Good morning!!!!

[PJSprog]

72°F and cloudy this morning, only going up to 81° today. Looks like we've broken our heatwave here as well, at least through Saturday. Back up around 90° after that. More rain expected today and tomorrow, then we get a break from that, too, for awhile. Humidity is still at 84% right now, though.

Wife had her group training class in the air conditioned sunroom yesterday evening, as it got up to 95° here yesterday. I hid in my studio and puttered around in there for awhile. She drove to Highland after that and got us a couple of concretes from Dairy Queen. Not a bad way to end a hot day.

The return of the Maverick. Not sure what to make of that. Maybe Chevy can bring back the Monza next?

 

[txdon]

Remember the Ford Explorer that tried to chop the back off and put a tiny cargo bed back there? It just wasn't big enough apparently for even the suburban warrior.
I think they called it a Sport Trac. So it wasn't a truck...it was a sports action adventure transportation module.

I had a Sport Trac when it first came out, loved it - put over 100K miles on it. I got the bed extender (like I have now) and never had a problem hauling 4X8 plywood. I see where you can order the bed extender with the Maverick from Ford. When I needed plywood for my attic I did not get a 4X8 piece anyways - too heavy - just had HD cut it to the sizes I needed.

 

[daugen]

I had a Sport Trac when it first came out, loved it - put over 100K miles on it. I got the bed extender (like I have now) and never had a problem hauling 4X8 plywood. I see where you can order the bed extender with the Maverick from Ford. When I needed plywood for my attic I did not get a 4X8 piece anyways - too heavy - just had HD cut it to the sizes I needed.

bingo
there has been a need for this kind of truck for a long time. I think that was the time early Explorers were rolling over and killing people due to underinflated tires and that whole
line of Explorers had to be updated. And the Sport Trac never continued. Maybe this is their modern revival. I think the choice of the name Maverick for this is dubious. I will always think of a
lightweight economy car when I hear that name. But I'm sure they are pursuing the horsey/rancher connection.
They sure did well with the Mustang.

Now if Ford did that again based on the modern Explorer's chassis, with a 450hp Ecoboost V6 in it, oh yes please

 

[kenmbz]

My father had a monza with a V8. was a rare variant, used to go through engine mounts about every oil change
Used to race that car against a lot of other iron, real sleeper. Not good on grip though...

Funniest race we ever did was my friend in his VW bug semi-auto against a vanagon - regular traffic was beating us, and they weren't racing!

 

[toppop52]

87 now, 71 was the low, 95 later.

Speaking of new trucks, my best friend was a lifelong car dealer and can afford anything he wants, his daily is a loaded Colorado, and after driving it I can tell you if I were in the market, I would absolutely buy a Colorado or Canyon. It’s about the size of 1960’s full sized trucks, has over 300 h.p. and gets reasonable mpg. It rides great, handles as well as most cars and looks good to boot.

I’ve got to go to my retina specialist today for the blurry vision I’ve developed in my left eye over the last ten days or so. I had it in my right eye a couple of years ago and was told if it goes away in a few days it’s no big deal, we’ll that one did, this one hasn’t. It’s way too hot outside to do anything more than walk to the truck.

I need to order some things from either Lowes or Home Depot to do a small project on one of the cooler days coming up. Some border bricks, stone 12” ground staples.

Not much else planned for today.

 

[daugen]

Ken, my favorite races at Summit Point were the showroom stock, where the Vegas and VW's and a little of everything went squealing loudly
around the corners. Run what you brung. Insurance changed all that with mandatory safety equipment but other than taking off your hubcaps if you had
them, not a lot of rules. Well maybe a nice Simpson or Bell helmet in some classes.
Our family had a black VW bug in 1966, man was that fun to drive with studded snow tires in what seemed to be much snowier PA winters.
But you could fiddle with that heat knob til your arm fell off and you still didn't get very warm.

 

[PJSprog]

Speaking of new trucks, my best friend was a lifelong car dealer and can afford anything he wants, his daily is a loaded Colorado, and after driving it I can tell you if I were in the market, I would absolutely buy a Colorado or Canyon. It’s about the size of 1960’s full sized trucks, has over 300 h.p. and gets reasonable mpg. It rides great, handles as well as most cars and looks good to boot.

That's the direction we've been looking, Randy. Once we finally rid ourselves of the F-150 money pit, we'll probably go with a mid-sized truck like that.

 

[toppop52]

Ken, my favorite races at Summit Point were the showroom stock, where the Vegas and VW's and a little of everything went squealing loudly
around the corners. Run what you brung. Insurance changed all that with mandatory safety equipment but other than taking off your hubcaps if you had
them, not a lot of rules. Well maybe a nice Simpson or Bell helmet in some classes.
Our family had a black VW bug in 1966, man was that fun to drive with studded snow tires in what seemed to be much snowier PA winters.
But you could fiddle with that heat knob til your arm fell off and you still didn't get very warm.

I understand about the heater, I owned a Corvair.

 

[daugen]

got the hardest job done as the heat is climbing. This is no wimpy small Makita, this sucker as i knew has very sharp blades and cut through this
forsythia like butter. Couldn't go any lower due to heavy branches but this will help see and be seen backing out my driveway onto this road. Still haven't figured out
a turnaround in the lane. Getting there...

cooling off, got sweat band, bottle of water and headed out to mow the clover. Then water the veggies and I'm done. Already did the flowers, remarkable how fast pots and small plants dry
up in this hot weather.

95/105 slow and steady
gulp gulp gulp

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

This talk of the midsize trucks is interesting.....
When I was shopping, I looked at the Colorado, Ranger, Tacoma, and the Frontier.
The Nissan Frontier had the towing capacity the same as the others, had the same options, but was substantially cheaper by $4-5K.

The ride is quite comfortable, power is above sufficient for get up and go.

Could be another option for those looking.....

The body is redesigned for 2022, but they probably won't be available until the end of this year.