How will it fit in my garage?

This is the downsized version?

This aspect of car selection is becoming more important to me. 

I would like my cars to be able to fit in my garage.

It might seem hard to believe, but this downsized Thunderbird is even longer than my Navigator. The proportions of the vehicles differ, look at all that hood, and the car is much lower than the blocky Nav. I tried to put my Nav in my garage, but the old fashioned tilt up door had a cross piece that was just a little too low. It was scraping the top of the luggage rack. On the other hand, my Flex will barely clear the door. But it will fit, giving me options.

The pictured garage has the access door on the side, maybe leading to a laundry room, but there certainly isn't much room to walk around behind the  car. 

My garage has the utilities along the back wall, so it is a bit deeper, and the outside door opens along this pathway. 

One of the first things that a casual onlooker will comment on, while "admiring" your vintage vehicle is about it's size, unless that person is currently the owner of a big truck or SUV.

"Jeez! How can you drive that thing?" I suppose that this person has never noticed all the semi trucks rolling down the streets and highways of our Nation. It doesn't help to point out that a semi truck can and will drive down any street or alleyway in the Country. 

Looking around you'll notice that the majority of sedans that you will see are of the compact type. Large sedans have been dropping out of favor for the last twenty years. Only to be replaced by large trucks and SUVs! 

There are a few large cars around, but they are usually the higher priced models. Mercedes and BMW still produce their flagship vehicles, but many manufacturers don't even have a regular "full size" sedan in their line up. Ford now only makes one car, and that's the Mustang. 

I'm sure that people have many reasons for choosing their little Hyundai or Honda, They might claim that they are easier to drive and park, or get better gas mileage, but another fact is that they are much cheaper to buy. Even Today, vehicle size does equate to increased status, all of those big SUVs and trucks are certainly quite expensive. 

But that status doesn't translate to older models of cars and trucks. In fact the very fact of their size is held against them!

Sometimes it is seen as an embarrassment.

It's especially notable if you are a fan of 50's, '60's and '70's land yachts. These were the biggest cars that Detroit had ever produced. Most of these were never garaged, even when they were new. Few homes had a garage that could handle one of these behemoths.

I suppose that is one of the reasons for the popularity of vintage Mustangs. They are even smaller than the current model. They will easily fit into most garages with room to spare. 

I would venture to guess that most Ford Expeditions, Chevy Suburbans, Cadillac Escalades or even Lincoln Navigators, don't sleep under a roof at night. Sometimes they will barely fit in the garage, but like in the opening photo, they don't leave much additional room to move around. Plus it can be tricky backing out of the garage, as opposed to the driveway. 

My favorite cars, big luxury coupes and personal luxury cars, have another problem. Extremely long doors!

70's Camaros and Firebirds were very popular, but it was often difficult to exit your car in a crowded parking lot. If you were prevented from opening the door adequately, you had to squeeze out, some time snagging your clothes on the door trim or getting them dirty on the door latch. This was all much easier when I was much younger and thinner! 

The long doors become quite noticeable when parked alongside another car inside your garage.

Contributing to the problem is the tendency to place storage shelves along the side walls of the garage. I originally built shelves that were above my head's height, and I could fully open the doors and walk under them. The sidewall shelves do restrict the opening of the doors, and make exit difficult. I put up with that, but I will move the car out of the garage before letting my Wife enter the car. There is no way to enter from the passenger side.

The garage is the best place to park a car. It keeps it out of the sun and rain, it prevents it being splattered by birds, and even keeps the dust off. And that's just in sunny California. Snow, and even worse hail, can batter a poor car, left exposed to the elements. That's how all of those Granny cars survived in great shape, driven infrequently and housed inside the garage. 

If you can't put it in the garage, or under a carport, the only alternative is a good car cover. There are trade offs, but they do protect your car. Preservation is the best and least costly route. If a car is just something that you intend to trade off regularly, they can still look pretty good, even after ten years of casual protection.

