Took a drive along the Lake Erie coastline through various small towns out to the Marblehead Peninsula to see the lighthouse...stormy weather, 60 degrees but looked more like a November storm at sea.    Didn't see too many interesting cars, but one that I noticed in particular was a '71 Chevelle--pale yellow w/ a black vinyl top--was going slowly on a street in Sandusky and making horrible grinding sounds like the driver was struggling to get it in gear. 

Dang! These guys are really good!

Parked on residential street : white circa 1981 Olds Toronado, very clean & straight.

56 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Parked on residential street : white circa 1981 Olds Toronado, very clean & straight.

You slumming in New Brumpfuss, DD?

38 minutes ago, balthazar said:

You slumming in New Brumpfuss, DD?

I haven't left the house all day. 

That's not what the tracking device I slipped onto your Toro tells me.

7 hours ago, balthazar said:

That's not what the tracking device I slipped onto your Toro tells me.

"... tracking device I slipped onto your Toro..."  I must have a dirty mind...

Portable solar charging station at local mall with Leaf plugged into it.    Lame munt so far.

Local dealer now has 2 Bolts red and blue.  No ZR2 pickups yet.  Also sawr a red metallic CT6, and a red Bolt on the road.

 

Bolt in the mall shopping lot, first I have seen with a trailer hitch.

EV Towing Power!

My local dealer has 1 Bolt; a white Premier.

I get a kick out of the Bolt listings : "0.0L"

On 9/2/2017 at 10:21 PM, balthazar said:

That's not what the tracking device I slipped onto your Toro tells me.

You don't need a tracking device for me, just look for the closest restaurant that serves some sort of good ethnic food and you will have no trouble locating me.

8 hours ago, balthazar said:

My local dealer has 1 Bolt; a white Premier.

I get a kick out of the Bolt listings : "0.0L"

You might loose respect for me for saying this, but I so want a Bolt.  Very nice looking vehicle, practical as hell, in expensive to operate, and unique.

Circa '68 Falcon 2-dr sedan, yello w black vinyl top, 16 or 17" Torque Thrust IIs, very clean.

20 hours ago, dfelt said:

Bolt in the mall shopping lot, first I have seen with a trailer hitch.

EV Towing Power!

Hey Skeeter... that is for a bike rack... not an Airstream. 

5 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Hey Skeeter... that is for a bike rack... not an Airstream. 

It actually can tow a class 1 trailer.  

5 hours ago, dfelt said:

It actually can tow a class 1 trailer.  

How do you know that, have you been reading up on these or somethin?

2 hours ago, ocnblu said:

How do you know that, have you been reading up on these or somethin?

 Yup, There are two fuses on the BOLT EV system identified as Trailer Interface Modules. There are 3rd party class 1 hitches and yes this is the same hitch used for Bike racks, Ski/Snowboard racks, etc. 

Currently Curt Manufacturing and Draw-tite are builders of these class 1 trailer hitches with a 1000lb load capacity.

Current bodystyle Beetle in white... lifted a few inches with black steelies and knobby off-road tires!   

On 9/6/2017 at 6:44 PM, ocnblu said:

Current bodystyle Beetle in white... lifted a few inches with black steelies and knobby off-road tires!   

As a fan and an owner of a current body style beetle, this seems fantastic!

circa '52 Chevy pickup, in driveway under a cover. The half grille & bumper peeking out were heavily rusted.

'70 Pontiac LeMans 2-dr hardtop, pale green, Rallye IIs, very solid unrestored, parked.

On 9/8/2017 at 5:23 PM, balthazar said:

circa '52 Chevy pickup, in driveway under a cover. The half grille & bumper peeking out were heavily rusted.

'70 Pontiac LeMans 2-dr hardtop, pale green, Rallye IIs, very solid unrestored, parked.

Sweet on the Lemans.

Came out from breakfast at a pricey french themed restaurant with friends Sunday morning to find a pale yellow 65 corvette Fuelie convertible sitting out front. Big brake upgrade, billet aluminum wheels, late model corvette seats. Otherwise looked original.

