Personal Luxury Cars, (PLCs) out of production but not out of my heart.

Bill Mitchell always knew what I wanted.

One of the first of the breed was the four seat Thunderbird. It set the tone for this kind of car for many years. Although it carried a Ford nameplate it was often considered to be almost comparable in status to a Lincoln. They were often found parked alongside one another in the same garage.

Smokey and the Bandit, one of my favorite car movies.

                                                 Video source: YouTube

Why? Not because of Burt Reynolds' smarmy acting, or how cute the young Sally Fields was, or Jackie Gleason's over the top antics. Because of the Trans Am, of course!

I just finished re-reading the novel Hot Rod.

A book that I really connected with in my youth.

I first read this novel as a paperback, back in 1962 or '63 when I was in the third or fourth grade. I was always an "advanced" reader as a youngster. The book was in the classroom lending library of the sixth grade classroom that I had my reading class in.

Why did I reread this book?

Hello Darkness, My old friend.

It's not as bad as it looks.

Enough angst and whining .

It's time for a reality check.

I kind of always knew that It would come down to this.

• An unfortunate turn of events. A quiet rant.

The famous painting by Edward Munch.
Kind of says it all.

(I am currently hunkered down due to a shelter in place order. I am quite aware of the necessity for such a drastic action. I hope that you and your families remain safe and healthy during these trying times. This post was written several of weeks ago.)

Five hundred miles.

                                   Who could forget this haunting melody, Five Hundred Miles?
                                          Sung by Peter, Paul, and Mary. Video from YouTube.


That's the distance that I arbitrarily chose for the end of my shakedown miles run of my XJS.
At the end of this distance I'm expected to come to some conclusions. First, how reliable has the car been? Does it start easily cold and hot, does it idle smoothly, Does it ever stall out? Does it get too hot? Will these questions will be answered by then?

Trapped in a prison of my own making.

photo source: wikipedia
Eastern State Penitentiary

What do I mean by this, and even more importantly, how did this happen?