Grey and gloomy this morning, but slivers of sunshine are now attempting to peek through the clouds.
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- Thread starter Gutwrench
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Have greatly enjoyed a series of leisurely, lengthy, relaxed chats with far-flung friends (and family) over the past few days.
Just enjoyed a lengthy (phone) chat with Decent Brother, where we exchanged mutual best wishes for the New Year.
Feeling a bit better after resting all day. I think, and I hope, that I’m on the other side of it.
We have the cords you are referring to in all of our vehicles thought most of Alaska.
Placing any toaster under the oil pan could be dangerous, but some of us did things like that in the past. I did all kinds of crazy things when I was young, and have no idea how I made it though such events without hurting others or killing myself, including walking on the ledges of two store building to showoff and impress my friends. My teacher chewed me up to nearly death
Before engine heaters, some Alaska bush pilots had to place a metallic pan loaded with lit charcoal to warm the motor before starting it. I don't know the details, but I assume that they had to place a metallic mesh to prevent flames to rise. Other pilots would drain the warm oil from the motor, bring it indoors and close to the wood stove to keep warm, and then before starting the motor they would refill the motor with the now hot oil before starting it.
Most people leave their cars and trucks running are the shopping centers' parking lots whenever the temperature drops to perhaps -10 or colder 6temperatures. The reasons for this is that if one is buying...lest say lettuce, flowers, and things like that, they would freeze between before one can open the car's door and bring it inside the warm cabin. My wife has insulated bags she uses to keep the veggies from freezing, but these things are bulky. Anyway, just like my wife and I, most people start their vehicles using remotes and leave the motors running at the supermarket parking lots. These starters systems incorporate safety modes to prevent thieves from stealing the vehicle while the motor is running.
As for me, this what happening this First week of January 2026 (NOAA Weather Forecast in Fairbanks, Alaska)
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I remember a place in the Midwest that sold car stereos also sold remote starter systems, which they advertised in the 90s. I wouldn't be surprised if those starter systems sold better at certain times of the year than a car stereo. "Gee, I'd love to listen to my CDs at top volume--but it'd be more fun if my [rear] wasn't frozen to the seat!"
🤣 That's the fastest way to blow the speakers. In this case you can still done your AirPods and listen to the music in you phone. By the way, just ignore what I said about the AirPods.These things are impossible to "extract" from the case in cold weather, and if one can finally manage to retrieve it and then drop it in the deep snow, it is nearly impossible to find it again. They are not only difficult to pull out of the carrier or base unless one can had soft spaghetti-thin fingers, but also are slippery as the drools hanging from my beautiful Nikki's mouth when she's hungry. Nikki is our (wife and I) dog
I just heard on the news that Juneau, the Capital of Alaska, received 88 inches of snow in the month December. Not the best place to drop the AirPods.
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The things you guys have to do up there! I would definitely be concerned about leaving my car running. Reminds me of an old Renault 11 I owned. It would start fine when the engine was cold, but not when it was hot.We have the cords you are referring to in all of our vehicles thought most of Alaska.
Placing any toaster under the oil pan could be dangerous, but some of us did things like that in the past. I did all kinds of crazy things when I was young, and have no idea how I made it though such events without hurting others or killing myself, including walking on the ledges of two store building to showoff and impress my friends. My teacher chewed me up to nearly death
Before engine heaters, some Alaska bush pilots had to place a metallic pan loaded with lit charcoal to warm the motor before starting it. I don't know the details, but I assume that they had to place a metallic mesh to prevent flames to rise. Other pilots would drain the warm oil from the motor, bring it indoors and close to the wood stove to keep warm, and then before starting the motor they would refill the motor with the now hot oil before starting it.
Most people leave their cars and trucks running are the shopping centers' parking lots whenever the temperature drops to perhaps -10 or colder 6temperatures. The reasons for this is that if one is buying...lest say lettuce, flowers, and things like that, they would freeze between before one can open the car's door and bring it inside the warm cabin. My wife has insulated bags she uses to keep the veggies from freezing, but these things are bulky. Anyway, just like my wife and I, most people start their vehicles using remotes and leave the motors running at the supermarket parking lots. These starters systems incorporate safety modes to prevent thieves from stealing the vehicle while the motor is running.