I suppose that is why I came to the realization that I don't need to move out to the boonies so that I could afford some land where I could build a barn. The obvious answer was to use what I have, and just own less cars!  Duh! Of course this is not a realization that I want to verbalize too often, or too loudly!

Newer cars are quite a bit smaller, my '06 Mustang is 188'' long. Most large sedans are down to around 200'' and big SUVs like my Navigator and Flex measure around 207'' in standard form. Add a foot for an "L" model. 

That '77 Thunderbird pictured above, measures 215 inches, ten inches shorter than most of the largest cars of the 1960's, but it's definitely no compact!

Chances are good that I'll never buy another large vintage car. In the past, I managed to fit my '71 Buick Riviera and later my '56 Cadillac Sedan de Ville in my current garage. But it was a very tight fit. 

However, it seems that there is another problem I have to deal with.

I'm discovering that with my current fleet, due my circumstances, it's something of a challenge keeping all of my cars in steady rotation.

I try to balance out my use of the cars. I like to run through a half a tank of fuel regularly to keep the gas fresh, as well as keep the battery up and the spinning parts lubricated.

But the fact remains that, I often find that my hobby cars just sit. Especially if I've got other things going on. Even as a retired guy I sometimes find that my life gets complicated and busy, so playing with the cars is put on the back burner. 

I've been particularly busy as of late, with "house type" projects that had to be completed. It's been almost a month since I had any free time.

Yeah I know, First World Problems.

 OOPs !  I think my roots (blue collar) are showing!

That's a big pile of dirt, and that's not all of it!

It's my DIY state of mind.

You don't have to scratch too deep to find the blue.

I grew up with a Dad that could, and would, do everything himself. He taught himself how to fix everything around the house. He took a correspondence course to learn to fix electronics back in the 1960's and ran a side business for many years fixing TVs. If he couldn't figure something out on his own, he'd find a book at the library to explain it, read it, then he'd tackle the job. 

Saving money was a big part of it. My Dad said that you lived on your paycheck. You worked overtime to get extra money to save towards the future. Fixing things yourself also freed up money for saving. Frugality was the third leg of the stool. My parents were very careful in how they spent their money, and seldom indulged themselves in any kind of luxury. 

I can't say that I've ever been as hard a worker as my Dad, or as frugal as my Mom. but I did inherit the idea that i should be able to fix things around the house. 

I was waxing the wheels on my truck, when I remembered that I should have rotated the tires a while ago.  Front tires usually wear on the inside since they are doing the steering, It's important to rotate the tires to even out the wear, and get the most mileage from the tires. 

To make things easier, not to mention safer, I dropped the spare tire. This way I would never leave a corner of the truck without a wheel, while I removed the opposite wheel. I supported the corner with a floor jack and didn't use any jack stands. I removed the wheel, replacing it with the spare, then the wheel to the appropriate spot. 

I performed this job at the curb in front of the house. This wasn't going to be messy or take a lot of time. I wouldn't do a lengthy procedure at the curb. 

Could I have paid a shop to do this work? Sure I could. But I didn't see any reason for that. 

It isn't just about the cost. like most blue collar guys saving money is important, but so is the feeling that we can take care of things ourselves. 

So I paint the house, build fences, trim trees, fix the cars, and whatever else needs to be done. 

Here the bricks are just laid on top of the dirt.
They actually bonded to each other over the years!

Currently I'm in the middle of a pretty big yard project. I'm laying down brick walkways in the backyard. Originally, I'd simply laid the bricks directly on the level dirt to form the path. I had previously laid brick pathways in front of the house as well as along the side of the house, it never had cement walkways poured.

In front I made wooden rails to contain the bricks which were laid over a sand base, in running bond. These walkways had stood up to decades of use. 

I bought a new pallet of "used" bricks from Home Depot and went to work. 

Mismatched bricks of different sizes and types.
Artfully blended together to form a rustic pathway.

