Small Talk: Dinner at Red Lobster

[shapeshifter]

The rest of this discussion appeared in the thread for the episode which showed this Vanity Card; I think you can click on this quote box below to get to that thread:

5 hours ago, ChitChat said:

I didn't say that.  You might've missed my initial post on this.  Here's what I said:  "Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with him quoting from the Bible, but it's pretty rich coming from a man who has consistently written divisive things on his vanity cards over the years.  Sometimes it's a subtle dig, but it's there.  He talks out of both sides of his mouth."  

My point?  He's been very divisive through his vanity cards for years, and now he's calling for civility.  Where was this love the past 6 seasons? 

Ah ha! Now I get what you were saying. Thanks  for clarifying, @ChitChat!
Anyhoo, in general, I assume any of Lorre's Jesus quotes are a reference to hypocrisy or otherwise being snarky unless otherwise demonstrated, which was a little less clear in this Vanity Card #715: http://chucklorre.com/?e=1442

I suspect vagueness of meaning was deliberate on his part.

[Chit Chat]

3 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Ah ha! Now I get what you were saying.

I hope I didn't come across as a butt in my response to you!  No snark on a fellow poster intended!! 

What irritates me about Lorre is how he makes statements in his vanity cards that have been divisive and rude to many of his audience.  He even stated in one card that he was going to quit doing that, which shows he was fully aware of what he was doing, but that didn't last very long.  I'm now seeing many high-profile people suddenly calling for civility, when they were the very ones causing strife.  It just bugs the crap out of me!!

The quote from the Bible was very nice, but for me, it loses its importance coming from him.   

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, ChitChat said:

I hope I didn't come across as a butt in my response to you!  No snark on a fellow poster intended!! 

Not at all. I just thought you were clarifying, and I appreciated it. 

2 hours ago, ChitChat said:

The quote from the Bible was very nice, but for me, it loses its importance coming from him. 

I think that's part of his point? 
Even though Lorre is not a Christian (either by birth or choice), and even though Lorre is Not known as Mr. Nice Guy, he seems to suggest (to me) that he may have a better grasp of the message of "love one another" at this point than many who are claiming to represent those who do profess to be followers of Jesus?
But, that's just my take on it.
I was hoping his real message was to implore those who have at some time claimed to be followers of the commandment to love one another to go vote and to keep in mind their belief in the commandment to love one another when they vote.

But, more likely, Lorre was mainly throwing the commandment to Love One Another in the face of those who have been hating one another--which doesn't bother me.
 

Edited November 7, 2022 by shapeshifter

[Yeah No]

3 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Not at all. I just thought you were clarifying, and I appreciated it. 

I think that's part of his point? 
Even though Lorre is not a Christian (either by birth or choice), and even though Lorre is Not known as Mr. Nice Guy, he seems to suggest (to me) that he may have a better grasp of the message of "love one another" at this point than many who are claiming to represent those who do profess to be followers of Jesus?
But, that's just my take on it.
I was hoping his real message was to implore those who have at some time claimed to be followers of the commandment to love one another to go vote and to keep in mind their belief in the commandment to love one another when they vote.

Perhaps, but talk is cheap and as far as I know he is not immune to hypocrisy himself, especially considering his history. 

Edited November 7, 2022 by Yeah No

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

Perhaps, but talk is cheap and as far as I know he is not immune to hypocrisy himself, especially considering his history. 

I assume Lorre would admit it "takes one to know one," but I've not followed the details of his personal life.

[Ziggy]

10 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Perhaps, but talk is cheap and as far as I know he is not immune to hypocrisy himself, especially considering his history. 

8 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I assume Lorre would admit it "takes one to know one," but I've not followed the details of his personal life.

I don’t really know anything about Chuck Lorre or his personal life, so I might be completely off base in my understanding of the situation. But I’m not so sure that “talk is cheap” is very fitting here. Clearly people read his vanity cards and are affected by what he has to say. To me, that tells us that talk is most definitely not cheap because there are many very strong opinions about what he says in those cards.

I feel like I am hearing far too much these days is if you don’t agree with me on one thing, we can’t be friends. (You’re either with me or against me.) I read his cards occasionally. Most of the time they make me laugh or smile. Occasionally I think to myself, “Nope, totally disagree,” and that’s ok. It shouldn’t translate into oh no he’s a horrible human being. Just so happens I disagree with him on that subject.

