Home » Discussion Forums » Blog Post Discussion » Ferdinand
| Ferdinand [message #11735] |
Wed, 18 February 2009 19:51  |
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Ferdinand
Smooshes!
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11743 is a reply to message #11735 ] |
Wed, 18 February 2009 20:35  |
 kfoster2047
Messages: 138
Registered: January 2009
Location: Charlotte, NC |
Senior Member |
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If this were Maine, he would be a rust bucket by now
This is why Northerners come to North Carolina to buy old cars.  I have even heard that people north of the Mason Dixon line spray oily stuff on the underside of their cars to stop them from rusting.
Also interesting that your cars are male - mine have always been female even if not named. The current one (Porsche Boxter) would have to be Eleanor - although I think that has more to do with Nicholas Cage than the car itself.
[Updated on: Wed, 18 February 2009 20:44]
Karen
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11746 is a reply to message #11735 ] |
Wed, 18 February 2009 21:07 |
skating librarian
Messages: 570
Registered: October 2008
Location: Vermont |
Senior Member |
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I was wondering if your station wagon was named for the flower (and peace) loving bull.
The oil undercoat was usually followed by driving around a sandpit to build up a protective coat against the salt poured onto the roads by highway crews. Maine and other coastal states rusts cars not just because of the road salt, but also because of the salt air blowing in off the sea. But chemists are doing a better job making paint these days, or maybe it's just that more bits of our cars are plastic, and oil undercoating is no longer done.
My car, an anonymous Toyota, a year older than Wolfgang, is only rusting where the paint has been damaged.
Robin is the MGB disabled, or just to valuable to expose to the dangers of modern roadways?
"Winning a war is like winning an earthquake" Jeanette Rankin
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11749 is a reply to message #11735 ] |
Wed, 18 February 2009 22:55 |
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My very first car was two-tone brown. It was an '82 Buick Regal, so about the same era as Ferdinand? What was the deal with brown then? Seriously! (Obviously I don't remember. I wasn't born 'til May 83. At which point you already had Ferdinand and someone else had my brown tank car.)
Yay Wolfgang getting a makeover! How exciting.
[Updated on: Wed, 18 February 2009 22:57]
Smooshes!
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11750 is a reply to message #11735 ] |
Wed, 18 February 2009 23:27 |
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Black Bear
Messages: 3216
Registered: September 2008
Location: Indianapolis, IN USA |
Senior Member
[Moderator] |
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Yes, I thought Ferdinand the bull, too! Sitting under the cork tree, sniffing the flowers...
I decided the eccentric artist thing could be taken too far and I wanted something that didn’t leak, whose heater produced heat, and whose electrics were not infested by mad misogynist‡‡‡ gremlins.
I had a '74 VW Bug for a while after college. It produced heat; but (as is typical with bugs of that era) the control for the dampers that let the heat in off the engine had rusted to the inside of its conduit, and this meant that I could not turn my heat on or off by myself. I had to have the guy at the garage do it, so once the heat was on it was on full blast... for the entire winter. Then I had to go have him turn it off again in the spring. Really, nearly everything about that car was kind of awful. I did do a lot of work on it myself, but all that knowledge was specific to 1974 VW bugs and not broadly applicable.. darn it.
I tried so hard to look dangerous. Sigh.
You probably DID look dangerous, to other New Yorkers. Midwesterners being, by their nature, kind and trusting souls, didn't even pick up on your dangerousness. You could have responded to their questions about chili houses by mugging them, and they'd have been all "Wasn't she a nice one, eh? It was a pleasure givin' her my wallet."
I am not being geographist. Some of my best friends are from the Midwest.
SNRK! Sure, that's what they all say! 
"The time is always right to do what's right."--MLK Jr.
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11753 is a reply to message #11735 ] |
Thu, 19 February 2009 00:32 |
dances-with-needles
Messages: 38
Registered: February 2009
Location: Colorado, in the north |
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Ok, who besides me drove one of the ubiquitus Toyota Tercel wagons that had on demand four wheel drive, and a back area with the seats down that would hold 600 pounds of wood or a washing machine or similar load? I got Mudlark (Kind of toast brown) after the death of my beloved Buttercup (robin's egg blue 69 vw beetle) and drove him for six or so years until my mom passed her Tercel (Creampuff) on to me, and Mudlark drove for five years for my stepdaughter. I drove Creampuff for nine years, used him like a truck, (did you know that you can get a full sized sofa in the back?) taught two teenage boys to drive stick shift, and he finally went wheels up at age 23 with over 200,000 miles on the odometer. I am glad that Ferdinand is getting some help. He sounds like a similar car to Pogo, who ferried my son to an amazing number of places before giving up the ghost. Out of a deep love for ratty old trucks, what sort of beast was Wilber?
