American iron

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

It seems we have inadvertently started collecting American vehicles. It started with my racing lawn Mower (also my first wheelhorse) and about a month ago we got rid of our European motorhome and brought a nice big RV. It's quite wide on the skinny UK roads, but what an awesome machine. I love the Triton engine, it sounds amazing and has some serious grunt 🙂.

 

How come you Americans have such cool vehicles? As a New Zealander we were fortunate to grow up with some big V8's from our neighbours in Australia, but the stuff from the US is so much cooler.

 

You can see in the pictures that we had to widen the driveway to get the RV in and it barely fitted between the gate posts!

[ebinmaine 67,277]

I guess I could be all practical about this and say that ... wherever you go that is not your standard place the machines there are new and different and cool.

 

But hey. Facts are facts. The United States old school heavy duty Detroit muscle just can't be beat!!!

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

6 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

I guess I could be all practical about this and say that ... wherever you go that is not your standard place the machines there are new and different and cool.

 

But hey. Facts are facts. The United States old school heavy duty Detroit muscle just can't be beat!!!

I hate Harley's, but all the other stuff coming out of the states is just awesome.

 

My current ship has four 9 cylinder MAK main engines, about 6000 hp each, they sound pretty cool when we are going at full speed 🙂

[ebinmaine 67,277]

Only 24000 horsepower available?

 

Oye!!!!!

 

I've never been a cycle rider either.

I appreciate them because they're shiny. Pretty much anything shiny grabs my attention.

 

I'm mostly a huge fan of straight 6 engines in general but appreciate nearly anything machinery related.

 

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

10 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Only 24000 horsepower available?

 

Oye!!!!!

 

I've never been a cycle rider either.

I appreciate them because they're shiny. Pretty much anything shiny grabs my attention.

 

I'm mostly a huge fan of straight 6 engines in general but appreciate nearly anything machinery related.

 

Yeah she is a bit gutless, only does about 28mph full speed, but we can go pretty fast in some really bad weather.

 

Our car is a five cylinder Volvo XC90 and that has a really nice exhaust note.

[WHNJ701 4,165]

can you get those little ford trucks? (I think they are called ute falcons or something)  they are kinda cool looking

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

22 minutes ago, jabelman said:

can you get those little ford trucks? (I think they are called ute falcons or something)  they are kinda cool looking

They do ford rangers here (UK), which would be small compared to a Ford F150.

 

We had Ford Falcons in NZ which were pretty big compared to the usual Japanese fare.

 

[953 nut 55,082]

3 hours ago, Dan.gerous said:

How come you Americans have such cool vehicles?

I always thought you guys had the coolest rides,               hard to beat a UTE as a unique Street Rod.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

8 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

I always thought you guys had the coolest rides,               hard to beat a UTE as a unique Street Rod.

I'm not a huge fan of Ute's, they don't hold enough stuff and in the Scottish weather is a nuisance having everything out in the open.

 

My utility vehicle of choice is the humble van. Currently I have a short wheelbase Ford transit - want something longer when it comes time for a replacement.

 

I can carry stuff all over the place in this and it never gets wet, don't have to mess around with tarpaulins etc. It's only a 2.2 litre engine making about 85hp but it goes fast enough even fully loaded.

[cschannuth 3,816]

4 hours ago, Dan.gerous said:

It seems we have inadvertently started collecting American vehicles. It started with my racing lawn Mower (also my first wheelhorse) and about a month ago we got rid of our European motorhome and brought a nice big RV. It's quite wide on the skinny UK roads, but what an awesome machine. I love the Triton engine, it sounds amazing and has some serious grunt 🙂.

 

How come you Americans have such cool vehicles? As a New Zealander we were fortunate to grow up with some big V8's from our neighbours in Australia, but the stuff from the US is so much cooler.

 

You can see in the pictures that we had to widen the driveway to get the RV in and it barely fitted between the gate posts!

 

It's funny because a lot of Americans love the Aussie Falcons from yesteryear.

 

[Achto 27,505]

5 hours ago, Dan.gerous said:

I hate Harley's

 

I've had the opportunity to work on an export Harley & may understand why you don't like them. The export model that I worked on was so de-tuned and choked off that it didn't have enough power to get out of its own way. After changing the exhaust, air cleaner, cam shaft & ignition I had it pumping out more horse power than your van has. I'm not saying that they are the best motorcycle on the market because there are definitely more reliable bikes. To me it's just something about their ride and the sound, Ohh that beautiful sound.  Maybe that's why they used the advertising slogan "If I have to explain it, you wouldn't understand".

Edited March 25, 2020 by Achto

[Pullstart 62,795]

I am a believer that the two wheels and an engine between your legs feeling can’t be replaced.  I have never cared what brand I am riding as long as the wind is in my face.  I watched the Harley and the Davidsons movie from the Discovery channel when it came out and had this feeling in me that I owe it to those men to own one of their bikes.  Yep, a movie that has not been deemed fact or fiction 100% swayed me to buy a different motorcycle.  

