C4

CORVETTES 1953-2019

Now that I have your attention, this has absolutely nothing to do with the plastic explosive most of us have seen in the movies. It's much more mundane than that. C4 is Chevrolet's designation for the 4th generation of their Corvette sports car. It was produced between 1984 and 1996. At this time most of them can be considered as antique as any of the earlier generations of the car.

The Corvette has been produced continuously since 1953, almost. Apparently there was a pause between the 3rd generation and the 4th. Technically, there were no 1983 'Vettes. The new car was still under development and only prototypes were built. The C4 was a complex machine, unlike any Corvette before it. The new 2020 mid-engine C8 had the same teething problems. Happens when your creating something that hasn't existed before.

1969 C3 CORVETTE CONVERTIBLE

From the outside the C4 looks like a streamlined version of the C3, the Vette that came just before it. Under all that fiberglass the two couldn't be more different. For starters, the chassis of the 3rd generation Corvette is the same as the C2, developed for the 1963 model year. In addition the power plant in the later C3 tended to be on the anemic side. While originally available with 300 to 400 hp engines in a variety of displacements from 305 cubic inches to 454, the later models standardized on a 350 cubic inch engine that was smothered by pollution controls. In 1968 the 427 could launch the shark bodied Vette to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds, only a second slower than the 427 C2 the year before.  By 1982 the 5.7 litre V8 under the hood had been detuned to 180 horsepower and literally crawled to 60 mph in around 8 seconds. To Chevy, the car design was jaded, especially considering the chassis was designed 19 years before.

1984 CORVETTE GRAN SPORT COUPE

This brings us to 1984. Remember there were technically no "new" Corvettes built in 1983. The guys at Chevrolet were working on a new design, a light year or two beyond the previous generations. The C4 was the first of the "modern" 'Vettes and nothing like any American car ever to reach mass production up till that time. Under the new body style was a frame and suspension more at home on a race track than a highway. The engine displacement was still standardized at 350 cubic inches, but output was boosted to 205 horses. The 0-60 time dropped to 6.7 seconds. That was just the start. By the mid 90's the C4 was sporting 300 or more horsepower in it's various incarnations. The 0-60 times were in the 5 second range.

1993 CORVETTE COUPE

This blog post was inspired by one C4 Corvette in particular, VIN 1G1YY23P4N5105157.  She was #105157 to roll off the assembly line at the Bowling Green, Kentucky plant (where all Corvettes are built) in 1993. A two door coupe painted "bright aqua" as GM calls it, the car was equipped with a 300 horsepower 350 cubic inch V8 with tuned port fuel injection and a four speed automatic transmission. When new, a Bose "Gold Series" am/fm stereo with CD player provided entertainment. Power seats, covered in genuine black vinyl, matched the rest of her interior. Like all other 'Vettes built that year there were power windows and door locks. The anti-theft system, called VATS, was designed to thwart most amateur car thieves, even if they only stole the radio.

1993 CORVETTE COUPE #105157

That was back in 1993. After passing through 7 owners, including one who had an accident, she ended up in my driveway. Still running, sort of, she was a shadow of her original self. Her original seats were gone as was her radio. The seat motors were still there but topped off with APC racing seats that didn't really fit into the car. The transmissions that move the seats (yes, power seats have transmissions) were no longer in any shape to move anything, let alone seats. The rear hatch didn't open and the removable targa top leaked like several sieves in concert. The original factory aluminum wheels had been replaced with rather expensive 20" diameter AIX wheels holding ginormous tires. The car sat too high as a result and looked like a giant toy version of itself. In short there were quite a few things that required TLC before she could be returned to her former glory. Her bright aqua paint was still in good shape except for the few places where the fiberglass underneath was damaged. Fortunately, these spots are all in the passenger side where I don't see them on a daily basis. Did I mention the hole in the bottom driver side of the firewall?

20" AIX WHEELS

The craziest part may be that I've never really had the desire to own a Vette. The cars are expensive no matter what generation you're looking at, That's true with brand new ones as well as classics. They just weren't on my radar. I admired them, even sat in a couple, but the possibility of actually owning one was beyond my skill set, so to speak. Then I came upon an article that mentioned that the fourth generation Corvettes could be had for next to nothing, relatively speaking. A really nice example with low mileage would set a buyer back $18,000. A fair example might cost under ten grand. Curious, I start checking EBay, Craigslist and a few other online sites to find out what they were selling for. I found a nice red 1992 coupe at a dealer that specializes in classic cars. He was asking $4950. The car was in fair shape with damaged clearcoat on the front and rear bumpers. It was not running. That marvelous security system GM developed all those years ago had shut down the car. He said he would hold the car and let me know when it was fixed. In the meantime I started researching what issues would kill the car. Turns out the VATS security system is based on a resistor in the ignition key. One of the computers in the car (there are several) had been programmed for a certain resistance value that matched the key. Without the correct key the car couldn't be started in any way, shape or form.

