Olaf

big grin.

some years back I had safely driven my family back from a holiday in Auckland. We'd had an excellent run down, leaving a wet Auckland early - may have been ANZAC day? Got all the way to a warm, sunny and dry Porirua without incident, though on straight 3-lane piece of road I encountered an old Hilman Avenger Wagon, tail well-down (overloaded) towing a weaving trailer with bald tyres... doing 100-105. I know this, as I was following him in the second lane travelling behind him. I indicated right, moved into the 3rd (outside lane), and pased him doing 114 ( I know this, as it was police verified). I was nabbed by a policeman with laser gun sitting at the end of the straight, and motioned to pull over. We had a cordial discussion. I offered that I had no issue about the speed he'd clocked me at, and accepted he would give me a ticket. We talked about my journey down from Auckland; he was interested in what time I'd left and did the mental calculation on how long it had taken me and satisfied himself that I'd had a reasonable trip. I said "I have a question for you, officer. in my well-maintained Maxima, why did you choose me, driving 14km/h over the speed limit, rather than the driver next to me with the dangerously laden car weaving and towing a trailer with bald tyres, exceeding his speed limit by 25km/h?" His was the stock answer: "you can't know how fast he was going, yours is an estimate only". I replied "yes I do - I followed him for nearly a kilometre before deciding to pass, in order to avoid the road hazard he presented; our speeds were matched. Now, please, can you help me understand why did you choose to pull the driver presenting the lesser hazard to other road users? I'm not arguing the ticket; I'd really like to understand." "Well, the laser gun has a narrow lens. I focus on the outside lane to catch the greatest speed" "Ahhh, so you're focussed on the number plates of the cars in the outside lane?" "Yes" "and you didn't see the orange Avenger on the inside lane, because while you're hunting speeders and looking through that laser gun you're focussed on one lane only?" "that's right." "Well, thank you for your honesty officer, have a good one." "you too sir, travel safely" As I said, it was a cordial, and indeed respectful conversation. Clearly this passive road policing by sitting "catching speeders at the end of lanes" contributes nothing to road safety. As I mentioned, I had no issue with a ticket for 14km/h over; it was what I was doing. It was the indiscriminate and non-sensical nature of the "policing" in this instance that underscored to me that they "have it wrong".

Hmm - it's his toyshop, his money, and they're paid minions! To channel Ricky Bobby, If I had to finance, lead, and manage that risk that and one of my minions suggested I was clipping the ticket and the glory, I'd show them the door and recommend they contact a bank and a realtor, go set up their own! Or give them the contact details of the local Socialist party; "it's not a collective buddy, it's my company". "Praise the infant baby jesus". On the other hand, it is television, and "reality television", at that.

outstanding. Is there to be television coverage anywhere?

yes. although one wonders why he did not QA the original job before it went out, and kick his worker up the arse and get it remedied before the job was "signed off" in the first place. still, good outcomes, and cheerfully remedied - excellent.

oh sh*t. somebody's 'wrong' on the internet... #; ) yep, they wanted it auto. might have had two legs and one arm! or just hated manual. who cares, hopefully they enjoyed driving. And chose an M3 as their selected tool.

what would Bruce Dickinson drive? #8 )

you were joking about the heater, right?! safety item for winter driving in NZ. cool project, Graham. Is your daughter pitching in?

the job of opposition is to provide concrete alternates and competition. Unfortunately there's not much of it here in NZ. The best the Greens could muster is "oh, they should be using Teslas instead". Hmmm, considering that government procurement is based on a solidly defined set of (fleet) requirements (in this case, aspects such as space, safety, running costs, emissions, reliability, cost, servicing, threat, driver scoring, etc); the scoring criteria will be decided before the RFP is released, and the result is decided by scoring the proposals from each supplier against the specified criteria. The Greens, as all parties, could access reporting on the procurement, and would know full-well that the Tesla would not be an option for NZ Governmental use. Still, why should the Greens - or any other f(l)ailing opposition party - let that get in the way of a sound-bite that could possibly attract popular opinion. Or, at least the interest of those who don't critically examine what is printed or read out in the media. EDIT: I saw what you did there. Imagine the headline: "Opposition Parties claim National slipped it in the back door".

