deal directly with UPS the shipping company in doing so, because in shipping from a "UPS Store", the UPS Store becomes the "shipper.". This means that when submitting a damage claim, the UPS Store (not owned by UPS, only licensed to use their logo and such) has to do all of the paper work. Rather, you have to call them on the phone and harass them every day until they submit the paperwork. Then keep following up each step of the way. While I'm a fan of abstraction in code, it sucks when trying to get an insurance claim resolved. The other interesting bit is that UPS is only obligated to pay the insurance claim to the "shipper of record", that being the UPS Store. So even though you paid the money for insurance, the UPS Store has no legal obligation to hand the claim check over to you. Nice, eh? From now on I'll be wrapping my shipments in 6" of bubble-wrap and shipping from the UPS hub 2 miles down the road from my apartment.

A random rant (well... that actually describes MOST of my posts). Why can't people park? I suppose it's the same reason that people can't drive in general, but it still pisses me off. Parking at my apartment complex is already limited, and with my Z currently occupying all of my garage space, I have to fight for what spots I can get with the Audi, be they desirable or not. Being that people KNOW parking is in short supply here, it annoys me that they insist on not paying attention to how they park. I think the above picture says it all. I backed into my spot, centered to within an inch between the lines, and perfectly parallel. I don't think I could even squeeze between my car and that Malibu if I wanted to. There damn well better be a mirror on the passenger side of my car when I go to work tomorrow morning.

Lastly, a brief update on the Z. The second coat of primer (with guide coat) has been sanded, and I'm working on filling in low spots, of which there are a good number. I think I was a little heavy-handed with my initial sanding in some spots. Oh well... as before, it's coming along at a good pace now and I have no doubts that it will be on the road by summer.

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I see a red car and I want it painted white

Posted by Dan on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 at 8:43 PM

It's been a while since I've done a Z post (or any posting for that matter), so I figured I'd update everyone (the readership here does number in the quantity of greater than 1, right? You people really should post comments) on what's happened over the past few weeks. Aside from me being sick. This sucked, because while I had the motivation to work on the Z (something that comes and goes), I knew I needed to be in bed, sleeping. Which is what most of my time from last Wednesday until Sunday was spent doing.

When I wasn't sick (or doing real work), I was (usually) working on my Z. The first coat of primer that I sprayed a couple of weeks back did a very good job of showing me all of the chips, dings, and scratches I missed during my initial sanding and Bondo work. I spent about a week and a half fixing all of that up and put a second coat of primer on last Tuesday right before I fell ill. The second coat came out much better than the first and there were only a handful of scratches here and there that needed taken care of. Tonight's task was to spray a "guide coat" over the as yet unsanded second coat of primer. The purpose of the guide coat (which should be a contrasting color from the paint underneath) is to be sanded off, and in doing so show any high spots (the primer below will show through first) and low spots (the guide coat will remain there even after the entire body has been sanded) in the body. These can then be filled with Bondo or glazing putty (think really thick primer that you can spread with a spatula).

I feel quite pleased with the pace that work has been progressing lately (aside from the 5 day or so break that was forced by my cold). I think I'll succeed this year in having the car back on the road by summer.

And, just to prove that my blog isn't always about cars, how about a quick look at what your chimp-in-chief has been up to? While perusing the forums over at fark.com the other day I came across a link to this disturbing White House document. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the entire purpose of the Department of Homeland Security was to, umm, secure the homeland. I'm not exactly sure what that has to do with religion, and I'm rather afraid to find out. In addition "faith-based" is such a stupid term. It pisses me off every time I hear it. Just because you call it something different ("intelligent design") doesn't change the fact that it's still just repackaged Christianity. We're inching closer to theocracy with every passing day. I pray to (insert your diety of choice here) that somehow (massive power outage forces everyone to use paper ballots?) we get the Republicans out of the White House in 2008.

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New Old Music

Posted by Dan on Tuesday, March 07, 2006 at 9:34 PM

Any of you who have spent any time around me know that I like music. A lot. I also like a lot of music, particularly music that other people seem not to have heard of (thanks Pandora). So I figured I'd spend a few paragraphs on the latest additions to my rather esoteric music collection.

I'm going to skip one of the three CD's I've acquired recently, because if you're not familiar with Motorhead then there's a high probability you've been living under a rock for the past 30 years, and therefore aren't reading this blog. As for the other two, they're slightly more obscure. However, as I find "new" (to me) bands, I am always interested to learn how they're connected to bands that I already know. Take Orion the Hunter for example. It was started by Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau in the early 1980's. The sound is markedly different than Boston's, but there are cues here and there (especially in the guitar work) to Goudreau's roots. If you're a fan of 80s pop-bordering-on-rock/metal, with lots of synth (I'm looking at you, Keogh), then this is a band well worth checking out.

The last album I picked up (ok... I actually do have one more in the mail... Amazon needs to stop making it so easy to buy stuff) was a greatest hits compilation by Slade. Virtually unknown in the United States (aside from some success in 1984 with "Run Runaway") but very popular in Great Britian (the band formed in London in 1966) in the 60's and 70's. Their style ranges from very Beatles-sounding 60s pop to 70s rock. They originally performed both 'Cum on feel the noize' and 'Mama weer all crazee now', which would later help bring California's Quiet Riot to fame.

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