Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

I should be in my bed but it’s been a long day and I am sleeping in tomorrow.





So I got a new car and that is what it looks like. Ford Mustang 2017 V6 (a fleet car believe it or not). The idea was to get an inexpensive Hyundai Elantra and the cost of driving that vs. the big super gas guzzling Roadmaster would be negligible.


But I just could not do it.


The thing that was nagging me in the back of my mind was that maybe I had two and on the outside three cars before I kicked the bucket and the last two would not be performance cars – but – those cars that brag about “entering and exiting with dignity”. Dignity is the key word for “old fart” these days. So if I wanted a performance or sports car it was now or never. To make matters worse I am actually at a stage in life where I could finally get whatever car I really wanted. I could have got a Corvette and even looked at some on Sunday. But that would take too much money away from the orgs. I would still keep them going but the money to travel and such would be severely hampered. At less cost but still hampering things is the high performance V8s of both Camaro and Mustang. Those go from about 40 to 60 grand. And: the four banger turbo charged variants in both cars was a no-go from the start. A four cylinder in a pony car was sacrilegious to me and never an option so it was the V6 and that was it! To make matters worse this was the last year of the V6 so a 2018 car would not happen. Frantically I looked for a V6 Mustang but there were only a handful left. A grey one in Richmond Hill and later I found six or so in another Ford dealer in Toronto. It was at that dealer I found the black V6 Stang and that was the one to get! It had to be black – just like all my Mustangs were – and it had to have at least a V6 (my two previous Mustangs were 5.0 V8s) so it was that car or back to the Hyundai Elantra. Thankfully it was still for sale and they didn’t push me too hard to their final offer – probably because it was left over fleet vehicles and an engine option on the way out – but the finance guy kept asking me for the name of the company buying the car – he said it twice – too funny! This car had no options at all, except technically an automatic tranny – but all the fleet cars had these, and I selected no options on the back end but they kept the dealer prep that I didn’t want but they insisted on, so I had them throw in some rubber car mats to negate the charge. Why did the car not even come with car mats? Because no fleet manager is selling rubber mats that cost 150 dollars each to any company – that’s why…..hahahahahaha….. So I get the overpriced car mats for free – sort of.


I pick up this car tomorrow and strangely I have no regrets. I just want an attractive car that has a drive train that won’t do to me what that awful Corvette engine did to me these last few years. All those low volume high spec engines are the same. Look at Chrysler’s Hemi, nothing but complaints as a guy I was talking to told me about the Hemi and I checked it out and he was right. That Roadmaster just put me off high strung high maintenance engines. The V6 that was an option for the F150 truck is just right for me. So barring the dealer bashing up the car before I drive it off the lot - I got my car. When I left the dealer I went back to the Canadian Tire store that had my Roadmaster and told the manager I was not going to go ahead with the repairs. I told all of them they could have the thing for 500 bucks if any of them wanted it. Secretly I had it in my mind to just have it towed to the scrap yard because I could not in good conscience sell that car to anyone knowing what I knew about all of the problems. But the mechanic who was going to work on it (it was in his bay with the hood up) said he was interested and would buy it as-is, because he could do the work himself and loved the car anyway, so he ran to the bank’s ATM machine and gave me the cash, off went the plates and we wrote up the bill of sale and signed off the registration and the car was gone. This guy looked like he had won the lottery, but I knew better. But it was more than a fair sale as he can do the work himself. I sold him a 23 year old car that would not even run but he probably got it running by the end of the day. Passing emissions is his next problem but these guys all probably know ways….. Then he can deal with any other drivability issues. One of the cahiers wanted to have her husband look at it but I just could not in good conscience do that to a cash poor family so this was the best outcome for the old road warrior.


And that was how that day went.….





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSjS-iCPeW8&feature=share

[Maurice Ali]

Well – Just waiting to go down to the dealers and pick up the car…..


Still no buyer’s remorse. That said I have been driving Mustangs for about 18 years and all V8s up till now. In that time I learned a thing or two which helped me in getting this car.


One is don’t get the performance handling option or any option that has extremely low aspect ratio tires and summer only performance tires. The fleet cars are the only ones that look low aspect but actually have all season tires on it. The others need new rims and all seasons on it in a matter of months, so figure 1000 to 2000 and wheels in the garage or basement all the time. My first Mustang was fast and had no options (not even a radio) and lasted me all of three months till it was totaled on our 401 freeway near the 404 during some rain. It came with true performance tires (Goodyear Gaterbacks) and that was the reason it hydroplaned so easily and caused me to lose control. It started fishtailing and I had that under control but then the tires go skitzo as they hook up again to the pavement sending you into an uncontrollable spin. I hit the guard rail twice and the car looked like a banana. I got lucky with accident forgiveness and got another Mustang 5.0 with all the options, only this time I put Pirelli snow tires on the car – during the summer no less – and kept that car for 18 years. The culprit was the performance tires. So screw performance handling packages and performance tires. The handling package stiffens the suspension so that when it rains that car will bounce more on the pavement and expansion joints which only helps the performance tires hydro plan (as they love to do) and risk you getting killed. I actually researched the Goodyear Gatorback tires and the fatalities they caused. Experienced driving enthusiasts who lost their lives all due to a tire and a central ridge that gave marginally crisper turn in at the expense of your life! I hope this paragraph helps anyone feeling misty eyed about performance tires and performance suspensions – and trust me – you aren’t going to a track anytime during the life of that car!