Dances
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11755 is a reply to message #11735 ] |
Thu, 19 February 2009 01:56 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2729
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
Senior Member |
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But Wolfgang is on the old system, and he’s a P registration, which means he’s a ‘96.
Wolfgang is about the same age as my Ford megavan. I don't know what VW was doing about undercoating, but in the nineties the manufacturers' undercoatings here were good enough to fend off rust as long as they weren't coated with road salt all winter long. The megavan, being rear-wheel drive, doesn't get out in the winter as much as the others, but I like to run it through the car wash every few weeks, and in spite of 12 Minnesota winters it has no rust.
Subaru wagons seem to generate devotion. My sister-in-law in Maine put 180,000 miles on hers before she replaced it with another one, and a friend in Maryland is on her second one. Of course neither of them has to provide transportation for a pack of big dogs. I had a dearly-loved VW Dasher wagon that carried two Labs and a small Great Dane, but it didn't carry anything else!
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11759 is a reply to message #11735 ] |
Thu, 19 February 2009 03:43 |
amp15
Messages: 96
Registered: February 2009
Location: Denmark |
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My first car was Hippolyta von Volvo, the Amazone Queen. A family heirloom, who finaly needed too much body-work at the age of 30.
The second was Birdie, the Golf Wonder, who made it to the age of 20. Isn't a birdie two strokes under par in golf?
And now I'm driving Felicia, the Mermaid, a fairly new Skoda with the childhood malady of a leaking door, which tended to give you a wet tail when driving in the rain. It actrually took me a while to discover that the problem was the top of the driver's door not fitting tightly to the frame.
Anette, the Great Dane
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11764 is a reply to message #11735 ] |
Thu, 19 February 2009 08:57 |
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Mrs Redboots
Messages: 943
Registered: October 2008
Location: London, UK |
Senior Member |
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I finally passed my test three years ago and keep saying hopefully to my parents, "You know that car you didn't give me when I was 21....", but as they so rightly point out, we don't need two cars! Nevertheless when our current car (a March 03 Citroen C3) expires, I shall be very tempted to put some pressure on....
Of course, nowadays in the UK, January is rather a good month to find you have enough money for a new car as the registrations change in March and again in September.
My father has driven a succession of Subaru Foresters for years - beastly uncomfortable in the back (and I've been driven across France in the back of it!), but masses of room for dogs, whether' hellhounds or other breeds, in the back. And dogs, in my parents family, have come first ever since (and arguably before) the last of us left home!
Mrs Redboots
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11769 is a reply to message #11735 ] |
Thu, 19 February 2009 12:33 |
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shalea
Messages: 780
Registered: October 2008
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina, ... |
Senior Member |
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I tend to assume that cars, like ships, are female by default. No, I don't know why. They just are.
So it's interesting that Robin has cars which are distinctly "he."
Having now spent a fair amount of time traveling to places which have public transportation, I can certainly see the appeal, but I tend to not want to live in those places personally due to high concentrations of people. So I have a car.
My first car purchased as an adult was Anne Marie, a 93 Ford Escort. Quite the decent little vehicle for the 10 years and close to 200,000 miles I had her, and the only reason I got rid of her when I did (donated her, actually) was that I 1) don't want to risk my husband and I having more than one car payment at a time, and 2) don't want to be in a situation where my husband and I only have one car.
My current beast is an 02 Chevy Malibu. Teal. She's got more of a kenning than an actual name: Peacock.
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11772 is a reply to message #11735 ] |
Thu, 19 February 2009 14:35 |
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Does writing make the voices of characters/cars easier to hear? Loved Ferdinand and how could Ferdinand the car be anything but brown?!
I've had cars of both "genders", but my first car was an enormous old citroen estate (for carrying dogs, you understand) called Betty. The first time I put petrol in her, halfway through the process my "new" car started sagging lower and lower. Aaaaarrrgghh! Broken and I only just got her - fortunately someone kind on the forecourt explained (hydraulics) and I was SO relieved!
It was in Betty that I realised I shouldn't let my bullie* ride shotgun**, when waiting at a traffic light I suddenly had a lapful of dog who had just spied a cat on the pavement - couldn't see a thing...
