Author: Kim du Toit

Monday Funnies

Funny Stuff

A classical reference:

And on we go with the usual mixture of smut, bad taste and offensive shit:

And just for the hell of it:

I think that’s in the Rick James Bible.  Anyway, about that “sin” thing:

And down the road to hell we go.

The Peak Car Discussion

Drive Time

Harry and Jeremy talk about cars in one of the most entertaining videos ever made — and I’m in total agreement with practically everything they say.  (Feel free to watch it before continuing with this post, because it will make things a lot clearer.)

Where I’m intrigued is when the discussion turns to the concept of “peak car”, which I’ve alluded to on several occasions:  that time when new cars came with sufficient horsepower and a sufficient amount of technology which makes driving enjoyable for the average driver.

The two of them reach a sort of agreement on 2015 as the year when cars reached the apogee of performance/technology.

I have a slightly different take.

I think that “peak car” depends on the brand / model.  Here are a few examples to illustrate the point.

Sports cars

1998-2005 Acura/Honda NSX

The car that redefined “sports car” from “that fantastic-looking thing that’s wonderful to drive… when it starts and doesn’t break down all the time”  to “that fantastic-looking thing that’s wonderful to drive — period“.  All the performance anyone could possibly need, used a manual gearbox, and the only technology missing is satnav. [#retrofit, if needed/wanted]
Here’s the thing:  I know that the newer model NSX probably handles a little better than the first incarnation thereof, and is more efficient in terms of fuel consumption, etc. etc.  My question is:  in the hands of an average driver (e.g. myself), would one even notice the difference?  And more to the point:  even allowing for inflation, are all those improvements worth the extra cost of the new car?

1996-20002 Ferrari 550 Maranello

After the 550, Ferraris became too big, too powerful and too full of unnecessary geegaw technology.  And the 550 was the last Ferrari to offer a stick shift.
The newer Ferraris are undoubtedly more powerful, faster, better-handling etc. than the 550.
But here’s the thing about this:  ignoring appearances, we would all know that the 550 is a far better car than, say, a 1960s-era 275 — faster, much better handling, and all that.  But are the newer 2020-era Ferrari models (e.g. the F12) that much better than the 550 as the 550 was to the 275?
I don’t think so;  and the added complexity of actually getting the newer cars to run does not improve the driving experience (See Clarkson and Metcalfe’s take).

Saloon cars

1994 Jaguar XJ40

The last XJ model produced before Ford turned Jaguar into Fords, the 1994 model was Jag’s highest-quality saloon car, which is why they still command a premium on the resto market.  The 1994 model featured a V-12 engine, and its Daimler counterpart was wonderfully named the “Double Six”.  I would humbly suggest that the XJ40 was Peak Jaguar.  Sumptuous ride and as much power as anyone would need in a family car, it was Jag’s answer to Mercedes and BMW.  And speaking of Mercedes…

1980 Mercedes 450 SE (W116)

I would also suggest that the 4.5-liter V8-powered 450 SE was Peak Mercedes (among their luxury saloons, that is).  The hydro-pneumatic suspension made an already-comfortable ride an exquisite one (matched only by the similarly-suspensioned Citroën), and the engine provided all the power that this heavy best needed to get up there.  And given that the W116 also featured rack-and-pinion steering (a new feature for Mercedes, amazingly), the 450 SE was streets better than its Mercedes predecessors and the equal of any of its competitors.  Sure, the modern S-series Mercs are excellent vehicles — but at a price that is more than two-thirds higher than the 450, and whose capabilities are nowhere near 1.66x better.  (And we shall not speak of the 450SEL “6.9” with its 6.8-liter engine which demolished any other saloon car of the time and could outperform most sports cars withal.  But they made fewer than 8,000 of them.  And yes, I’d take one today, in a millisecond.  The 6.9 would definitely compare quite favorably to the modern S500 series.)

Harking back to the Clarkson/Metcalfe video for a moment:  Clarkson reckons that the original BMW M2 is far better — in terms of driving experience — than the newer M2 model, because the newer ones have just too much electronic crap which take away from the fun of it.

Most tellingly, neither Jeremy nor Harry are interested in buying a new model car of any brand or make (like me).  Now I know that they’re a pair of old farts (also like me), but there’s no discounting their love of performance cars and their profound knowledge thereof (unlike me).

All three of us — and I suspect, a great many others — would quite happily take one of the “peak” cars over the latest model from that stable, especially at the prices of yesteryear.

