Split Stoves, Ovens, And Parties, Oh My. Split from The Race For 2024

[Loren Pechtel]

The next time you find yourself at the bottom of a lake with windows that won't go down and likely a seat belt that won't release, you'll want to reach into your glove compartment and get your emergency escape hammer made for just such circumstances which comes with not only a pointy end hammer for breaking the window but a protected blade to quickly cut that annoying seatbelt off your carcass.

Not to make light of it, I do have rescue knives in all my vehicles (except the tractor). Carbide points & hooked blades… plus a belt cutter that looks like a giant envelope opener.
But it’s kind of like quicksand and catching on fire. Except that I DID know a kid who caught on fire in the middle of the night and had to be rolled (screaming) to put him out. Fell asleep too close to the fire, all bundled up. His outer clothes suddenly burst into flames when they got hot enough. One of his ears got badly burned, but most of him was spared. But I don’t know anyone who ever drove into water and had to break a window to get out. Yet, I am prepared for that…

Most safety precautions go unused--but that doesn't mean they're not worth taking.

 

[Shadowy Man]

You really seem quite hung up on other people's money. You sound very jealous.

Nah
It's the sense of entitlement.

I'm entitled because I fix a broken window regulator???

Of course! When I was a kid I had to push my car uphill to school through the snow. Both ways!! And I didn’t even have power steering!

Nowadays, these whippersnappers don’t know what real work looks like.

There's plenty of people who make do with old cars who cannot afford to fix a broken window lift.

My car is 18 years old.

That’s Nothing. My cat is almost that old.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

You really seem quite hung up on other people's money. You sound very jealous.

Nah
It's the sense of entitlement.

I'm entitled because I fix a broken window regulator???

Of course! When I was a kid I had to push my car uphill to school through the snow. Both ways!! And I didn’t even have power steering!

Nowadays, these whippersnappers don’t know what real work looks like.

There's plenty of people who make do with old cars who cannot afford to fix a broken window lift.

My car is 18 years old.

That’s Nothing. My cat is almost that old.

But does its windows still work?

 

[Elixir]

You really seem quite hung up on other people's money. You sound very jealous.

Nah
It's the sense of entitlement.

I'm entitled because I fix a broken window regulator???

Of course! When I was a kid I had to push my car uphill to school through the snow. Both ways!! And I didn’t even have power steering!

Nowadays, these whippersnappers don’t know what real work looks like.

There's plenty of people who make do with old cars who cannot afford to fix a broken window lift.

My car is 18 years old.

That’s Nothing. My cat is almost that old.

My cat is 19.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

You really seem quite hung up on other people's money. You sound very jealous.

Nah
It's the sense of entitlement.

I'm entitled because I fix a broken window regulator???

Of course! When I was a kid I had to push my car uphill to school through the snow. Both ways!! And I didn’t even have power steering!

Nowadays, these whippersnappers don’t know what real work looks like.

There's plenty of people who make do with old cars who cannot afford to fix a broken window lift.

My car is 18 years old.

That’s Nothing. My cat is almost that old.

My cat is 19.

How old is your cat's stove?

 

[Elixir]

You really seem quite hung up on other people's money. You sound very jealous.

Nah
It's the sense of entitlement.

I'm entitled because I fix a broken window regulator???

Of course! When I was a kid I had to push my car uphill to school through the snow. Both ways!! And I didn’t even have power steering!

Nowadays, these whippersnappers don’t know what real work looks like.

There's plenty of people who make do with old cars who cannot afford to fix a broken window lift.

My car is 18 years old.

That’s Nothing. My cat is almost that old.

My cat is 19.

How old is your cat's stove?

Stove, or oven? Her propane cooktop (ha! There’s a word for you stove/oven warriors!) is only 17, but the electric oven is going on 27. Maybe I should replace it with a gas one, just to pwn the libs?

 

[Shadowy Man]

You really seem quite hung up on other people's money. You sound very jealous.

Nah
It's the sense of entitlement.

I'm entitled because I fix a broken window regulator???