*Tavey was excellent at leaning round corners, and at disconcerting neighbouring drivers by giving them a toothy leer when waiting in traffic jams...
**this was 30 years ago, before canine seatbelts
Someone says "pie" and we all go on alert, like meercats. "Pie? Where?" - Blackbear
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11773 is a reply to message #11735 ] |
Thu, 19 February 2009 14:38 |
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My first car was a tiny little Fiat 126, with all of 774cc of engine power - if you managed to hit 60mph you were doing really well, and the engine was so loud there was no point even trying to turn the radio on because you wouldn't be able to hear it. She was yellow, so was known as Daffy, short for Daffodil.
My current car is a metallic red Fiat Punto, and is commonly known as 'The Tardis' due to my ability to squeeze ridiculous quantities of stuff into her. The name came about after I managed to cram myself, three friends, all our luggage and bedding for a weekend, and a fair chunk of the catering arrangements for 35 people for said weekend into the car. It was cosy, for want of a better word, and there were a few interesting minutes outside Reading station where we collected our fourth member, while we repacked the car around her.....
Don't worry about the dust bunnies, they're just here to guard the treasure.....
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11779 is a reply to message #11753 ] |
Thu, 19 February 2009 18:28 |
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Robin
Messages: 6000
Registered: September 2008
Location: England |
Senior Member
[Hellgoddess] |
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Snork! I don't remember! LARGE! OLD! He'd be historic by now. He had that heritage vehicle look even when I knew him . . . I'll probably see him on a Historic Vehicle web site some day, and I'll post!
I love your Life with Vehicles. Wolfgang is on his way (over halfway to 200,000 miles), although he's a mere hatchback, and the southern English weather is still . . . not *very* challenging. (Although as previously observed the cottage cul de sac gets challenging easily. It's challenging by NATURE.) Ferdinand had four wheel drive. Gods, I *loved* it. We could climb out over sheer ice, and did, once or twice. I remember taking some Boston friends for a rather exciting February-thaw-in-the-middle-of-a-spectacular-winter adventure, and slithering down to the bottom of an ice slope and I could see them eyeing each other. I put 'im in four-wheel drive and we crawled carefully out as slick as we'd gone in. :) No, I wasn't completely insane: you live somewhere, you get to know the limits. . . . :)
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11793 is a reply to message #11735 ] |
Thu, 19 February 2009 19:29 |
GraceNotes
Messages: 173
Registered: October 2008 |
Senior Member |
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Ferdinand the Bull came to my mind as well.
I learned to drive in a '32 Chevy that was older than I was. My first new car was a 64 beetle named Lady Bug. She lasted over 1000,000 mi at 30 miles to the gallon (back when gas was 30cents/gal) on two engines. Several used cars later, my second new car, still in service , now is 20 years old and has 292,000 mi on the original engine. A Civic hatchback, 5-speed manual. I had to replace the clutch at 215,000 mi. (I don't know why it couldn't last a bit longer). This blue treasure is named Gigi, and I hope she lasts as long as I am able to drive. I am older than you, Robin, in case you haven't guessed. The first 17 years she was in Mass and I got an average of 35mpg. Now that I am in the city of untimed lights and too, too many stop signs, she only gets about 30mpg, alas.
I love learning about all the other names that were shared.
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11795 is a reply to message #11784 ] |
Thu, 19 February 2009 20:04 |
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Julia
Messages: 531
Registered: October 2008
Location: Library School |
Senior Member |
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| Robin wrote on Thu, 19 February 2009 18:36 |
I do NOT love Julie Andrews and Robert Preston ABSOLUTELY made that movie!!! :)
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*dares to disagree with Robin, unable to suppress a small "But I wanted to be Julie Andrews when I was younger... singing, acting, writing- everything that I wanted to be and all in one person, who, furthermore, is British... for a while that was what I wanted out of life. and I still think she is awesome." But I think that Robert Preston is awesome and wonderful and fabulous too, especially in Victor/Victoria. He played it so perfectly-- my sister said to me [I made her watch it, when she wanted to watch A Walk To Remember for the hundredth time [well, probably the twentieth] and I refused and said she simply HAD to see this instead, and she said I was weird and liked some very odd movies... ANYWAY, what she said was "I want to be friends with him [Toddy]. He seems like someone who would be really fun to have as a friend." I would agree with that.]