In the backyard I had originally laid the bricks on grade. The bricks mostly came from free ads on CL. I've been gathering them over the years, laying out more paths over that time. I finally decided to lay them on sand at grade. In other words I dug out the dirt, and laid the bricks so they would be level with the adjacent dirt. The dirt serves as a retainer. It's cheap and it works, and there's no wood that ever needs to be replaced. 

This portion had been in place for over a decade.

I had done a short section here and there, then put it off ( for years!) until I managed to forget. The problem with loose bricks is that even though they will bond with dirt between them, the edges are prone to move and flip on their side as you are walking on them. Kind of hard on the ankles, especially my Wife's, and I heard about it. 

Now that I'm retired and I know that i'm not moving anywhere, it's now time to get the house squared away. 

So I've been spending my days digging down five inches to lay the bricks on an inch of sand. That's quite a bit of digging with a pick and shovel, leveling, and moving piles of dug up dirt. I've been buying loading, unloading, and lugging 60 lbs. sacks of sand. I haven't done that much manual labor in years!

I used 4x4s as rails to guide the leveling board.
They have enough mass to be stable without staking.

I decided to build a brick patio in front of the shed doors. I used 4x4 posts as temporary rails to level the sand base. After the bricks were laid, the 4x4s gave the edges a finished appearance. The lumber has enough weight and mass to be stable without staking it down, especially when dirt is piled up on the outside. I placed another run of bricks next to the first incorporating the 4x4. This gave me a surface that is 10 rows of bricks in width. 

This is the first five runs, the next will start to the right of this 4x4.

Finished with wooden platform/step.

This was the last connecting segment.

This section is finished,
but more remains to be done.

I'm very pleased with my work, the little patio and path is quite attractive. I've learned that by working with old, used, "free," mis-matched materials, a lot of "finagling" has to be done to compensate. Still, it is cheaper that way!

After this it's time to play with my cars!

My neighbors are all middle class, and college educated, many of them work in the electronics industry. They don't engage in a lot of manual labor or DIY. I suppose that I'm a bit of an oddity, I'm the only guy that rode motorcycles or is interested in cars. You don't see guys working on their cars in their driveways, doing their own yard work, certainly not building hot rods. However, I've cleaned up my act over the years.

No matter what my situation is, I know that I'll always identify as blue collar. It's a major part of my heritage. It's who I am, and it's who I want to remain. 

 Seek and Ye shall find. Part One.

This is the Lincoln MKZ.

Good advice.

I am always keeping my eyes open for used cars that might appeal to me. At the top of the list is the new Lincoln Aviator, but at "previously owned" prices that are still around 40-50 thousand dollars, it will be a few more years before I seriously consider one. Besides their SUVs, Lincoln produced some luxury cars in the recent past. I'm not very interested in the end of the Town Car line, though there are many die hard fans of these last Panther platform cars. These can sometimes be found with low mileage. I become a Lincoln fan with my Navigator, but do these smaller cars have the right appeal? Do they impress me as being a real Lincoln?

Even though I am quite happy and content with my current stable, I like to keep my eyes open and see if there's anything out there that also appeals to me. I no longer have any interest in anything from a European manufacturer. Japanese makes are still in consideration, but I'm sticking with good old American makes, for now. 

I just don't see myself getting into a real vintage car anymore. The prices are just too high. I think that I've also finally learned my lesson about project cars. I want a car that is in good shape, runs good and has fairly low miles on it. I'll be looking at something only around ten years old, no need for rebuilding, or restorations.

High performance is not really a consideration. I find my '96 Mustang to be plenty fast enough, my '06 is much faster. I don't see a need for anything more powerful than that. 

It's been about five years since Lincoln quit making actual cars instead of truck based SUVs or CUVs. At the end there were two models available; the MKS, the MKZ, and finally, the Continental. It seems that everyone had a lot of trouble distinguishing between the Taurus based MKS, and the Fusion based MKZ. They were so similar in size it was hard to tell them apart. Not to mention that it was easy to confuse the names. The MKS was later dropped to make room for the Continental, a stretched, fancier, MKS.