When I read the most recent vanity card I thought “Yep, that’s a good reminder for all of us.” But maybe others felt like Lorre was pointing fingers saying, “You all need to be more loving,” and not realizing that it applies to him, as well?

[Yeah No]

12 hours ago, Ziggy said:

I don’t really know anything about Chuck Lorre or his personal life, so I might be completely off base in my understanding of the situation. But I’m not so sure that “talk is cheap” is very fitting here. Clearly people read his vanity cards and are affected by what he has to say. To me, that tells us that talk is most definitely not cheap because there are many very strong opinions about what he says in those cards.

I feel like I am hearing far too much these days is if you don’t agree with me on one thing, we can’t be friends. (You’re either with me or against me.) I read his cards occasionally. Most of the time they make me laugh or smile. Occasionally I think to myself, “Nope, totally disagree,” and that’s ok. It shouldn’t translate into oh no he’s a horrible human being. Just so happens I disagree with him on that subject.

When I read the most recent vanity card I thought “Yep, that’s a good reminder for all of us.” But maybe others felt like Lorre was pointing fingers saying, “You all need to be more loving,” and not realizing that it applies to him, as well?

"Talk is cheap" means that it's easy to say you stand for something, but that's not the same as actually following through on it in action.  In other words it's the difference between "talking the talk" and "walking the walk".  Another similar expression is "actions speak louder than words".  Given that some people see some of Lorre's other remarks as divisive and definitely not healing or loving, I don't think using that expression about him is off the mark when he comes out with something like this.  So yeah, it's more like your last paragraph. 

[Ziggy]

14 hours ago, Yeah No said:

"Talk is cheap" means that it's easy to say you stand for something, but that's not the same as actually following through on it in action.  In other words it's the difference between "talking the talk" and "walking the walk".  Another similar expression is "actions speak louder than words".  Given that some people see some of Lorre's other remarks as divisive and definitely not healing or loving, I don't think using that expression about him is off the mark when he comes out with something like this.  So yeah, it's more like your last paragraph. 

I hear what you're saying, and I was off base with what I said.  I really stink at summarizing my thoughts, and what I'm trying to convey often gets lost because I use too many words.

What I was trying to say is that lots of people read the cards, and his words have an impact.  Some people will only be influenced by his words and not by his actions.  I was trying to say that, in a sense, his words are his actions.

But also, I think that speaking about divisive subjects is not contrary to "loving one another."  The two are not mutually exclusive.  Being loving doesn't mean never speaking up when you disagree with something.  I've, personally, never felt any of his cards were hateful.  I just didn't always agree with what he said.

[Driad]

PBS Nova episode Zero to Infinity: How key mathematical concepts such as zero and infinity were invented and re-invented by different cultures across thousands of years.

[marypat57]

I remember when my youngest brother bought his first computer with money he had earned from his paper route.  It was a Commodore Vic20 with a magnetic tape drive.  It ran on regular cassette tapes.  
I remember buying him whatever sale games they had at Toys R Us that Christmas.  One of them was a poker game.  My grandmother was watching him play the game one night, and she offered him helpful hints.  Grandma was an awesome poker player.  We used to save our pennies in a decorative jar, so she could play with her friends when she came to visit us.  She also loved horse races , and at one time had an OTB account.  In her younger days, she and my grandfather liked to go and patronize speakeasies. 
 

[TheLastKidPicked]

@hoodooznoodooz

@kariyaki was kind enough to move our conversation over here.

 

When we were kids, we needed to be in small groups for one reason or another.  Sometimes it was for a school project, sometimes it would be for a sporting event.

Each group leader would choose kids for his or her team, one at a time.  The most popular kids got picked first, and the goof-offs would get picked last.

So my user name is a joke, and it's my way of saying,  "I've never cared to be popular, I'm happy being the Last Kid Picked."

 

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, TheLastKidPicked said:

When we were kids, we needed to be in small groups for one reason or another.  Sometimes it was for a school project, sometimes it would be for a sporting event.

Each group leader would choose kids for his or her team, one at a time.  The most popular kids got picked first, and the goof-offs would get picked last.

So my user name is a joke, and it's my way of saying,  "I've never cared to be popular, I'm happy being the Last Kid Picked."

And now I see you as the first kid I would pick to have on our team!

