A real Impala would be cool but I’d need a very big yard. My Chevy is happy penned up in the garage all week but enjoys taking us places on the weekend.
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Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"
- Thread starter B-string
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How often have you had to replace the hooves? I'm sure the OEM ones don't last *that* long.
Second set of tires. Second set of brakes. Third battery. Use synthetic oil that I change once a year. The car has stood up pretty well.
Two sets of tires and two sets of brakes on a car with that much mileage is pretty darn good. I love synthetic oil and have been using it for years. I used it in my hot rod '63 Pontiac LeMans and ran it pretty hard. I've had a few Pontiacs back in the day of regular oil and managed to blow up the engines between 10 and 20.000 miles on all of them. I really ran them hard but still , that wasn't much mileage before blowing them up. My '63 had a "78 engine in it and was run hard and put up wet for over 40'000 without a complaint on the synthetic. My P.U. truck that I gig with has had synthetic in it since I bought it and has around 327,000 miles on it.
I drove my last car, a Nova with a straight 6 for 25 years, always used synthetic. In all those years, the engine was never opened or adjusted in any way. Never changed the original transmission oil. So far, same with this Chevy.
I drive to the country on weekends. There you do country stops. You don’t stop, just slow down then go through the intersection. Saves on the brakes. City driving is a different story.
I drive to the country on weekends. There you do country stops. You don’t stop, just slow down then go through the intersection. Saves on the brakes. City driving is a different story.
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- Feb 12, 2006
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- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
1978.
That model was used by the cops. Cops never pull over people that drive cop cars. I didn’t have the police package which beefed up the electrical system.
That basic engine went way back. No pollution controls, single barrel carb. I’ve seen it in cars and pickup trucks. I worked on that engine in my dad’s ‘59 Pontiac Stratochief. I just looked it up, the engine was introduced in 1929.
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- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,051
- 5
- 221,021
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
That would have been either a 230 or more likely a 250, both with 7 main bearings. Pretty bulletproof. I have the older 228 in my '53 truck. I had the 194 in my '64 Nova.
Yes, it was an L250. In this case, simplicity affords endurance.
The ‘53 truck must be a joy to own. I like anything that can be rebuilt from the frame up.
I bought my wife a Subaru Impreza-- brand new-- last year. It's soccer mom maroon. It's low and has a hatchback and it's cute. When I showed it to my wife, she decided she wanted to keep her 2010 Forester. I had already sold my car. So guess who gets to keep the Impreza. Yours truly. So I took it to the guys in the Waste Water Treatment Plant. Good friends of mine. Drive 2 1/2 ton rigs every day. Large cranes. One guy says, "I like your Impreza Will. I'm getting my wife one..." I took it to the Electric department and showed it to my friends the Line Crew. One of them says, "nice car, I bought this exact model for my daughter who's going to college this fall." 
Finally at the end of the day, I was feeling pretty low about my "soccer mom" Impreza. One of the young ladies I'm friends with came out to look at it. "It's gorgeous, Will! And look, it already has a name-- Kay! The first three letters of the license plate!"
But in February we had a bad snow and freezing ice snap. A lot of cars were stuck, slid off the road, black ice everywhere. But little "Kay" started right up every day, and I let her warm up for 15 minutes. Everything was thawed and nice and toasty inside. I passed cars in the ditch, car accidents, but Kay dutifully got me to work safely every day. Sure, she's no Buick Grand Prix National, but she gets good gas mileage, takes a lickin and keeps on tickin.
A generic photo of my car:
Finally at the end of the day, I was feeling pretty low about my "soccer mom" Impreza. One of the young ladies I'm friends with came out to look at it. "It's gorgeous, Will! And look, it already has a name-- Kay! The first three letters of the license plate!"
But in February we had a bad snow and freezing ice snap. A lot of cars were stuck, slid off the road, black ice everywhere. But little "Kay" started right up every day, and I let her warm up for 15 minutes. Everything was thawed and nice and toasty inside. I passed cars in the ditch, car accidents, but Kay dutifully got me to work safely every day. Sure, she's no Buick Grand Prix National, but she gets good gas mileage, takes a lickin and keeps on tickin.
A generic photo of my car:
Al Kraft
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- May 2, 2016
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250 cubic inch would have been the (straight) 6 cylinder engine that year IIRC. To get the the police package (SEO 9C1 option) I think you had to have the 350 cubic inch 4-Barrel V-8.
Just got my wife a new Crosstrek - just an Impreza with more ground clearance. Awesome car and I'll "inherent" it in 9 years if I'm still kickin' LOL. I "inherented" her 2009 Chevy HHR - needed front brakes (done) and a clutch (soon) at 245K.
The cost of markup is enough that we didn't pay anymore for the Impreza than if we bought it in Portland or L.A. Subaru subsidized the TCO. We actually paid less than if we had it shipped from Seattle on a barge.
Interesting story about Seymour Cray, a risk taker that was ahead of his time.
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Invalid Link Removed
Cray built the last computers where all machine level instructions were hard wired. They contained no microcode at all. That was part of the reason why they were fast.
I remember when we had engineering solutions but the computers were not powerful enough to process the algorithms in real time.
I would implement some code in assembly to have more control over execution speed. It required understanding how the microprocessors worked. Some functions were implemented in hardware to attain even faster speeds. A lot of time was spent trying to get around computer limitations. DSP chips came out, they helped.
Eventually affordable computers caught up and those solutions were no longer needed. That’s how R&D goes. There are often many, time consuming small steps that go into the seemingly latest “new technology”.
I would implement some code in assembly to have more control over execution speed. It required understanding how the microprocessors worked. Some functions were implemented in hardware to attain even faster speeds. A lot of time was spent trying to get around computer limitations. DSP chips came out, they helped.
Eventually affordable computers caught up and those solutions were no longer needed. That’s how R&D goes. There are often many, time consuming small steps that go into the seemingly latest “new technology”.
I heard he really passed away. Might be working secretly on the NSA's Oklahoma rig 
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Maybe they have his brain connected to a computer like they did with Spock's.
I've heard about internet rumors. Be careful, you wouldn't want to start one.
I've heard about internet rumors. Be careful, you wouldn't want to start one.
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