 

My 2006 Honda Shadow Spirit 750, the last year of chain drive Shadows:  I could be seen riding this thing any time the snow didn’t fly.  I worked second shift and often rode in 12 degree weather on my way home.  I dressed for the occasion and found every warm spot of the engine I could.  No windshield or hand guards either.  I bought it purely because it looks so cool and didn’t even sit on it before signing papers at the dealership.

 

Sorry for the poor picture quality, I had to steal them back from a bucket of photos.

 

 

Last year we picked up the 2005 Harley Davidson Electra-Glide.  It’s the ugliest bike I’ve ever seen, if you ask me... but it’s very comfortable and runs great.  Another perfect reason to ride it is because the Honda was making my hands and arms go numb.  The HD allows me to ride for hours without any ill effects.

 

 

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

That was us leaving Shetland about six hours ago - little wonder it was a bit difficult getting any sleep!

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

On 3/25/2020 at 3:30 PM, pullstart said:

I am a believer that the two wheels and an engine between your legs feeling can’t be replaced.  I have never cared what brand I am riding as long as the wind is in my face.  I watched the Harley and the Davidsons movie from the Discovery channel when it came out and had this feeling in me that I owe it to those men to own one of their bikes.  Yep, a movie that has not been deemed fact or fiction 100% swayed me to buy a different motorcycle.  

 

My 2006 Honda Shadow Spirit 750, the last year of chain drive Shadows:  I could be seen riding this thing any time the snow didn’t fly.  I worked second shift and often rode in 12 degree weather on my way home.  I dressed for the occasion and found every warm spot of the engine I could.  No windshield or hand guards either.  I bought it purely because it looks so cool and didn’t even sit on it before signing papers at the dealership.

 

Sorry for the poor picture quality, I had to steal them back from a bucket of photos.

 

 

Last year we picked up the 2005 Harley Davidson Electra-Glide.  It’s the ugliest bike I’ve ever seen, if you ask me... but it’s very comfortable and runs great.  Another perfect reason to ride it is because the Honda was making my hands and arms go numb.  The HD allows me to ride for hours without any ill effects.

 

 

Motorbikes are hard to beat for sheer adrenaline rush - even a high performance car can't match the feeling.

[Stormin 9,981]

13 hours ago, Dan.gerous said:

That was us leaving Shetland about six hours ago - little wonder it was a bit difficult getting any sleep!

 

 Reminds me of sailing over to the Isle of Man for the Senior TT, about 50yrs back. Once out of Liverpool Bay it got really rough. Bodies being sick everywhere. Strangely I wasn't. When we got to Douglas, one of my friends was so ill, he went to Stanley airport and got the first flight back to Blackpool.

 

 As for motorcycles I've owned 40 something over the years since I was 16. Sold my last one 10yrs ago. Would like another but can't really justify one now I'm retired.

 

 

[midpack 862]

13 hours ago, Dan.gerous said:

That was us leaving Shetland about six hours ago - little wonder it was a bit difficult getting any sleep!

 

 

i thought I saw that boat on the Shetland on camera group I belong to   

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

10 hours ago, midpack said:

 

 

i thought I saw that boat on the Shetland on camera group I belong to   

Yeah she is one of two sisters that run up to Shetland. I'm on the Hjaltland, and her sister is the Hrossey. Nice little ships but we do have some pretty exciting trips at times as between orkney and Shetland there is open ocean all the way to America.

[midpack 862]

1 hour ago, Dan.gerous said:

Yeah she is one of two sisters that run up to Shetland. I'm on the Hjaltland, and her sister is the Hrossey. Nice little ships but we do have some pretty exciting trips at times as between orkney and Shetland there is open ocean all the way to America.

Yeah, that north sea weather looks pretty wild sometimes. My sister visited there and was saying you couldn't open both car doors at the same time or just the regular breeze would clean it out

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

9 hours ago, midpack said:

Yeah, that north sea weather looks pretty wild sometimes. My sister visited there and was saying you couldn't open both car doors at the same time or just the regular breeze would clean it out

Ha, yeah, when I lived in the Falklands (off south America) you could always tell the new folk as they invariably had car doors broken by not holding them when opening. It gets fairly windy up here, last night we had 50 knots heading back up the coast.

Edited April 3, 2020 by Dan.gerous

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

23 hours ago, Stormin said:

 

 Reminds me of sailing over to the Isle of Man for the Senior TT, about 50yrs back. Once out of Liverpool Bay it got really rough. Bodies being sick everywhere. Strangely I wasn't. When we got to Douglas, one of my friends was so ill, he went to Stanley airport and got the first flight back to Blackpool.

 

 As for motorcycles I've owned 40 something over the years since I was 16. Sold my last one 10yrs ago. Would like another but can't really justify one now I'm retired.

 

 

Still haven't managed to get across to the TT, always been away working when it's on. We did manage to get to Valentino Rossi's home town, have a pizza in his restaurant and meet his dad at the bar 🙂

Edited April 3, 2020 by Dan.gerous