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Detroit, 9:33 AM
Fri Nov 27
1 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Elhigh Elhigh
    11/26/09

    In reply to Five Best And Worst Black Friday New Car Deals
    I've noticed that Chinese motorcycles are probably the most expensive motorcycle purchase you can possibly make. You buy in low, but parts cost quickly mount.

    Better to buy a battered old Virago. It'll run longer and you won't be in such a hot hurry to move up to a bigger bike.

    Also: Kudos to Bumbeck devising a way to safely drop the turkey into the grease. My way is to get my brother in law to do it.

    Also: Knoxville TN cops are screening crazy hard - go five miles over the limit and you'll get flagged. I don't think there'd be more cops on the roads if they thought we were being invade by the Taliban.

    Also in Knoxville: Jim Cogdill Dodge is trying to sell brand new, never sold, 2008 Dodge and Chrysler products at $13,000. Still got the whole warranty, it's still a brand-new car at a used car price. It might be a better deal, assuming Chrysler's still around in five years for parts support.
     Reply
    Elhigh was starred Elhigh was unstarred
    Image of DrLemming DrLemming
    11/26/09

    In reply to Ten New Cars Jalopnik Is Thankful For
    I'd have included the corncob car in the list. It's light, aerodynamic, has a pedestrian-friendly skin, and can be constructed from renewable materials.

    Best of all, any cornfed kid in the heartland can make their very own car.

    Not so sure lemon wheels would be good for an open-air car -- at least without wearing goggles.
     Reply
    DrLemming was starred DrLemming was unstarred
    Image of Flathead Smith Flathead Smith
    11/26/09

    In reply to Kill The Headlights And Put It In Neutral: Why The Parking Lot Matters
    Wal-Mart parking lots are nice because you walk in the store, buy your oil, oil filter and then change your vehicles oil right there in the parking lot. If you’re really savvy you can park over a drainage grate so the mess isn’t quite so big. This also works for antifreeze change outs, rear-end lube jobs and transmission oil changes, but if it’s an automatic you’ll need to buy a transmission filter somewhere else, because Wal-Mart doesn’t sale those,....yet.
     Reply
    Flathead Smith was starred Flathead Smith was unstarred
    Image of Electro Gyrocator Electro Gyrocator
    11/26/09

    @Flathead Smith: Don't forget, you can do smokey burnouts past the RVs in the parking lot and wake up the old people camping out.
     Reply
    Flathead Smith promoted this comment Electro Gyrocator was starred Electro Gyrocator was unstarred
    Image of Turboner Turboner
    11/25/09

    In reply to Ten New Cars Jalopnik Is Thankful For
    Sam, great job, but you're off Ray's Christmas list. No Camaro? ;)
     Reply
    Turboner was starred Turboner was unstarred
    Image of Novaload Novaload
    11/25/09

    In reply to Ten New Cars Jalopnik Is Thankful For
    I'll take Numbers One (with turkeys), Two, Three, Four, Seven and Ten. I don't want to be greedy.
     Reply
    Novaload was starred Novaload was unstarred
    Image of LuciferV8 LuciferV8
    11/25/09

    In reply to Kill The Headlights And Put It In Neutral: Why The Parking Lot Matters
    I got a thing for parking garages. Excellent pieces of architecture, and if you have a skateboard (with big enough wheels), lots of fun.
     Reply
    LuciferV8 was starred LuciferV8 was unstarred
    Image of Turboner Turboner
    11/25/09

    In reply to Kill The Headlights And Put It In Neutral: Why The Parking Lot Matters
    I don't think Joni Mitchell would agree, but I do. I also don't think that chick with the bangs is Rob Halford's type ;)
     Reply
    Edited by Turboner at 11/25/09 9:33 PM Turboner was starred Turboner was unstarred
    Image of LandofMinos, cast thou evil bum dragger to thy scrapyard LandofMinos, cast thou evil bum dragger to thy scrapyard
    11/25/09

    In reply to Ten New Cars Jalopnik Is Thankful For
    Silly Sammy. You're thankful for an overweight arse dragging snobby croutwagon whilst the lithe and sexy Italians are building proper soul stirring hot hatches (Alf Mito & Abarth 500).

    See, you scribes should realise that is ME, yes ME who is always correct and everybody else who doesn't agree with ME is wro...

    Oh shit, sorry Sammy, sorry Jalopnik, sorry America. I'm such an arsehole. An arsehole who forgets that poor poor America wouldn't know about the two said automotive wonderments being they're not available in the land of milf and money.
     Reply
    LandofMinos, cast thou evil bum dragger to thy scrapyard was starred LandofMinos, cast thou evil bum dragger to thy scrapyard was unstarred
    Image of gearhead_318 gearhead_318
    11/25/09

    @LandofMinos, cast thou evil bum dragger to thy scrapyard:
    You sound like a disgruntled European, no offense to normal Europeans. Its hard to be thankful for something that you cant get for a few years (the 500) Our muscle cars have a certain charm, just like an Alfa or a Fiat 500 have, speaking of Alfa the (standard) Mita is about as sexy as a cross-eyed pig I do like the GTA though.
     Reply
    Novaload promoted this comment gearhead_318 was starred gearhead_318 was unstarred
    Image of LandofMinos, cast thou evil bum dragger to thy scrapyard LandofMinos, cast thou evil bum dragger to thy scrapyard
    11/26/09


    @gearhead_318: BZZZZT! Sorry you're incorrect. disgruntled yes, European no. Never mind you still go to round two...

