DOTS: Running out of places to explore edition

"Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available" (whoistheleader2) 06/16/2020 at 12:34 • Filed to: Dots

4

26

I really am running out of interesting places to stop when there is a lull in my deliveries for Doordash. I start college online tomorrow for the summer semester so I’ll be doing it less in the future.

For now, here’s yesterday’s DOTS.

Mondays being quite slow for food delivery, I stopped to admire the inventory of one shop I haven’t stopped at before. They had less interesting stuff than I expected; mostly their back lot was full of ravaged 2000s commuters. Still, They had an ecclectic grouping of a 1.5 generation Mustang from when they just made it longer, an old Mercedes 560 SL, and a run down Chevrolet pickup.

There’s not much to see here. I did find it amusing how the cracked and weathered rubber window gasket has been painted over.

Not much left on the inside, but the floors seem better than expected considering the windows are down in a rainy climate.

Class, but with V-Tec. And a big wang. And stock wheels and suspension.

This muffler man is a little more interesting than most. Interesting choices made here and clearly better constructed than most I see. The abandoned storefront is actually just a single room in between the two sets of bays for the repair and body shop that takes up the rest of the building. Strange that this isn’t an office for the place.

A perfect example of why sunny days ruin pictures. Too much light even after darkening the image.

Just a regular old Beetle. Probably abandoned here after the repair bill was too large to pay.

Moving outside the shop, we find a very very loud Jetta.

It wasn’t so much the exhaust note as the fact that it was continually backfiring every time he let off the throttle. It just sounded like bursts of pop guns going off. I would also like to point out the tint, which is more translucent than actually dark.

Why are there so many of these around?

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

This isn’t the most exciting car on this list but I haven’t seen a 626 in a long time. Or maybe they are too boring to notice.

Some shoddy construction at that motel.

I have stopped here before but I was bored.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Lovely Continental. Sort of a subtle exterior color choice but the interior is quite extravagant .

And teal!

You know a car is big when you can’t fit it in the frame.

Last time I was here, this car was missing a windscreen. Despite the faded paint, the interior is breathtakingly perfect. Just a good driver, I suspect, as long as you don’t expect the diesel to get you there quickly.

A Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag, but not the one you expect.

A fellow Brit.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone use an old Georgia plate on the front. 1983 date, so long since retired. I see a few Euro front plates, but never a Georgia rear plate on the front.

Not pictured: the police escort. Quack Quack!

And I leave you with this shot of Atlanta Road, empty, looking out over the train tracks and Dobbins Air Reserve Base.

CB > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/16/2020 at 12:47

1

No such thing as too sunny a day for photography, you just need an ND filter (no, it’s not for Miatas). I wonder if they make them for phones?

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > CB 06/16/2020 at 12:57

0

Perhaps too sunny for good photos without specialized equipment. My phone camera isn’t worth it.

I do special glasses not to be blinded by the brilliance that is the ND. Good thing I wasn't trying to photograph one.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/16/2020 at 13:14

1

Does GA allow YOM (year of manufacture) plates? I know they don’t require a front plate, another goofy American thing where states all have their own rule.   Looks like someone put a YOM plate on the front of that W126.   Sad about the 560SL, but that’s where most 107s still are in the collectible ranks.

I hope the fintail is a manual, I suspect it is - a 200D will be seriously slow.  Top speed maybe 70-75 on a good day, 0-60: if you have to ask, it isn’t for you.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 06/16/2020 at 13:27

0

Yes, it was a three pedal model. Interior looked perfect. The only thing that needed attention was the paint.

I’ve never heard of a YOM in Georgia. Since you can’t get a front plate even if you want to, they stuck a real expired 1983 plate on it. No registration sticker on it. Compare it with this authentic 1983 plate hanging on a wall at my house. To my knowledge, Georgia only has the plates designating a car as a collector vehicle and no throwback plates.

 I suspect it was restored and repainted, since the color didn't quite match. Or maybe this one is just really faded.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/16/2020 at 13:35

0

I bet a good cut and polish would make that fintail look excellent.  Old red paint pre-clearcoat can oxidize fast.  I bet a half day’s work would have it looking very presentable.  No doubt it also has a MB Tex (vinyl) interior, generally agreed as the most durable car upholstery ever.    I’ve seen many junkyard cars out in the elements for some time with decent interiors. 