What else…..



Yes: you want a reliable engine. I trust my experience with the Corvette engine - in real time no less – put that other “misty eyed” dream to rest. The Corvette LT1 engine with “reverse flow cooling”. So you design an engine and then mess it all up by running metal plumbing water lines on top of the car so that the heads get cooled first! That is a great idea and should have been incorporated in a new engine. As a tack on, all you do is complicate the engine bay and make repairs more difficult and really – who is running that car so hot that the heads need extra cooling? And the LT1’s Achilles heel – the optispark distributor. I spent over 4,000.00 dollars trying to get that thing to work and never got a reliable running car. It’s too complicated for here but you must regularly spend thousands to fix the car and in a few days the car runs like shit again. Up till Monday the car misfired and 7 years of reading and experimenting never made it run like a normal car is supposed to! Corvette engine – sound sexy? How about “shit engine” – still sound sexy? And that engine constantly had oil leaks. On Google earth you can see the oil stain on my driveway from space! BTW I’m not kidding you there – you actually can….. I will clean up the floor of the garage – covered in oil and that will be the end of that! Why? Because my new car has a normal engine that has all the problems worked out instead of some limited run sports car motor that can't possibly have the bugs worked out because the sales volume is too low to justify the cost. I will go out now and take a photo of the oil on the garage floor to show you I’m not whistling Dixie!



This is the cost of Corvette ownership:





You can go on the Corvette forums and they will tell you the oil leaks and patches are just something you have to live with:





The garage floor actually has less oil than usual as I cleaned it up a while back removing the newspapers I laid out to sop up the oil – It will be a refreshing change to see a dry clean floor there again!



What else? Oh yeas - the insurance! I’m an old guy with a clean record. When I bought the car they asked me about the insurance. They wanted to get that email that I got the insurance. In Toronto insurance can get so expensive it rivals a mortgage monthly payment! I pay next to nothing for insurance but it doubled (actually more than doubled) when I switched it to the Mustang with the insurer asking me if I was going to "electronically modify" the car and all that. Did they ask me those questions when I got the station wagon – nope….. My payments more than doubled, but I didn’t have collision before and added liability limits. I did that as one of my gang is currently being sued for over 3 million dollars in a traffic accident case ongoing. Anyway the insurance probably keeps the kids from getting the performance cars they really want – and there it is…..


Performance cars love to drink gas – high octane gas! This gets really old fast and you will curse the day you got a car that required premium unleaded gas. My fleet car meets its performance with 87 octane but the turbocharged four banger has to keep up with 93. Put 87 in the turbo four and it losses 30 horsepower to the V6. Performance in this line up is all smoke and mirrors and Ford just wants to kill the V6 for CAFE requirements making it look less attractive and then killing the line. But I got one before they disappeared!


Anyway I hope those sentiments – for what it is worth – help any of you currently looking for a new car. I bought the thing because I was sick of driving a station wagon all by myself and just wanted a performance car for looks and a bit of pep. Sure it is new and looks new, but that gets old in a few months when the new 2018 models come out – buy the car you can live with and looks good – that is how you buy a car!




Later…..

[Maurice Ali]

Ok, here are some photos of my new car:





That car is black on black as in black on the outside and black in the inside – Just the way I like it! That black interior harkens back to the black vinyl interior of my youth when the original muscle cars roamed free.








Its funny how just changing your car changes so many other things around you in your life. Over the years I had forgotten what it was like. Like now women actually look at the car as you pass by, but not so much the guy behind the wheel. When other cars come up to you at a traffic light they sort of lay back a bit so not to ask for a race – that sort of thing (i.e. respect). Guys looking at the car but pretending not to look – you just can’t duplicate that…..


Then there are the downsides. Like the insurance, but we were there yesterday. I had forgotten about the cops following you. In the Roadmaster you were invisible to the police. Invisible to everyone. Just this old pylon you had to drive around. Three minutes after I drive off the dealer parking lot there is a cop behind me checking me out! Oh well, at least I was not in a Corvette or some other high end sports car. Black guys will get pulled over for no reason when you drive those cars…..


