KARNUT

3.39 Kroger’s in Montgomery Texas.

You ask. The answer is yes. I think the strategy is brilliant. Or do you like more death and destruction? Gas is going down here. Maybe you need to change who you elect. Quit with the ridiculous statements or questions. You won’t get these answers.

3.41 Kroger’s in Montgomery TX

If you were a classic car you would be a retro ride Thank goodness for modern medicine.

3.49 Kroger’s in Montgomery Tx. Going down still not the cheapest in my area. With my discount I paid 3.39.

We try to make cruise the coast. It’s where our favorite casino is. I only want to spectate. Never took a car. Always had one to take. I belonged to a club once. Even when I used to drag raced. It was during test and tune. Probably because I’m not a night owl, party person.

The problem with failure rates or increase failures are there’s people who don’t have a problem. What are you doing wrong they say. We had 4 5.7 GM diesel’s in the family when they came out. One was flawless. My uncle who happened to be the most abusive. Early rotary engines were known to use oil. I abused my first car so bad in six months I replaced the clutch, transmission and rear end. It didn’t use oil. My brother in law has a 2013 Tahoe and an older Yukon. The Yukon has 280K miles. The Tahoe around 175K. He runs them to about 300K. If his lifters fail before that time he would consider it a failure. My Hondas, I know people hate it when I mention them. Identical engines. One with cylinder deactivation one doesn’t have it. One shudders when the eco light goes on or off. Cylinder deactivation. But wait! According to the web. It can happen with lock up too. So now people in the know are changing the oil and transmission fluid more often. Then you read it could be a programing issue. So what do you do? There’s lots of money involved. I see three ways to deal with it. One only works if you don’t drive lots of miles. Lease, never get out of warranty. Or only buy older vehicles with a good track record. They all have bad runs. Usually when there’s a change. Even Toyota and Honda.

I still kick myself for not buying your last truck when you had it for sale. I had two at the time so I passed, damit.

I did some driving around the woodlands area and saw some 3.31 a gallon prices. Usually my local Kroger’s is the cheapest. It hasn’t always been here lately. I usually get the benefit of my Kroger card. I don’t add that in for this purpose.

3.51 Kroger’s in Montgomery Tx. Surprisingly they’re not the cheapest. That is unusual.

It use to be pretty common for me to add a Super Charger. The only way I would chance it today would be dealer install with a warranty. I only have experience with Ford. They are doing well so far.

I only bought two vehicles for personal use that weren’t leftover or CPO. A 94 impala SS and a 2001 Acura Intagra Type R. The impala I traded for a new Camaro for my son to go to college in at the dealer about 8 years later. The Acura we still have. Most of my work trucks were discounted for one reason or another. Usually a leftover. My last new vehicle a Camry was a leftover 2017. The 2018 was a redesign I got 10K off, unheard of for a Toyota. Today it’s hard for me to buy new. Five year old vehicles are known if there’s a problem is easy to look up and they are depreciated. There’s a few manufacturers that will certify vehicles with 100K miles on them. None of my vehicles owe me anything. I’m money ahead. The money Ive saved if my vehicle failed on a trip. If it was cost effective to leave it and buy another. I wouldn’t think twice. My brother bought a Shelby Super Snake P/U. His shop Forman bought a leftover reg cab work truck and had the kit installed for less than half the price. Every time I go to my old shop I laugh at him. If all that makes you feel good go for it. I have more fun finding deals. I’m never locked in waiting to get right side up. The only way I’ll go new today is a lease. Short term. No worries. And only if it’s a deal

When I bought my 14 GMC I turned it off with an handheld programmer. With my 16 Odyssey I left it on solely because I didn’t have much money in the vehicle. There’s a device to turn it off that’s a little more involved. The GMC at 72 MPH the deactivation was on very little the deference was 1/2 mile per gallon. The Odyssey is on over half the time at 72 mph.

Oh my goodness I forgot one. And you can guess why. Olds cutlass diesel station wagon. I was constantly working on it. Very low mileage and very nice. I gave it to my brother and he converted it to gas.