1992 CORVETTE COUPE

The issue is chronic with all GM models using the same system. If the key gets lost or the resistors missing or dirty or worn out in some way, the car is dead. Dead as a door-nail. No whirring, no clicks, no nothin. There was a way to bypass the security, but it wasn't something the amateur car thief could do quickly enough to not get easily caught. The problem was so common that the bypass was even sold as a kit and sold by companies that provide parts for classic GM cars. It still is. Bypassing the security, however, leaves your car open to an easy abduction. Some owners don't care, others install a dead switch. I wasn't comfortable with watching my investment's tail lights disappear without me. While I was waiting on the dealer, I sent him emails with the info I had found. He politely said thanks, but they still didn't have the car running. Time passes, I drove to the lot to see how things were going. A itinerant "mechanic" had been working on it. He had the fuse box and the passenger side of the car apart. I was pretty sure he had no clue why the car wouldn't start. I was sure of this because I researched it (you can Google anything) and knew that any work you had to do for a bypass or otherwise would be done on the drivers side. Basically,you solder a resistor with the correct value across two wires. The hard part is figuring the value. This is done by A- Asking GM what the value is for that VIN or B- Trying a bunch of different value resistors one at a time. When you find the one that matches the computers programming and/or key, the car will start. It's magic.

ITINERANT MECHANIC

The short story is this. I got tired of waiting on the dealer. I didn't trust his mechanic would find the fix and kind of assumed that maybe he wasn't computer literate enough to look it up. I started looking around again. I found a guy on Craigslist selling a 1993 coupe for $4400. In the photos it looked great. The ad even assured me there were no issues whatsoever. I should have seen that one comin', but I'm just as dumb as I look. So my wife and I set out on a journey of a hundred and some miles to look at the car. When we got to the address this beautiful teal colored Vette was sitting right in front of the house. I looked at it, saw it's blemishes (there were quite a few) and took it for a test drive. I should have bolted back home the moment he gave me the key. That little resistor I mentioned was missing and there was a kill switch under the dash. The VATS on the car was bypassed. The car started right up and sounded rumbly as a Corvette should but ran horribly. The throttle response was zilch. It stumbled and bumbled its way around the block. We got back to the house, got out of the car and I decided to buy it. I think it was the color that blinded me to its oh so obvious faults. Turned out the guy was probably a car dealer who lived across the street from his lot. Though he said the lot belonged to a friend, he was able to use the office, the bills of sale, the notary stamp and everything else he needed to sell the car. The price dropped from $4400 to $3900 so that the tags and all the formality fees were included.

Now every other sentient being on planet Earth would have checked every single thing on the car. You would think I would. I've bought so many used cars that I could've opened a dealership. But no, I did not. Instead I drove the damn thing home. The first stop was a gas station, The tank was almost empty and I had a long drive ahead. I filled it up with premium as the label at the gas filler stated and headed for home, my wife following behind. The premium gas made a difference almost immediately. The stumbling smoothed out, though it still ran rough. Evidently somebody had been using cheap gas. C4 Corvettes don't run well on anything less than 93 octane. Sold for $3 a gallon at that time.

At this point in the story I'm sure any readers are waiting for the words "broke down" to appear in a sentence. Though it's unbelievable, that never happened. I did find that the climate control had seen better days and didn't work at all. I had wipers and lights and even power windows that worked. All this was good because it got dark and rainy and cold. The power seat on the driver side seemed to work fine in certain directions. The radio, which wasn't original, worked too. It even had bluetooth. I couldn't get it to sync up with my phone but it did work. There weren't any decent stations out where we were, but I could get those evangelical preachers. Aside from finding out how much TLC the car might need, the trip was uneventful. It did burn a lot of gas, almost the full tank to go 100 or so miles, but that was fixable.

APC "RACING" SEATS

Looking back on it, I probably should have not purchased the car. Yet, it was the only running C4 Corvette I've seen before or since for the price. Considering the price of Vettes in good shape, odometer mileage and general condition, I probably got a good deal. Many of the other C4's are older with their own issues or parts only cars. A lot of them have issues with the clear coat from exposure to the sun that would require expensive work at a paint shop.The later years that were in better shape had a third more miles on them. Mine has 94,000 on the odometer, most of those others are well over 150,000. Truth be told, none of the other Vettes I've seen can be had for the ultimate $3000 I spent. This price takes in account the money I made selling those ridiculous 20" wheels (each worth about $200 new) and ugly "racing" seats. How I wish whoever the owner was had dumped that money into repairs, but that's just "water under the bridge" so to say...I ended up with a running project car with obvious faults, which is better that than great looking car that ends up a doorstop. The car originally sold for $32,000 or more. So after waiting only 27 years, I got it for 10 times less. What a bargain! Good things come to he who waits and all that kinda stuff.

