Nonsense Thread

[Chilezen]

Great photos, especially the one of Crater Lake. Still blows my mind how big and deep that thing is. Would love to see it in person one day.
I want to move out to a smaller coastal town up north.. not north enough to get snow, but definitely enough to be surrounded by green. I guess Trinidad could be one of those places.

[McGyver]

Shit, those pictures are really making me miss living out in CA. Philly is cool and way more affordable, but man, the nature out west was on another level. So big and so seemingly close to killing you (wild fire, drought, landslide). Maybe I need to get out more on the east coast to explore around PA.

[varg]

Hot? Yeah, it's summer. Low 90s here now, might be hotter where you all are, I was out in northern CA and southern OR a couple of weeks ago and the numbers were higher, but I was more comfortable. The humidity is 60-70% here, the breeze is anemic and my car is black, I am tiring quickly of having no AC, I may stop trying to find a clutch and just get a whole compressor and parallel flow condenser soon. My car is an oven on a sunny day. I've seen over 140°F inside when I open the door.

About that trip, my wife and I visited and hiked in Crater Lake, the Redwood parks, and Lassen Volcanic national park and it was great to get out and see the sights again. Unfortunately, a few of the trails we wanted to do were closed due to snow, but I still got to see a lot. I haven't processed my DSLR photos yet but here are a few of my favorite snapshots from my phone.

Crater lake.


A gnarled tree in one of the Redwood parks.


Lake Helen in Lassen


Side note, I'd never been to CA and in my many years on car forums I have always seen you CA car guys complain about your roads a lot; you are right to. They were in surprisingly bad shape. Also, I spotted the rustiest squarebody I've ever seen, in Trinidad CA of all places. This thing must have worked near the shore for many years to get this bad. Pieces of it were falling off, the mirror lay on the ground next to it, the hood was bulging with rust, the doors falling apart.

[2mAn]

Ops.. Build thread needs some updates.

Looks like you're POOOR now too...

[moatilliatta]

Ops.. Build thread needs some updates.

[Chilezen]

When I was a kid, I played outside when it was hot. And when it was cold, I played inside.

In the last few years, those opportunities for playtime have disappeared. Now it's just HOT and COLD.

Booooo

[mrsleeve]

I have been around for many years and its always HOT in the summer and COLD in the winter, why are we all acting surprised by this phenomenon here in the last couple of years ????

[Chilezen]

It's been in the hundreds... but rained last night out of nowhere. Like I've been checking the forecast almost daily, and I leave my windows cracked for ventilation... freakin rain! Completely by surprise. At least the day cooled down to the 90s.

[McGyver]

After the last few weeks, I'm relived for it to be "cool" in the low 80s in Philly. The e30 is going to need AC if it's going to be a 4 season car out here.

[roguetoaster]

Seems nice here on the bay in MD, maybe 83, with a low in the 60s tonight. Had a couple hot ones, but an ideal start to August.

[MR E30 325is]

31 consecutive days of temperatures of at least 110.

It has been hellish, to say the least.

[MrBurgundy]

Yeah, this is pretty bad... I wish I had ac at the shop :c

[2mAn]

Sup.

Damn hot out!?... amirite?

[2mAn]

Who's heading the Alfa market? Like it's nice to see personal builds by enthusiasts, but I can see why operating a company to do that specific work is costly and not profitable, unless your clients are "Porsche money" type of people.

The market is there, Alfaholics has Singer level ground up builds and costs... and backlog.

Here in the US Bradco Resotrations in Michigan is another shop, but he operates different than Alfaholics in that he develops parts but isnt a 'mail-order' parts availability though he does produce and sell a few other products..

Theres currently a well priced Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint here in Los Angeles, a decent looking project for not a lot of money (relatively speaking) but the final product could and should be something special. Its right up my alley, but I dont have the space or time for something like that right now... wish I could

[McGyver]

...So that kind of goes back to me "settling" for my low pay,;in order for the business to hire a new person, I can't be taking all the money for myself. We need more people but good people are hard to find...

You keep saying stuff like this, but I think you've got the notion backwards.

For example, you were happy the owner put AC into the shop instead of blowing AC from the office into the shop. That sounds like a smart business decision vs a gift to you. Sure, the AC costs money, but the owner is going to depreciate that cost so he's going to save on taxes. Plus, think about how much more productive you'll be if you're 1) not taking breaks to cool down, 2) not working slow to stay cool, and 3) able to think faster because you're comfortable. Plus, there will probably be heatwave days where it's just too hot to work in the shop and you have to shut down production. You will make him more money in the long term and he's saving money on taxes. I'm not sure how long the return on investment would be, but I bet its only a couple of years.

Along that line, hiring another person should significantly increase production, resulting in more profits. Perhaps the new person is 100% direct labor (making things to sell), which offsets the time you spend designing new products (all overhead costs). Again, having extra help will boost the business (especially with the Summit contract).