Of course! When I was a kid I had to push my car uphill to school through the snow. Both ways!! And I didn’t even have power steering!

Nowadays, these whippersnappers don’t know what real work looks like.

There's plenty of people who make do with old cars who cannot afford to fix a broken window lift.

My car is 18 years old.

That’s Nothing. My cat is almost that old.

But does its windows still work?

Windows?? What am I, a Rockefeller??

 

[Rhea]

I'm entitled because I fix a broken window regulator???

Of course! When I was a kid I had to push my car uphill to school through the snow. Both ways!! And I didn’t even have power steering!

Nowadays, these whippersnappers don’t know what real work looks like.

There's plenty of people who make do with old cars who cannot afford to fix a broken window lift.

My car is 18 years old.

That’s Nothing. My cat is almost that old.

My cat is 19.

How old is your cat's stove?

And can you roll down your cat’s stove’s windows?


Also, the windows in my 32 year old car do still work, as far as I know. I rarely roll them up. Pretty sure I haven’t rolled up the driver window in more than 5 years. Maybe 10.

But I did go to the junkyard and get a new door for my daughter’s car. And it came with an electric regulator. Though the activating button was in bad shape, so we swapped back the regulator from her damaged door for a better look. Her car is only 20 years old though.

 

[Rhea]

New thread started for the auto-repair enthusiast comments…. Sparked my hobby:

Automotive (non-race)

Every now and then my husband and I have a “date” at the junkyard. They had two ”new” copies of my commuter car there this weekend, so I went hoping to get a colored dash panel to replace my boring black one. Rollercoaster of emotions. Found a lovely yellow one and pulled the dash, but when...

iidb.org

 

[Elixir]

Mrs Elixir bought a car when she was 17. The seller told the passenger side door was broken, and couldn’t be opened. So she made to slide over from the drivers side. The problem seemed to be justified by the good price. When she went to sell it years later, the buyer walked right up to it and opened the passenger side door …

 

[TomC]

Mrs Elixir bought a car when she was 17. The seller told the passenger side door was broken, and couldn’t be opened. So she made to slide over from the drivers side. The problem seemed to be justified by the good price. When she went to sell it years later, the buyer walked right up to it and opened the passenger side door …

I married someone a tiny bit more practical.

What happened to you?
Tom

 

[thebeave]

Mrs Elixir bought a car when she was 17. The seller told the passenger side door was broken, and couldn’t be opened. So she made to slide over from the drivers side. The problem seemed to be justified by the good price. When she went to sell it years later, the buyer walked right up to it and opened the passenger side door …

I married someone a tiny bit more practical.

What happened to you?
Tom

No fair. You married a guy.

*ducks rotten tomatoes*

 

[Derec]

Every time I get into a 21st century car and can't roll down the window due to some minor electrical glitch, I wish for the good old days.
I bet that happens more often than driving into a lake.
Tom

Really? I’ve never ever had that problem with electric windows.

I do not agree with Toni often, but I have to agree here. "Every time I get into a 21st century car and can't roll down the window due to some minor electrical glitch". How often has that really happened to you in a modern car? When the electric windows were still a new thing, 80s-early 90s, they could be glitchy. But on newer cars they are very reliable.
Of course, with age and use, anything can go bad. Including manual windows. But it's not like it's a common occurrence as you make it out to be.

 

[Derec]

I've never had to replace the electric motor for an electric window. It was always the regulator mechanism that failed, which makes no difference whether it's hand cranked or electric cranked.

Nice to have that kind of money.
You probably take it for granted. But trust me, not everyone has it.

I do not quite comprehend how your reply relates to what Zipr wrote. Please explain.

 

[Derec]

Of course, we would use the "stove" occasionally, and I understood that restaurants usually had separate stoves and ovens hidden in the back kitchen, but it had never occurred to me that I ought to divide the different cooking functions into different object names.

My parents' old house had a separate range and oven. I guess the point was that the oven was at a nice working height and you did not have to bend down to take that roast out. So evidently, you can get them like that for residential use as well, not just for restaurants.

