Hello and Welcome New Members!!!

[RayTheRat]

I guess I should have introduced myself before jumping into the puzzles, but they're more fun.  Somewhat frustrating at times, but I guess that's all part of the deal. 

I'm a retired software developer and a non-retired freelance photographer.  I mainly shoot stuff on the Bonneville Salt Flats, but I also shoot car shows and hot rod cruise nights.  I also have a race car I run on the salt flats...an 85 Chevy Monte Carlo with a 406 motor.  I ran it for the first time last year and broke the pinion yoke as I shifted into 4th gear on its first full-throtte run.  The drive shaft beat the hell out of a lotta stuff underneath, but the worst part is that it took out a brand-new race-built transmission.    The GPS said I was running at 137 mph when it broke.

I've been a gearhead all my life (my father put a cast metal model of a then-current Indy car in my crib when I was 2 weeks old and it's been downhill ever since.  Let's see...I've run SCCA sports cars, oval track cars and done some drag racing. 

I've also restored/hotrodded numerous muscle cars and have a 1929 Model A rat rod (well, it's ratty, anyway) and although I have some physical issues, I don't plan on quitting the gearhead life in the foreseeable future.

I've found this site to be very interesting and in the short time I've been here, I've learned a ton of stuff.  I look forward to the point where I can offer some puzzles...which might be as difficult for European folks as the obscure UK and European cars are for me. 

In the meantime, I over-did things today and need to drag myself off to bed.

Best regards,

[Otto Puzzell]

Welcome aboard, Ray! I hope you'll share your photos, and your recollections, as time allows.

[Paul Jaray]

Benvenuto Ray!

[Allemano]

Another Ray has arrived! A warm welcome! May Otto get a qualified counterpart.

[Allan L]

Another Ray has arrived! A warm welcome! May Otto get a qualified counterpart.

I'll try to get my friend Otto Cycle to join us then.

[Otto Puzzell]

An interesting reciprocal offer.

[Ray B.]

Another Ray has arrived!

[Carnut]

A warm welcome Ray.
If it's any consolation, I've laboured under the misapprehension most of my life that I knew a thing or two about cars.  Then I joined AutoPuzzles and found out I know NOTHING!
I've sure learned plenty since coming on board though, most of which I've forgotten again..!

[knightfan26917]

*grins*

Ray, it is great to see you here now, too!  WELCOME!


Folks ... this is my good friend, Ray, who I've seen on a couple of my road trips, most-recently in 2011, during my "Coast-to-Coast" road trip:

https://picasaweb.google.com/knightfan26917/CoastToCoastRoadTripFri06242011Mon07112011#5632618981814238130

https://picasaweb.google.com/knightfan26917/CoastToCoastRoadTripFri06242011Mon07112011#5632619035472778626



Cort | 38.m.IL | pigValve + paceMaker + cowValve | 5 MCs + 1 Caprice Classic
CHD.MCs.CC + RoadTrips.hobbies.RadioShows.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
* rNw-CC+event: http://rdwhl-capriceclassic.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=whatsgoingon *
"It's just a matter of time" __ TG Sheppard __ 'Somewhere Down The Line'

[Otto Puzzell]

You Monte Carlo guys are a tight bunch!

[Ultra]

Nice to have you aboard AutoPuzzles, Ray.

[knightfan26917]

You Monte Carlo guys are a tight bunch!

Heh ... MOST of us are....



Cort | 38.m.IL | pigValve + paceMaker + cowValve | 5 MCs + 1 Caprice Classic
CHD.MCs.CC + RoadTrips.hobbies.RadioShows.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
* rNw-CC+event: http://rdwhl-capriceclassic.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=whatsgoingon *
"Wondering...why I even care" __ Nitty Gritty Dirt Band __ 'Modern Day Romance'

[RayTheRat]

Another Ray has arrived!

Not only another Ray, but another Ray B.  Irony rocks!

[RayTheRat]

A warm welcome Ray.
If it's any consolation, I've laboured under the misapprehension most of my life that I knew a thing or two about cars.  Then I joined AutoPuzzles and found out I know NOTHING!
I've sure learned plenty since coming on board though, most of which I've forgotten again..!

It's taken me a couple of weeks to realize that I'm somewhat like a guppy swimming in a vast ocean of automotive knowledge.  I agree about that misconception and the realization that my knowledge is virtually nil, especially when it comes to the more "pedestrian" models (I guess that's a pun...or in the case of the Yugo, a truism) since most of my reference photos have consisted of the high-end, nicely-restored, concours versions.  The "daily drivers" aren't the cars that are seen at shows and concours events...as a general rule...at least here in the states. 

