Re: The joy of Linux

On 11/9/24 9:38 PM, rbowman wrote:

On Sat, 9 Nov 2024 20:37:02 -0500, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote:
 

I'd love a '69 Falcon with the 200
    six ... had one long long ago. Super-simple, a tank, you could kinda
    literally climb into the hood to get at the parts, adequate
    performance,
    didn't report your every move to the company. Could maybe add a
    little selected 'smartness' with a PI ....

 I had a '62 2 door Falcon Futura Sports Sedan white with a black vinyl
top. It looked like a shrunken T-Bird and thought it was a Jeep. One
Christmas holiday I was at my cousin's in NJ when a blizzard hit so bad
the NYS Thruway was closed. The Taconic Parkway was open so I took that.
My mother whined all the way but we made it to Troy. The 170 was no fire
breather but it kept on going.

   I had a friend with a couple of old Mercs - a 61 and 64 if I
   recall correctly. Both under 200ci. The older one only had
   a TWO-speed tranny. Again, not fire-breathers by any measure,
   but they WERE tanks and you COULD get at all the relevant parts.
   By the early 70s the quality of American cars suddenly went
   down the tubes. Japanese competition was rising so they decided
   to cut costs. NOT good.

It was diametrically opposed to my '62 Continental if you want to talk
about tanks. 5400 lbs at the curb with a 430 engine. It had a fondness for
fuel pumps and the forward opening hood made for a miserable experience.
They should have done it like the Triumph Spitfire where the whole front
end swung up and you could it on a tire while working on it.

   Well, THAT would be TOO EASY for the consumer !  :-)
   As for Falcons ... the model line DID persist for a very
   long time in Australia. There was one local maker though
   who made a "better Falcon", heavier suspension intended
   to cope with the rough Aussie roads.
   Anyway, those older cars CAN be had - in various stages
   of repair/re-do. The prices ain't THAT bad. My only
   concern would be PARTS - though you'd think 3-D printers
   could create most anything these days.
   Looks like 1983 was the last year of the traditional
   inline-six alas - from Chrysler corp. Good engines
   all in all, just enough and simple. Never quite GOT
   the Slant-6 ... WHY they slanted it .....