VW sells them in Europe, and they tried here in the 80's but Americans don't seem to want Diesel autos. We don't go for manual trans either, I guess it is too hard to yack on the cell phone (or worse send a text) and shift at the same time.
Due to some typical stupid regulations (Google the "chicken tax") the Transit Connects are all imported from Turkey with a full interior. Ford then strips the interior out and dumps it in a landfill. Ford and now Mahindra are trying to get this stupid tax repealed.
The Jeep Patriot is essentially a PT Cruiser with a Jeepish looking body shell. The transmission has been replaced with a Nissan CVT (from the Rogue) and the turbo is not available. We just couldn't say no last year when Chrysler was giving a $3500 rebate and the Cash for Clunkers program was adding $4500 for $8K off of a $18,000 car. Where else can you get a new car for $10K.
OK, I give up, what is it. It looks far too practical to be sold here.
Speaking of practical (not) we were driving into Charlotte North Carolina on I-77 during morning rush hour and we were passed by a Smart car zipping through traffic doing at least 80 MPH. I don't know what the top speed for a Smart is but it can't be much over 80. What kind of mileage can you get in any car with the pedal on the floor. If you wanted to go 80 you would probably get better mileage in a Civic (for the same price) and maybe even survive the crash!
surplus of surplus
Thanks for the tip-off." The Dayton hamfest is the largest in the world. Last year attendance for the 3 day event was 22,000 people. The swap meet area holds over 2500 swap spaces." I've heard rumors, live 100 miles away, but never was invited. I don't talk enough to want a ham radio or a cell phone. I just bought 440 lb of electronic surplus, am having a little trouble getting it into the attic, so I don't know. 3 -7199 tubes, 2-7591's, 4 6BQ5's, 4-12AU7's, 8 12AX7's,2-5AR4's, EF86, 7247. A power transformer that delivers enough 475 VDC for 2 rectifiers, 500 ma maybe? An 8 ohm 12" woofer, 2 8" midrange. Rattles the windows with new electrolytic caps. There is a free one in Philadelphia not bid on on E-bay, another in Bryn Mahr. Hammond runs their tubes gently.
Thanks for the tip-off." The Dayton hamfest is the largest in the world. Last year attendance for the 3 day event was 22,000 people. The swap meet area holds over 2500 swap spaces." I've heard rumors, live 100 miles away, but never was invited. I don't talk enough to want a ham radio or a cell phone. I just bought 440 lb of electronic surplus, am having a little trouble getting it into the attic, so I don't know. 3 -7199 tubes, 2-7591's, 4 6BQ5's, 4-12AU7's, 8 12AX7's,2-5AR4's, EF86, 7247. A power transformer that delivers enough 475 VDC for 2 rectifiers, 500 ma maybe? An 8 ohm 12" woofer, 2 8" midrange. Rattles the windows with new electrolytic caps. There is a free one in Philadelphia not bid on on E-bay, another in Bryn Mahr. Hammond runs their tubes gently.
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Man, we love our PT's, we have a total of 4 in our household now, (2) 01's and 07 & an 08.
Pull out the back seats and you can lay a full size Hammond or Wurlitzer organ inside!
We hauled 5000 tubes and several huge boxes of vintage caps and stuff up from southern IL a few years back and it drove like a Luxury limo! We had it loaded to the ceiling.
Gas mileage was exceptional and we have no plans on getting rid of them anytime soon, (unless its for a 2011 model)
OK you can stop laughing now
what is it?
(the make and model)
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last years novelty -
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/everything-else/145739-rf-s.html
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We didn't look at the PT since it is very close to the Jeep that we already have.
We were at the local Chrysler dealer three times during the clunkers deal. They had lots of PT's but they weren't selling because they only qualified for a $3500 deal while the Patriots and Calibres got $4500. When we got our Jeep there were only 4 Patriots and 2 Calibres left, with 10 days left in the program. All of the PT cruisers (maybe 40) were sold in the last 10 days.
During our recent car search I noticed that every used car lot had PT's and Calibres on their lot. Could it be that too many of these cars were sold to people who couldn't really afford them.
The dealer had the upper hand during the C4C program since for the only time in the last 5 years there were more potential customers than there were qualifying cars. We decided to team up with another pair of customers to "tag team" the dealer in order to level the playing field. The other guys were a father and son. The father had flown in from Pittsburgh to buy a car for his son, who had been living in his old Explorer. It turns out that he had the funds to write a check for the car, and we had pre-aranged financing. The dealer wanted 7% for someone with an 820 credit score, yeah right, our credit union was 4.6%.