1993 CORVETTE COUPE #105157 

All I need do now is "restore" it. That's what I'm doing now, a little bit at a time.So it looks as if #105157 has found a forever home. She'll be showered with TLC (and sweat, maybe some tears, some blood for sure, I always bruise my knuckles) She runs almost perfect now and the sight of her hood open for days at a time will get more infrequent now that she's getting into decent shape. Hopefully I'll have her so spiffy the grandkids will want to borrow her on prom night.

Is There Anyone Out There?

First off, let me qualify my statements by admitting I am not a physicist of any kind. I am an amateur astronomer, very amateur in fact, with no qualifications whatsoever. I am not a member of the scientific community. I am simply an interested observer of quite a few sciences.

With all that in mind, let me proceed to discuss the matter at hand.

Are we alone in the universe? In all likelihood probably not. Chances are good the observable universe is teeming with life of one kind or another..Combining the billions of galaxies we can observe, there must be total of a trillion, if not more, star systems. Most of these stars, as we are beginning to learn, have planets orbiting around them. Many of those planets lie within the "habital" zone from their sun. The "sweet spot", if you will, of a planetary system. Yes the odds are in favor of life pretty much everywhere that can support it, though not necessarily as we know it. It probably also survives in places we did not previously know it could. Two prime examples are right here in our planetary neighborhood, so to speak. Europa and Enceladus, both moons, the former of Jupiter, the latter of Saturn. Both appear to have oceans of liquid water. On both the water is buried under miles of ice. Enceladus, in particular, appears to be an oceanic planet. Water completely encompasses the little moon although it lies beneath a shroud of ice 15 odd miles thick . Given the right circumstance life similar to the creatures found in extreme depths our own oceans might survive and thrive. Their ecosystem might be centered around active heat vents on the ocean floor.

The problem with the question "Are we alone" is that it pre-supooses intelligent life. Living on an unihabited island full of trees and animals may be quite nice. You are, however, still "alone" in the human sense. We can't exactly exchange ideas and technologies with microbes in the Martian rocks or the ocean of Enceladus. They are not very talkitive and tend to be somewhat boring. The possibility of only lower life forms existing elsewhere in our solar system is probably the reason most people lose interest in our space programs. To quote Peggy Lee, "Is that all there is?" People might begin to think "Aren't there supposed to be monsters and aliens and all kinds of exotic and undiscovered peoples, places and things? This is not as advertised. We are all going home to watch Star Trek reruns". To most of us our star system is pretty empty of life. Scientists may get excited about microbial life forms but the rest of us are using some sort of cleaner to keep them off our kitchen counter tops. We are looking for the kind of stuff we read about in Isaac Asimov's books.

We are disappointed, and rightly so. We were brought up on Star Trek, and Star Wars and a hundred other space operas. Look around you. There's nobody! No starships, no intergalactic battles, not even a stupid droid! Where are all those humanoids with funny looking foreheads or ears? There should be octopus like things plotting against us on Mars. The trouble is that the universe hasn't read or watched any of these things. It does not care how H.G. Wells, Gene Roddenberry or George Lucas think things should be.

One major obstacle we lonely humans face is the sheer enormity of the space. Our galaxy alone is about 100,000 light years across. In layman's reckoning that's an astronomical number of miles, no pun intended. Every light year is roughly the equivalent of 6 trillion miles. 100,000 light years is 600,000,000,000,000,000 miles. That's 600 QUADRILLION miles. You'd need some pretty slick tech to cover a distance like that in a "human friendly" span of time. Exploring the galaxy is a complete waste If we can't live long enough to make the trip.