Would it be legal to run a YOM plate at front as a souvenir or something? That could be the story. Funny that GA is so free about single plates but has no YOM program. Here, modern cars must have a front plate, but old cars(I think at either 25 or 30 years old) can be re-registered with YOM plates - my fintail wears a set.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 06/16/2020 at 13:46

1

You can put anything and everything on the front of your car. It does not matter. Euro plates, whether real or fake with catchy sayings on them, are very popular on German cars in particular. I’ve never noticed an expired plate on the front though, which is why it caught my eye. You cannot re register an old plate, but I’ve seen people keep their old ones on the same rear bumper as their current one. Front novelty plates  are also popular to advertise your favorite football team or whatever and most dealers put an advertisement there to begin with. Under_Score keeps a Georgia flag on the front of his new Sportwagen.

A picture of the Fintail’s interior too blurry for use. Looks like MBtex but the dash is also immaculate.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/16/2020 at 13:53

0

I kind of like the idea of a vintage plate in front, I might do that if I was t here. I think YOM plates are cool, and the ones on my car always attract comments from passersby, as they are significantly different from modern plates here. Although for modern cars, the lack of a front plate tends to look a lot better.

Definitely a Tex interior in that fintail. Leather was a possible option, but that was a not a high end model, and few would have ordered it. The dash pads in those cars can age well unless under the sun for years - that car has likely spent a lot of its life at least in a carport or something. The exception to this is blue colored dash pads, which seem to crack with little encouragement. That car also has an under-dash AC unit, a dealer-installed option, and somewhat desirable today. Also needed in your climate, all of that glass makes these cars like an oven on hot days.

I see the 560SL reflected in the glass, too.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 06/16/2020 at 14:11

0

Some stuff I didn’t include

I didn’t notice the AC. Probably quite expensive option as well, but leads me to believe it is a long time local.

You have one option for plates for a vintage car: plain white with a little picture of a M odel T that says “collector vehicle” or something like that. You may be able to get a regular plate or the vanity variants but I don’t remember. I thought it was cool that they had a plate from, presumably, the year of manufacture on the front.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/16/2020 at 14:20

1

6cyl Ponton is desirable in the Ponton world , and the two tone Pagoda SL is pretty. The latter must be somebody’s baby. I also see a couple 108/109s in the shot, along with a 111 coupe.

In a city the size of Atlanta, no doubt there was a decent MB distributor - that fintail is from after the Studebaker partnership (there were standalone dealers, too). AC was probably a ~$400 option then.

The fun bit about YOM plates here is that they are “permanent”, so they don’t need annual renewal.  Registration here can be expensive, maybe around $100 for an older car in a non-urban area, and my modern car in a rat race area was over $600.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 06/16/2020 at 14:49

0

Yes, I believe that there must have been a strong dealer network here going back a long ways. It makes sense considering the demographics of the city. Lots of rags to riches types who wanted to show off their wealth, many of whom were immigrants from Europe who would like to buy cars from their home countries. Atlanta was the rail - passenger and freight - capital of the south and rivaled the largest rail centers of the northeast so it brought people from all nationalities and backgrounds together. Of course by the 60s the rail business had begun to decline sharply but there was still plenty of manufacturing and the airport would eventually come to take up the slack.

I only featured in the article the cars that were not in the other DOTS I linked.

Registration here isn’t too expensive. Just a cursory inspection to check the lights and OBDII that can be as cheap as $15 and then the paperwork and other stuff.

For such an old city with almost nonexistent urban planning, Atlanta has some big roads and lots of street parking. It also helps that many of them are bridges designed to to look like ground level because the utilities can be run underneath them. I always love to look at old photos from when you could still see the true ground level.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > fintail 06/16/2020 at 14:54

2

In CA you have to find old plates in pairs from a dealer and it has to be the exact age of the vehicle. I got some for my truck but it was confusing because they made 1951 CA plates for a few years and then you put tags over the year, then they have COM on them for commercial, which you need for a pickup . I had no idea that pickup plates have a different number sequence and are commercial to this day. It has a rare Y OM form some DMV people don’t know about and I also have to pay for vanity plates on REAL CA plates that THEY issued. The dealer set me up though.

fintail > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 06/16/2020 at 15:01

2

I’d expect heavy regulation in CA. Amusingly in WA, which requires a front plate for modern cars, only requires the rear plate for YOM, and you can source them from anywhere - I got the set on the fintail at a yard sale, best quarter I ever spent. Simple paperwork at a DMV/DOL (I think around $40 when I switched mine), and then done, effectively forever.