The dealer was trying hard to sell their cars to people who had little other choice than to accept their "deal". After processing several perspectives for a few hours who couldn't get financed, we left with two of the Jeeps. It took us most of the weekend to buy a car.
It turns out that we bought the Honda from the same salesman at the same Chrysler dealer who sold us the Jeep. We came in, drove two different cars, made one offer, then left. When ce called to accept our low ball offer, we asked for and agreed upon an "out the door" price. We then showed up with a check already made out for that amount. We drove out in the Honda in less than an hour.
I have seen stranger things at hamfests. In that case I doubt that that car has working radio equipment. I have spent the last 37 years designing two - way radio equipment at Motorola. With that many antennas on one car there is a high probability that transmitting on one radio will blow up another one. Even if that didn't happen, the radiation patterns would be seriously screwed up. There is actually some science behind where and how to stuff all of those antennas on a cop car for maximum effectiveness.
I have seen some rather "excessive" display of radio equipment at hamfests, but I am not at home so I don't have my pictures.
Last year at Dayton there was a Prius that was totally covered in solar cells. It claimed 7 to 10 miles a day without using any gas. That would work for me since my drive to work is 3 miles and Florida has plenty of sun. Of course it had ham radio equipment.
I have seen several large vehicles (trucks, motorhomes, etc) with the ability to set up a tower rather quickly. My favorite was an old ambulance with a tower mounted to one side. At the touch of one button the tower extends and a 40 through 10 meter beam unfolds at the top. For 160 and 80, a vertical wire antenna is launched by a weather balloon. There were various other antennas for VHF, as well as a Direct TV dish.
At the 2009 Orlando hamfest there was a guy on a Segway with a HF radio attached to the console, and a vertical antenna mounded behind the rider. Many die hard hams thought it was cool, but several didn't like it. They didn't like it enough to have it banned from all of the buildings for 2010 year. They were just jealous that they didn't think about it.
I have friends who have had the Flex-Radio 1500 on order for over a year. The Flex Radio guy said at the Orlando hamfest that he would have 100 of them on hand at Dayton. We will see.
I have a Yeasu FT817 as my only radio. I refuse to buy another radio or my ham SDR project (now in its 2nd year) will never get finished. I'll be collecting parts for it again at Dayton this year. Of course I will be looking for tubes and such, but I will try to resist dragging home large heavy things even if they are free!
It seems there are less large antennas or towers around here owned by private Ham operators. Must be the internet is taking over.
I do believe the Dodge Caliber spawned the FWD-AWD jeeps (Compass/Patriot) with Chysler-Mitsubishi-Hyundai engines. I recall it was a 3-way partnership between Hyundai-Mitsubishi-Chysler sharing the engines in design use etc. With the Fiat deal now that may have all changed in that they don't work together anymore. The PT Cruiser was supposed to be discontiued last fall, but they realized it still generated enough sales to help the bottom line. It was based on the last Neon platform. Chysler was a partner with BMW on the Mini engine too using Chysler designs. It turned out to be bulletproof. When they totally redesigned the Mini a few years ago they went to an aluminum French based engine. Not so trouble-free. The Chysler Sebring cars are all Mitsubishi designed platforms with Chysler styling & engine V6 options. The Chysler 300 , Dodge Charger & Challenger, and discontiued in 08 Magnum are all the previous generation Mercedes Benz E Class platform, except the engines. The big Sprinter Van is all Mercedes Benz with the body & suspension built in the U.S. along with final assembly. It's a unibody, replacing the previous one Chysler also sold which had a full frame design. It sure beats those old Dodge Vans which went back to the 70's. I drove a few of the 15 pass. ones years ago and found they took an extreme amount of attention to keep in ones lane. They had been just carefully safety checked.
Have fun!
Randy
I do believe the Dodge Caliber spawned the FWD-AWD jeeps (Compass/Patriot) with Chysler-Mitsubishi-Hyundai engines. I recall it was a 3-way partnership between Hyundai-Mitsubishi-Chysler sharing the engines in design use etc. With the Fiat deal now that may have all changed in that they don't work together anymore. The PT Cruiser was supposed to be discontiued last fall, but they realized it still generated enough sales to help the bottom line. It was based on the last Neon platform. Chysler was a partner with BMW on the Mini engine too using Chysler designs. It turned out to be bulletproof. When they totally redesigned the Mini a few years ago they went to an aluminum French based engine. Not so trouble-free. The Chysler Sebring cars are all Mitsubishi designed platforms with Chysler styling & engine V6 options. The Chysler 300 , Dodge Charger & Challenger, and discontiued in 08 Magnum are all the previous generation Mercedes Benz E Class platform, except the engines. The big Sprinter Van is all Mercedes Benz with the body & suspension built in the U.S. along with final assembly. It's a unibody, replacing the previous one Chysler also sold which had a full frame design. It sure beats those old Dodge Vans which went back to the 70's. I drove a few of the 15 pass. ones years ago and found they took an extreme amount of attention to keep in ones lane. They had been just carefully safety checked.