Yet distance isn't the greatest issue. Communication is the overwhelming hurdle, perhaps an insurmountable one. The frame of reference  on which alien thoughts and languages are based may be radically different from ours. Think of the problems we have here on Earth understanding each other. All sorts of indigenous peoples see things quite differently from citizens of "developed" countries. Philology aside, time is a greater obstacle. We and our alien counterparts must be contempories. Two intelligent species must exist within a similar span of time in order to meet.. The alien race would have to be alive and kicking at the same time we are. A communication signal from another planet a thousand light years away might be just an echo of a long dead society

The two races must also be at similar levels as far as technology is concerned. Some sort of long distance communication, such as radio, must exist before one will even know the other exists. It also matters how long that communications technology lasts. Our current broadcasting technology, for instance, has been available in one form or another for about 100 years. This means our earliest long wave communication has traveled 100 light years from Earth in every direction. There is, if you will, a kind of sphere of communication around our world. Anybody intelligent enough to hear us would have to be within that sphere. The distance also effects the information anyone listening will receive. If there were Martians, they would be watching our news within hours of us seeing the evening news. On a planet orbiting Alpha Proxima, which is four light years from here. any intelligent listener would be seeing programming we saw four years ago. So it goes. A hundred light years from here they might be listening to wireless telegraphy in the form of morse code..Beyond 100 light years or so it's highly unlikely anyone would have a clue we existed.

Technological changes on either planet could also have an effect. For the last few decades we have become dependent on forms of communication that are not broadcast hither and yon. The noise of our smart phones, the Internet, cable TV and such are all virtually invisible to an observer from another planet. The equipment that once broadcast a raucus noise is being replaced by a quieter infrastructure of micro waves and other technology. Unlike radio and television, these newer technologies tend to be relatively localized. We are falling virtually silent as fewer of our signals travel outward to the stars. Unless they had gone through a similar revolution in communications any listeners who had observed our previous communication might deduce we were gone, or had just lost interest in talking.

But what of "them". In Star Trek, our world is crippled by a nuclear holocaust and our present society has come to an end. The citizens of the galaxy have no idea we exist. It's not until Ephraim Cochran turns on his warp drive that we catch their attention. In the Star Trek universe the disturbance caused by a warp field can be detected by other "warp capable" societies. The Vulcans, who are centuries ahead of us technologically, zoom down from the heavens and come to our rescue. Somehow, we humans manage to manipulate that happenstance into a Federation of races which is apparently centered on Earth. Oddly enough, most of the key members of this new society will be male, caucasion, Homo Sapiens. There will, however, still be a sprinkling of minorities thrown in for appearance sake. Many people believe something akin to this may happen, or is already unfolding. They are convinced that there is intelligent life "out there", or that some of them are already here. For varying reasons they have visited our planet, even populated it to some degree. They claim we are being visited by several alien species, that they have disguised themselves as humans and that they have even created "hybrid" alien/humans. Some think they are here to help us while others worry they are here to destroy us. It seems that some of them have yet to master the control of their strange craft and tend to crash these vessels in the most unlikely places. Strangely, most of the these incidents occur over the deserts of New Mexico. They must have overcome that issue somehow. Most of the crashes haven't occurred there for decades.

The trouble is that the alien race would be hamstrung by the same things we are. Distance, time, technology and other factors would work against them. While it is possible, I find it highly improbable that another race is presently living close enough to notice us. It is likely they do not possess the technology to reach out.and visit our little globe. As Douglas Adams wrote in Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, "Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space." Just in our Milky Way it's estimated there are anywhere from 100 billion to 400 billion stars. That may mean there are at least the same number of planets. So many in fact that finding and visiting our Earth would be like pricking your finger on that proverbial needle in the haystack.

If there is an intelligent race near enough to us to matter, what if they are looking the other way? Earth lies at the outermost reaches of the galaxy. Slim pickin's if your searching for intelligent life. Their attention may be focused toward the center of the Milky Way. The star systems towards the center are closer together, making it easier to visit any number of them in a relatively short period. There would be no need to look our way. Even if they turn their attention toward us there is little to draw their immediate reaction. Interstellar distances would make it impossible to see any of our activities. Outside of our sun going supernova, there would be little to interest them. Interplanetary distances are just as isolating. While you may be able to detect our city lights from orbit, or even the moon. an observer on Mars would never see the launch of our booster rockets, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall, or perhaps even the explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From a few light minutes away we are as invisible as the micro-organisms in a drop of pond water.

In all the previous paragraphs I have discussed interplanetary and interstellar distances. These are relatively "short" in respect to the vast bulk of the known universe. Once we arrive at intergalactic measurements we find our decimal system starts to fail us. The nearest galaxy in our local group, Andromeda, is 2.5 million light years away. I am not even going to try converting that into miles. If you'd like to, just multiply 2.5 million times 6 trillion. If you do, you will understand why I scoff at folks who claim they are in contact with aliens in Andromeda, in real time, here and now. They receive little gems of wisdom on a regular basis. They say that the inhabitants of a planet somewhere in the vastness of the Andromeda galaxy are concerned for us. They are watching over our world. That is very altruistic of them. They must be really wonderful sensitive beings. I, however, rather doubt it.