So… which do you think represents “peak car” among your favorite car manufacturers?

Old Sights, Old Eyes

Gratuitous Gun Pics, Optics, The Gun Thing

Longtime Readers will be familiar with my affection for Browning’s Buckmark .22 pistol, she of the wonderful trigger and reliable feeding.  And excellent accuracy… well, except in my hands.

I used to be able to shoot the Buckmark acceptably well, but as old age has buggered my eyes up horribly (stop me if this is familiar to y’all), so has my accuracy suffered.  Of course it’s not the gun:  I’ve owned (counting on fingers) five of the things over the years, and I’ve always been able to make the cans pop and dance, so to speak.

Now?  I’d be lucky to hit the inside of a room.

So I’ve had to go from this light, sleek little beauty:

…to this (much) heavier, ungainly-looking thing:

Accuracy?  I’ll let you know next week, after I’ve been to the range and zeroed the dotty thingamajig in.

Fan Attack

Sports

This story reminded me of an experience I suffered.

Football team rivalries are often at the heart of banter in the workplace.  But fans can be legally denied jobs by a potential employer if current staff support a rival team, a judge has ruled.  Companies are allowed to base recruitment decisions on whether a prospective colleague might ‘damage office harmony’, Employment Judge Daniel Wright said.  As such, he said, the boss of a business would not break employment law if he rejected a job application from a Tottenham Hotspur season ticket holder because his office is full of Arsenal fans.

It’s a good thing that this was not a big deal when I first started working for the Great Big Research Company in Chicago, after The Great Wetback Episode of 1986.  Some back story is necessary.

When I first arrived in Murka back then, I stayed with Friend Trevor in Austin TX while my visa issues were resolved (long story, not worth the telling).  Anyway, Trevor was hooked into some cocktail party or other so I tagged along.

I didn’t know anybody, of course, so I was leaning against the bar watching the passing parade — oy, what a show, Austin High Society in full swing — when a very tall blonde guy of about 50 walked over to get a drink, and we started chatting.  Turns out that Bob was actually the recipient of this party, as his photographs were being displayed.  They were extremely good, and I complimented him accordingly (being myself at the time a very keen amateur clicker).  We chatted about f-stops and such for a while, and after that I felt comfortable in asking him whether pro photography was that profitable as a career.  He looked amused, and said, “It’s pretty much a retirement career for me.”  So of course I asked him what he’d done before, and again that amused look.  “I played for the Dallas Cowboys,” he said.

I’d been chatting to Bob Lilly, legendary cornerstone of the Cowboys’ Doomsday Defense, Hall of Famer and “Mr. Cowboy” himself.

Of course I apologized for my gaucheness in not knowing who he was — blamed my ignorance on my recent immigration — but he just laughed and said, “It’s actually been a pleasure talking to someone who doesn’t want to ask me all about that damn Green Bay game in 1966.”

A lovely man and a thorough gentleman.  (I was struck by his enormous hands — I have fairly large hands myself, but when we shook hands, mine disappeared into his grip completely — but his touch while firm was quite gentle, which I think is fitting of the man himself.)  Anyway, on the strength of that fine encounter and because of where I was living, I became a Dallas Cowboys fan.

Which really helped when I moved to Chicago, home of “Da Bearce”, in 1987.

The Bears and their fans were still living in the glow of their 1985 Superbowl victory, and my status as a Cowboys fan was not helped by that infamous 1989 season (quarterback Troy Aikman’s first) in which the Cowboys went 1-15.  Many were the rude comments sent my way — “Of all the teams in the NFL you could have chosen to support, you had to pick the Cowboys?” — but I just grinned and made sure to wear my Cowboys sweater at all office functions which didn’t require a suit and tie.

It helped that only a couple years later the Cowboys beat the Bears in the playoffs, and the anti-Cowboy jibes ended completely in 1991 when the Cowboys won the first of their several Super Bowls under Aikman and Jimmy Johnson, and the Bears became a second-rate team (then, and since).

Anyway, as being a sports fan in Murka is nowhere near as partisan a thing as it is in Third World countries like Britishland, my job at the GBRC was never insecure, in either the getting or the keeping, thank goodness.

I should mention that I’m no longer a Cowboys fan — no special reason, I just don’t care for American football, preferring actual football (where the ball is played with the feet instead of being carried like an egg or tossed like a beanbag).

Go ahead and hate.