Vettes, and Mercedes-Benz, too

My former boss, Terry, drives a 2009 Corvette convertible.  Actually I know a lot of Vette owners.  Tom W- if you're reading this I still have yet to photograph yours.  Anyway Terry's is very classy: deep maroon with a black top.  Pictured here a couple years back with my BMW. 

My husband was out working at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona a short time ago, where he had the opportunity to meet up with Bob Bondurant- who runs a racing school there, the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving.  Think I'd like to attend.  Do check out his Vette. Now that is one beautiful car.

And finally, an automobile fit for a queen, my friend Anita's 1994 Mercedes E Series in lush forest green.  She's selling it because it's getting too old to care for and hard to find parts.  Hmm, somehow the BMW keeps sneaking into these photographs.  No, this was not an accident.  This was taken at a computer software and codes conference Anita and I organized and ran last summer with Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Department of Defense.  

We're thinking it may be time to organize another such meeting, but this time centered around the theme of "what's next in hardware and software" considering that big data is majorly upon us, yet we're already going down the path to exascale. 

Knowing What You Want is Always Half the Battle

I started looking seriously for my 911 in February of this year.  Had lots of homework to do:  these cars are elaborate pieces of machinery and highly customizable with many options.  So I thought it wise to take the time to figure out what I wanted- and didn't want.  My BMW guru advised me to buy a new one because these things are so bespoke, where I might end up with features I don't want or those that may be prone to problems.  I didn't listen.  Well, I did listen initially but sorry Grant-- I ended up looking a few years back.  For a number of reasons: first of all cost- a slightly used 911 with low mileage was significantly more affordable.  Second I liked the pre-mid-2012 design better than the newer revamp, which lengthened the 911 by about 4-5 inches and featured a wider rear wheel base.  The current model is pictured here:  http://www.porsche.com/usa/models/911/911-carrera/


This is where I zeroed in on the 2010.  See the difference between this and the one in the link above?

The 2010 is straighter and shorter from head to tail.  Looks leaner in my mind.  I just like it better. 

So one of the other features I knew I wanted:  hard top.  Never was into cabriolets because I don't like to be in the sun too much, and speculatively I feel safer in a coupe or sedan generally given the accident prone environs of I-495 and the Washington DC area in general.  No shortage of aggressive, mean drivers around here. 

I then figured out I wanted a base Carrera, meteor grey or blue metallic exterior, dark leather interior.  Manual transmission (of course!), wrap around seats, sunroof possibly, and everything else was more or less negotiable.  I did initially go to my local dealer and asked one of the sales people to find one for me, but he refused.  Kept calling me with 2012 and 2013 Carrera S, 4S, Turbos, and the like, many featuring hideous big wings, ugly colors, and other things I didn't want.  I did test drive a few of these for fun but they were not it.  The sales guy turned out to be not at all helpful as all he wanted to do was push vehicles coming off leases and didn't care what I was interested in.  I finally had to block his calls.  Good riddance.

So at the same time I was searching on Autotrader.com and Cars.com and for a few months I saw nothing that fit the bill.  Lots of cabriolets.  Lots of vehicles in black, which seems to be a popular color.  And the occasional screaming yellow and other loud attention seeking hues.  It became obvious quickly that there were few sticks out there.  Having not been on the car market in over a decade, things had really changed.  But a Porsche 911 in an automatic?  I'm just not feelin' it. 

I got word of a beautiful one in San Diego in dark metallic blue, about 20K miles, and it was really close but had the light sand beige interior, which was a show stopper because that shows the dirt too much. 

Finally, one Friday afternoon riding the train home from work I got a message via Cars.com that one fitting my interests had just come on the market in Richmond, Virgina, only about 100-something miles away.  Ok, I'll look at the details when I get home.  I did, but there were no pictures for some reason.  I called the number listed anyway and left a message for the owner, named Tom-- all the private sellers of these kinds of cars by the way were guys-- this is not a critique-- just amusing.  He called me back within an hour and we talked for about an hour. It was one of the most fun conversations I'd had in a long time, all about the car he had for sale, and about Porsches, BMWs and Audis.  He directed me to an ad he had created on Craigslist that had lots of pictures.  Between our conversation and the pictures, I said to my husband, "This may be it." 

