Car Running Countdown

I never get use to our cold here,I would never make it there I would be like a big Ole bear and sleep all winter.

 

You never get used to extreme weather. In Monterrey, Mexico, they hit 50C (120F) like a bit too hot. I croak in that kind of heat! I'm suckin' back Coronas like there's a hose to plant!

Here, when we hit -50C (-58F), which only happened one day last year, you stay in bed! Even if you plug it in, the car won't start, unless you've got 2 block heaters! The traffic lights don't work. The kids can't walk to school. Nothing moves. Not even the bad guys.

 

I stuck my nose out and got right back in! It's only -14C, but the wind bumps it up to -21C!

Back to the basement...

 

...Clark...thats just the east coast...just like your east coast gets crappier weather...so does ours!!

 

I would have never got my nose that far out.

 

It's a short nose.

 

Being that its a short nose that means you had your face out too?????

 

What crazy is being out, leaving the car at home because there's a foot of slush on the road, taking the bus, and seeing some guy riding a bike down the street.
You be amazed at how many people ride bikes all winter up here.
I talked to a guy today, he said -30 was about his limit.

 

I just don't know about all this. It was 28*F this morning and I'm freezing! I got up to 54 yesterday and I was cold all day.

I'm a wimp!

 

TBird, its like a fungus, it grows on you.

Took me an hour to shovel the yard, the sidewalk and dust off the car. It's -11 around my house, but its snowing with a bit of a breeze on/off. After today, it's down into -21C, and 3 days of -18C, and only warming up on Monday. So - all hands on deck for the 3 of us (Me, Myself and I).

 

Dang you like beating that poor mule.

 

It's my alter-ego!

I got a lot done under the hood, and got the grille on and lined up properly. Its hard to do when you're shivering like a dog trying to expel razor blades.

I finally got the emergency brake cables adjusted. The rad is in and the shroud is on. In this weather, I have to mix the antifreeze with only 40% water or risk cracking the block. That's more or less the gameplan in our Prairies and Far North. Other parts of the country are OK with 50/50. Sunday is the next day over -13C, but I think I can get enough heat inside the car and start installing the interior wiring, etc.

 

yano... cant decide wether you are the most determined ....
or the most...just nutz!!!

 

Rev. He's both! I wish I had his determination and you have to be a little nutz to restore a car outside in Winnipeg! But, can you just imagine the job satisfaction? It would definately be an ego boost not to mention the bragging rights. And, he'll never have to listen to people like me who make an exuse....it's too cold (54*F), too hot (112*F), too windy or the best one, I don't have space in my garage!

Norm's the man.

 

I ain't nutz guys. I haven't driven a car in 13 months and I need a fix!!!

My wife and I were talking about winter driving here. Although I had my first car at 16, my dad wouldn't let me get my license until I was 18, through the Highschool Driver's Ed. Well that was in 1966, during the early Southern Ontario Winter - 2 inches of snow and over 30F, no big deal. But the instructor mentioned that the Ford Plant in Oakville (North west corner of Toronto), was offering a Winter Driving School, and it was a Free Pilot program! I went. Best thing I ever did.

The Rev can tell you about driving through Southern British Columbia, through Osoyoos. Its all switch-backs on the mountain faces. Osoyoos is 6,000 feet below, and the snow banks are 8 to 10 feet high. The truckers are crawling up AND down the road at 10 to 30 MPH on a 60 MPH road, during the winter, because the graders are in front clearing off a typical mountain snowfall. You feel like you're on a bobsled! I've never had a winter accident, and the only summer one I had was in a demolition derby with my dad in our scrapyard!

Anyway the Ford course would have plywood cars on either side, and kids playing street hockey (cardboard of course) or other kids chasing a dog or a soccer ball. The rule was to not hit a person at any cost. You're on a mock street, in a real car, on real ice or snow drifts, and they're telling you to use snow banks or other cars to stop before you kill or maim somebody. The hickup is you're in a new Ford (seconds with errors off the line), and as a new driver, you get to handle all your fears and panics, real fast. Don't scratch the car, stop in time, slow down, be alert, etc. Flying through a snowdrift or deciding whether you can. And then! They throw these monstrous fans to create side-gusts, drifting snow, low or no visibility conditions.

When I drove through Southern Saskatchewan in sand storm, I gotta tell ya, that I was so thankful I took that course 15 years earlier. I'd never seen one in my life, and I saw pickups with trailers on their sides, windshields sand-blasted from driving head-on at highway speeds into an 50 MPH wall of flying sand!

I like nutz. Thanks.