Merry Christmas To All Of You Counting Along With This olelongrooffan

Just a note to wish all my best wishes for this Christmas and New Years Season.  Panoz seems to always come up with some great offerings and this olelongrooffan thought I might share their 2010 greeting image with all y'all.

Happy Holiday my friends.

What I Saw Today: The Silent Edition: Mugs Root Beer VW

What I Saw Today, The Silent Edition: Ford Raptor SVT

So, yesterday I was surfing around and found a fairly popular, well at least well linked, blog that showed nothing but cars with no text.  Well, this olelongrooffan realized that I had seen a whole sh*tload of similar cars and nobody seems to have linked to By The Numbers.  Maybe it is the verbage.  So, for the new year 2012, I'm gonna post a bunch of textless images of cars seen around and we'll just have to see what happens.

Merry Christmas To All

Well Counters, this olelongrooffan finally got out of the Turkey Day duldrums and got my Christmas decorations set up for the 2011 Holiday Season.



But I have this to say about that. Painting that twelve foot tall ceiling next week is going to be a real b*tch using a couple milk crates and an extension pole on that paint roller.

Anyway, wishing all of those of you Counting Along With Me a continued pleasant Christmas and Holiday Season.

Just Another Afternoon Stroll, But With A Mission

So, a couple weeks ago this olelongrooffan lightly tapped the rear bumper of a newish Range Rover with the front bumper of my Commanche. (Green means go, dammit! But, yeah, ultimately, I'm the dumbass who smashed into a 50K vehicle with my $800 Jeep.) Anyway, the upshot of it was no damage to the pissed off dude's fancy SUV but the front bumper and bumper brackets on my beater pickup truck were mangled. And those Counting Along With Me know what that means?

Why a trip to my local U-Pull-It, of course.



As I usually try to do, this olelongrooffan searches out the coolest old shit in that junkyard which seems to turn inventory every few months or so. Last spring, there were a bunch of pretty cool older imports but they have gone to that great junkyard in the sky and there was a whole bunch of new stuff for my viewing pleasure. That motorhome in the first image is the first of its type I had seen at this place and can anyone tell me a better place for an Aztek than in a location such as this?



This truck cracked me up the moment I saw it. The owner basically took a one ton GM truck, cut the frame at the cab, welded in a couple sections of 4 inch box tubing to extend it, and then welded in some angle iron to rest the plywood deck on. Absolutely no idea why and the quality of the build was sketchy, at best. Might be from Gib-Town over Tampa way but who knows.



This orange Riv was at the end of the row farthest from this olelongrooffan but I had to go check it out based on the color alone. Now down here in the Sunshine State, red cars tend to fade but this one is in no way a faded paint job. A Gator fan maybe?



And just to pay kudos to the Hooniverse Asks Truck Thursday over on hooniverse.com question earlier this week about pickup trucks.



Based on this picked over new Bug, I'm guessing spare used parts for one of these are somewhat difficult to come by.



And while I have owned several Volvos in my lifetime, it sure appears to me this one is fairly new to be resting in a U-Pull-It yard. But then again, I am the olelongrooffan not the newishvolvofan.



It seems to me that one of my compatriots on hooniverse did a post recently about a 525 in his homeland. Just wondering how scarce parts for these things over there are. Can I send you a few bits and pieces? Hell, a couple years ago I parted out a junkyard attained World War II era Ford Jeep and sent more than a few parts to Europe.



I'm pretty sure this is the last year of this generation Nissan 300 ZX before this body style was retired and the newer, and more desirable to me, 300's came along. God, I would do almost anything for an early 90's 300ZX 2+2 in mint condition.



And since I have owned 3, count them 3, 325's in my life, I had to capture this one. It was identified as a 323 though. Can that be correct?



And there is nothing like a vintage Town Cow to make my day.

But hey longroof!! We are looking for a front bumper for a Commanche, get the hell out of the other sections and head over to the Chrysler area to see about a bumper, and don't forget, look at the Cherokees also.



I can tell you, finding a Commanche still around in a U-Pull-It these days is quite a task but today I found not just one



not just two



but three different Commanche pickups in various states of pickedoverness. And there was not a good front bumper on any of them. But this olelongrooffan has this to say about that, in the last one I looked I found a pair of, as I later found out, operable interior lights my old beater truck was missing. A couple snips of the yellow handled wire cutters I had in my tool pouch and those lights are now installed in the truck parked curbside here in the Birthplace of Speed.



A look see at all of the similarly bodied Cherokees turned up a couple possibles but the bumper I ended up grabbing was this morning attached to this Wagoneer. And know this, if this olelongrooffan could figure out how to wire that Wagoneer grill and headlight/turn signal assembly to my old Commanche, I would be out there grabbing it tomorrow.



But, as it stands, that flashy chrome bumper has now replaced that crumpled, rusty old painted bumper and all is cool in my world this evening.