Congratulations Glenn, quite the milestone. For others kicking the habit, go hard, keep at it. Having to apologise for being a reformed smoker is generally acceptable to your friends and family, and far preferable to your best 'Puffing Billy' impressions! Interesting perspective provided in Hollywood movies "The Insider" (nicotine delivery system, get you hooked) and "Thank you for smoking" (plenty on the product-placement aspect). I saw an interesting (print media) campaign at the movies yesterday; at least they're trying to target youngsters, as I'm sure those actively trying to quit will appreciate. It was in the form of a wanted ad: effectively "wanted: risk taker for controlling relationship, spend your money, health, and shorten your life" as though cigarettes were advertising for someone to prey upon. Keep up the hard work, it will reward you!

looks like loads of fun to me, Ray. Nice one!

excellent idea!

yes, the S2000 is an awesome little car. having to rev the nuts off it to drive around is not my idea of fun. yes VTEC unicorns are all good. it's a honda. SLK? Underwhelming IMHO, fit and finish pretty average. matches the 4cyl. not my idea of fun. you know how it goes, one man's meat is another man's poison. YMMV etc.

superb.

awesome, Glenn. good on you for making time for this. I recall finding work experience with an auto electrician back when I was in the 4th form. 2 days of working in their workshop, reconditioning starter motors and alternators, getting the smoko, learning a bit about working in a workplace! Invaluable experience, and they bought me lunch to boot. I didn't end up training as an auto-sparks, though it gave me insight into that job. ++ Kudos. I trust you attract someone who appreciates the opportunity.

12k you can get a Z4. 10k you can get a decent Z3. I'd not touch an SLK, nor the Honda S2000. no Audis. No frenchies. Yep, it'd be the Bimmer - eaither or. I'm not biased.

agreed. I spoke with the repairer who did the mirrors on my e46, after they were nicked. Insurance job. I wasn't entirely impressed; however, fixed price from insurance company, used parts from down south, freight costs, painted mirrors, installed - one didn't work. needed to get another mirror, another call out for the auto sparky to fit the mirror. No extra money from the insurers. I asked him about his business sources, and the margins. I asked him how he made any money - he said they didn't. Hard to make money as an approved insurance repairer. No car-yard business (too low margin). They're trying to survive on low-margin insurance work. Where they make their money is on the walk-ins, and return business. It's a 13 year old car; yes, I'm an enthusiast... no, they're not. I won't be engaging them for the additional work I had them quote on (bumper touch-ups/repaints, small dent in guard, a few minor items); no repeat business there from me.

what's the gen on the Morels, Charles? Straightforward replacement with factory head unit? Time I was looking for something suitable for my e46, standard japanese aftermarket need not apply!

outstanding.

what, you mean like the claim to Radio Spectrum? Clearly, telecommunications existed in godzone before it was even invented in the northern hemisphere! Marconi, Edison... they all hailed from northern iwi, eh.

looking good Dan!

yes indeed, should be cool when you get it on the road. kudos!

but ya know, if he gets some, like, stickery rubber on them rims, it'll be a, suitable, errr mitigant, yeah? Pedantry. it's how we roll.

man, it still has Rego you can cash in. Score!

I put a full set of KYBs into my VW Golf A2 GTi 16v. they lasted a year and a half. replaced them with Boge Turbo - ride transformed. Conclusion - the KYBs were sh*t. I replaced factory oil filled shocks on A32 Maxima with KYB Excel. Stiffened up the ride, improved handling. Were still on it when I sold the car 4 years later. They're okay. For the effort of changing shocks, and all the cost of mounts, bushes, fasteners etc - I think KYB's are a false economy. I'd be going OEM (Sachs) or Koni or Bilstein. my $0.02 worth.