2004 Chrysler Pacifica

2004 Chrysler Pacifica

I don't have much of a history with Chrysler. I've owned three to date, none of them particularly interesting. I've started buying older cars of late it seems so that may bring some of the classic Chryslers into play, but really it's been a brand with little to shout about for decades. That said, I have to admit that I was kind of impressed with this Pacifica. I can't remember for the life of me why I bought it, or even where. I got it basically new in 2004 with about 1000 miles on the odometer and I didn't keep it long.

I also find it funny that it's coming up now because I just made Nel go test drive a new Pacifica this week. There's probably no chance that I could actually pull the trigger and buy one, but it's weird that this was selected at this time. The new Pacifica is 100% minivan, and a very good one. These older ones were kind of like an attempt to make a minivan without people thinking it was a minivan. I was kind of impressed with it really. It was quite useful and well thought out.

Sadly, other than being a flexible vehicle that didn't drive terribly, there wasn't much to say about it. I can't imagine anyone buying one of these today so I won't bother telling you not to. 

I'm not sure if these were a financial success for Chrysler or not, but the name lives on today in a very capable and well designed minivan....if you're into that sort of thing.

Total Eclipse - 2017

Total Eclipse - 2017

This is basically just my "Eclipse 2017" story. I have to start by saying that I had absolutely no interest whatsoever in seeing the eclipse. Don't get me wrong, I'll look up at something interesting for a few minutes just like the next guy, but it wasn't something that I considered to be an "event". We have friends - lots of them - who traveled far and wide for the sake of optimal viewing. More power to them - I've done the same to see dumber things - but this wasn't that interesting to me.

Then there's my wife. She's kind of a nerd, and a space nerd to make it worse. She definitely wanted to view the eclipse, but she wasn't desperate to be in the "path of totality" like others.......until I inadvertently put her about 15 minutes from it on eclipse day.

By sheer luck (bad luck in my opinion) we happened to be in the Carolinas traveling at the time. We had been in Asheville for a few days prior and everyone kept asking us "Are you here for the eclipse?" "No, just lucky I guess." The other thing everyone kept talking about was how bad the traffic was going to be. Seriously, the news would lead with it and made it sound like it was going to be hurricane evacuation-like traffic. 

The day of the event we were in Spartanburg, South Carolina and planning to drive to Charlotte. Branelle started trying to negotiate staying so we could actually see the total eclipse and that's the first time it clicked with me that it would make a difference. We were literally about 5 miles outside the "zone of totality", and I wanted to RUN the other way to avoid the armageddon-like traffic that was to come. Nel wanted to drive INTO the storm. 

In true "Husband of the Year" fashion, I came up with a plan to make the old ball and chain happy while trying to avoid starving to death on I85. It occurred to me that the BMW plant was in Greer, just inside the zone of totality. We drove over and scoped it out.

The plan was to watch the eclipse here at the edge of the zone and then as soon as we passed the total coverage period (the sun started to come back) we would make a break for it and hopefully be ahead of the wave of humanity heading to Charlotte. Compromise!

The plan was sound, but the location was perfect. The BMW plant was very hospitable. They have a small museum there, I've been before. It's not much, but you can take a plant tour as well, which is really cool. They weren't doing plant tours when we were there due to construction, but the museum was all in on the eclipse stuff. They were giving everyone glasses and even Moon Pies and generally just having a good time. 

We had some time to kill so we played around a bit. I learned that I will probably never buy an I8 - it's one of the most difficult cars to get in and out of that I've ever tried.

Messin' with Nel.  She's posing holding up her Moon Pie and wearing her viewing glasses and I just left her there like that. You can't see anything with those on. She thinks I'm still trying to get the shot.

We actually had a little too much time to kill, but they have a cafe and a gift shop and lots of neat cars so it could have been worse.

Another thing they had was air conditioning! When the eclipse started, we could just stare at it through the 50 foot wall of glass that is the museum in total air conditioned comfort.

The factory let everyone come out to watch. Most just used the glasses they provided but a few were more creative.

It actually couldn't have been more perfect for us (not that anything can be "more perfect" - I realize the fallacy, but hey, it's in the first line of the Declaration of Independence). We watched like this for most of the eclipse but when it got to the total part we headed outside. 

I have to admit that it was visually quite a unique sight. The gray light was pretty cool. I'm still not all that geeked about the astrological anomaly or anything like that - I'm not going to be booking a flight to Chile to see the next one - but it was interesting.

As soon as the sun peeked back out we bolted. We got to Charlotte with zero traffic issues. It was like nothing had happened. I'm not sure if we just beat it, or if it was over-hyped by the news (probably the latter, although I have a hard time believing news agencies would overhype anything). Regardless, we made it through the darkness.  A big thank you to BMW for being great hosts. It really was a very pleasant "viewing party".

1995 BMW 325iC

1995 BMW 325iC

This car turned out to be a pleasant surprise on a number of levels. I got this back in the late 90's for very little money. It was sold stating that the top didn't work and it was supposed to have a few other problems as well so interest was at a minimum. It only had 40K miles and looked great so I thought I'd give it a shot. I wouldn't go so far as calling it a "project car" but it needed attention.

The power top issue turned out to be nothing more than a bad switch, and new belts solved every other problem the car had really. It ran great the entire time I owned it. I did have to buy a new rear window - a common problem for a lot of cars that used plastic for glass back then - but I never actually got it installed.

Being a 325 meant it had the larger of the two engine options for this car. I can't imagine liking the 318 (the smaller one) as I felt this car was slightly underpowered.

The interior was in good shape, and comfortable as well. I didn't do anything to it that I can recall.

The power top was the coolest thing to me. Nowadays everyone has power tops, but they weren't as common back then. I've always liked convertibles but hated leaving the top down when I parked somewhere. One release and one button and this one was up or down.

My brother really liked this one. I ended up selling it to a guy in Phoenix who acted like it was his dream car. I never heard from him, and that usually means things went well. Due to how little I paid for it, I made money when I sold it - that almost never happens!

This body style of 3-series were made from 1994 to 1999. They're well built and very good at what they are meant to do. You can get them for almost nothing today. I kind of recommend these as a low cost sort of classic. They work well as convertibles and are fairly reliable, although a little pricey when repairs are needed. My recommendation would be to spend a little more and get an M3. The added power is needed and they will actually be collectible.