I'm older, so the only picking of team mates I experienced was for sports. I too was the Last Kid for that, but it kept me from getting banged up, so I was okay with it.
 

[TheLastKidPicked]

Thank you for your kind words, @shapeshifter

And your profile picture is very relaxing.

 

 

 

[Tom Holmberg]

Apparently the season finale includes Sheldon (and Mary) traveling to Germany.  Good thing he already knows a German song.

[Yeah No]

Just wanted to say I ate at Red Lobster for lunch yesterday.  A rare occurrence since it's not that close to where I live plus thanks to the pandemic I haven't been there much in the past 3 years.  I have such nostalgia with the place going back much of my life that I told my husband I almost felt like Missy in the Red Lobster episode, LOL.  Thank goodness it hasn't changed a bit in over 30 years!

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Just wanted to say I ate at Red Lobster for lunch yesterday.  A rare occurrence since it's not that close to where I live plus thanks to the pandemic I haven't been there much in the past 3 years.  I have such nostalgia with the place going back much of my life that I told my husband I almost felt like Missy in the Red Lobster episode, LOL.  Thank goodness it hasn't changed a bit in over 30 years!

I haven’t eaten lobster in 40-50 years. It was a special treat my first generation of non-observant Jewish parents enjoyed and shared with us, both at restaurants and at home. 

But I think it was on the comedy news quiz show/podcast Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me last week that it was revealed that without smothering the lobster 🦞 in butter 🧈most people agree it tastes terrible.

I do have a vague memory of an underlying bitterness — like the way cilantro tastes to me.

If you go to the Red Lobster again, @Yeah No, and have a chance to taste the lobster 🦞 without butter (and remember to), please report back!

But I imagine at my current age and physical status that:
lobster 🦞 = heartburn ❤️‍🔥. 
But maybe not in small portions.

Edited April 20, 2023 by shapeshifter

[b4pjoe]

Lobster is delicious with or without butter to me.

Edited April 20, 2023 by b4pjoe
typo

[EtheltoTillie]

I like lobster with butter or mayo (e.g., in a lobster roll).  It doesn't taste terrible without a sauce or dressing.  It's just more dry, as with any protein that you put a sauce on.  It's for taste and texture.

Lobster Cantonese:  the Jewish kid's dream Sunday dinner.  We used to go to Lum's in Flushing, after a movie at the local movie palace.  The restaurant is owned by Awkwafina's family.  (Her real name is Nora Lum.)

I was always the last kid picked for sports.  I was terrible at sports. 

Edited April 20, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[Tom Holmberg]

12 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Just wanted to say I ate at Red Lobster for lunch yesterday.  A rare occurrence since it's not that close to where I live plus thanks to the pandemic I haven't been there much in the past 3 years.  I have such nostalgia with the place going back much of my life that I told my husband I almost felt like Missy in the Red Lobster episode, LOL.  Thank goodness it hasn't changed a bit in over 30 years!

Were you wearing a tiara?

[Yeah No]

17 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

If you go to the Red Lobster again, @Yeah No, and have a chance to taste the lobster 🦞 without butter (and remember to), please report back!

LOL, I'm a lobster fanatic from way back and love it with or without anything on it.  Good lobster tastes sweet to me, never bitter at all.  The females are sweeter than the males, but that's just my opinion.  Some people say there's no difference.

I can honestly say I've been eating lobster since I was in the single digits.  My mother was also a lobster fanatic.  When I was 9 years old she took me for lunch at Hom and Hom on Fordham Road in the Bronx and ordered me a whole lobster.  She helped me a little but I ate it right out of the shell like a pro, LOL.  It was like that scene in "A Christmas Story" where the waiters lined up by our table to watch the little girl crack open and eat a lobster.  Come to think of it, it was like my very own "Missy moment".

My husband and I regularly go to the shore for Lobster to a shack in Noank called "Abbott's Lobster in the Rough".  I've eaten at many such places over the decades all over New England including Maine and I have to say Abbott's is my special favorite.

Interestingly I've never been one to order lobster at Red Lobster unless they were having "Lobster Fest".  Most of the time I found their lobster less than excellent and overpriced.  But I have no problem ordering everything else there.

@EtheltoTillie, when I was young we'd make the pilgrimage to Lum's in Flushing once in a while.  

9 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Were you wearing a tiara?

LOL, no, but I told my husband that all I needed was the tiara and I'd be all set!