The concept that anyone in one of that galaxy's several billion star systems would even guess at our existence is absolutely ludicrous. How could they possibly even know we existed, let alone know of our current situation. Any sort of message aimed our way by anyone or anything would have started on its way when mammoths and woolly rhinos were roaming the Earth. It's as if the folks in Andromeda decided to send a message to a race that barely existed yet. The species that actually survived several Ice Ages wasn't even be able to receive the message for 2500 millennia. The Andromedeans sent their personal greetings 25000 centuries before Marconi builds an instrument that can hear them. What foresight this race must have. I'm guessing they weren't hoping for an answer. Two way conversation just wouldn't work well. The folks on the other end would have to wait another 2.5 million years for the reply. I'm pretty sure that by then all evidence of their society, as well as our own, would be dust scattered to the four winds.

In summary...Yes. I do think there is and/or was intelligent life out there. The laws of chance favor that position. I do not, however, think any of them are kept frozen in the depths of Area 51. Nor are they standing in line at the convenience store. They are out there somewhere, probably looking up at the stars and asking themselves "Is there anyone out there?"

First Up, an introduction of sorts...

Milepost 15, my blog about my adventures in model railroading, has fallen by the wayside. I still "play with trains", so to speak, but nothing worth writing home about. In it's place, kinda, is this "extension", if you will, that will have quite a different theme. Not quite sure what that theme will be, but as you might have deduced from the http address it will probably be along the lines of me complaining. I'd like to make it as humorous as I can. Be forewarned, however, that my sense of humour can be quite "strange" relative to most folks. Still, I hope it may coax a chuckle or two from some.

The inspiration for what may prove to be this series of diatribes is my oldest son. He is very outspoken about things but especially so on the current circumstance of the society he is part of. He is intelligent and thoughtful and speaks his mind. It's his upbringing. We don't always share each others views, but our family is like that. Speak your mind all you want, just don't expect me to listen. Just joking. We allow each other the space to be ourselves but it does not, so far, cause major friction between us.

The world views of the individual members of our family unit differ quite widely. There are atheists, Catholics, agnostics, Protestants, and even, at one time at least, a pagan. Fortunately the pagan amongst us has converted and now considers himself an agnostic heathen, a profesional heretic of sorts. It's not totally his fault, however. The chemicals the medical profession has supplied him with tend to subdue the voices in his head. Every once in a while he screws up on taking his meds and we get reaquainted with his former self. Talk about the Dark Side, the Force or other wise.

As I was saying, there are quite a few opinions coexisting here. Despite that, we can actually enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner together. Christmas is also a time of gathering and the beloved children in the family make it a magical time. My grandchildren are lucky, they have the most loving parents, uncles and aunts you could imagine. That includes the in-laws too. The people our children married are the best.

So why is it like this? I blame their mother, It's all her fault/ She owns it, as they say. She has taught all of us what love is. Not huggy face kissy bear love, but "I'd die for you" Jesus on the cross kind of love. Slightly blasphemous I know, but we live with the physical manifestation of unconditional love. She rarely, if ever thinks of herself, as far as we are concerned. Her mind seems to be always on us, how we feel, what we need.

I do believe her children agree, as do I, that she is an angel. They love her deeply. I have never in all my sixty three years met anyone quite like her. I seriously doubt I ever will. For me personally, she is more than an angel. She is my best friend. Really...I'm not just saying that...I swear. I owe the woman my life. We have the same camaraderie that I have seen with soldiers, policeman and fire fighters. We have shared forty odd years of everything, including the kind of stuff that makes someone "closer than a brother", G.I. buddies as it were.

All of this is not to say that she doesn't have a dark side. She loves babies and butterflies and all that sort of thing but DO NOT get on her bad side. This is especially true where it concerns her family. Believe me, hurt her loved ones and they will never find your body.  If you piss her off she is liable to put something in your coffee. Which may be one of the reasons I get my coffee at Dunkin' Donuts. Just joking,..I think. By the way, Dunkin, you owe me big time for the shameless product endorsement.

Well, I thought this might be a long winded declaration against the evil in the world or something. Actually I'm pretty content with my life. I believe in live and let live as I believe most humans do. Leave us well enough alone for the most part. If we want aggravation, we'll go visit someone,Donald Trump, maybe. Nah! He's not aggravating, except to my wife (part of her dark side). He's comic relief in a world that needs plenty of it. As Vladimir Putin once said, "He's colorful".

I guess this did turn out to be some political commentary, perhaps a bit of political satire. Oh well.

Best regards from Milepost 15.