Recently in Autos Category

One of the nice benefits of my job is that they reimburse me for 100% of my gas, excepting of course when I am off or on vacation. Since I rarely do anything on my off days this ends up being everything I spend on it, which is around $60-70 a week.

So I stop at the Racetrac after my meeting this afternoon and I was only putting in about $13, figuring that I would fill up after I get paid tomorrow. Since I was paying in cash, which is something I rarely do, I had to prepay for the gas. When I went in to get the receipt all they gave me was this damned slip that said "Prepay Gars $13". I asked for the gas receipt that showed how mu gas I actually pumped, since that's what is required to turn in on my expense report.

"Oh, we can't do that, the only way you can get that kind of receipt from prepay gas is if you sign up for our prepay card"

Thanks but no fucking thanks, I'll just make sure NOT to stop at Racetrac anymore and take my $300 a month elsewhere.

Assholes.

I'm not exactly a car nut and I am sure not a mechanic although with old models ('75 and older) I can do my fair share of work. Things were much simpler back then.

While not a huge fan, I do love older cars. My parents had a couple growing up such as a '67 Mustang Fastback and a 1966 For Galaxy. The Galaxy was a baby blue convertible. It was a beautiful car. At one point in the early seventies my mom also had a Mustang II. Surprisingly enough, one of my other favorites was a 1977 Ford Thunderbird that we had gotten from my grandmother. If I recall correctly, 1977 was the last year that they used steel construction in the body. It was certainly a beast.

Cars are more than just a mode of transportation to people, at least in America. They are a fashion statement, they are a class statement, and they can take on our personality, or be an extension of it anyway.

Personally my cars have included a 1967 Chevy Stepside pickup, 1976 Chevy Camaro, and a 1972 Plymouth Duster. I'm not including any of the newer cars, for obvious reasons. Due to wear and tear and economics I am currently driving a 2006 PT Cruiser Limited Edition. It has some of the styling that I love so much with older cars.

I guess although I claim not to be a car nut, I love car magazines and web sites as much as the next guy. One of the more popular Mustang accessories sites is American Muscle. Even though I'm not driving a 'stang anymore I still like to go look through the catalog and see what they have to offer. They do have some pretty cool stuff. It's gotten me started thinking about tricking out the PT Cruiser...

Although I ended up not getting a truck when I bought my new car I have been looking at a couple of web sites that carry truck accessories for a couple of things. I think I am going to mount a sunroof wind deflector on top of the PT Cruiser and the site I linked to has them. There's several different sizes so I need to go down this afternoon and see exactly what size I need before I go to ordering.

The thing I hate about window shopping on sites like that so much is that I get started browsing and there are so many cool gadgets I want to get my hands on...

That's how much sleep I managed to get last night.

I can't remember the last time I was able to sleep in until quarter of nine in the morning.

It must have been back before the holidays at  some point I suppose.

Each time I have had a day off I have always had some place to be or something to do that kept me from actually resting up from the previous week. Today I don't have anything to do until this evening. The engine light on the wife's car keeps going on and she called the dealership to make an appointment. As long as they have a loaner for her we'll be leaving her's there tonight. I have to pick up the Oldsmobile anyway and get it home. Rather than sell it to Carmax I decided to sell it cheaper to one of the guys that works for me. The guy is married with a new baby and has no car so he will get more use out of it. I cut what my asking price would be in half for him. He should be able to pay that off in about three to four weeks, although he does have to get insurance and tags so if it takes longer, no big deal.

Well, the Starbucks is finished making. I need to get a cup and try to wake up a bit.

After having looked at a bunch of cars this week I have pretty much decided on a fairly low payment. I was originally looking at some of the BMWs and Audis but due to restrictions on my auto allowance through work in order for them to cover brakes, tires and stuff like that it has to be an American made car. Not only that but according to Consumer Reports the Audi is just average and the Mercedes and Audis recently have received lower marks. If I am going to pay 25k+ they are going to have to receive exemplary marks.

I don't particularly want to have an outrageous payment anyway as I like having extra money to spend on vacations and stuff. I have pretty much decided on the 2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser Limited below...

It runs at about $18,900 which is about six grand less than the rest of the cars I was looking for, has all of the generic stuff I want, CD player, sunroof, leather seats, power everything and it's new. I will go through Carmax as I can get just about everything done online and over the phone prior to making the 75 mile drive. I did email them to see if they could deliver it to the Lithia Springs dealership since that's closer, and stick a GPS unit in it but even if they can't I think that's the one I want. I looked at the ragtop and it's just plain ugly.