Counted 3 Rolls Royce parked or in traffic on my way to pick up my daughter from School the other day.  Sad day in Mudville when a Rolls Royce is much more common in Columbus Ohio than a vintage Muscle car.

Walked out my front door and heard a car start up down the street, classic muscle car rumble...turned and looked to see a gorgeous black w/ red stripes '69 Mustang Mach 1 pulling away from the curb, pulling into a driveway, backing out then driving away...

icy green '69-70 Eldorado, parked in driveway, very clean.

Circa '75 Merc Marquis, red, worn but solid. These are ever bit as horrid stylistically as I remembered (haven't seen one of these in some time)- despite their awe-striking size.

Took my buddy's '70 Catalina on a half mile trip down the road, loved driving it.

Moved a 3rd generation Camaro around a lot, black, raggedy, one of those dumb-assed B&M ratchet shifters no one can figure out how to operate smoothly. So frustrating I think I could rip it out with my bare hands and throw it thru the windsheild and be happy about it.

Edited September 18, 20178 yr by balthazar

Not my pic, prolly some years old, but I'm a bit amazed.

Anyone know the year/model of the car peeking in from the far right? I know I know it, but it's not coming to me quick.

 

The reason I post this is; the car to the right dates this pic as relatively recent, and the finned machine is obviously a daily-ish driver. It's certainly unrestored. The significance? It's a top-line '58 DeSoto Adventurer, one of only 350 built. 2-dr hardtop or convert (only 82 of those built), packing a 345 HP 361 dual quad Hemi... and there it sits on a public street. A '58 has sold as high as $264K at auction, a '57 has cleared $340K.

Edited September 18, 20178 yr by balthazar

3 hours ago, balthazar said:

Not my pic, prolly some years old, but I'm a bit amazed.

Anyone know the year/model of the car peeking in from the far right? I know I know it, but it's not coming to me quick.

 

The reason I post this is; the car to the right dates this pic as relatively recent, and the finned machine is obviously a daily-ish driver. It's certainly unrestored. The significance? It's a top-line '58 DeSoto Adventurer, one of only 350 built. 2-dr hardtop or convert (only 82 of those built), packing a 345 HP 361 dual quad Hemi... and there it sits on a public street. A '58 has sold as high as $264K at auction, a '57 has cleared $340K.

2010-ish BMW 7 series.

^ looks like it has a California plate, and it's on a hill, so I'm guessing it may be in San Francisco.  One thing I've noticed--both in the reader photo section of Collectible Automobile--and in my own travels, San Francisco has an unusual variety of old cars parked on the streets in the residential neighborhoods, seemingly still being driven often.  You don't see that in most cities...

3 hours ago, ocnblu said:

2010-ish BMW 7 series.

Got it- '09-10 6-Series. Wow, that's a valuable beater worth more than the BMW behind it.

6 hours ago, balthazar said:

Got it- '09-10 6-Series. Wow, that's a valuable beater worth more than the BMW behind it.

BMW's depreciate to the proximate value of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich once they are out of warranty.

On 9/5/2017 at 7:56 AM, dfelt said:

 Yup, There are two fuses on the BOLT EV system identified as Trailer Interface Modules. There are 3rd party class 1 hitches and yes this is the same hitch used for Bike racks, Ski/Snowboard racks, etc. 

Currently Curt Manufacturing and Draw-tite are builders of these class 1 trailer hitches with a 1000lb load capacity.

Unfortunately, I have to side with @ocnblu here (only the result is unfortunate). 

That 3rd party tow-bar is for accessory mounts only... i.e. bike racks, cargo carriers, etc.

Official GM rating is - "The vehicle is neither designed nor intended to tow a trailer."  Source: Chevrolet Bolt EV Owners Manual - Page 246 (PDF warning)

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Unfortunately, I have to side with @ocnblu here (only the result is unfortunate). 

That 3rd party tow-bar is for accessory mounts only... i.e. bike racks, cargo carriers, etc.

Official GM rating is - "The vehicle is neither designed nor intended to tow a trailer."  Source: Chevrolet Bolt EV Owners Manual - Page 246 (PDF warning)

Yes they have published this and so did Tesla before revising it and approving the trailer hitches. I also suspect they know if can be used as a class 1 hitch otherwise why bother having the trailering / towing interface modules. 

