The dealership I was service manager at was a relatively small lot - never had 20 new cars on the lot - from Tercel to Supra /Cressida including pickups and cruisers. The problem is NOBODY wants to wait 6 weeks for their new car. Not even 2 weeks. They want the dang thing YESTERDAY. THAT is what drives today’s…

Love it! I was going to buy a R4Simpar (4X4 version) in Zambia in ‘73 but it wasn’t ready (collision rebuild) when I needed it so I ended up with the Peugeot 204 estate instead - - -

Always had 2 on my firewall and a spare in the glove compartment. Other than that resistor the electrics were rock solid. Never had an electrical problem (other than the resistor)on the ‘63 Valiant, the ’69 Dart, or the ‘75 Dart sport. and the first 2 went roughly 200000 miles each.

When my ‘67 Peugeot 204 locked up a drive axle in Livingstone Zambia in 1973/74 there were no spares available and I needed wheels - so I bought a ‘49 Beetle that hadn’t run for about 10 years It had 15 inch wheels in place of the original 16s - which hit the front fenders on turns. I hammered the fender lips out to…

Generally speaking about 100 short of that point IF it has been properly maintained and not beat to within an inch of it’s life (driven hard and put away wet)

For a kid’s first car I’d want the one without the blower. That one’s too easy to get in trouble with. (My first car was a mini - youngest daughter a Colt 200 - oldest daughter didn’t get a car until in her 30s and got an Elantra GT) Now for a good highway cruiser / commuter - NP ALL DAY LONG - even if it IS a GM - 

Cop cars didn’t have standard fabric seats either

Like when my wife’s Kia had a recall and I took it in to the dealer and the “service manager” said he had to do a “walkaround” before filling out the work order to take note of any damage etc. - and when he came in he said I REALLY NEEDED a 4 wheel alignment because my tires were showing serious wear.

The guy I worked for as service manager was always about the last dime - never mind the last buck. I figured out it cost $10 to process a work order - from printing the form to filling it out to filing it.

I was a dealer service manager for 10 years. Well into my tenure a bigger dealership (Ford) was advertising for a service manager and I figured “what the heck, let’s see if I can do better”. I talked with the dealer principal and the job was basically mine for the taking until he asked what my pay expectations were.…

The CanAm brings back memories of the “Wonder Wheels” conversion on a Boa Ski snowmobile back in ‘71. Went like stink - and the fat tires were pretty much the suspension. It would do a single wheel burnout for half a block on warm pavement but I never trusted the darn thing in highway traffic. The 250 NSU Prima wasn’t…

Health care is NOT covered by the HST in Canada. Here in Ontario employers used to pay a “health tax” as one of the required “payroll taxes” - same as paying the workmans’ compensation insurance. They were “mandatory benefits” and part of the cost of doing business for a company with employees. It is now collected as…

Our HST is equivalent to the British VAT. If I as a business spend $10000 I pay $1300 HST. If I charge my customers 15000 for parts and labour, I collect $1950 HST and at the end of the month I submit the difference ($650) to Revenue Canada. In a bad month, if I spend $15000 and pay out $1950 in HST and only bill out…

13% in Ontario

I know lots of people who’s NEW cars have had a lot more trouble than my “experienced” ones. I can count on the fingers of one hand the times my used vehicles have let me down in the last 35 years and 3 of those were dead batteries.  That’s not counting a couple times I had to pump up a low tire on the driveway…

That’s one payment - that they are NOT making EVERY month. Instead of buying a new car, buy a decent quality cheap used car and open a second bank account. Bank that car payment every month and use it ONLY for car repair expenses. When the first clunker comes up with an ailment that will cost too much to repair you…

A lot of the “cheap” brazed frames had holes punched in the tubes where they were to be joined for the bronze to “key” into. The description of the cap being just kind of pressed into the top of the chain stay would lead me to suspect that is how this Schwinn was stuck together. They heat the joint and feed bronze…

There are still hundreds of brazed mild steel tube aircraft fuselages flying around - as well as every original Lotus 7 chassis - including most of the suspension.. A properly brazed joint is often stronger than the base metal. Butted or lugged frames are always brazed - with the exception of some aluminum frames that…

Tig BRAZING is an option though -

I’ve got a nice Raleigh Century I got as my first NEW bike for my 35th birthday back in ‘87 as well as a single suspension Bonelli “dumpster” bike that’s my current “beater bike”. Also a Schwinn i-zip that weighs about the same as my brother’s old twin tube CCM Cleveland - not counting the battery. Just upgraded it to…