Pandemic car spotting

There are no events during the pandemic, but people are driving their rare and interesting cars a lot. I don't have a ton of photos because I am often driving when I see them.

I have set up a home office in the basement with an old computer I had (added an SSD for speed), a screen I found in the garbage and a used TV I bought. Surprisingly, the wi-fi signal reaches two levels down without issue.

Since the travel restrictions have been lifted, I was able to go to the country house to get the BMW out of the barn. It started right up and made it home without problems, but there are a few little leaks I have to address. I will take it to a real mechanic for this in the next few days, which means I have to keep using the Saab for a bit.

There has been no progress on fixing the Civic's transmission problem (popping out of 5th gear) but since I am not missing any events, I have not put any pressure on Pat to finish the job. I can't wait to attend a track event!

M3 in old Montreal

Surprising spot...

... a super clean 635csi

The 2 black cars at the country house

The M3 in its winter storage spot

Only room for one car in there

Improvised home office

A photo I edited showing my old Civic and my current one

The Supra looks amazing in white!

super-clean EF Civic

A rare Buick Grand National

A really clean first generation Subaru Impreza Sti

RHD, of course

A nice 911 with race seats

I have only seen a handful of 992's

The Civic as I dropped it off at Pat's

The Civic is back!... kind of...

One advantage of the pandemic, for me, is that Pat had to close his shop and had a lot of free time to work on my Civic. He rebuilt the transmission and installed the engine. I thought that I would have to take the car to Synoptic to make a chip for the ECU, but then Pat and I had a brilliant idea: why not just ask Sajan to burn us a new chip just like the one he made for my old car in 2014? It had the same engine and the same injectors... the next day, the chip was burned and installed and we were ready for a test drive. 

The real test drive happened today. Pat put in some cheap oil in the engine and tranny so that we could see if everything worked. The car pulls strong and smoothly, and there is a lot of torque that the old smoky engine did not have. Unfortunately, a problem with the transmission manifested itself: it has a tendancy to pop out of gear in 5th under load. I will have to bring the car back to Pat to check it out. He has some theories about what could be causing this. Still, it was nice to drive the car a bit. I will bring it back to Pat's in the next few days, although there is no rush, since there are no events coming up any time soon...

Back home

  

 

Cool Defender pickup

Surprising spot: an AMG GTR-Pro!

Cool yellow Aventador

 

Fuchs-style wheels on a 996... not bad

 

Pandemic time

If you think that during the pandemic, I would have more time to write in my blog, you would be wrong... I still have to work, and so does Alex, and we have to occupy and educate the boys. There is not much time left over after all this! Still, we are spending almost all our time together as a family, and that is really nice. It's interesting to note that there are still some pretty cool cars on the road... we are still allowed to work on cars and drive around in them!

The Legos are getting a lot of use these days

Saabaru in winter conditions

These wheels look better than the earlier ones for the i8

Saab near the office

Cool R-Gruppe style 70's 911

The Saab before I had to swap steel wheels onto the front

Cool colour for the WRX

Not my favourite Ferrari, but still a good-looking car

What about the Civic? Well, the fact that Pat had to close his shop due to the virus means that he has enough time to work on the engine swap. Carl's store is en essential provider, so it was open as well and I was able to get the last batch of parts that we needed, mostly gaskets and stuff. 

Yesterday, Pat installed the engine and he might start it up today if all goes well... hoping for the best! The car will also get new brakes, with 11-inch discs for the first time. My pads should last longer with this new setup. I just need some events to attend! While I'm waiting, I can still enjoy the car on the street, since it's quite drivable (and still has a radio!). 

My new engine, upside down

Pat found a lot of problems with my transmission... parts have been ordered

The Civic is waiting for its new engine... the old one is already sold

The car at the beginning of the day yesterday

The engine mostly installed!

Another TSD rally as winter seems to be winding down

 Josée and I participated in a new rally near Quebec City a few days ago. Although our score was better (10 points instead of 17), we had a worse finish (10th out of 20). The roads were much less challenging than the Grosse Ride rally, but we still had a good time. We were home much earlier too.

The event was hosted by a local rally shop, Freedom Shop, and they had a couple of their project cars on display (sorry for the poor photos).

Near complete WRX rally car

An older WRX shell being prepped for competition

A first-gen MR2 in front of the shop

Our dirty car just before the event

A few flat fours in the shop

Parked beside a couple of competitors after the rally

Cool to see an 86 being driven in winter conditions

I had to clean off the licence plate for the drive home

We spent the night at the country house after the event

People are starting to get their summer cars ready. I hope to get the Civic out of its dungeon in the next few days so Pat can get to work on it.

This TR7 spent winter outdoors

This is a great winter car

I like this colour for the i8

Still one of the most science-fiction looking cars on the road

Someone is daily driving her or his drift car... 

First time I've seen this (massive) Genesis model

I always see this super clean 92X at the sports center (it's automatic)

It's always cleaner than our car

Living the low life, even in winter

You can drive almost any BMW in winter... 

... including M-cars

This 6-series on the next street over from mine is permanently parked, and it looks like it's starting to rust... sad

This NSX looks so exotic, like a flatter Audi R8

Saab under the moonlight

This is not my favourite Mitsubishi, but it at least would have deserved a car cover!