Have fun!
Randy
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1992 Daihatsu Mira, the turbo engine was imported from Japan, since turbo models didn't come into Australia.
diesel in america
I've got an '80 3.0L Mercedes turbo diesel and automatic harvested to put in my 76 F150 longbed camper special pickup. Hoping for about 25 mpg at 50 mph hauling tree limbs to the dump. Top speed maybe 70 with a 5.61 rear end and direct 4th. I let the truck sit for 7 months out of the year, reformulated gasoline goes stale and won't start in about 2 months on a carburated vehicle with a vented tank. EFI takes a computer with special software to diagnose, will not be parked in my shed. So keep cramming those 6+ L turbo diesels with the electronic fuel pump that costs $2500 out the dealerships, Ford, Dodge & George Bush.
I've got an '80 3.0L Mercedes turbo diesel and automatic harvested to put in my 76 F150 longbed camper special pickup. Hoping for about 25 mpg at 50 mph hauling tree limbs to the dump. Top speed maybe 70 with a 5.61 rear end and direct 4th. I let the truck sit for 7 months out of the year, reformulated gasoline goes stale and won't start in about 2 months on a carburated vehicle with a vented tank. EFI takes a computer with special software to diagnose, will not be parked in my shed. So keep cramming those 6+ L turbo diesels with the electronic fuel pump that costs $2500 out the dealerships, Ford, Dodge & George Bush.
I dropped in briefly to a ham fest here in Melbourne on Saturday. Well worth going if you are after parts, most of the guys with valves are just trying to get rid of them - seems they are not popular with the hams anymore.
My favourite purchase of 30 minutes I was there was 8 NOS AWV (Australian manufacturer) 807's, all marked with DD (defence department) as they are old WWII stock - for $15. All look to be in perfect condition and have very pretty boxes to boot.
I was just too late to buy NOS 814's for $5 each.
Also got some GZ34's, 6F5's and so on.
My favourite purchase of 30 minutes I was there was 8 NOS AWV (Australian manufacturer) 807's, all marked with DD (defence department) as they are old WWII stock - for $15. All look to be in perfect condition and have very pretty boxes to boot.
I was just too late to buy NOS 814's for $5 each.
Also got some GZ34's, 6F5's and so on.
The Ham radio hobby has been in a long slow decline for years. It did seem that the internet diverted the attention of the younger generation and Ebay hurt the hamfests too. We have a ham radio club at work. It used to have about 60 members, now there are 7 or 8.
The US removed the morse code requirement from ham radio a few years ago. There is also a small but growing group of people who believe that a global economic collapse with ensuing anarchy is possible. Both of these forces have brought a few newcommers to the hobby.
I went to a local radio club to take the license upgrade test last year. All of the club members were older than me, but those taking the license tests were about half young people, and all of them were there for their initial license.
Thats why I go.
Daihatsu's don't come to America any more. 1992 was the last year that the Charade was sold here. With the popularity of the the little cube shaped micro SUV's it might be time to try again.
Yes the 2.0L Chry-Mitsu-Hyundai engine is still there. At one time both Chrysler and Mitsubishi made similar 2.0L engines. The early Hyundais used Mitsu engines, then they developed their own, loosely based on the Mitsu design. Chrysler had two versions of their 2.0L engine, SOHC and DOHC. The DOHC engine had the best performance but blew head gaskets a lot. A few years ago all three decided to take the best from all 4 motors and make a new design. It has proven quite durable. The import tuner crowd has tuned the little 2L engine to 400+ HP.
I had a 1997 Neon with the DOHC engine. Zero problems despite my ability to bang into the rev limiter daily. The engine was saddled with a 3 speed automatic trans that required manual shifting for any performance driving.
The Jeep has the multi manufacturer 2.0L engine, but it gets a Jatco CVT from the Nissan Rogue. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it improves efficiency. Planting your foor on the floor at 50 MPH brings the tach instantly to 6200 RPM where it stays until you let off of the gas (90+). Even with a couple of those moments we got 31 average MPG over a 1200 mile road trip. The Honda has so far averaged 27 MPG on the same route which does involve several hundred miles of mountain roads. The Jeep spent a lot of time at 4000 RPM or higher on upgrades.
