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A few things to know before stealing my 914

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Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#381

Post by bsder »

mdoms wrote: post #227
bluetomcat wrote: post #116

Almost any 30+ year-old vehicle is full of these special quirks requiring special "rituals". The annoying thing is that they are hard to fix and often require rare parts which are not easily available. I have a '95 Rover 216 Coupe which is mechanically very solid (Honda engine and running gear) and very well maintained, but the rest of the car is full of quirks caused by age deterioration. The numerous "rituals" incl…

I have a '88 Ford Falcon ute which is mercifully easy to fix and parts are plentiful. I absolutely recommend old cars to everyone, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread they build character. But I mostly recommend the ones with lots of parts. Not just factory but cars that had a strong aftermarket in their day.

> I absolutely recommend old cars to everyone, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread they build character.

I don't think I hate another human enough to wish diagnosing an intermittent ground problem that only occured when the temperature fell below 30F on them.

Character it may build, but even to this day I would trade that character for fewer knuckle scars and fewer hours with numb hands from the cold.

I'll take my modern car that lasts until some idiot hits me and totals it.

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#382

Post by zrm »

EastSmith wrote: post #147
Eric_WVGG wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My father had one of these just sort of gathering dust in the garage when I was growing up, utterly shocked when I turned 16 and he handed me the keys. I still like to casually drop "oh yeah, I used to have a Porsche back when I was 16." Although I must say it was in immeasurably better shape than this one :D I still dream of finding an old 914 and giving it an electric conversion… I'd have to do something about that…

Is the electric conversion still a thing? I want an eclectic car with no monitors, no software updates, no surveillance (none of the new electric car offers that - they are calling home for updates and god knows why way too often, and they have bigger monitors than my 14" work laptop).

Is anybody doing surveillance conversions?

Like take a stock Tesla, throw out the computer it comes with and replace it with one that doesn't spy on you. Keep everything else.

Probably easier than doing the reverse, isn't it?

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#383

Post by porknubbins »

I love this because I just realized pretty much all my vehicles small engine equipment have quirks that they only start up if you know the correct procedure, yet I consider them to be 100% working. Not to mention my pc's boot menu which defaults to a dead operating system after 10 seconds, that I have been too lazy to figure out how to reorder.

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#384

Post by emilsedgh »

cpfohl wrote: post #190
skeeter2020 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you love this style and want something intentionally ridiculous check out the various writings at https://www.mcsweeneys.net/

This also reminded me of this delightful piece of writing: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/why-the-police-dont-pat... I can't find the original, but the copy there is exactly what I remembered.

Haven't had such a laugh for a while. Thanks!

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#385

Post by vasco »

tuatoru wrote: post #378
theluketaylor wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the flip side, I know a ton about cars and actually own a german sports car of roughly this vintage and this rings incredibly true (and also hilarious). My car can't be locked due to fear of it never opening again, starting the engine requires a delicate balance of the right amount of throttle and prayers the battery has enough charge, and selecting first is a preposterous mixture of a delicate ballet and sledgeha…

> selecting first is a preposterous mixture of a delicate ballet and sledgehammering it home. Double declutching is a lost art, it seems. It involved moving the shifter into neutral, revving the engine still in neutral, and clutching and shifting into the gear when the RPMs were "right". Skilled double-declutchers could shift nearly as quickly as ordinary drivers with syncromesh. Common in older cars when I was young…

You can do a similar thing in motorcycles by rev-matching, this way you don't even need to pull the clutch to switch gears.

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#386

Post by dclowd9901 »

Beautiful treatise of the wretched joys of owning and driving an old car. What I love is how all of these foibles become second nature to the ownership. This is what car people call “character”, much the same way you might realize you need to warn one friend before you introduce them to another.

Though it’s usually my goal to chase all manner of unreliability out of a car I own (I confess, I absolutely love just getting in a car and driving, no fuss, no muss), there is a pang of sadness that comes with knowing I’ve made it that much more reliable, and frankly, boring.

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#387

Post by berkes »

ehnto wrote: post #37

Speaking of security through obscurity, my car is a 96 Nissan and it's had a few attempts on it. It's easy enough to steal, but it's getting hard enough for me to find replacement parts that I'd be surprised if thieves have everything, so I take some bits of the car with me if it's sitting for a while. I have a quick release wheel to deter the average opportunist from breaking my glass and ignition barrel, and with s…

My 83 VW T3 was attempted to be stolen once. But, like the author, my bus leaks some power. So I too installed a switch that just disconnects the battery.

It isn't hidden or super secret. Just adds extra work and time for someone probably being stressed out already.

A friends' T3 was left in the middle of the road, because her gearbox was broken-ish and finding the reverse a learned skill. Halfway through turning her bus, thieves just gave up. She found her car perpendicular to the road in the morning.

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#388

Post by dclowd9901 »

ehnto wrote: post #37

Speaking of security through obscurity, my car is a 96 Nissan and it's had a few attempts on it. It's easy enough to steal, but it's getting hard enough for me to find replacement parts that I'd be surprised if thieves have everything, so I take some bits of the car with me if it's sitting for a while. I have a quick release wheel to deter the average opportunist from breaking my glass and ignition barrel, and with s…

Contrarily I’ve made mine incredibly easy to steal but fit it with a hidden gps so I can get it back before it’s stripped to nothing.

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#389

Post by dclowd9901 »

floren wrote: post #89
jihadjihad wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, what a blast from the past. My first car was a 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis, and it developed this same solenoid issue. My grandpa taught me that same trick of shorting past the solenoid so that the car can start. My friends were always very curious why there was a hammer underneath the passenger's seat, at least until I told them to hand it to me and crank the engine when I gave the shout.

Kind of wild that both you and GP developed tricks for shorting the solenoid when a replacement solenoid is like $20 and 10 minutes of work. Well, at least for a Mercury Grand Marquis aka the Ford Crown Victoria, I can't speak for Superior German Engineering.

What’s that joke about “temporary fixes that work are never just temporary?”
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