But hey, I got a bunch of cool swag for the Taj Mahal and that, along with that shiny new bumper, really helps this olelongrooffan to

Celebrate Life.

What I Saw Today

So, earlier this week, this olelongrooffan was asked by thejeepjunkie (I also had to put ten bucks worth of gas in his CJ2A for the pleasure of the ride) to attend the annual holiday gathering over at my favorite parts friends place, Beachside Auto Parts, down in sunny Daytona Beach, Florida. These are the parts friends who, while I was considering it, told me that should I purchase an International Scout I would need to find new parts friends. Yeah, those guys.

Anyway, after enjoying a freshly grilled burger compliments of Robby and the gang, this olelongrooffan stepped out into the parking lot filled with vendors fresh from the PRI show down in MickeyMouseLand and checked out the grass parking lot out back.



It was damn sure worth it as this olelongrooffan spotted yet another cool old car.



Yeah, the god's likeness that adorns the full wheel cover hanging on the front door of my Taj Mahal also was affixed to the rear deck lid of this sweet old coupe.



And this one was the top of the line model offered by this now orphaned blue oval subsidiary. It included a console with a floor mounted shifter for that Merc-O-Matic transmission.



I am confident those studs on the seats must be hot as h*ll in the summer time heat down here in the Sunshine State, especially as this coupe does not possess an air conditioning unit.



Those metal accessorized pedals were a part of the option package that included that console. And the second from the left knob on that dashboard



provided the motivation for this rear window to travel up and down, similar to a traditional station wagon from back in the day.



No my friends, it was not a lowly Monterey nor a mid level Montclair (which I had first thought), no, it was the top of the line Mercury Park Lane with the Breezeway roof line.



And while this olelongrooffan has seen several of this body style vehicles over the years, they have always been Montclairs or Montereys and sedans...



This rough old, top of the line, coupe was sold at this year's Turkey Rod Run for $2,500 and is destined to be shipped off to Germany to its new owner next week.



And while the paint is fresh on this one, the bondo in the rear quarters, the paint on the formerly chrome rear bumper and the overall pitted condition of the body chrome on this one is unfortunate, the frowning rear bumper sums it up best.

But, then again, one man's junk is.......

That's Zyncro Young Man

So, after spending a couple post Turkey Run days out of town for a small project, this olelongrooffan returned to my home in the Birthplace of Speed around mid-afternoon. I had eaten a sturdy breakfast prior to leaving but had spent the lunch hour, on a rare trip on a portion of the Eisenhower Highway System here in central Florida, without bothering to stop at any of the multiple corporate roadside eateries along the way. Upon the culmination of that road trip and knowing I had almost no food left in the frig at my condo, also realizing how much I can spend shopping an my local Publix when I am hungry, (hummus anyone?) I did something relatively unheard of in my world; I hit up the Golden Arches for a quick, cheap and tasteless sammich and fries prior to doing the whole grocery thing.

Well, I have say this about that, the experience around the acquisition of that McChicken sammich was unlike any other.



As I desolately awaited, in that ubiquitous drive thru lane, for my sustainable, abate cheap, mundane sammich and fries (this olelongrooffan seldom does not have a couple Diet Cokes just a reach away) to be prepared, I innocently looked over to the parking area just a driving lane away.

While there may be a couple vehicles in the next image that may be of some interest to those Counting Along With Me, the above infrequently seen decal was, well, seen on the front of a parked motor vehicle, and it immediately drew my attention. Yeah Counters, it was a Volkswagen Syncro. Rarely seen however there is one round these here parts but it is a bone stock version and, trust me based on experience, "Not For Sale."



Anyway, I saw this treasure and the couple sitting in the front were demonstrating their ability to Celebrate Life as was evidenced by her reading the text as seen on her laptop and his giggling all time.

Well, this olelongrooffan knew at that moment the then hot, quasi chicken sammich was going to get cold while I checked these folks out. And it did.

I circled around those clueless Seabreeze High School kids hanging at Mickey D's after school let out and I parked adacent to that palm tree possessing parking median next to my Holy Grail, that Syncro.

As I approached this laughing, obviously enjoying life couple, Rainier lowered the driver's side window to accept my presence.

I introduced myself and them to By The Numbers and commented I am a contributor to all things Hoon, and he introduced himself and, cordially, allowed his partner, Bridgitte, to introduce herself. She graciously spelled it out for me. She then mentioned she was on a local to the Sunshine State blog looking for a great place to stay the night. As she, the 60 something retired secretary for an "American firm" in "the middle of Germany," had decided on a location to retire for this evening, she was prepared to let her partner, a 71 year old retired owner of a German AutoDriving Instruction company, get them safely to their destination down near Cape Canaveral.



Of course, this olelongrooffan had a couple million questions for them and they were gracious enough to let us all know what they were up to.

