The Thing is a masterpiece and masterclass. All in one. I love films that age perfectly. I also love horror, as it reflects the psychic panic and trauma of the day and age they are born in. If we're going down this road, I suggest literally any film from Cronenberg, as almost everything is virus related. Videodrome, Scanners, Rabid, Shivers, etc. Just remarkable work.

 

My brother and I flew back home from my parent's place and lost all electrical power over Nevada. The engine continued on with the magnetos. We used text messaging to alert an airstrip that we were coming in without Nav/Comms/transponder and had no power to landing gear. We got the gear down manually and taxied in after an anti-climatic landing.

 

If there was ever a situation to make me go eeeeek.....

 

Carpenter also did "Vampires." Definitely an interesting spin on the genre.

Ever seen "Star Crash"? Riding on Star Wars coattails, and it's got Marjoe Gortner! I think there's some dialog in it like this:

"Die from my deadly rays"
"Your deadly rays will be the death of you!"

Pure dialog gold.

I'd forgotten about the failed "Dune" project. He wanted to do it as a 15 hour film, so it was doomed, but mad props for going big. The documentary looks streamable for $3, so I'll figure a time when I can properly enjoy it.

I saw Videodrome back in the 80s and though OMG WTF? That's a weird one. Scanners is a little more approachable, if I can use that term with Cronenberg.

Since I've been working 50+ hour weeks through this, I haven't been able to catch up on what I might have. I was thinking I might watch "The Prisoner" through again, or "I, Claudius." I've got some Samurai films to watch too.

Did more yard work today as a break from the screen, 'cause the weather is really nice. It even got too warm for the heavy stuff. It might be that Vik wins for most "interesting" activity: Landing a private plane with no electricity? Glad that worked out!

 

I’ve got some hanger stories as well. Might be worth starting another thread. Just need to rationalize how it belongs on this sub-forum.

 

Yikes - must have killed the battery by plugging something into the plane’s OBD port.

 

Stories about using hangers to gain illegal entry into automobiles not your own?

 

Update on my F Type and how I'm doing: Took her in yesterday for some warranty work and hung out at the dealership for a couple of hours. Got to see the newest F Types. One of the managers knows his Jag history, so we chatted. I asked all the questions to learn more.

It was a little scary to drive the F while it snowed and temps were well below freezing. Every time I passed an overpass on the highway, I could feel the car react minutely to the ice under the overpass.

 

Turns out the alternator belt broke. I'm guessing it was somewhere past Rawlins, Wy, where we stopped to Fuel. I'm not sure how long the electronics last on just the battery alone. My guess would be about an hour, but that's just a guess. In the category of bad luck has good luck, we had just switched fuel tanks (electric fuel pump engaged to get things going, then turned off after 10 seconds) and we had just received radio clearance to fly through an MOS area (Military Airspace). We were also on the final push for home, so we didn't need to put down in the middle of nowhere. Since there were two of us, as well, one of us could fly while the other worked through the checklists and attemtped to brings things back to life and reached out to coordinate the landing. If anything, this experience was a testament to the built in redundancies on airplanes and procedures to cover seemingly any issues. We just went through the stock Piper PA-24 check sheet and on the back was listed procedures for the issues we were having, including manually deploying the landing gear. Fun fact: to have the gear reset, the plane needs to be lifted by a crane.

Unhindgd, I'd love to swap stories. After high school, I worked as a line boy for a few months and saw some things. I also have some great tales of cross country journeys with my father and my own experiences with flight training (I was rated for spins, loops, rolls, hammerheads and split S at 6 hours).

 

Well since we have wandered and all. Flying back from the international fly in at Oshkosh WI in the 70's I was in the back with my cousin, Dad in front, Uncle was flying a 4 seater Cessna (forget the model) with a welding helmet on and he was going to fly off instruments only for our return trip. About dusk something did not sound right with the engine and then the prop came to a complete stop. Boy did it quiet when engine that shut down. The welding helmet flew off hitting me in the face (still have the scar) and all hell broke loose upfront. I'm sure it was only a few seconds but it seemed like forever and they figured out we had run out of gas and switched tanks. I will never forget the picture in my mind of that prop not turning at 5,000 feet.

 

You are a scholar and gentleman, literally. It's not just a saying.