This is the MKS

One issue, is that these two cars look so much like the Fords that they are based on. Also, the fact that Ford offers almost all the same equipment as optional on the Taurus and Fusion. The Platinum models are fully equipped vehicles. That leads to a perception that the two Lincolns are just top of the line versions of the Fords. They are often not seen as legitimate, stand alone, distinct, Lincoln models. I think that it hurts the Lincoln models that the Fords have actual names. The three letter labels of the Lincolns contribute to their sense of anonymity. I love the name of my Lincoln, the Navigator!

All of this controversy led to poor sales, even for the long awaited Continental. That is why these vehicles are no longer in production. Low demand is why they suffer from low resale values, which means low prices. Depreciation is pretty rough with these cars, bad news for the original buyers but good news for people like me.

While I find the Continental to be attractive, the situation with the Continental is the same as with the Aviator. Still too new to have a low price. So those will be off the table for quite a few years. 

Could I be happy with one of these cars?

Would I consider them special enough to take pride in them? Or would they be just a nice car at a nice price? 

I have been doing my research on the Net, but I think that it is time to actually take a close look in person, as well as a test drive. 

The first question is always, do they look good to me? 

I can't say that they illicit a lot of passion, filling me with a burning desire to own one. If I compare them to current Cadillac sedans, I'd have to say that the Cadillacs have a much bolder appearance, even the small ATS. Of the two, I'd say that I prefer the fastback roof line and aerodynamic and futuristic tail end of the MKZ. 

The profile is sleek.

Definitely the best angle for this car.

It's the front ends that are problematic for me. This version of the split wing grille isn't my favorite. The earlier boxier models had a better frontal appearance. They looked more like a luxury car, this front end is a lot like a new Camry. Or something.

Consider the white example pictured below. The straight on, front view is telling. 

Why does it remind me of this guy?

Is it just me? Is this a look that I could really live with? 

In reality, all I'm doing is daydreaming. I'm not planning to buy or sell anything, at the moment. However I find it productive to look at the market and see what is available.

Yesterday I went out to a used car dealer to check out a MKZ. It was surprising to see it close up.

This particular car was a 2022  MKZ with a V6 AWD drive train. It was painted dark metallic grey, much like my '07 Mustang.

First of all,  I was surprised by the size, it's quite a bit bigger than I thought. Parked next to a Mazda CX5, (I was at a Mazda dealer)  it was about a foot longer. It seemed to be a pretty substantial car. 

The quality of the paint, trim, and fit were excellent. Ditto to the interior materials and assembly. The cabin looked spacious and comfortable, a pleasant place to be. 

Standing close to a car you can appreciate the smaller details. I really like the design of the polished 18 in. alloy wheels, with the Lincoln Star emblem. The tail lamp panel with the full width tail lamp is the car's best feature in my opinion. That, and the semi fastback roof line give it the look of a customized car, reminiscent of my '66 Riviera. 

The front end, also looks kind of like a customized car. Like my '71 boat tail Riviera, it makes you wonder how a major manufacturer would green light such a "distinctive" design. It is so different from it's Fusion platform mate. It does come off better in person, as it is much more dimensional than it looks in photos. It looks kind of flat in "straight on" photos. It makes a much better impression in person.

The design certainly is polarizing, the addition of the rectangular Continental style grille, on the latest models made the design of the car much more mainstream and acceptable. 

The Continental on the other hand, is a much more traditional and attractive car.

The Continental is a car that elicits a desire for ownership in me. It resolves a lot of the confusion within the Lincoln sedan camp. It just looks right, big enough to take seriously. It's a car that I will surely consider when depreciation brings it closer to my price point. But I'll also be looking at what's going on at Cadillac.

 I'm retired, Go around me!

I used to have a little suction cup mounted sign stating that sentiment visible in the rear window of my truck. I had found it for sale at a supermarket at one of our usual vacation spots. It was on display with all the tourist stuff, like T shirts, hats, and bumper stickers. I thought that it was kind of funny, and played into stereotypes about older drivers. 

I think that I may finally have become one of those stereotypes myself!