I have pictures of the 66, the starfire maybe the 72. I can’t say too much. We have lots of pictures of the first born. Not many of the second. Lots of the third my name sake. Mainly because of sports.

I had a few olds. My first was a 61 super 88 convertible. A 66 442. A 72 cutlass that was modified with a 455, 400, 373. A 1980 Holiday 88. And 1980 cutlass with a 400, 700r4 373. The 72 was done by my brother while his wife was away for a week visiting her parents. She was pissed. She went out and bought another car. I bought it from him. The 80 could have been an 84 I can’t remember for sure. My favorite was the 66. A sleeper. I almost forgot my wife had a starfire. A real piece. Of course my wife loved the thing.

I remember watching one of the auctions on TV. It just happened that they had two little red express trucks. My brother bought one new in 1979, still has it. So I hung on to watch them cross. The retro redone example brought more bids and went for more money than the original one did. My brother has redone his 3 times and raced it. He’s now in the process of making more tame for cruising.

I like driver quality. I bought a 64 elcamino a few years ago. All original as it turned out. I didn’t know at the time. I made a low ball offer and got it. Black on black factory air 4 speed. It drove like a school bus. It had been awhile I had forgotten just how bad the old cars drove. So I planned on making it more of a retro ride. I would drive it to work sometimes. My brother liked to build cars, I liked to drive them race them. So he noticed the canister oil filter and open blow by tube. He checked the numbers. All original. 327, 250 hp close 4 speed, posi rear end. I put it on eBay made a tidy profit. I didn’t want the responsibility or headache. My wife already had a pristine collector vehicle. It lives in the climate controlled garage. I really don’t care what it is. I like to feel the sensation of speed. Let someone else have the responsibility. I’m too OCD. It used to drive me crazy. I can appreciate people who like to take the responsibility. I’m glad they do. I’ll look and remember back to those days. I’ll jump in the wife’s Genesis to get gas for her. Get my sensation of speed and be happy for awhile.

I used to love working on the old stuff. Mostly Chevys, majority Impalas with a few Novas. Usually for improved performance. Once computers and sensors started showing up I lost interest in working on them. I don’t have the patience. Anyone who can pull it off today has to have patience to do the research and can work in a confined area. Has to really enjoy it. The engine compartment is cramped. I’ve enjoyed the show.

Over the years of having a few in moderation, well almost always. And always fighting my weight Ive tried almost all the brands. Evan Williams takes up the liquor cabinet along side of Fire Ball and blackberry brandy. But in the flavor variety. I’ll admit I love margaritas. But it shows up scale the next day to remind me.

I get the same results with pictures. Then I figure it out. Then I forget. Screw it.

My family still laughs at me when they see me drive up in the minivan. Same with less than a V-8 truck. It helps that I have choices. I don’t think I could only have a minivan as the one and only vehicle as much as I like it. And I wouldn’t pass up a good buy on an older V-8 reg cab GM truck. Could you live Raven as the only ride?

You definitely can’t shift that faster with a stick. My wife’s Acura only does 60 in 6.2 seconds. For an early 2000s car it’s a fast 4cylinder.

If it has a stick I can have fun with it. When my wife first got her Acura years ago I used to tease her about it. I was only interested in muscle cars. They’re gone now. So once a month I drive the Acura. Every once in a while I’ll take it to Redline. But just normal driving on some twisty back roads usually does the trick.

Just visited them today. Went better than expected with a little hiccup. While they were changing the oil the service writer walks to the waiting area with a carfax report. The poor guy I bought the truck from either got taken for a ride or the dealer recognized he knew nothing about vehicles. The truck had more flushes and fluid changes than even Grumpy would do. Drive shaft CV joints, steering racks tie rods and 4 Wheel alignments. His drive to work is all highway. After that he buys another one. So out of all the things Honda said I needed they suggested just the timing belt. I asked if I could look at the bushings and brakes myself and they said no problem. The little problem the oil change guy didn’t notice the double stacked oil filter o ring. She leaked a little backing out to change lifts. I took a picture and they documented. They gave me a ride home and picked me up later. I did say your oil change guy needs to be made to understand proper filter exchange. I watch as all ways it didn’t run out of oil. I was satisfied. I will use them again.