Car Thread

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

I haven't been to the Smithsonian area since about 1995, need to get up there again!

Years ago I watched a show on PBS where they showed some government employees who worked for the Smithsonian restoring aircraft. The one they interviewed was working on a P47. I recall him saying the front windshield was something like 2-1/2"-3" thick glass.

IMO the "prettiest, most graceful" WW2 airplane was the Spitfire, but the FW190 simply looks like a warbird.

Back to cars...I love those cars with the leather straps holding the bonnet on

[healey36]

Healey,

I knew there was a color rendition of that scene, just couldn't find it. Hopping out of the Beemer and into the Focke Wulf 190 must have been thrilling, other than getting shot at

The only FW190 model I have is a 1/48 model of the A8, maybe I need to make a park on my layout to show it off

The Smithsonian Udvar Hazy museum out by Dulles has a restored A8. Lovely, lovely airplane.
To the irritation of my P-51/P-47 friends, this is my favorite WWII fighter.
Some fellow down in Texas built a 1/3 (I think) flying replica. Talk about large scale mode lairplane building.

I recall seeing the Smithsonian's FW-190 during its restoration at the Garber facility (Silver Hill) twenty-five, maybe thirty years ago. It was in pieces then. Before the Dulles facility was built much of the Air & Space Museum's excess collection was at Garber which was open for tours just once or twice each year.



I want to get up to Rhinebeck Aerodrome this summer...haven't been up there since I was a kid.

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

The PBS show I saw was filmed in Silver Hill, so it must have been at the Garber facility.

I need to see about riding Amtrak up to Alexandria then taking the Metro to the museums. Last time I was in DC I stayed at the Embassy Row Hilton in DuPont Circle, I think the rates have gone a bit above what I want to pay compared to back in the early 90s

My golfing buddy recently bought a 2010 red corvette convertible and drove it today. What a beauty and at 550 horsepower (he says) will get you where you want to go in a hurry! He's an ex-F4 Phantom pilot and still keeps his head on a swivel, except now he's looking for the radar cop instead of enemy fighter planes

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I need to see about riding Amtrak up to Alexandria then taking the Metro to the museums.

Train up from Norfolk/ Va Beach is a local that literally stops everywhere; do not get anywhere near it during Spring Break or other college break times; packed to the gills. I'd wager that you can get to DC faster taking an express bus.

Last time I was in DC I stayed at the Embassy Row Hilton in DuPont Circle, I think the rates have gone a bit above what I want to pay compared to back in the early 90s

Good luck with that! Might look for a room south of Alexandria; Metro Yellow & Blue lines are a mess right now....

My golfing buddy recently bought a 2010 red corvette convertible and drove it today.

I've been looking at a Panamera.......

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Don't settle Martin, get a Pagani Zonda, only $1.8 million each. (But that Panamera is sweet, reminds me of a Jag)

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Beautiful Spitfire:

IMG_0081.JPG (62.99 KiB) Viewed 3809 times

Do we need a separate plane thread?

The Rolls Royce Merlin purrs like a kitten. There's video I'll try to find of a Spitfire coming right at the guy talking and the sound is unreal.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Do we need a separate plane thread?

Probably - they are difficult to navigate on the DC Beltway........

[rex desilets]

I need to see about riding Amtrak up to Alexandria then taking the Metro to the museums.

Train up from Norfolk/ Va Beach is a local that literally stops everywhere; do not get anywhere near it during Spring Break or other college break times; packed to the gills. I'd wager that you can get to DC faster taking an express bus.

Last time I was in DC I stayed at the Embassy Row Hilton in DuPont Circle, I think the rates have gone a bit above what I want to pay compared to back in the early 90s

Good luck with that! Might look for a room south of Alexandria; Metro Yellow & Blue lines are a mess right now....

My golfing buddy recently bought a 2010 red corvette convertible and drove it today.

I've been looking at a Panamera.......

My current heart-throb. The older ones have fallen into the $40K level, almost (by a stretch) affordable.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I need to see about riding Amtrak up to Alexandria then taking the Metro to the museums.

Train up from Norfolk/ Va Beach is a local that literally stops everywhere; do not get anywhere near it during Spring Break or other college break times; packed to the gills. I'd wager that you can get to DC faster taking an express bus.

Last time I was in DC I stayed at the Embassy Row Hilton in DuPont Circle, I think the rates have gone a bit above what I want to pay compared to back in the early 90s

Good luck with that! Might look for a room south of Alexandria; Metro Yellow & Blue lines are a mess right now....

My golfing buddy recently bought a 2010 red corvette convertible and drove it today.

I've been looking at a Panamera.......

My current heart-throb. The older ones have fallen into the $40K level, almost (by a stretch) affordable.

I was looking at a 2016 model.

[healey36]

Beautiful Spitfire:

IMG_0081.JPG

Do we need a separate plane thread?

The Rolls Royce Merlin purrs like a kitten. There's video I'll try to find of a Spitfire coming right at the guy talking and the sound is unreal.

Car thread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NLxZvdwBXs

The ad was great when I was fourteen...looks dated now.

Healey

[Tom Dempsey]

I don't think I ever saw one of those with the rear end aligned correctly. I preferred the MG.

[Big Jim]

I have always liked the Spitfire, although I've never owned one. I did take one out on a test drive and when an eighteen wheeler pulled up beside of me, I thought this little go-kart is not the car for me! There is still a part of me that would like to have one, just not out on the interstate!

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I have always liked the Spitfire, although I've never owned one. I did take one out on a test drive and when an eighteen wheeler pulled up beside of me, I thought this little go-kart is not the car for me! There is still a part of me that would like to have one, just not out on the interstate!

I had a similar impression and intention when looking down from an overpass onto traffic moving below on Rt80. Several huge trailer trucks were speeding down the fast lane. Three hog-type motorcycles, with their pilots lounging back in their seats, arms stretched full-length to the grips, looking like they were sitting on kitchen chairs , rumbled along the center lane, with Death rolling very close to and under them. The slightest pebble; the slightest slip, and Poof! People-confetti ! End of story. And not an easy leaving either.

If I ever have a motorcycle again, it will be to ride around the rural hills and lanes around Cortland , NY, but not along the highways to get there.

[healey36]

Well, we're trying to wake the Sprite from her winter slumbers and it's not going well. The three year-old Interstate doesn't seem to be able to hold a charge (WTF?), and the wife's not happy with the S.U.'s sitting on her kitchen table waiting for parts (which just came in a couple days ago). Fortunately the annual drive-in scheduled for the end of the month got moved thirty-five miles east of here so we won't be doing that this year. We have an unwritten rule around here...never drive the Healey farther out than you can walk back...

Updates to follow...

Healey

[aterry11]

Barn find 53 Studebaker car hauler. The cab is the barn find, they have 2 and are constructing a second toter. The rear deck on this one is all diamond plate aluminum.

Rex, the panamera is the four door 911? Drove one once if so, and recently drove the new Alfa Romeo Guglia save your bucks the Guglia was far more fun and cant be any worse than a first or second year run Mini.