 

[shapeshifter]

The grocery store in Cheshire CN circa late 1950s (IIRC) had a tank with live lobsters. I think I saw one recently since moving east to Western NY from the Midwest and West Coast. Dad would stroke the lobsters' backs until they curled up before plunging them into the boiling water. He called it "hypnotizing" them. 

At around the time of this show (80s-90s) when I had kids around the age of the kids in the show, going out for pizza was a semi rare treat.

I don't think there was any lobster to be had in Siskiyou County, CA in those days.

[HyeChaps]

I grew up in Flushing and Lum's was a special occasion treat.  We usually got our Chinese food from a take out place.

[Yeah No]

In addition to Lum's we went to Hom and Hom on Fordham Rd. in the Bronx and Tommy Chen's in White Plains.  Later in the '80s my favorite was Hawaii Sea in the Northeast Bronx.  Classic, old school Polynesian with a tiki bar and water fountain.  Best pu-pu platter anywhere and big parasol drinks.  Even later in the '90s we discovered Kowloon in Saugus, MA, which is a long open institution that has the distinction of being the largest Chinese restaurant in the U.S.

[Tom Holmberg]

Or they used to (still do?) have magnetic "key safes" you can hid somewhere on the car with an extra key.  I had one back in the 1970s.  BTW, it used to be a "feature" on Fords that it was impossible to lock your keys in your car as you could only lock the car doors with the key.  I remember my father (a Ford man) always mentioning this when someone else locked their keys in their Chevy (or other car).

Ha!  I hate to say it, but my lock-out car was a Ford.  The door would lock if the button was down. 

 

That's why I said used to, because I thought they had changed that feature.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Tom Holmberg

[EtheltoTillie]

My car was a 1980.  Don't know when they changed that feature.

We have a key safe in my office.  We hide it in the stairwell. 

[shapeshifter]

18 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

My car was a 1980.  Don't know when they changed that feature

I’m slightly more than 50% sure that this car:

Quote

…one of my kid's friend's dad who was a cop used one of those flat metal tools to quickly get me into my car that didn't have the knobs on the window latches. He then advised me to always keep a spare key in my wallet, which I did until I got an electric door lock a couple of years ago. I was never locked out again. 

…was a 1983 Ford.

I bought one of those magnetic key boxes and put it in the wheel well. It fell off. But we lived 10 miles from town via a rough road with no posted speed limit (so, 65mph in California then).
 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by shapeshifter

[Tom Holmberg]

43 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

My car was a 1980.  Don't know when they changed that feature.

We have a key safe in my office.  We hide it in the stairwell. 

I think by the early 1970s that was changed.  I think people didn't think it was a helpful feature.  Definitely still in place in the mid-1960s.

[EtheltoTillie]

BTW, my car was a 1980 Ford Fairmont in powder blue.  Really one of the crappiest cars ever made by Ford, and the color was just odious.  It was my first car and it was cheap.  A real tin can.  It had bench seats in the front! 

[Yeah No]

8 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

BTW, my car was a 1980 Ford Fairmont in powder blue.  Really one of the crappiest cars ever made by Ford, and the color was just odious.  It was my first car and it was cheap.  A real tin can.  It had bench seats in the front! 

LOL my first car was a bright red 1980 Mercury Zephyr, which was essentially a Ford Fairmont in every way except the name, so I can attest to the fact that it was one of the crappiest cars ever made.  It always threatened to break down on me in the worst neighborhoods.  Just about everything that could go wrong with a car went wrong with it in the 5 1/2 years I owned it.  If my husband didn't manage a car repair shop at the time I wouldn't have had it that long.  It did make me learn a lot about cars and how they work, though.  I was always jerry rigging it in one way or another to keep it on the road.  It was very cheap - I got it in 1982 used from a big car rental company like Avis or Hertz (I forget which one now).   I know we had to open it using a coat hanger at least a couple of times.  I was able to get rid of it when I bought my first new car, which was a 1988 Mazda 323 hatchback. 

[Bort]

My first car was a 1981 Subaru. It had starter issues from hell and I would offer classmates a ride home if they gave me a push so I could pop the clutch. I had major issues with locking the keys in the car, so I would leave the back window opened just enough for me to fit my arm through. It didn’t rain much where I lived, so I didn’t really worry much about water getting in. It leaked anyway, window up, window down, didn’t make much of a difference.

