by the numbers: A Virgin No More

Over the course of my life, I have been fortunate enough to ride along in, even sometimes drive, some pretty cool and, at the time, rare vehicles, both cars and trucks.

When I was living in Gulf Shores, Alabama, working on rebuilding after a hurricane there, I dated a girl who drove this era Triumph Spitfire and on one occassion, I got to drive it.

When I was a kid, the bus had a 67 Spitfire and I remember riding it. It was the first sports car I ever rode in, if you discount the Not Yet Gentleman Rancher's, 63 Corvair Monza. Underneath that tarp, as seen in the following picture, in the background is the old Model A I have mentioned in at least one previous post. To the left of that dingy sailboat is an old trailer my Dad had. Turns out that trailer frame was originally built back in the 1930's and just had new tires, bearings and beds replaced on it for years. My Dad loved the balance of that trailer. When I asked him why, he commented that it justs tows along as if it was not there. A long time ago some dude did a great homemade engineering job on it and that trailer lasts until this day. It is currently on Haven Lee Farm in Marionville and thehorsefarmer enjoys it use, still now, 80 years later.

The bus owns this short bus in which I was lucky enough to ride in, for the first time, on Mom's Last Bus Ride earlier this summer.

The GentlemanRancher owned this cool 72 Citroen DS21 and I feel very fortunate to have not only ridden in it but also to have driven it.

This is Dad's Model "A" referred to above.

The former GentlemanRancher owned this Fiat later in life and he let me drive it, only once, and all the while admonishing me to "Slow Down!"

My buddy, theKenMan, owns one of these. I was with him when he acquired this piece. When I still lived down Naples way, Justin, theKenMan and I were attending the annual car show out at the Golden Gate Community Center. It is an annual event and has several hundred cars and trucks show up. This one had a For Sale sign on it for around $11,000. Now theKenMan never pays retail, Never. The owner was based out of Boca Raton, about 90 minutes away, on the East Coast of The Sunshine State. theKenMan did not buy it that day but was in negotiations for it over the next several weeks. One day he calls me and asks me if I remember that '36 we saw at the show. Well, of course I did. Well, I bought it. Would you mind driving me over so I can pick it up? My response? Not just yes, but Hell Yes! And similar to my experience in picking up the olestationbus, we drove over and he drove it home. He still has it, these many years later.

theKenMan also bought this 41 ragtop. He was up in Door County and wanted to have it shipped from Naples up to Door County. He called me and asked me if I would hook up with the transporter to help load it and get him on the way. Of course.

theKenMan also owned a 289 Aurora, a manufactured car, in the spirit of this Cobra. He took me for a ride in in several times and we had a blast.

I have ridden in an outcountable number of these types of vehicles.

An old friend of mine had one of these, although Robert's is red. RJ is a maritime sailor based out of central Florida near Mickey Mouse Land. He keeps his Z06 in a bubble in the house he owns down that way. One time he and I were out for some fun in a new subdivision with no houses started, just the infrastructure in place. Almost. They had not completed the paver brick installation at one of the secondary entrances to this place. As we were hauling butt and testing the limits of adhesion on those tires on that beast, we came around a corner, down a hill, nearing one of these secondary entrances and, too late, noticed the 4" drop where the paver bricks had not been installed. RJ slams on the brakes and we plopped off in that depression in the road. The motor stalled and we turned to each other and just started laughing out asses off! Luckily no damage to the 4,000 mile 2005 future collector car.

My sister Mary owned, at one time, one of these early 80's BMW 320i's.

A former boss owned one of these and I got to drive it for a while. When he was trying to sell it, some dude came by for a test drive and it broke down on the side of the road. Of course, no sale. But a fun car with an early 5 speed.

Of course, if you have been counting along with me, you know the story of these two vehicles. Still a blast to drive and thejeepjunkie and I agree, we cannot take either one of these out without someone giving us a "Shout Out". Yeah, not as politically unknowledgeable as I project.

A buddy of mine owns one of these, although not the blonde in the background.

Now, I am confident you are wondering where the hell this post is going and what this old man is still a Virgin of!!

As a main interest of mine, outside of trying to find a job, is the automobile and all aspects of it, I spend a bit of time searching out and about these tubes for news about both new and old automobiles.

Lately, it has been interesting to me to see extremists', from both ends of the spectrum, response to certain types of automobiles.

So up to this weekend I have ridden, in a huge Cadillac Escalade, but not yet a Toyota Prius.

Last week, I met with Manuel Labor to do some yard work at one of thejeepjunkies', and now, my friends. Seems she is getting ready for a big party to Celebrate Life at the end of the month and her backyard required some much needed attention. When we were talking about it, she asked me "How much will it cost me to have this yard cleaned up?" I asked her how much it was worth? She responded, "Alot." My answer was that is what it will cost. We'll see about that.

Now I have mentioned our friend in an early post of "What I Saw Today", one of the few that are not auto related.

So, over the weekend, my friend Mary decided that I needed to get out of the Taj Majal and asked me if I would like to do something out of the ordinary. As I need some diversion in my life at this point, I agreed. So she took me for a ride in her Prius and it certainly was an experience.

These cars, while costing a substantial amount more than others of their size, get significantly better gas mileage than some. It is interesting, to me, to note than when you factor in the increased cost of these hybrids and compare it to the life span of the average auto, and then factor in the fuel savings, there is no real savings. But I will say this about that, my friend Mary sure loves the fact she is saving fossil fuels and doing her part. For that, all hybrid owners deserve credit for that. Ed Begley, Jr. included.

Okay, enough about the conservationist's aspect of it and let me tell you something about this car I found really cool. I mean other than the fact it had power windows and seats.

I don't know what the word "clamshell" means to you but to me it refers to the rear end of a longroof. Ya know, the tailgate/window combination. Yeah, I know, back to longroofs.

Below is an image of an aftermarket Cadillac longroof with the "clamshell" closed.

This is a similar era Buick with the "clamshell" open. This is the General's way of modifying the tailgate/rear window. The window rolled up into the roof while the tailgate dropped down into the lower body of the longroof. Pretty clever but it wasn't around long.

But I have always considered this to be the ultimate "calmshell". A '55 Ford longroof with the tilt up window and the dropdown tailgate. To me, this looks like alot of fun.

Now, please excuse the quality of the following images, but this is the Prius' version of the "clamshell". It is the "glove compartment". Seen here closed,

and in this terrible image, open. The 2007 version of the "clamshell". But it is a clever adaptation of space.

I took these images while we were headed down A1A to our ultimate destination, the Inlet Harbor Restaurant in Ponce Inlet to catch the water taxi to New Smyrna Beach to have a bit to eat at the Grille at Riverside. While we were waiting at Inlet Harbor, I took this shot of the lighthouse in the distance for the CDM.

This is an image of the eastern shoreline of the Intercoastal Waterway on the way south on this tri-pontoon taxi.

Got another shot of the lighthouse for the CDM and the fifth grade teacher who loves the St. Augustine lighthouse.

And the damn camera's batteries' were going dead on the way home and I could just get this shot. By The Way, the clarity of this shot has nothing to do with the fact I had a serious discussion with the Skye while we visited with Jeanine and TG at the Grille.