"Longroof, we're retired. Can you think of anything better to do than tour the world?"

"After touring the rest of the US and western Canada, we are headed to the West Coast of your States then through South America to either Australia or the south of Africa, It really depends on the next ship leaving the port."



It turns out that Rainier, at a young and enthusiatic 71 years of age, has done a previous "Around The World" trip with his, now 30 something and offspring expecting, son joining in for various segments of that trip.

"It was three years ago," he commented, with some translation from Bridgitte, "that we finished that year long trip. That one was also in an older Syncro through Africa and the Middle East, but not as much fun. I didn't know then what I know now," he shared with me, along with a wink of the eye as he, and his longtime traveling partner, Bridgitte squabbled over the something trivial that is still beyond this language impaired olelongrooffan.

But they are still laughing and she mentioned they had often been approached for photographs but noone had ever asked about their adventures.

"Of course, touring the world in a 1989, somewhat relatively obscure, (c'mon, a Syncro?) machine has to be problematic? Is it not?," I asked.

"This time the only problems," Rainier related, "on this 20,000 km trip thus far, we have had have been with the fuel filler tube leaking and the 'gearbox B-needle' problems. However we have met a couple guys, one here in Maryland and another in Canada who have been instrumental in getting those problems resolved." Rainier did comment on how polite everyone has been thus far about their adventures and the limited number of obstacles encountered. Note here that Bridgette offered a whole damned bunch of translation for this conversation to have taken place.



As we all may imagine, the conversation evolved toward the "when, where, and why" questions my journalist father, TheGentlemanFarmer, always want to know.

Bridgitte and Rainier left "the middle of Germany" five months ago and caught a ship to Nova Scotia. On to Newfoundland, Quebec, Ontario, (or vice versa)then down "into the States" via Minnesota. They spend no set period of time in each locale, it all depends on the weather, the local yokels (yeah that is this olelongrooffan's term) and Bridgitte and Rainier's own state of mind.

One of the many endearing aspects we spoke of during this conversation in the parking lot of that corporate American icon, thus far ignored by our visiting brethren Hoons (other than the free wifi), was the fact they are choosing to stay off the Eisenhower Highway System so as to see the real life sights that our country has to offer.

As a fellow follower of the whole "stay off the beaten path" philosophy, I asked about the overnite experiences they have had.

Although this olelongrooffan does not immediately recognize the most comfortable language Bridgitte and Rainier possess, I identified with Bridgitte when she put her hands in the air at the command,

"Hands up"

when they encountered a constable up in Canada. But it was immediately noted that "they were very polite."

Bridgitte added she thought those officers may have been surprised to see a "couple of such advanced age" enjoying a free overnight spot in their mode of transportation.



Rainier immediately popped in with the comment that the power to that laptop, as well as the frig and lighting, is supplied by the solar panel he installed in the fixed top a buddy of his and he had constructed just above the contoured map of the world on the driver's side of their Syncro. Their heater is powered via propane.

He took me around some more of the modifications including "raising the body" (a lift kit), an "open sleep tent" (that diamond plated folding tent at the rear of that fixed top, and a bypass for the carldan shaft. Rainer even looked that term up in his quick reference book of translations. This conversation occurred when I asked about gas mileage and "do you ever take it off road?" I tried several times to comprehend what the name was but I finally got that it was the forward driveshaft on that highly desirable Vanagon. Yeah, this guy and a buddy engineered a way to disengage the front driveshaft to increase the fuel mileage of this old four wheel drive Bus! And yes, Rainier pulled the old rubber encased VW knob on the dash and mentioned how it is engaged for off road use.

Our conversation then evolved into the inevitable "Why in the hell a Syncro?"

Of course, the bulk of this conversation was with Rainier as the primary spokesman, so it was not a "Syncro" but a "Zyncro". It took me a moment to catch on but then this olelongrooffan figured it out.

His response?

"My first car was a Volkswagen Type II with 15" tires."

"My second one was a Volkswagon Type II with 16" tires."

"Why wouldn't I want my best traveling experience to be around the world with a wonderful partner in a Zyncro?"



After we discussed the means of powering this beast, an intercooled, ssupercharged, fuel injected 2.0 liter motor sourced from a Golf, and the idiosyncratic rules concerned the length of time one can stay here in the States on a government issued visa, we took our leave from each other.

As I was returning to my Comanche, I felt truly happy for this couple and wanted to offer them something for their journey to remind them of our visit. I passed by the rear end of my old truck and noticed the "DB" magnet that has adorned every automobile I have owned since I moved here. I pulled that magnet off, returned to Rainier and Bridgitte and offered my small token of appreciation for their time. Rainier immediately jumped out of that Zyncro and shook my hand. "Thank you very much young man," were his final words to me.



I again returned to my "beater" truck and moved on down the road to my next adventure all the while wish Rainier and Bridgitte all the best on theirs.