I continued to have problems with locking my keys for the next several cars I owned (leaving me with the expert ability to be able to break into a car) until I finally got a car that had a key fob. Since I’ve been able to lock a car remotely, I’ve never since locked my keys in the car.

[Yeah No]

I would have locked my keys in the car last week if not for the warning.  The Mazda wasn't easy to open with a hanger as I recall.  I remember having to have a locksmith come with a slim jim once to get me into it.  I always kept a spare key in my purse after that.   My next car was a 1992 Infiniti G20, which came with one of those slim valet keys that was easy to keep in my wallet.

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, Yeah No said:

my first new car, which was a 1988 Mazda 323 hatchback. 

I had a 199x Mazda 323 hatchback!
I ♥️loved♥️ that car!
I'm short, and it was the only car in which I could easily see out the back.
And the driver's seat laid down completely flat, which allowed me to easily take 10 minute naps before driving the 2 hour trip home after a long day.

Sadly, my then-teen middle daughter totalled it twice. The first time I was able to use the insurance money to get it running again, albeit without a clear title anymore. The second time the insurance was not going to pay enough to make it worth fixing, and that was a good reason to not let that daughter have her "own" car anymore. (It was still in my name, so I had a lien against me until the elderly person she rear-ended died of cancer.) This is a really long(er) saga that would probably serve as the inspiration for a show not unlike YS.

 

 

 

7 hours ago, kariyaki said:

My first car was a 1981 Subaru. It had starter issues from hell and I would offer classmates a ride home if they gave me a push so I could pop the clutch.

Hah! My high school bf's first car was like that. Fortunately our driveway had a steep enough slope so he could start it without help, but I seem to recall him running along the side, holding the steering wheel, and then jumping in when the engine turned over. This was in the 1960s, so I'm guessing it was a 1950s car??

[Yeah No]

4 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I had a 199x Mazda 323 hatchback!
I ♥️loved♥️ that car!
I'm short, and it was the only car in which I could easily see out the back.
And the driver's seat laid down completely flat, which allowed me to easily take 10 minute naps before driving the 2 hour trip home after a long day.

Sadly, my then-teen middle daughter totalled it twice. The first time I was able to use the insurance money to get it running again, albeit without a clear title anymore. The second time the insurance was not going to pay enough to make it worth fixing, and that was a good reason to not let that daughter have her "own" car anymore. (It was still in my name, so I had a lien against me until the elderly person she rear-ended died of cancer.) This is a really long(er) saga that would probably serve as the inspiration for a show not unlike YS.

Yeah, I loved that car.  It was red so I nicknamed it my "ladybug".  I'm short too so I get how you felt about it.  I put the seat down to put my bicycle in the back when we would ride upstate.  When I got my Infiniti it became my husband's commuting car.  By the end it had over 200,000 miles on it!  We sold it to a friend, who had it for about a year when it was totaled in a store parking lot in Norwalk.  Two shoplifters in a stolen car crashed into it fleeing the scene with management running after them.  Our friend wasn't in the car at the time, thankfully, but the rim was bent so there was no saving it.  I was able to see it one last time before it was laid to rest.....

BTW the shoplifters, who were fleeing a Shoe Town (if anyone remembers that store) were later caught.  Two teenage girls in their father's car with no license.  My friend was very apologetic but I told him it wasn't his fault.  Besides, it had lived a long, meaningful life so I had no regrets.  That was in 1996.

[shapeshifter]

4 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

Yeah, I loved that car.  It was red so I nicknamed it my "ladybug".  I'm short too so I get how you felt about it.  I put the seat down to put my bicycle in the back when we would ride upstate.  When I got my Infiniti it became my husband's commuting car.  By the end it had over 200,000 miles on it!  We sold it to a friend, who had it for about a year when it was totaled in a store parking lot in Norwalk.  Two shoplifters in a stolen car crashed into it fleeing the scene with management running after them.  Our friend wasn't in the car at the time, thankfully, but the rim was bent so there was no saving it.  I was able to see it one last time before it was laid to rest.....

BTW the shoplifters, who were fleeing a Shoe Town (if anyone remembers that store) were later caught.  Two teenage girls in their father's car with no license.  My friend was very apologetic but I told him it wasn't his fault.  Besides, it had lived a long, meaningful life so I had no regrets.  That was in 1996.

