Yea or Nay?

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury) 04/20/2017 at 17:34 • Filed to: None

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Given the dearth of manual transmissions available today, should I get this plate as a nod towards the Save the Manuals campaign? I know there’s been some talk recently about personalized plates, and I’m still debating to go for it or not.

Then again, there are probably a number of states that wouldn’t allow ‘FTW’ since it can also be interpreted as ‘F$%k The World’...

E90M3 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/20/2017 at 17:39

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I say go for it, my 3 has this on the back:

Chariotoflove > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/20/2017 at 17:40

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Surely somebody, somewhere has tried GTFAC by now?

E90M3 > Chariotoflove 04/20/2017 at 17:41

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I heard Italy wouldn’t let you put that on a plate.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Chariotoflove 04/20/2017 at 17:43

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It’s been years since I’ve had a personalized plate, so I wonder if they make you explain it. I guess you could always invent something safe, but it probably wouldn’t work since it would keep coming back with that whole camel thing...

WilliamsSW > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/20/2017 at 17:43

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Do it. Don’t let Jalopnik writers change your mind. :)

As you suggest though, I’d have a plan B for the “FTW”

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/20/2017 at 17:45

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Yes. Do it.

Chariotoflove > E90M3 04/20/2017 at 17:48

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I feel like I should know why, but I’m blanking.

Chariotoflove > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/20/2017 at 17:50

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It’s got nothing to do with camels.

“Got to find a Chevelle”

See, it’s a harmless enthusiast’s plate.

XJDano > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/20/2017 at 17:54

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It says it’s available. And explanation needed. So make something up.

God Trump Fun And Country

(I’m no fan of trump, but it may pass. )

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > WilliamsSW 04/20/2017 at 17:58

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I just don’t want to come off as a pretentious douchenozzle like so many with personalized plates. I’ve seen some twits that have to let you know they have a Mercedes, for example. Their plate says so, the frame around the plate says so, as does the badging on the back of the car. Yes, we get it, you have a fancy car, now go away.

Now I might just replace the ‘Mazda5' badging on the back with some OEM BMW M5 badges as a laugh, but I certainly don’t expect anyone to think that I’m driving a BMW M5.

PotbellyJoe and 42 others > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/20/2017 at 17:59

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If we all did what Jalopnik writers told us to do we’d have driven our brown, diesel, Miata shooting brakes to NYC for trivia last Saturday.

I have a personalized plate and zero regrets. Like job-stopper tattoos it’s only an issue if you aren’t confident enough to own it.

E90M3 > Chariotoflove 04/20/2017 at 18:10

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The guy who originally typed that w as Italian.

LongbowMkII > XJDano 04/20/2017 at 18:16

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In Missouri I’m sure you’d be fine

Chariotoflove > E90M3 04/20/2017 at 18:24

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Thanks! I was trying to think of what it might stand for in Italian.

LimitedTimeOnly @ opposite-lock.com > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/20/2017 at 18:34

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I support this enthusiast message on a plate, since I find it to be interesting as a message and not just a label.

Rico > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/20/2017 at 19:41

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I like clever vanity plates, do it!

WilliamsSW > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/20/2017 at 19:54

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So, not this then? :) I hear you - -I don’t have vanity plates, either. I’m biased because I love manual transmissions, but it doesn’t seem pompous to me, at all. Anything that just repeats what’s on the trunk lid already (like this - unless it’s a car that I like or is super rare, like a Z16 Chevelle, 300SL, etc) or is preachy (Prius/Tesla custom plates) is what annoys me.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > WilliamsSW 04/20/2017 at 20:32

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Hey wait - that car doesn’t have a frame that says ‘Lexus’. The look is not complete! Any stick figure family in the window?

I’m with you that the repetitious or preachy or something that the owner thinks is just too clever is what annoys me. My mom has her nickname on her plate, and my dad gave up the personalized plates that mom got him (it’s just his last name, but I guess he doesn’t want to call any undue attention to himself). He’s also my guide for restraint - his Benz has a nice chrome frame around the plate and chrome wheels and that’s it - s ubtle and tasteful.

For years I had the plate ‘N757A’ with a frame from the Museum of Flight that read ‘My Other Vehicle is a Boeing 757'. Is still have it laying around somewhere and will hang it up in the garage once I have a garage.