 

1) I am not sure I mentioned, and this isn't about me, but my uncle passed away from Covid 19 last Wed. He had been on a ventilator for a week, and had clear instructions to give it up to someone else if he wasn't improving / declining. Pretty tragic, especially as you can't be with nor grieve with that loved one, nor can you grieve with your children, family, etc. Let me tell you from experience... a zoom call to grieve is utter and absolute ****. But it's all we have. My aunt has it and is improving, at least. My father's sister, but losing my uncle is rough. He's the main reason I got into cars, or at least the major reason. He was a corvette guy, but he did build a kit Shelby Cobra once, never satisfied decided to shove in AC and power steering. I cannot even imagine working on a car on the level some of you do.

But being a Corvette guy, a famous Corvette friend of his named Rick Conti found out Greg passed when my aunt had to call and cancel his order for the mid-engine 2020 Corvette he was waiting on. Rick made a 3+min video as a eulogy / wake of sorts. It's really sweet, and coming from Conti, quite a special treat:

2) I also know someone mentioned the Cannonball Run record, but not sure we put up an article:
https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...d-coronavirus/
People upset that it's "cheating" or not fair in using open roads may need to remind themselves that the whole endeavour is risky and illegal. We may have talked about this.... NY To Redondo Beach in 26h35m approx. Wow! If life went south for me, and it currently is, this might be a fun thing to see if I could put a spare tire on my luggage rack and tear it up. lol

 

When I was in my teens/early 20's, my dad had a Cessna 310 (twin engine, low wing). We took quite a few long trips in it and I was usually the auto-pilot. One time, while we were over the middle of nowhere and he was taking a nap, I lost engine #1. I started going though all the checklists and then noticed that engine #1 was running off the left reserve tank, which was out of fuel. I switched it back to the main, re-fired the engine and was off again. My dad let out a little chuckle as it turned out he was not napping afterall...

 

That's awful to hear. So sorry. Our present times has reminded me in more ways than one of Sept 11. I was living in NYC then, and in the days immediately following it felt as if everyone was just waiting to hear who we knew had died. I found out last week that a childhood friend died of COVID. He was one of those young and healthy outliers that is now changing the commonly understood narrative about this disease.

I find myself simultaneously thinking that everything cannonball is a spectacularly stupid and also that any runs right now are so different from normal that it's not the same sport. Recent winning runs have had massive planning and support teams in separate cars scouting traffic and running interference for police in each state. It was an accomplishment of logistics, much more than driving. This latest run was... a bunch of guys deciding on the spur of the moment to get on the road because they were empty. Cool... I guess?

 

Damned spellcheck!

 

Fishbits, I just read about your Uncle. I don't have the words.

Vik

 

So sorry to learn of your loss Condolences to you and you entire family. Losing a car lover is a tragedy no matter where they are and losing someone who was influential in your love of cars is even more sad. I’d bet no matter what faith folks have or have not, your uncle is right now driving the car he has always wanted to somehow somewhere.

 

Apparently, the collector and high performance market isn't dead or even dying yet. Plenty of folks taking opportunity of their spare time to indulge in their automotive interests:BaT Market Snapshot: April 2020



This 1952 Jaguar XK120 once owned by Hollywood film icon Clark Cable sold for $276,000 on 4/10/20.

BaT continues to see record site traffic and strong results this month. Here are some statistics on auction activity through the first two weeks of April (and % change from April, 2019):

• Total # of bids: 16,265 (+35%)
• Value of lots sold: $13,571,969 (+35%)
• New users: 7,573 (+49% )
• Average auction views: 14,552 (+4%)
• Average auction watchers: 785 (+24%)

Sold for $310,013 on 4/1/20







Sold for $263,500 on 4/7/20







Sold for $250,000 on 4/6/20







Sold for $195,000 on 4/3/20







Sold for $185,000 on 4/7/20







Sold for $147,100 on 4/6/20







Sold for $135,400 on 4/3/20







Sold for $135,000 on 4/9/20







Sold for $117,500 on 4/1/20

 

Decided to take advantage of a cool and sunny morning. Streets seemed quiet, so my wife and I took out the R and went for a drive. Our metro area has 2 garage condo campuses (aka automotorplex). I went to both. The second one was accessible so we drove up and someone was actually there to take us on a tour. I parked behind his Audi S5, and he asked if I was interested in seeing a BRG Project 7. Uhm....yes!!!

Looks amazing in person. Nice to see that the owner of the business behind the automotorplex has some good taste in cars. Now I'm dreaming of buying a man-cave.

 

Was out for a top down drive yesterday, and saw a red convertible in the distance in my rear view mirror. He was taking it easy, so I slowed down a bit. Bright red Cobra, great looking car. No clue if it was a replica.