*ducks and runs away from Robin's impending wrath. while singing a slightly breathless rendition of, oh, "I Have Confidence", and changing it to "You and Me" [I love that song-- what fun the two of them seem to be having while singing it! Just makes me happy.] when Robin rounds the corner, accompanied by both Chaos and Darkness.*
*runs away even more for daring such impertinence*
heehee. :)
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11802 is a reply to message #11785 ] |
Thu, 19 February 2009 21:31 |
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Names are not chosen, they are discovered. Each item worthy of a name already has one, be it children, cars, boats, animals, etc. It is up to you to discover what name they already have. The only names that I remember of pets or cars were the ones that came to me. My jetta reminded me of a spider when I first bought it. Naturally, her name is now Charlotte. Sandtiger's name was the same way. He reminded me of the desert. We own a minivan (very long story. I was fighting for an SUV or suburban.) and we named it Kanga but every time we refer to the van, it's just van. Every time we refer to the jetta, it's Charlotte. "Are you driving the van or Charlotte today?"
As far as our three children go, we had names picked out but we didn't decide on one until we actually had them in our hands after the birth. It was then when their name just came naturally to our mouths.
Computers are just like air-conditioning. Both work great until you open Windows. :)
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11804 is a reply to message #11779 ] |
Thu, 19 February 2009 22:32 |
dances-with-needles
Messages: 38
Registered: February 2009
Location: Colorado, in the north |
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I learned to drive in a '52 chevy pickup who was named K.C. Ensor construction. He (Definitely male) had a huge welded strap iron catchers mask on over his wide and slightly dementd smile. He was old, the steering wasn't reliable, if You didn't pay attention he headed for the nearest ditch. I had to sit on a sofa cushion with a 5 gallon water tank behind me to get me in range of the pedals. The rider's door had no handle on the inside. You rolled the window down, grasped the outside handle and pushed down, while lifting yourself up and swinging your behind against the door. It made for an interesting arrival on a date. In the winter the heater wailed like Marley's ghost.
My dad (airplane pilot with sadistic sense of humor) took me out on jeep roads and figured that anything we met would get out of the way after the first long view. KC also had a starter button on the floor and if you stalled him on a hill you ended up with your feet in first position from ballet. Left foot on clutch and brake, right foot for the gas and starter, and dad laughing so hard that he was entirely helpless in the shotgun seat. The back had elevated stake and board sides and our outsized dog hung his head over the top and his lips flapped in the breeze.
I spent my summers four miles back from the highway on a jeep road that scared the owners of four wheel drives( we ran vw bugs up and down those four miles as a matter of course at a speed that left the passenger bouncing off the ceiling) I love old trucks.
Dances
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11807 is a reply to message #11772 ] |
Fri, 20 February 2009 00:53 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2729
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
Senior Member |
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| southdowner wrote on Thu, 19 February 2009 13:35 |
It was in Betty that I realised I shouldn't let my bullie* ride shotgun**, when waiting at a traffic light I suddenly had a lapful of dog who had just spied a cat on the pavement - couldn't see a thing...
*Tavey was excellent at leaning round corners, and at disconcerting neighbouring drivers by giving them a toothy leer when waiting in traffic jams...
**this was 30 years ago, before canine seatbelts
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I've used crates in vans for about 15 years, ever since my boy Tarzo decided that he he too belonged behind the wheel and started coming through the gap between the front seats. We were on our way to a show with his sister and he was coming along for the ride. And an uncomfortable ride it was, since someone had to keep an arm in front of that gap to keep him from wrecking us. To make it worse, he nibbled a bit of the van while we had Pumpkin in the ring. One Great Dane crate in a minivan leaves you room to pack other stuff. Two Great Dane crates in a minivan make you decide that you need a full-size gas guzzler if you're going to take two dogs to out of town shows. (Thus a 12-year-old megavan sitting in the garage.)
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: Ferdinand [message #11829 is a reply to message #11807 ] |
Fri, 20 February 2009 18:10 |
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| Diane in MN wrote on Fri, 20 February 2009 05:53 |
One Great Dane crate in a minivan leaves you room to pack other stuff. Two Great Dane crates in a minivan make you decide that you need a full-size gas guzzler if you're going to take two dogs to out of town shows. (Thus a 12-year-old megavan sitting in the garage.)
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Driving through town with 11 dogs in a Ford Fiesta van has been a memorable experience!! Hence the reason for gradually larger vans... I can't imagine the size van I'd need for 11 great danes O.O
Someone says "pie" and we all go on alert, like meercats. "Pie? Where?" - Blackbear
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