[Frederick]

Hi there !
Just stepped in to say Hi!

I had many cars in this life, including some antiques that did something like 7 miles to the gallon. (Reo Wolverine....)
I had three favorites: an Austin Mini woody of 1961,
Austin America of 1971 and a Renault 16. all these could really move!
The most exhibitionist one was an MGTD 1951 vintage. Fun except no parts were available and boy did it cost money for the looks I got. I really made Snoopy proud wearing a white silk scarf and a leather Canadian Forces Pilot's helmet....with the window folded.....when I caught my alloted quota of bugs, I wore goggles. Looked real fast...at 50 mph.

I passed through bigger cars, diesel MB's had no fun...so I'm now completing the loop.

I obtained for free, thanks to my Master Card driver's Edge credit card, two (yes, two) Geo's. Both with less than 50 000 km on the meter. One a Chevrolet Sprint convertible that was sprayed every year with thick, gooey oil. It was an automatic. That did not do. I swapped the tranny with a 4 cylinder's tranny and now instead of doing 3500 rpm's at 100 km (65 m) she is purring at 2500.

As the cabriolet didn't cost anything I spruced up the inside with: real seats from a GT, tachometer, nicer radio, I even bought a nice canvas top ij blue with zipper window...not yet installed......My best milaege was 62 to the American gallon when I fetched her seats in Alma Quebec. I love the little beast. She sports some mighty fine 15 inch mag's from ASA. (would you believe that these initials stand for Artisan Spirited Alloy? ) Well, she is spirited and I obtained Suzuki Racing front and rear strut braces to maintain her that way. The front sway bar does wonders also. Her name is Vanilla Latte.

My second is a Geo Metro....found on E Bay. The first owner also owns an Oscar...won't tell....a 2 door basic model of 1994, black sedan, Espresso Nero is her name. So I have a white reflcting car for summer and heat seeking brougham for winter. She now has the original tranny and at 65 (100km) revs at 3000 even. This won't do.

First step: I found on another site a real XFi cam and I will emulate what my inspiration Metrompg did ! Espresso sports Bonneville Salt Flat hubcaps and this time around they will be screwed on ! I lost one, the front passenger side. There must be a place where all these hubcaps meet and have a ball....seems like it's always the same one. Anyway...Espresso was treated to an under body brace but beforehand every removable dismountable part was taken off and she also got a heavy oil treatment. Sway bar was added for added comfort and I swear it makes a huge difference on the potatoe highways of Quebec ! She inherited the 13" wheels of Vanilla Latte, but I had to find bigger nuts to be secure with the small thread size.

My aim is to at least reach 65 miles to the gallon with both cars. Of course a fancy accountant will tell me that the sums spent are not worth it compared to the length of ownership, true perhaps on a financial note. But the name of the exercise is the environment, doing an itsy bitsy part to save fuel and that mes amis, like Master Card says (I love these people) is PRICELESS.

Less is more is my motto.
Sorry to have kept you awake.