Aw, I love that story from a former fellow Mazda 323 owner.
Did you ever consider painting black circle spots on your red "Ladybug"? 
Mine was a teal blue-green, which was a popular color in general at that time. 
I bought it used and had it for 4 years, but it is still the only car I ever loved. LOL

[Tom Holmberg]

17 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

BTW, my car was a 1980 Ford Fairmont in powder blue.  Really one of the crappiest cars ever made by Ford, and the color was just odious.  It was my first car and it was cheap.  A real tin can.  It had bench seats in the front! 

Fords from that era were pretty bad.  I had a 1977 Maverick (the best thing you can say about it is that at least it wasn't a Pinto). My next was a 1987 Mustang, also pretty crappy.  The next was a 1997 Mustang which was a lot better and a nice looking car, though my last Ford.

[Yeah No]

3 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Aw, I love that story from a former fellow Mazda 323 owner.
Did you ever consider painting black circle spots on your red "Ladybug"? 
Mine was a teal blue-green, which was a popular color in general at that time. 
I bought it used and had it for 4 years, but it is still the only car I ever loved. LOL

LOL I actually did think about the spots, but where would I have put them?  I suppose either on the hood or below the rear window but it was mostly an idle thought so it never happened.  I did love a car after that one as much but of course the Mazda was my "first car love" so it will always be special to me. 

I remember that teal blue color, it was beautiful.  It was actually my first choice, but I had to settle for red because I wanted the most basic model possible and that's what they had available.  The only options I got on it were automatic transmission and air conditioning.  It didn't even have a radio.  I still lived in the Bronx when I got it so having a radio was an invitation to thieves so forget that.  But I also didn't have the money to afford more options.  I remember it cost me about $8,000 when it was new.

1 minute ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Fords from that era were pretty bad.  I had a 1977 Maverick (the best thing you can say about it is that at least it wasn't a Pinto). My next was a 1987 Mustang, also pretty crappy.  The next was a 1997 Mustang which was a lot better and a nice looking car, though my last Ford.

Yeah, I hate to say my Zephyr made me turn away from American cars and I've never turned back in spite of the fact that Fords have been getting good reviews in recent years.

[Bort]

I have a 2007 Mustang that I bought when it was brand new (I loved that body style of those era models and I had to have it), I took good care of it and I get a lot of compliments when I drive that car. 

[shapeshifter]

47 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

The only options I got on it were automatic transmission and air conditioning.  It didn't even have a radio.

I can't recall if my dear departed Mazda 323 had a radio, but as a short person, I loved being able to reach across and roll down (manually) the passenger-side window. 
Even though none of my cars have been SUVs, that was the last car I had that I could reach to the passenger door while in the driver's seat. 
My first car with electric locks was when I bought my current 2014 Subaru from my daughter in 2021.

My only new car was a 2009 Toyota Yaris. After the salesperson had given me a final price within my budget he sprang on me: And, of course, you're going to want the Convenience Package for $1500 (which included door locks). 
I said Nope!
I did regret it on occasion, but not really. 
 

[EtheltoTillie]

At times, I miss the bench seat in the front.  We could fit six people in the car instead of max of five.  We used to take rides to a park or a beach with two other couples. 

[Tom Holmberg]

4 hours ago, kariyaki said:

I have a 2007 Mustang that I bought when it was brand new (I loved that body style of those era models and I had to have it), I took good care of it and I get a lot of compliments when I drive that car. 

The 1997 Mustang was not a 1960s Mustang look-a-like.  It was sleeker.  The week I traded it in for a new car (I went with non-American as well, a Nissan XTerra) some random passerbys were gaping at my Mustang, wondering what kind of car it was.

[Bort]

1 hour ago, Tom Holmberg said:

The 1997 Mustang was not a 1960s Mustang look-a-like.  It was sleeker.  The week I traded it in for a new car (I went with non-American as well, a Nissan XTerra) some random passerbys were gaping at my Mustang, wondering what kind of car it was.

Yeah, I remember it, it was the body style that prevailed until 2005 and they went retro, which is the model my 2007 is. Have you seen the new ones now? I’ve seen some mini-SUV hatchback Mustangs out on the road lately, they’re weird looking.

[Tom Holmberg]

20 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

Yeah, I remember it, it was the body style that prevailed until 2005 and they went retro, which is the model my 2007 is. Have you seen the new ones now? I’ve seen some mini-SUV hatchback Mustangs out on the road lately, they’re weird looking.