I’m a firm believer in the manual transmission, and even made sure that my minivan has one. Even the E34 has one. You can take away my MT when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

WilliamsSW > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/20/2017 at 21:35

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Yeah, but that plate frame is GOLD!

Sweet that you found a Mazda 5 in stick. Think that’s the only way I could handle a minivan! We’ll see though- we have an 8 month old. . .

What is the E34? 525? E34 M5 is one of my bucket list cars.

757 pilot? I sat next to one on UA some years ago and chatted for a while. He raved about the 757 as a great pilot’s aircraft. Biggest thing I’ve flown is a C182.

That museum is great - I have family up there, and went to the museum for a day. Loved it- and also took a sightseeing tour in a Maule MX7 that was great, too—

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > WilliamsSW 04/20/2017 at 21:59

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Gold? Ewww, tacky, tacky tacky.

The Mazda5 was the dealer’s loss leader, and I got it for about 20% off of list. I love that car and will never give it up. I’ve had other minivans, but they were either slow (Vanagon) or soul-suckingly dull (Windstar - but it was free). This one is actually fun to rev up and toss around.

The E34 is just an early 525i with the 12-valve M20. It looks nice and handles well, but even with the various Dinan mods, the Mazda5 can spank it as far as acceleration is concerned.

I’m grounded permanently due to medical issues, so the only heavy flying I get to do these days is in the simulator. It pays to have friends at FlightSafety...

I haven’t been to Seattle in over 20 years now, and need to get back up there. When I did go to the museum I had only a short time in there (I borrowed my aunt’s car and it had some problems on the way to the museum, so my time inside was cut short). All I could do was run around snapping pictures wherever I could, hoping to enjoy my trip later in photo form. It’s not quite the same.

WilliamsSW > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/20/2017 at 22:18

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That E34 looks great! I have an E46 with the M52B25. So it’s the slowest E46 ever sold in the states. But it’s a 5 speed convertible, and I love it.

Sucks that you’ve been grounded, but a little sim time can be fun. I haven flown in quite a few years either — I was just a private pilot, instrument. Marriage, work and the little guy take my time now.

I’ve only been to that museum once, some 5-7 years ago. I sat left seat in Maule, though, and that was more of a highlight for me — even experiencing wake turbulence from a 737 on approach back to Boeing Field. Oshkosh is a more regular destination - it’s a 3-4 hour drive north from here.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > WilliamsSW 04/20/2017 at 22:30

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Now that I’m in the Midwest, the idea of going to Oshkosh doesn’t seem like such a far off idea. I just checked and it looks like about a 7 hour drive. The question then becomes how many days should I allocate?

Heck, even Washington DC is only a 12 hour drive from here, something that I might even be able to do in one day. I know I could spend days and days at the Air and Space museum. I have fond memories of going there in 1982, and was ecstatic when the rest of the family wanted to go back for a second day; this was quite surprising since they’re not aviation enthusiasts like myself. I don’t know if they really wanted to go there or if they were just doing it for me (which would have been very odd for them, TBH) Of course, I didn’t say no...

WilliamsSW > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/20/2017 at 22:40

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If you haven’t been to Oshkosh, DO IT!! It’s fantastic. The sheer volume of aircraft is amazing. What’s less obvious to people who haven’t been is just how friendly the people and environment is, and how much there is for kids, etc.  So much to see and do there. I’m a bad example because I invariably go for 1 day, spend the night and drive home because it’s close and I’m busy, but really I’d recommend a few days. Hotels within an hour drive will be sold out however. Jcarr has gone 20+ straight years, believe he usually camps at Camp Scholler for much of the week. That’s what I hope to do this year or next, for at least a couple of days.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > WilliamsSW 04/20/2017 at 22:56

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As long as I had some place to shower, I could probably sleep in the back of the Mazda. It may be a van, but it’s a small van. Good thing I sleep in the fetal position.

Back when I was with CAP we were talking about going, but nothing ever became of it. It would have been nice to be able to stay on base somewhere close by or pool money for hotel rooms.

WilliamsSW > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/20/2017 at 23:22

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Flying in there is an adventure all its own. I haven’t done it, the one time I had a seat in the back of a 182 reserved, I ended up with a work conflict. They came back with tales of doing S turns at 55 kts over Fisk, as traffic backed up.

What I’ve done is stayed an hour away. But car camping is a good option too -

pip bip - choose Corrour > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/21/2017 at 06:20

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do it!