Had it in the garage a few times. Changed the battery, starter motor, plugs, points etc.
So if we were just popping to the shops I’d sit in the car whilst Mrs AFB headed inside. Eventually I was lucky that the breakdown people were able to get there and diagnose it as a sensor on the flywheel needed replacing.
These days if we have cold weather I just put in my departure time on the BMW app on my phone and my EV warms up the battery (if it’s plugged in) and the cabin. Newer EV’s can warm up the battery if they are not plugged in.
In hot weather it cools the car. Bliss.
We had a frost yesterday, but I’m not using the car until Monday.
What's on my mind is the horrible fire at a bar in Crans-Montana, a resort villiage in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. Awful number of dead and wounded and the worst are the messages on social media - photos of mostly teenagers posted by family and friends seeking info. I won't post more heart rending details here except there is plenty of info in the news (Swiss Info in English).
I was looking at some of the photos of the ceiling in the place and videos. It went up very, very fast.
It looks like foam for noise-insulation, just shocking. Then not much chance for people to get out.
I decided that I should buy some additional coffee today since my current supply is rapidly vanishing...and so I'm now resupplied
It seems that you Renault was a little troublesome 😁
Letting vehicles idle for long periods of time is common occurrence where is gets extremely cold. I have lived in the interior of Alaska since 1979 and have never seen nor heard about an idling vehicle in the outdoors catching during the winter. When taking photos of the sled dog races and skijoring in February-March, if the temperature is -20º F and colder, I start my truck's motors and let it idle 25 minutes once or twice per hour if the temperature drops to -3- degrees and colder.
If I am taking photos of the Auroras and the temperature is from -10 to9 perhaps -20 degrees F (-28º C) the motor idles continuously for several hours sometimes. I spend perhaps 10-15 minuets outside, and then get inside the truck for short periods of time to warm both myself and the camera. The tripod has rubberized grips around the upper areas of the aluminum alloy legs. Without these rubberized grips it would be quite painful touching the aluminum with barehanded. When it is extremely cold it is not a good idea to turn the motor off, specially if I am a few miles away from a shelter or even a short distance from it.
That Renault was a dog. It was my Mum’s car that she gave me when we got married. It was 10 years old at that point. It came with a set of skirts and a rear cosworth type spoiler so looked sporty. But the engine was anything but. 1.6 litres petrol. But everyone thought it was super sporty looking at it.
My mum had it like that from new. I think that’s what she liked about it.
It was also red and the paint on the bonnet had some weird white film that would appear. Polishing it out helped for a few days then it would come back.
The spoiler was so heavy I used to prop open the boot with an umbrella to stop it closing.
I drove it for a few years as we were pretty poor back then. Lived in London and all my money went on the mortgage.
I tried to teach Mrs AFB to drive in it, but it had no power steering so was very difficult for her to even turn the wheel. It was the heaviest steering I’ve ever had in a car.
I think it had done 144,000 when I got rid of it.
Reminds me of some race cars, ie the 1969 Porsche 917. When the engine was hot and the car came in for a pit stop and was switched off, you couldn’t start it again due to vapour lock (that was one of the problems among many).
The 1970 version solved that by changing the engine quite drastically, the exhausts for all 12 cylinders went out the back, instead of front 6 going out the sides and the rear 6 going to the back.
I did like the old Renault 18 Diesel commercial. Clever way to make a fairly pedestrian thing seem fearsome.
The worse one I ever drove was a Fiat Estrada. I bought it in the mid '70s from a local dealership, because it was not only the cheapest one in the lot, but the only one I could afford. I had it shipped to Alaska on a military move, and sold it a couple of years later when I met my bride to be (my present and lovely wife?)
I have not idea about its engine displacement, maybe slightly more powerful than a lawnmower engine I assume. Climbing steep gravel roads was quite arduous and slow; worst of all it would overheat and I had to stop now and then to cool the engine, or just turn the heater and fan to maximum flow and fan speed, even in the middle of the summer.