Yes I am sure people will say using off the shelf what they already have built. Yet, proof has been done already by Tesla and more so GM has always overbuilt their auto's. I do not see this being any different.

I would not be surprised to see that passage disappear in the future.

57 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Yes they have published this and so did Tesla before revising it and approving the trailer hitches. I also suspect they know if can be used as a class 1 hitch otherwise why bother having the trailering / towing interface modules. 

Yes I am sure people will say using off the shelf what they already have built. Yet, proof has been done already by Tesla and more so GM has always overbuilt their auto's. I do not see this being any different.

I would not be surprised to see that passage disappear in the future.

I think it will stay.  They never removed the "no towing" restriction on the Encore, though the Euro one is approved for about 1000 lbs. 

7 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I think it will stay.  They never removed the "no towing" restriction on the Encore, though the Euro one is approved for about 1000 lbs. 

The Euro Beetle and Euro Jetta are rated for towing, the American versions are not. I think a lot of vehicles are this way.

12 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

The Euro Beetle and Euro Jetta are rated for towing, the American versions are not. I think a lot of vehicles are this way.

Makes sense, Europeans tow small travel trailers (caravans) with compact cars, that would be unthinkable in the US. 

Just now, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Makes sense, Europeans tow small travel trailers (caravans) with compact cars, that would be unthinkable in the US. 

Trailers are balanced differently in Europe so smaller cars can get away with it.  Here in the US, trailers a larger percentage of weight onto the hitch, that's why cars run out of rating so quickly here. 

2 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Trailers are balanced differently in Europe so smaller cars can get away with it.  Here in the US, trailers a larger percentage of weight onto the hitch, that's why cars run out of rating so quickly here. 

And they are smaller...I've seen caravans in the UK, they are tiny compared to the typical US travel trailers..

37 minutes ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

And they are smaller...I've seen caravans in the UK, they are tiny compared to the typical US travel trailers..

Well yeah. Circular justification. I can't pull all this trailer without a Super Duty. I paid $70k for a truck, I'm going to get a trailer to match.

4 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Well yeah. Circular justification. I can't pull all this trailer without a Super Duty. I paid $70k for a truck, I'm going to get a trailer to match.

Given the new Ford super duty, I have no problem with this.  Not a Ford guy, but the current crop of Ford trucks could induce a near religious level of conversion real quick.

8 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Unfortunately, I have to side with @ocnblu here (only the result is unfortunate). 

That 3rd party tow-bar is for accessory mounts only... i.e. bike racks, cargo carriers, etc.

Official GM rating is - "The vehicle is neither designed nor intended to tow a trailer."  Source: Chevrolet Bolt EV Owners Manual - Page 246 (PDF warning)

I once flat towed 12,000 lbs with a four cylinder S 10...very slowly...but anything is possible.

Beautiful weather but unseasonably hot lately for this time of year (around 90), saw a bunch on interesting old cars out and about today.  A couple streets over from me saw a sharp dark olive green '70-72 Monte Carlo on Cragar SS wheels (couldn't see the front, so not sure of the year), on the road a sharp yellow '72 Buick GS convertible, top down, white interior; a very clean '87-90 Chevy Caprice--dark red w/ no vinyl top, white walls and wire wheel covers; and at Swenson's (NE Ohio drive in burger joint) a pair of well worn-but-still driven older Mopars--a red '69 Polara 2dr ht and a dark green '74-76 Dodge 4x4 pickup...sitting side by side. 

I like those fuselage body MoPars- tried once to buy a '69 Polara hardtop coupe with the SuprLite. Looked at another one about 10 years ago. Probably the last good looking full-size MoPars until the very late '90s/'00s.

I can't recall the last time I saw one of the fuselage C-bodies out and about..years, I think. 

Friend of mine is close- has a '68 NYer hardtop. An ugly, ugly thing.

'55 Imperial sedan, nice dark green, all stock & gorgeous, rolling along US 95 at a good, Hemi-powered clip.

A black current Mercedes S550 4Matic coupe in an Arby's parking lot.   Don't see the big coupes that often, pretty sharp.