I Bought A Firetruck • Hacker News Board

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#281

Post by johnrgrace » Wed, Mar 27, 2013, 6:22 PM UTC

mortenjorck wrote: post #240

THE_PUN_STOPS wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a similar experience buying a MiG-17 as my primary vehicle to commute to work 17 miles away. The DMV was initially not happy about my taking off and landing on quiet highways, but luckily they became more understanding after many letters. How much did you end up paying for your CVBG?

Guys, I understand wanting to maximize your load-carrying efficiency, but decommissioned naval vessels and military aircraft are not the way to do it. For my commute, I chose rail instead – Budd Pioneer III-series rolling stock go for surprisingly little on eBay these days, and at least where I live, it's not terribly expensive to file the paperwork for a zoning easement to add a 700v third rail to a local stretch of…

Private railcars are luxury...

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#282

Post by johnrgrace » Wed, Mar 27, 2013, 6:31 PM UTC

elithrar wrote: post #172

alan_cx wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im a European, well British anyway.... Something occurred to me today regarding Americans and big huge stupid cars... I was watching the NASCAR earlier and there was a throwaway comment about some driver's sponsors being "local". By local they mean 60 miles away. Now to a Brit, maybe other Europeans, 60 miles feels like anything but "local". So, I get the impression that we don't understand the sort of scale of trave…

> Now to a Brit, maybe other Europeans, 60 miles feels like anything but "local". So, I get the impression that we don't understand the sort of scale of travel there is in the US. Which kinda begins to explain this fascination with big large cars with big lazy engines. These cars fit American geography and scale. I think it also explain what oil seems that bit more important to the Americans. I would daresay it's mor…

Ahh, but in my limited experence in visiting Australia your roads are in MUCH better shape. In some parts of America road maintaince is poor and the demand for an SUV is in part a desire for better driving experence.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#283

Post by mst3kzz » Thu, Mar 28, 2013, 5:00 PM UTC

Relevant Kids in the Hall sketch - "Quarter Life Crisis": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiESfUGC_Pw

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#284

Post by dcminter » Thu, Mar 28, 2013, 5:24 PM UTC

adestefan wrote: post #250

dcminter wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the bureacracy like with that? Are you just keeping a low profile and doing it on the "beg forgiveness" principle or are you doing all the proper paperwork? Or is it actually less of a hassle in that respect than I imagine? I'd assumed that converting a business space into a residence within the UK would be like one of the more byzantine scenes from Brazil. I'd be very interested to hear more about it generall…

People make a big deal out of permits and the like, but as a one man show the local departments are usually very helpful and straight forward. There are also large swaths of the US where there isn't even any zoning or permits required.

Have you been to Britain?