WA had some odd years for plates being issued too, with plates listing a year then sometimes with a tag or sticker - I know a huge batch of plates was made in 1963 for the switch to green on white from white on green, which means 1964 and maybe 1965 cars can use the 1963 base. I think at the time WA also had commercial plates for pickups, where today they can wear normal passenger car or commercial plates (I think commercial plates get a tax break, of course).

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > fintail 06/16/2020 at 15:07

1

My grandpa had a place in Puget Sound, I never went up there, he onl y had it a few years before he died. I would like to bring my kayak up there for some Orca action. I might move there if I knew I could get a job, I expect it’s like SF around Seattle though. My dads pilot friend turned Mercedes mechanic is in Bellingham I think it was, I still buy stuff from him.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/16/2020 at 15:07

1

Exactly, it was a huge city then too, and had a strong middle class. That, and most MBs then weren’t so relatively high priced, the brand didn’t quite have the image it gained in the 70s/80s, and most models were somewhat affordable. That 200D would have cost no more than a typical mid-range Oldsmobile or similar when new, and even higher models were seldom more expensive than an ordinary Cadillac. The brand was about engineering more than luxury or showing off.

Emissions tests are being phased out here, I am surprised they haven’t been there - I think local authorities see that the real problem cars are quickly aging out of the fleet, and that moderns are much cleaner. I’d be more concerned with poorly maintained commercial vehicles, which in my anecdotal experience, are often polluters.

I remember in my visits to downtown Atlanta seeing ample street parking, and cheap paid parking - a far cry from Seattle where parking can be insane.  And at least you have MARTA too - while not perfect of course, it’s a fair effort.  I think I mentioned in the past that the funds used to start MARTA were initially offered to Seattle  - but the local braintrust didn’t think it was needed.  Now we have awful traffic, an insanely expensive transit expansion, and no admission that those in the past chose poorly.

fintail > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 06/16/2020 at 15:11

0

Yeah, Seattle is SF north - not quite as expensive, but trying, and it can be as much of a rat race. Also a number of people from SF migrated north, which might explain some things.

You must be talking about Kent Bergsma in Bellingham. I went to school there and lived there awhile, I took my fintail to him when he still had an indy shop and wasn’t something of a celebrity in the old MB world. I even used to store the fintail in one of his buildings, as my condo had only one covered spot.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > fintail 06/16/2020 at 15:16

0

Yeah Kent is the man, my dad was a carrier pilot, I don’t know how he knows him originally. My grandpa and my dad always have an older Merc, I think my dad’s SEC was the newest we ever had. I grew up in Hawaii, I like to get out on the water and the whales are cool here but pretty elusive,  the Orcas up there stick around more and I like places with lots of little islands. I’m not so happy about snow though! 

fintail > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 06/16/2020 at 15:26

1

Kent was a pilot back in the 60s and 70s I think. The material he makes now is very handy DIY kind of stuff, always for older cars, especially diesels. H e has done exceptionally well with it, I think most people with old MBs know of him.

We don’t have a ton of snow here, just a few incidents a year, but it is definitely colder than HI, and can be really dreary in the winter, too.    And of course, plenty of whales in the sound.  

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 06/16/2020 at 15:33

1

I think I recall that. MARTA isn’t expansive, but what there is is clean, well maintained, and neither overcrowded nor underused. The streetcars that were recently added had a slow start but they’ve seen wider spread adoption. There’s also room to expand it, which they should have done in place of that stupid reversible expressway toll lane.

Seattle has missed its chance, apparently. How can you turn down the government offering to foot the bill for a public transit network? Go od thing you did, because otherwise we might have no public transit at all. Also Atlanta and most of the surrounding counties have reasonably high maintenance budgets for roads so they are kept from falling a part. Better than most inner city roads, that’s for sure. Which is important considering the vast number of bridges around the place. That and the road system has been noticeably expanded and improved over the last few years.  

I suppose 60s MB is sort of like modern Alfa. A fringe player for the unique and more tasteful people, though Alfa doesn’t have the tremendous build quality. They get a bad rap for reliability though. Most haven’t had much trouble with later build cars.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/16/2020 at 16:15

0

I think MARTA is an admirable social good in a country where most cities lack effective public transit. It’s also amusing in an area like the ATL metro, with its laughably endless sprawl, has this relatively progressive transit system. Someone was on top of things, unlike in Seattle, where I think the old guard didn’t envision current growth - although by 1990 I think the writing was on the wall with the CA invasion, but they still did little to nothing. We have very minor transit here without buses - buses are it. The rail lines serve very few areas and are not useful for most workers. There’s a large new system being built at enormous expense, which will help, and is also the reason my yearly car registration is $600+. I don’t mind paying the bill per se as if I live here when it comes online, I’ll use it , but I wish those who think they kno w it all had done a better job.