I called Tom back and asked if we could come see it the next day.  So Saturday we set off for Richmond. 

Saying goodbye to my 1998 BMW 3 series

For years, I drove a 1998 BMW 323is hard top with sun roof.  It was a 2 door coupe with a 2.8L DOHC 6 cylinder M52 engine, with 168 horsepower.  It featured BMW's unique Z-axle multi-link suspension and gave a sporty ride with  225/50ZR 16 Michelin pilot tires. It was a manual of course.  It was awesome.  I was seriously attached to that car because it was the first car I bought with my own money after graduate school and after being terribly broke for years, so it represented a lot of things to me:  freedom, independence, fun, and many other things.  I took meticulous care of it, and moved it from DC (where I had bought it 2nd hand from a doctor in Maryland) to New Mexico and back to DC with me.  My husband and I had one of our first dates in that car, racing it one afternoon in the lonely stretches of road above Taos, New Mexico.

But it got old.  16 years old when I sold it last week to a nice couple from New Jersey.  I really struggled with letting it go, but I don't have the time or mental bandwidth or space- we live in dense housing- to keep it.  The only major work I had done on it was an upgrade to the cooling system, and did that because my outstanding BMW-fanatic mechanic Grant Randall at alexandriabavarian.com mentioned to me that my particular model was subject to its coolant reservoir tank failing because the Germans had for a while made these items out of recycled plastic.  So in 2007 we replaced the radiator, water pump, thermostat, FR hoses, belts, rollers, tensioners, recovery tank, and the radiator cap and bleeder.

Other than that my E36 had its original clutch, suspension, and even the original center console complete with tape deck.  I was aware that other owners of this vintage car often inserted a combination bluetooth, mp3 player into the center console, but I couldn't stand to ruin the original appearance, so I got by with a cassette insert for my digital music.

I keep my cars clean and have regular maintenance performed on them.  My E36 had had its share of oil changes, transmission fluid, filters, belts, and other minor things replaced.  The new owner wrote me and said it felt almost like a new car.  It still tracked well, had kick, and handled the way a BMW does, tight and responsive. Shifted smooth as silk, and stopped on a dime if required.

It had only 122K miles. 

Everything still worked on it other than the digital messaging, temperature and time display had become pixelated, but this is an easy fix.  Not surprisingly there was a bidding war for it on ebay.   Several local residents had come to look at it and drive it, remarking about what great shape it was in.  As tough as it was to sell it was finally time to move on.  In part because I would have had to sink some money into it sooner or later with a new clutch, struts, and no doubt other things.  And it was nice to see the couple who bought it so truly happy. The husband was absolutely ecstatic over this car, and I know it has gone to a good home. 

Why "The Last Manual Transmission?"

Why "The Last Manual Transmission?"

Because sticks are getting quite hard to find.  Many people don't want them anymore, and with good reasons for the most part:  paddle shifters are taking over as more desirable, derived from significant advances in the racing industry, and automatic transmissions combined with advanced on board computing has finally overtaken the human ability to shift at the optimum time, for the best fuel efficiency.  I'm old enough to remember when a stick bought you better gas mileage.  No more.  The other reason people are veering away from old fashioned manual transmissions is a bad one:  overwhelmingly escalating use of one's free hand for texting and web surfing on one's mobile device, while driving.  This is so dangerous and foolhardy, but people will be people.

It took me several months to find the car I wanted.  But it was worth the wait and the pursuit is always part of the thrill, as it is in most of life's fun adventures.  This blog is about that chase and my getting intimately familiar with the new car, learning it-- there is a lot to learn-- and taking care of it.  Some of my other interests may likely get mixed in to this writing endeavor as well.  We'll see where we go.