I guess that it was bound to happen. 

One thing about being retired, you are usually NOT in a hurry, at least not most of the time! Especially when on vacation. Time is the hardest thing to come by when you are young, even more than money. Getting time off from work is the problem, many companies won't even let their employees take their accrued vacation leave when they want. One week, seven days, tack on two weekends. One before, one after, for a total of eleven days. Make it count!

It's important to cut down on travel time. Why spend two days driving, when you can pull a marathon session and save one of those two days? I suppose that's why flying places is so popular. Of course there are places that you can reach only by flying, there's no bridge to Hawaii! 

Of course, a layover adds another night's stay at a hotel, another additional expense. 

When I was younger, those marathon driving sessions weren't a problem. I could grind them out with the best of them. My eyesight was good enough to easily see beyond the headlamps. Now? Not so much. I prefer to do the majority of my driving during daylight hours, especially during the Winter months. Even more if I'm going to be on secondary highways. 

Who would have thought of a minivan as a GT vehicle?  

How much time can you save over an hour, driving at 85 mph. as opposed to 70 mph? You could be 15 miles closer to your destination. That's worth 15 minutes driving at 60 mph. That's four or five songs on a CD. Driving at 85 and trying to maintain that pace, means that you will have to maneuver a bit, through, and around traffic. I'm not a tailgater, so it was catch up to vehicles ahead of me, wait, then go around them when safe. Repeat as needed. 

Not as relaxing as I would like, but the time saved seemed worth it at the time. 

For the most part those times are gone.

"Become One with the Serenity"
photo source: freepik

I have written several times how I now seek harmony with the highway and the traffic. I won't hold traffic up, I will move over to the right lane, and I'll plan my moves around slower traffic ahead of me. This takes a certain amount of maturity. Just Yesterday I was driving down highway US101 on my way to Pismo Beach, cruising along at a steady 75 mph. in the left lane. I noticed that a few cars went around me on my right. That doesn't immediately make me consider moving over, 75 is fast enough, I let the hot shoes go around me.

If it had been this truck, I'd have moved over immediately!
photo source: Jeepers Creepers.

Then my rear view mirror was filled up by a big black truck sitting on my bumper. It could have easily flown past me on the right, that's what I would have done, but no, it just sat there. I wasn't going to speed up, I just signaled and moved to the right while the truck flew past me. I thought that it was a bit rude. As a Freeway Ninja, I would have fluidly went around a slower vehicle, even if that vehicle was already five miles over the limit.

Of course, I was only a few cars behind them when they exited the freeway ten minutes later!

My feeling is that people drive fast because they are in a hurry, it's the stress that makes them want to go fast. Well, younger people are also  usually in a hurry, they want things to happen FAST. I take a longer view because my vacation drives are of a longer distance. 

Me, back in the Old Days!

Me, Today!

Things do change with age and experience.

Just Yesterday, I was sitting at a stoplight and noticed a new Corvette on my right waiting to turn left onto the street that I was on. I'm not a big fan of the new Vette, I know that it is a much more advanced, more powerful, and a better performer, but that just leads to a big yawn. 

For one thing, the new Vette just doesn't look as good as the Vettes of old, at least to these tired old eyes. 

Second, All that power just seems kind of ludicrous for street driving. 

I know, I know, that is the ultimate Old Man statement!

I rode the first generation of Japanese Superbikes, back in the Day. I once had a NorthStar Cadillac Seville, chosen because of it's performance. I had a '92 Nissan 300ZX. So I know what speed is like, in fact I still own an '06 Mustang GT, which is still a pretty quick car. 

I also know that performance is part of the image, even if you are never going to be able to use it. It just doesn't  impress me that much anymore. 

I prefer something that is comfortable, quiet, and relaxing to drive, and still has adequate performance for my needs. But setting a Land Speed Record isn't one of my priorities. 

Maybe that's a sign of maturity or maybe it's a sign of my geriatric decline! 

You do You!

I'll just try to stay out of the hot shoes' way!