Well I for one haven't given up on ham radio. I think many feel that ham radio is on the decline but I suspect much of that apparent decline is from the many lower class licensees that only used 2 meters for what cell phones are now used. If we take away all the no code people it might not look so bad.
I got my first license in 1949 and have a pretty nice setup, legal limit on all HF bands, antenna farm on the roof, and so on. No more phone patches, and I seldom use digital modes except CW. Now and then I do RTTY or PSK but those aren't enough fun. So it's CW or SSB for me, and I love DX.
I am planning to go to the Santa Barbara hamfest in August, as well as the SOCAL DX club picnic next month. Both events usually are pretty busy.
I got my first license in 1949 and have a pretty nice setup, legal limit on all HF bands, antenna farm on the roof, and so on. No more phone patches, and I seldom use digital modes except CW. Now and then I do RTTY or PSK but those aren't enough fun. So it's CW or SSB for me, and I love DX.
I am planning to go to the Santa Barbara hamfest in August, as well as the SOCAL DX club picnic next month. Both events usually are pretty busy.
I had 89 Festiva which looked a lot like Mira. I bought new and drove it for 10 yrs and 120k Miles before I sold it. It was sold as a Mazda 121 overseas. Got 37 US MPG at 75 MPH with Carb 1.3 and 4sp. Used Mobil 1 synthetic and leakdown test showed a brand new engine when I sold it. Quite reliable except for a few drive shafts from cold weather and deep snow and slush stressing them. The faster you drove this car on a fairly smooth highway the better it felt stability wise. Like an old Mercedes. I passed many people almost maxed out at 90+ as you had to take a run at it as it only had 58 HP. Anyway maybe I hit top speed as I would bury needle. Would do 95 according to spec. It was like a walk in the park and it was even so stable I could look at the amazed I passed. I would slow down to 75 after. I put a tack in it and it ran about 4,500 rpm at 75 mph. Should have kept it for what I sold it for.
Indianajo I almost did what your contemplating except I was looking for Cummings engine to swap in my old 74 GMC 3/4 ton camper special. I found a 93 Dodge 3/4 ton club cab with engine 4X4 & 5sp for the price of an engine at the junkyard 3 yrs ago. Sure it had 252K KM 150K miles but that's nothing. Dealers won't give owners anything for old trucks especially if a bit rusty. Get's 22 MPG US running around. I saw in Diesel Power mag one with 1.4 million origional miles on all origional parts which spent 2/3 it's life towing 5th wheel campers across US. Up to 97 they are all mechanical fuel injection and 94+ rides great but a bit harder to work on.
Dodge is pretty rough riding and too big drive in city so I bid on written off 94 T-Bird with minor rear corner bump with 105K miles. Great RWD summer car with 3.8 6cyl gets 33.5 US at 100KM/HR or 62 MPH Had to check MPG, but will get run over at that speed. I thought it would get the magic 40 MPG Imperial from what I heard. It cost less than $700 with all retitling,safety, parts & my free labor. Suspension parts last for ever on these cars and they have Independent rear suspension so they ride and handle great on difficult roads. No struts either.
I guess I like the old ones too as I have 65 Acadian (Chevelle body with GTO interior) convertible I'm restoring.
If you do the swap keep stock wheels and tires and gearing. Should work okay. Power will be similar to 240 CU in 6 cyl. Just don't overload! One stump at a time. If you change to 5.6 it will burn engine out and get poor MPG. 4 speed auto from Merecedes of that vintage won't have overdrive (they were actually a close copy of GM 4sp Auto from 40-50's which was tough and had no overdrive either) If you install 3.08 gearing you could get 30 mpg, but only good for running around. You may have 3.73 - 4.1 which will work too. That might even give gearing more to what you want. 3.55 might be the best compromise if you have it. Car probably had 3.08 with 14 in wheels. Camper special as F-150? Are you sure? GM were all 3/4 T. Mine had 4.1 though 3.73 was std.
Good luck!
Randy
Indianajo I almost did what your contemplating except I was looking for Cummings engine to swap in my old 74 GMC 3/4 ton camper special. I found a 93 Dodge 3/4 ton club cab with engine 4X4 & 5sp for the price of an engine at the junkyard 3 yrs ago. Sure it had 252K KM 150K miles but that's nothing. Dealers won't give owners anything for old trucks especially if a bit rusty. Get's 22 MPG US running around. I saw in Diesel Power mag one with 1.4 million origional miles on all origional parts which spent 2/3 it's life towing 5th wheel campers across US. Up to 97 they are all mechanical fuel injection and 94+ rides great but a bit harder to work on.