Yes, I can see the point of the retro look, but the new ones aren't one thing or the other.

[Browncoat]

My first car was a 1974 VW Beetle.  The radio didn't automatically turn off when you turned off the car, so if you parked where there was no radio signal (aka the parking lot behind my college housing), couldn't hear the radio, and forgot to turn it off, your battery would die.  I only forgot once!  That car had some issues.  It was great for short jaunts around town, but a longer trip on the interstate would burn out the starter motor.  No idea why.  

I got a different car when I went to grad school.  It had a sketchy carburetor.  Fortunately, it was an automatic, because if you took your foot off the gas, it would die.  No one who looked at it could figure out that problem, either.  I traded that one in for the 1989 Corolla, which was a great car.  I was sad when that one finally gave out on me.

[Yeah No]

16 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

At times, I miss the bench seat in the front.  We could fit six people in the car instead of max of five.  We used to take rides to a park or a beach with two other couples. 

My husband still has his 2011 Lincoln Town Car Executive L, which has partially split front seats with a folding armrest/cupholder that can be folded up to create a bench seat.  It has the shifter on the steering wheel column and there's no big "hump" in the middle.  It's the last of its breed and a classic, so he's very sentimental about it.  It was the second to last one to ever roll off the assembly line as it was discontinued after that.  He missed being on TV by one car when he bought it!   Considering it has close to 300,000 miles on it, it looks pretty fantastic for its age.  The Executive L was built for limo. use, so everything about it was made more heavy duty.  I can understand why he puts money into keeping it on the road, although he doesn't take it for long trips anymore.  I know we will be very sad if we ever have to get rid of it.

[shapeshifter]

12 hours ago, Browncoat said:

…It had a sketchy carburetor.  Fortunately, it was an automatic, because if you took your foot off the gas, it would die.  No one who looked at it could figure out that problem, either

I had a car like that in the early 90s. I assumed if I replaced the carburetor it would stop dying at stop signs. No? 

[Browncoat]

1 minute ago, shapeshifter said:

I had a car like that in the early 90s. I assumed if I replaced the carburetor it would stop dying at stop signs. No? 

You would think so, but it didn’t help that car for very long.  That car was fine for a year or so before that issue cropped up, too.

[shapeshifter]

13 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

You would think so, but it didn’t help that car for very long.  That car was fine for a year or so before that issue cropped up, too.

I thought I replaced the car before the carburetor, but I can’t recall. It might have been the same car that overheated in a funeral procession so that I had to pull over — but I think that was a Ford, and I thought the one that died at stop signs was a Chevy, but I really can’t recall.

—There was a lot of chaos around the time, including a ticket for not coming to a complete stop so the car wouldn’t die on a country road with no other cars in sight, a messy divorce, figuring out daycare while I was working and going to school, potty training a toddler, a 7-year-old with scarlet fever, death of a family pet, leaving 15 years of community ties to move to the city for a job, etc.

I think I replaced that car (Chevy? Ford?) with the Mazda 323 because I needed a reliable car for work, but I really don’t recall why I didn’t just fix it.

Hrmmm 🤔, maybe it was the same as your car, @Browncoat, and nobody could fix it.

[Yeah No]

13 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I got a different car when I went to grad school.  It had a sketchy carburetor.  Fortunately, it was an automatic, because if you took your foot off the gas, it would die.  No one who looked at it could figure out that problem, either.  I traded that one in for the 1989 Corolla, which was a great car.  I was sad when that one finally gave out on me.

My 1980 Mercury Zephyr did that too.  I wasn't kidding when I said everything that could go wrong went wrong with it!  That's why it was always threatening to stall on me.  I used to carry a can of STP Carburetor cleaner with me at all times.  Yes, thankfully it was an automatic, I know just what you mean about that and in my case no one could figure out what the problem was either.  I was very happy knowing that my next car, the Madza, had fuel injection.

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I used to carry a can of STP Carburetor cleaner with me at all times.

I used that too on the '75 Chevy Impala station wagon. But eventually I just had to start it with the hood popped and a pencil in the carburerator flap.

[Tom Holmberg]

13 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I used that too on the '75 Chevy Impala station wagon. But eventually I just had to start it with the hood popped and a pencil in the carburerator flap.

Ah, the Seventies, the golden age of the American automotive industry.