 

[Derec]

You have way more disposable income than a great many Americans.

Many is a fungible term. In a country as big as ours, even 10% is a lot of people.

People who are constricted by a transportation system dependent on private cars, for the most part.

That is true in many parts of the country, yes. Here in Atlanta, our public transit system is certainly inadequate, esp. the "last mile" problem. Last time I used MARTA was to go to a match at the Mercedes-Benz stadium, and, of course, I drove to the train station.

Yeah, you might be surprised to find out how many Americans need that 20 year old car,

Not at all. Some people can't afford newer. Some people just like the old cars and hang onto them.
Of course, 20 years old is 2004 model year. Power windows were very reliable by that vintage.

but don't have the few hundred bucks to invest in fixing the power windows.

Then they would not have the few hundred dollars to fix the manual windows either.
If you drive a beater, it really pays to acquire some basic mechanical skills, as well as a decent set of tools. An old car will develop all sorts of minor problems as things wear out. Things that are easily fixable, but will cost you a few $100 at the shop.
Those windows, the main cost driver is labor, not parts. Even a motor should be under $30. But you have to take the door apart (power or manual, doesn't matter) to get to it.
In an old car I had (sold it for $400 when the engine blew at 205k miles to some tinkerer) I once lost drive. Gas pedal sank to the metal. I cursed, thinking the throttle cable broke. Luckily, it just detached from the pedal, and I was on my way in 5 minutes. But how many people would not even look, and would just call a tow truck right away?
Of course, it's different with modern cars with drive-by-wire. Can't easily fix many of the problems you could in cars of yesteryear. But power windows are not that complex really.

 

[TomC]

I do not quite comprehend how your reply relates to what Zipr wrote. Please explain.

Mostly, it's just a dumb derail in a dumb derail thread.

There was a heavy element of "Old man yells at clouds".

I just don't care for power gewgaws in my car. I don't even like automatic transmission. "I'll put the car in the gear I want it in, bless your heart!" And "Waddya mean I can't push start my own goddam car?"
Tom

 

[Derec]

Some of us are capable of planning far enough in advance to have the two seconds task of rolling down our window finished by the time we get to the stop.
Tom

I've driven both kinds, and have to say power windows are more convenient. Sure, operating your own window is easy with a hand-crank. But opening the passenger window to talk to somebody on that side? You have to reach all the way to the right. Or, let's say I want to crank open a rear window because I want some air, but not the wind hitting me directly.
Maybe not big deals in the grand scheme of things, but it makes driving more convenient.

 

[TomC]

Then they would not have the few hundred dollars to fix the manual windows either.

Bullshit.
I drive my cars until they roll over dead generally.
The only time I had a problem with a manual window was in a 15 year old Mitsubishi. Somebody leaned on a not quite rolled down window hard enough to break something.

Doug and I took off the door panel, propped up the glass with a stick, went to the auto store with the broken gear. We had to wait 2 whole days for delivery of a small plastic part, pay a ridiculous amount($25) put it in, and then it was fine.
Tom

 

[Derec]

I just don't care for power gewgaws in my car. I don't even like automatic transmission. "I'll put the car in the gear I want it in, bless your heart!" And "Waddya mean I can't push start my own goddam car?"
Tom

I am with you on manual transmissions. Automatics are boring. And, as you said, you can't push or gravity start them. That is getting moot with EVs and their simple fixed gear trannys.
I like electric gewgaws in general though. But how they are applied varies. My old car (the 205k one) had manual windows but automatic lights (with a photo sensor). My current car has power windows but manual lights (took me a while to get used to having to turn my damn lights!).
I also like the blue tooth feature that allows me to connect my phone to make calls hands free and even play music and stuff. Of course, I think actual vehicle controls (as opposed to just entertainment) should be air gapped, for security. Also, I am concerned with all the data modern cars want to collect and send back to manufacturer.
New cars are data-collection hubs. Owners have no control over the information gathered

But we are getting quite far afield.