Good Morning!!!! 73F @ 5:00AM. Sunny to partly cloudy. High 93F. Winds light and variable.
Good you're still watching where you step, Don. Especially since you mentioned rattlers are more common around your new digs.
Rheostats? Hardly. Those charge/power management systems on the electric cars are part of why they actually cost more than the old oil burners. But yeah, the days of lumpy, rumbling V8s are quickly drawing to a close, and I'll miss that music. A buddy's older brother had a 442 in high school, and maybe once a week he was able to wheedle a ride home in it for all of us. The older brother knew how to use his lead foot, too. Fond memories of a bygone time...
Finally managed to get the Vanagon home yesterday. Rode the little Yamaha dual sport down there, climbed into the van, but didn't get far because 1st and 2nd gear were missing.

Couldn't believe it, as the mechanic had just driven it back from the alignment shop, and I knew he would have noticed. Turns out a new helper had "had trouble finding reverse" when he moved it inside to charge the A/C system, and that caused a problem in the shift linkage. The fix still isn't right, as 1st is there now but difficult to engage.:confused2: Then on the freeway, it lost power at 3900 RPM in 4th, but pulled strong past that RPM in 3rd. Fortunately the problem is repeatable, but there are more teething problems to resolve. The fun part is that on the way home I had two people flash headlights at me and wave, and at the gas station another guy came up to ask if those were four wheel disc brakes. And I really, really like the short turning radius of this thing, especially after so many years of longbed supercab F250 schlepping. The mechanic still has about four or five items left on his punch list, and wants to get them cleared as soon as his parts order comes in, but in the mean time at least I can get a few things sorted out and start prepping for the little decorative paint job that's left. And give the thing a bath; spider webs and dust and dirty fingerprints everywhere!