Then there's the "rod and kustom" thing.  So many cars that I'm familiar with (20s-70s cars built in the US, more or less) are often the recipients of performance and/or appearance modifications, generally (but not exclusively) done by the owner, or done by a "kustomizer" like (shudder) George Barris or Gene Winfield.  Seems that in Europe, much of the custom bodies are done by coachbuilding firms that create a series of cars on a common platform rather than the "one-off" or "eigenbau" that's more the norm in the US.

So I'm learning.  The curve is VERY steep, but no one is holding a gun to my head (well, except for me, in metaphorical sense) and I'll just keep climbing.

Thanks to all for the welcomes.

[RayTheRat]

You Monte Carlo guys are a tight bunch!

Heh ... MOST of us are....

Cort

Well, I try not to "get tight" if ya catch my drift.    I've known Cort for a long time.  A REAL long time, it seems.  We've visited one another and I've offered him a ride in my race car if he can drag his butt out to the salt flats (and I can get the thing running after the little issues of 2011.)

I spose I otta start putting more time into that than the puzzles, but they're sorta addicting.  As an aside to this, I sent the url for funtrivia.com to my oldest son about 5 years ago.  Writing and solving the quizzes there seems to be his primary form of recreation now.  I guess it's in the genes.

[faksta]

Welcome, Ray! Belated greetings from my side, as I have temporarily become a rare sight at AutoPuzzles.

SCCA sports cars racing? When did do that ?

[knightfan26917]

You Monte Carlo guys are a tight bunch!

Heh ... MOST of us are....

Cort

Well, I try not to "get tight" if ya catch my drift.    I've known Cort for a long time.  A REAL long time, it seems.  We've visited one another and I've offered him a ride in my race car if he can drag his butt out to the salt flats (and I can get the thing running after the little issues of 2011.)

Well, now that I'm unemployed.........

And, yes, we have known each other for a long time, at least 10 years, if not longer, in my estimation.  Sometimes, it feels like we've known each other all our lives ... and that's a GOOD thing!



Cort | 38.m.IL | pigValve + paceMaker + cowValve | 5 MCs + 1 Caprice Classic
CHD.MCs.CC + RoadTrips.hobbies.RadioShows.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
* rNwJumpStartCruzNite | 5:30-10:30p; SAT, 05/12/12 | BeefVilla, 1225 W Spring St, S Elgin IL *
"We go through life so sure of where we're headed" __ Brad Paisley __ 'Find Yourself'

[frederick59]

Hello
first of all thanks for this great site
my name is Jerome i am french and live in Le Mans
I have allways been interested in the automobile
history and motoracing history

[woodinsight]

Hello
first of all thanks for this great site
my name is Jerome i am french and live in Le Mans
I have allways been interested in the automobile
history and motoracing history

A warm welcome Jerome from another member based in France (Antibes).
My own interest is also focussed on motor racing - particularly Le Mans.

[Otto Puzzell]

I've never been to France, but my 6th Grade school teacher drove a Pontiac LeMans

Welcome to AutoPuzzles, frederick59!

[frederick59]

Thanks for the warm welcome and a "bienvenue au Mans"if you
if you wish to visit

[RayTheRat]

Maybe if the LSR team I'm on makes it big I'll be able to hit Goodwood, LeMans and then race at Lake Gairdner in Australia.  I better get my passport renewed. 
 
We're planning to be the first streamliner with piston engines and power applied to the ground via the wheels.  The current record is 415.896 mph.  We're planning to get 550 mph out of it.

So if all the stars line up, I might make it to Le Mans in 2014.  YeeeHawww!  Road trip! 

[Carnut]

I've never been to France, but my 6th Grade school teacher drove a Pontiac LeMans

Welcome to AutoPuzzles, frederick59!

At least you seem to have learned something at school then Otto!

Welcome frederick59!

[threespires]

Hello.
Somebody steered me to Autopuzzles and how glad I am to have found you. I'm amazed at the in depth knowledge of you puzzlers, I'll never be able to compete but will have great fun looking and hope to learn more at the same time.
I'm retired from a lifetime working with cars, now it's photography that keeps me busy.

[Allan L]

Hello threespires and welcome to this splendid time-sponge : as I remember a motor club of the same name and it was in Coventry, am I right that you are from there?
Lots of people there worked with cars to the extent that I'd say it was our Motor City - even got a Coventry car myself, see left!