I’ve always liked the sparkly granite in the roads there, and I think it makes them more durable.

MB was kind of like that yeah, without the sporty/performance pretense.  MB sedans then sold mostly to doctor/professor/engineer types, people who wanted something advanced and with high build quality, and maybe smaller than the typical domestic barge.    Only the top models competed in price with Cadillac.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 06/16/2020 at 16:32

1

As Saabs were to professors MBs were to doctors and the like, I guess. Sort of an intellectual choice. Maybe sort of like modern Genesis more than Alfa Romeo.

Hmm sparkly granite. Granite is huge here since so much of it has historically been supplied by the region. Lots of granite was mined from under Stone Mountain itself and there are large deposits everywhere. It has a signature look to it different from other granite. Never considered that.

Older streets often have durable solid granite curbs that are real mean to tires. They’re sharp but will last virtually forever as well as looking much better than concrete.

I like some of the brown asphalt you’ll see in Tennessee. Not sure what is added into it but reminds me of tabby, except not made from sea shells. Perhaps some sort of sandstone or shale like you see in the cliffs there.

MARTA is quality over quantity for the most part and Atlanta hasn’t completely ignored its growth. Ridership has increased of late. They need to extend a line north along I7 5 though. The city has seen lots of surprisingly popular infrastructure improvements, including the Beltline series of trails along old railroad beds and the Mountain to River Trail (Chattahoochee to Kennesaw Mt ). The ‘Hooch is still very underdeveloped. Since the city originally purposefully avoided the unn avigi table river.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/16/2020 at 16:44

0

I hope somebody rescues that old Beetle, it doesn’t look into bad shape and parts are really easy to get and not that expensive usually!

That poor old Mustang in the first picture has seen better days... I wonder if that was a factory colour scheme?

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/16/2020 at 16:49

0

In terms of relative price, Genesis is a good comparison . Expensive, but not insane. I think the most traditional MBs now are the E wagon and sedan, and other sedans. The CUV /SUV thing has gone off the rails in my opinion, but I know that’s what the market wants, and the vehicles carry higher margins than sedans.

I still remember my first time in Atlanta, driving on a local highway on a sunny day, and noticing the sparkle on the pavement - you don’t see that in my region. Most of the roads also seemed a lot smoother and wider than here, not to mention faster. Here we get concrete and asphalt which seems to decay quicker in the constant misty rain.

The problem here for transit has been the high growth rate of the past ~20 years, the older set not wanting to pay for anything, and maybe price inflation in general - I think most inflation calculators do a poor job at actual cost of living issues.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 06/16/2020 at 17:16

0

I think so. Not Grabber Blue but a different color. My friend had a Grabber Blue one very similar to that for a while.

Beetle was ok but the paint it needed would be more than the cost of a Beetle that already had the work done. Didn't check the interior but was probably as roached as the taillights. Good rust free ones can be found easily for $6,000 that don't need so much work. Probably will be parted out for the glass, rust free panels, etc.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 06/16/2020 at 17:25

0

I checked this back and I don’t see any sparkly pavement but, then again, I think I know what you’re talking about. I think they mix some crushed granite in there instead of traditional gravel.

Perhaps smoother and wider roads, but definitely fast. If you aren’t going 5-8 mph above, you’re gonna get run over.

Affordable housing isn’t as bad in the ATL as many other areas of the country but said housing is rarely connected to bus lines, meaning car ownership is a must. The poorer areas of my county actually have much better bus access than most areas closer to Atlanta, but those are mostly single family homes, not apartments.

I do think Genesis is a good modern comparison to 60s MB. A little old fashioned in styling but technologically advanced and priced well for the features. Sort of an alternative luxury.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/16/2020 at 20:31

1

If it were my Beetle, I wouldn’t worry about paint fade...as long as it ran OK and wasn’t rusty! :P

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 06/16/2020 at 21:37

1

Probably runs as is with a little carb cleaner and a battery. This is also the same climate that birthed my neighbors entirely rust free with original floor pans daily driver Type 2. They’ll rust but only if you let it sit out in the rain and keep bare metal exposed.