When I sold it had... maybe 4,000 miles of use, and the exterior and interior were in perfect shape. There was another problem with this car, and it was that the point where the muffler pipe connects to the catalytic converter would become loose now and then. Luckily it never happened when I was driving at highway speeds
The car that I miss the most, probably because it didn't have any mechanical problems and had lots of fun driving it throughout a few years years in NYC. This was a 1964 (?) very shiny "hunter green" (a very dark green color). Manual transmission with a smooth and gentle clutch, and built like a military tank. I could stand on the front fenders and they would not budge under my weight, but then...I may have been a little on the skinny side at my post puberty years. Regardless, this little car had a very shiny and tough body, shiny paint, and the motor and clutch seemed to be, for a better word, "immortal?"
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It’s nuts that an active NBA player (LeBron James) appears on a sports gambling series of ads as a bunch of fixing scandals wind their way through the criminal courts involving NBA players. And that no one in power has a problem with that.
Maybe you should have tried renaming it as an Alpine. Or if that didn’t work, putting Briatore in charge.
;-)
Mind you a lot of cars of the old days were pretty poor, unless you considered Mercedes which had a reputation for solid cars lasting millions of kilometres in use as taxis. They had clattering diesel engines with very little power and were very slow, but they were tough.
We had one average car in my country that was a derivative of a GM world car “J body” which was also pretty lousy.
We also had a very sharply styled thing called Piazza (it was a GM T car base). It was dubbed the “car most likely to scare and maim” by one local publication due to its sketchy handling and turbo power it could barely cope with.
We can tend to take for granted modern construction standards and testing, especially modern rust proofing.
I’ve only been in one Fiat, a newer Tipo wagon. It wasn’t terrible, but it was nothing special either. The seat heating was pretty variable as well! And the little engine hated hills. Also quite noisy on autostrada, the engine generally gave the impression of being exhausted. 😩
We had one average car in my country that was a derivative of a GM world car “J body” which was also pretty lousy.
We also had a very sharply styled thing called Piazza (it was a GM T car base). It was dubbed the “car most likely to scare and maim” by one local publication due to its sketchy handling and turbo power it could barely cope with.
We can tend to take for granted modern construction standards and testing, especially modern rust proofing.
I’ve only been in one Fiat, a newer Tipo wagon. It wasn’t terrible, but it was nothing special either. The seat heating was pretty variable as well! And the little engine hated hills. Also quite noisy on autostrada, the engine generally gave the impression of being exhausted. 😩
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It’s true that modern cars are a lot better than some of the older cars of my youth. I think we always had cars that were nothing special.
But some of the old cars looked (and still do) beautiful. I’d take a Jaguar e type over any modern car for its looks. Just not very practical as a daily driver.
But some of the old cars looked (and still do) beautiful. I’d take a Jaguar e type over any modern car for its looks. Just not very practical as a daily driver.
According to the latest information from the Turkish General Directorate of Meteorology (MGM), satellite images from January 4, 2026 show that 86% of Turkey's landmass is covered with 25 cm or more of snow. The coldest place was Ardahan in the Caucasus with -39.7 degrees Celsius, while the warmest was my own city, Adana, with +13 degrees Celsius. What are the weather conditions like in your countries
My Turkish Angora cat needs a small mini vacation there soon.
she ,misses the snow and will catch some rats there, since her ancestors did since 5 AD
Cold but no snow. Hoping we skip it again this year, although there is a chance we get some later today. Hopefully not as I’m driving to London for work in the morning
In Turkey, there's normally a chance of snowfall along all the coasts, except for Adana, my city. It snows in Antalya and İzmir too. It snows there because their coasts are mountainous. Adana, however, is an alluvial plain stretching 100 kilometers inland. Even if it snows, it doesn't stick, and it shouldn't snow at all. All of Turkey is fed by a single city; the lands of Cilicia are very fertile. In Turkey, snow doesn't only fall in the center and lowlands of Adana. It also snows in the higher elevations of Adana.
The dams are full to the brim. The water from this snowmelt could feed us until the beginning of 2027