    I come from a land who builds proper muscle cars but the driver would sit on what you would call the wrong side. We even convert American muscle cars to right hand drive!
     Reply
    LandofMinos, cast thou evil bum dragger to thy scrapyard was starred LandofMinos, cast thou evil bum dragger to thy scrapyard was unstarred
    Image of bmoreDLJ bmoreDLJ
    11/25/09

    In reply to Kill The Headlights And Put It In Neutral: Why The Parking Lot Matters
    I've always wondered why more parking lots aren't grass, or otherwise have some kind of runoff-mitigating texture to them. Just something you think about when you're living in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, and the Bay is mostly dead.
     Reply
    bmoreDLJ was starred bmoreDLJ was unstarred
    Image of Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet
    11/26/09

    @bmoreDLJ: It exists and is becoming more common in the US. At one end is permeable pavements that look like regular asphalt but allow water to percolate into the soil. At the other end are turf parking lots and stabilized soils, so it looks like a lawn and has ninety percent open area for permeability. Often the access lanes will be paved or compacted gravel to withstand the extra wear and tear.

    More typically, there are parking lots with planted areas spaced frequently and graded so that water runs into those plantings, or is collected in a subsurface drainage system and permitted to percolate into the groundwater, via either a perforated underground cistern or through retention/detention basins that can look like ponds.

    The pollution from roads, parking lots and lawns is called non-point source pollution, describing how diffuse it is. It is a serious problem for lots of waterways. It is fairly common for parking lot drainage systems to include oil/sand separators in their drainage boxes, to limit what pollutants travel further towards the water.

    The Chesapeake Bay's water quality problems are now much more influenced by lawn and field runoff carrying fertilizers, weedkiller, pesticides, and pet poop. Dialing back on all that, and making minor landscape changes so stormwater can percolate into the soil before reaching the Bay will lead to immense improvements in the Bay's health.
     Reply
    Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet was starred Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet was unstarred
    Image of eggwich del fiero eggwich del fiero
    11/25/09

    In reply to Kill The Headlights And Put It In Neutral: Why The Parking Lot Matters

    I like this writeup and agree. As an urban dweller, I fully appreciate the (free) parking lot, and as an ex-suburbanite, parking lots were the only places (besides car washes) that we teens were allowed to hang out. ("Bowl another game or GTFO!") When I'm back in Michigan, I'm often tempted to drive places just because they have a parking lot, and I can park back in the driveway when I get home. Appreciate the small stuff.

    My only addition to this piece would be to mention Ed Ruscha's 1967 photobook Thirtyfour Parking Lots. It contains pics of, yup, 34 parking lots, and tries to emphasize the beauty of these most banal of settings, much like Sam "PL" Smith has done in this writeup. Pic attached.

    I'm glad I actually read through the comments before posting too, because I was going to cry out for the inclusion of Heavy Metal Parking Lot. (I lack the plug-ins at work to see what the vids are of, and lack the permissions to install them. Life is struggle.)
     Reply
    eggwich del fiero was starred eggwich del fiero was unstarred
    Image of tonyola tonyola
    11/25/09

    In reply to Kill The Headlights And Put It In Neutral: Why The Parking Lot Matters
    Augh! The Heavy Metal Parking Lot is hitting too close for comfort for my memories - stoned, skinny, shirtless, jeans, long blond hair, standing in a parking lot holding a beer trying to impress the chicks, and saying "Alice Cooper rocks, dude!". Is there a statute of limitations for this sort of behavior, or does it go on my Permanent Record? Thank god no-one had a video camera, or I'd end up on someone's "Cheeze Metal of the '70s" DVD compilation. I'd have to apply for the Clueless Rockers Protection Program, change my name, and move to another state.
     Reply
    Edited by tonyola at 11/25/09 3:55 PM tonyola was starred tonyola was unstarred
    Image of VeeArrrSix VeeArrrSix
    11/25/09

    In reply to Kill The Headlights And Put It In Neutral: Why The Parking Lot Matters
    Sam's own brand of mash up... how the hell he makes all this come together I will never know. But I do know it's pretty damn awesome.

    I am so thankful for Jalopnik this year.
     Reply
    VeeArrrSix was starred VeeArrrSix was unstarred
    Image of Ben Wojdyla Ben Wojdyla
    11/25/09

    In reply to Kill The Headlights And Put It In Neutral: Why The Parking Lot Matters
    Excellent post Sam. Odd, and very esoteric, but well done.
     Reply
    Ben Wojdyla was starred Ben Wojdyla was unstarred
    Image of günter macbeetle, codename: chrystlubitshi günter macbeetle, codename: chrystlubitshi
    11/25/09

    In reply to Ten New Cars Jalopnik Is Thankful For
    i am truly torn with the decision between pics 1 and 11............ holy s**t.. how about an green/aero-bodied caterham that looks like a corn cob. my dreams are complete...

    mid-western america, watch out for me in the next 15-20 yrs or so... when i can finally build it...

    speeding corn, awesome.
     Reply
    günter macbeetle, codename: chrystlubitshi was starred günter macbeetle, codename: chrystlubitshi was unstarred
    Image of Cognitive Friction Cognitive Friction
    11/25/09

    In reply to Kill The Headlights And Put It In Neutral: Why The Parking Lot Matters
    Parking lots allow us the single greatest form of automotive navel gazing: the opportunity to admire your parking job.

    If I hit the exact center of the space, all vehicle occupants will be peppered with leading questions like "Whoo, nailed that one didn't I?" and "Am I closer to the line on that side?", etc. I am a shameless parksturbator like that.
     Reply
    Cognitive Friction was starred Cognitive Friction was unstarred
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