Art Imitates Life II

Sweet ride…

Car Jewelry

Pigbristles’ comment on Tainted:

I don’t know about Gloria, but my bike always responded well to bling. To make up for pinching her #2 carb boot, I replaced the the boring black ABS side panels with carbon-fiber. She’s been lovey-dovey ever since!  But maybe Gloria’s more of a “spa type” – you might go for the full detail, that might get you back in her good graces.  You can’t put it off though – otherwise, the next thing you know you’ll be into her for a new set of alloy rims or something!  (Oh, and get the O2 sensor fixed, too!)

I’d totally go for the detailing if I knew a place around here I thought I could trust to do a good job and not fleece me.  She’s overdue for just a wash, after toughing it out through her first Sealand winter.  Back in the fall I was washing her by hand, with Jack’s help;  then Flora’s freaking son-in-law ripped the hose off the side of the house and turned off the water to the spigot.  New landlord hasn’t replaced it, or turned it back on.

The Empress did get her those Union Jack valve stems for my birthday (kinda like earrings).  That went a long way.  And I’ve been threatening to take her back in to the dealer and have white bonnet stripes put on her since the day I got her.  (She came with alloy rims.)  Gotta spread the love around, though.  Dragonia needs bling, too!  ;)

As for the O2 sensor:  the diagnosis was “277x”:  “high pressure fuel pump fault, causing misfires across all cylinders & engine stall out”.  The techs removed and reinstalled the intake ducts, and replaced the pump, and she was good to go–  all for free, since she’s still under warranty.  That was particularly delicious, as D’s car had just stalled out the night before, and she feared a malfunction in the fuel pump, and a costly repair.  But it was actually just out of gas, and there was nothing mechanically wrong with it.  So it’s kinda like I got to take the bullet for her.

(You know, I’m a “spa-type”…)

I Hate Halloween

Gloria feels the same way about Mischief Night.

99,000 to Go

Crossed the 1000 mile mark today in the mighty Mini while whippin’ up the Saltfen Thruway to go see “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” (IMAX 3D!  Naturally.)  Still nary a complaint, unless you wanna count the center arm rest jamming halfway open because the coins inside rolled back into the hinge when I folded it up.  And she’s barely into her third tank of gas!

Also still nailing down the nuances of exactly how much gas to give her off a standing start.  Not enough and she rolls kinda leisurely;  too much and it’s snarl and leap.  Got All-Season Traction Control, though, so I don’t have to worry about leaving any rubber on the road if I screw it up.

And yes, “Gloria” won the name contest.  (“Gloria” pretty much won the name contest the moment the Empress said it;  it’s all just been me struggling with myself.)  Bummer I can’t get that on a personalized plate for her, though.  Would have to explain to all the neighbors, and everyone else, over and over and over…

What the HELL?!

Another British Racing Green white-topped Mini Cooper-S tonight, this time IN SEALAND.  It coalesced out of nowhere on my 10 driving home via Route 33, preceded me into town, and we ran tail to nose until we hit the light at Boardwalk.  He turned right.  I went straight.  Nobody gets off Route 33 and then drives Boardwalk unless they’re targeting someplace in Sealand.  If he was going to Rutledge, he could have gotten off 33 one exit earlier and gone straight there.

What is this, Those Annoying Post Brothers?

What the Hell??

Someone who just started parking in front of the apartment complex in Shadetree where my son lives has–   a British Racing Green white-topped Mini Cooper-S!  With the white bonnet stripes on the hood that I wanted to get!

I better not look too closely.  It might be me from a future timeline…

Let’s Motor

Picked up the new car this morning.

Oh yeah…  guess I should tell you what kind of car it is, shouldn’t I?

It’s a 2009 British Racing Green Mini Cooper-S.  172 horsepower 1.6 litre 4-cylinder inline;  does 0 to 60 in 6.7 seconds, and pulls a max speed of 139 mph.  Leaps off the line like a demon, handles like it can tell what you’re thinking, turns so tightly you can pull a U-ie between two rows of parked cars, and stops on a shaved dime.  The Empress and I ran it up to Eldritch in Charlottica to wring all the bugs out of it.  There weren’t any.  We were eating fried wholebelly clams and oysters at a roadside stand two states away from West of the Rivers within the space of hours, and still had more travel range left in the tank than Nightshade had when he was Full.

Speaking of Nightshade:  we thanked him for his long and faithful service, and left him in the care of the salesman-  but we forgot to leave the keys along with him.  He had to wait until we got back from Eldritch to take the long drive to his final reward.  We gave the salesman a bottle of Charlottica wine as an apology for the trouble;  he in return gave us a bumper sticker that he had apparently forgotten to give us that morning:

If that makes you laugh, take a look at the Terms and Conditions for registering with the MiniUSA web site.

Strongest contender for a name for the car so far is “Gloria”, after Laura Branigan’s song of the same title came blasting out of the car speakers at a particularly perfect moment of sun and speed and asphalt.  That, and a certain other “G” word commonly associated with my drawings…