Dodge is pretty rough riding and too big drive in city so I bid on written off 94 T-Bird with minor rear corner bump with 105K miles. Great RWD summer car with 3.8 6cyl gets 33.5 US at 100KM/HR or 62 MPH Had to check MPG, but will get run over at that speed. I thought it would get the magic 40 MPG Imperial from what I heard. It cost less than $700 with all retitling,safety, parts & my free labor. Suspension parts last for ever on these cars and they have Independent rear suspension so they ride and handle great on difficult roads. No struts either.
I guess I like the old ones too as I have 65 Acadian (Chevelle body with GTO interior) convertible I'm restoring.
If you do the swap keep stock wheels and tires and gearing. Should work okay. Power will be similar to 240 CU in 6 cyl. Just don't overload! One stump at a time. If you change to 5.6 it will burn engine out and get poor MPG. 4 speed auto from Merecedes of that vintage won't have overdrive (they were actually a close copy of GM 4sp Auto from 40-50's which was tough and had no overdrive either) If you install 3.08 gearing you could get 30 mpg, but only good for running around. You may have 3.73 - 4.1 which will work too. That might even give gearing more to what you want. 3.55 might be the best compromise if you have it. Car probably had 3.08 with 14 in wheels. Camper special as F-150? Are you sure? GM were all 3/4 T. Mine had 4.1 though 3.73 was std.
Good luck!
Randy
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Yeah, all those second class citizens are the real problem. Only those operators 65 years-old and up, who know CW should be allowed to use an already underutilized radio spectrum.
<shakes head>
Now stop that you guys. AL7RU here. The spectrum is underutilized and we better change that somehow or we'll lose it. I doubt we'll lose below 30 though because nobody really needs it.
Anyway, never been to Dayton, Always wanted to. Now, ham fests are like desert islands. The internet, and cell phones. yup. Oh, and Ebay. Remember when a Collins 75A4 was $200 in the yellow sheets? Yeah, never again.
If we didn't have this and countless other forums we'd be talking about this stuff on the air right now.
Have a good time.
73's, and I ain't over 65 and I did have to learn code. I'm an advanced, never made extra because I preferred phone.
I kinda figured someone would take offense. When I said lower class licenses I was not referring to quality, simply Tech vs General etc. Most new hams would get themselves an HT and that was ham radio for them. Now it's been superseded by cell phones.
So I got inspired tonight and put the rig on the air, first time in a year. Worked Val, UA0CZ for about the eighth time, on 20 CW. I guess I still remember how to do it. Gotta get that TS-940 back on the air again! I was using my TS-440 tonight, a very underappreciated rig. The 940 has a receive problem and it's apart on the desk.
So I got inspired tonight and put the rig on the air, first time in a year. Worked Val, UA0CZ for about the eighth time, on 20 CW. I guess I still remember how to do it. Gotta get that TS-940 back on the air again! I was using my TS-440 tonight, a very underappreciated rig. The 940 has a receive problem and it's apart on the desk.
Let's see. I got a Gonset 76 Am transceiver 10 thru 80 meters. I got two working well Drake TR-3 with good power supplies. I got a Scout Deluxe Am/CW transmitter with a Hammerlund something that needs some weird unobtainium pots and that's it I think. I got rid of my FT-1000MT (3 was it? or two, I dunno). I'm going to put a screwdriver on the roof with a counterpoise one of these days and get back on AM. 3870KC and 7290KC. That's my home.
Good on you for sticking to CW. Somebody gotta hold up the standards, I just never enjoyed it that much. I never had any other license other than an advanced. I studied up, went in and took the tests and walked out. They kept hounding me all the way to the parking lot to take the extra written too. They had never had a guy do it all in one day.
Oh, and btw, the TS-440 and 940 are fine rigs. I've heard some stories about 940 problems though in the past. I had an Icom 720 was it? Same vintage as the 440. Horrible thing. Noise floor about 90db up. The Yaesu was a fine receiver though. My Ten Tec Omni V was no slouch in the receive mode either.
Now I forgot why I went into edit mode. Oh, I've been KM6TV, KJ7FX, and AL7RU. I've never spent two seconds on the air as AL7RU, I just lived in Alaska and decided to get an Alaska call. I wonder if I can get KJ7FX back?
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