But all in all I am happy with the choices and compromises I made. If I had stuck with the Hyundai Elantra, I would have been quietly miserable, looking at guys in performance cars and trying not to look like I am looking at them – you can’t fake that….. So for a little extra a month I am happy. It is not a dream come true like winning a full zoot Shelby 350 or anything like that. But I had to get a car and this was the best I could do. Stretching the budget at one end and knocking down the price at the other and getting away with it! That is the phrase – I got away with it. Now all I am doing is checking everything on the car out and closing any ongoing stuff with the cars. Like the dealer owed me floor mats and I picked up those this morning – I don’t have to go there again. I filled out the paperwork and will get a decent refund of the paid in advance plate sticker I had for the old Roadmaster – Now I have washed my hands completely of that car! So I guess I can now start to wean myself off the moment of getting a new car and then get back into the TV stuff that was interrupted when my old jalopy got the car equivalent of a stroke…..


I will probably wax philosophic for another few days about the car but then it is back to the usual. The obvious problems that send you back to the dealership angry are not there. Now you just look for the more subtle stuff and see if you really got a quality product or something in-between.


Later…..

[Maurice Ali]

The last thing to do with the new car was to place those car mats in the interior.


I got this car as is from the factory with all of 6.5 km used to gas it up down the block when I picked it up. I am currently breaking in the car and tranny myself as I have tried and checked out everything on this car and all is good, all is good to go! Man, dodging having to drive that Hyundai Elantra and getting this – just barely able to make it – just makes an old gear head like me happy! This is a car Ford didn’t want to sell you. This is a car they won’t have on the books in 2018 and production of the cars probably has already stopped as they ramp up production on the new models. What I got was a detuned V6 with an automatic transmission.


Sounds boring – right…..


But that engine rated at 87 octane is faster than the intercooled 4 on 93 if you simply put 91 (not 93) non-ethanol gas (ethanol gives less power) in it as the computer will adjust and even the transmission does a better job. And that transmission is the same one in the V8s – so you don’t have to worry about breaking anything, this car was over engineered for the fleet and rent-a-car crowd. The V6 also has a nice new stainless steel exhaust already in there and just opening up the front with a better filter will also get you more for free and all warrantee legal (and that is just the start of it - if you are so inclined). Anyway, for a guy like me the best would have been the Coyote and Voodoo V8s but I don’t have the 10-20 grand for that or the inclination to pay the extra insurance (you might get by telling them you wanted the V6 because of the Mustang’s looks; but they won’t buy that argument when you try to insure the V8s). So for a guy who was supposed to be relegated to econobox hell; I have found my way through the backdoor - back in – to gear head world! It's no V8, but it is enough to get you back in there without losing face - as the Japanese would say..... Don’t expect much of me there as I am long in the tooth for this stuff and I have my priorities. But it is nice to get that feeling again I had as a kid. Hell I might even go to some car shows and other events and see what things are like these days – things have changed….. But it's nice to get that feeling again - you know the feeling.....




Goodnight…..





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTRftZx2tAo&feature=share

[Maurice Ali]

Just a quickie as it is a busy day…..


Sunrise Records has opened up at the mall near me. I waltzed in and talked to the manager about consignments and she is open to the idea but needs about a month before she will consider them as they just opened. More about this later but that happened on Friday morning. Dan is scheduled to tape his segments next Friday morning. That Mustang car alarm went off twice last night. Most probably user error – me in other words – but so far nothing bad has happened again. I didn’t even know the thing had a car alarm, and now I am one of those annoying guys running to to their cars because they are waking up the neighborhood at 12:30 in the morning. Who would have ever thought?


I also bought a K&N air filter for the stang. Every Mustang I owned has had one of these but I am changing its use. That filter will only go on when I anticipate a need for it and will use paper filters for the most part. That filter is freer flowing at the cost of really small particles getting in. That doesn’t matter much when you are doing something specific and then go back to paper. But on all the time – well – better to err on the side of caution. I really just bought it because the engine is being retired and didn’t want the filter to disappear from the catalogue. It should be the same as the V8 in terms of size but the diagram showed some cowling added on so it may be engine specific. So I bought it and it has to come from their warehouse so already getting rare in a way. And that is the other thing, what happened to all the speed shops? Insurance kept the kids out of the obvious muscle cars, relegating them so souping up mundane Japanese cars to “rice rocket” status” but the traditional muscle car stores are dinosaurs now. Anyway that filter was a tradition for these cars and that is done and will be picked up next week.


Got to run…..

[Maurice Ali]

Well I have checked everything and tried everything, every option and every button and it all works! How about that – nothing amiss at all! So no reason to return the car back to the dealer. We just continue to break the car in and drive it. In fact after a late night drive tonight I will do just that, just drive it normally and live with it. No reoccurrence of the alarm that happened last night, but the birds are shitting on the car now. I forgot about that. Back to all the usual trials and tribulations of car ownership except this time there should be few to no repairs for a few years. I just love driving a car that actually drives like a car should. And finally air-conditioning. My loaded Mustang came with air but it never worked! I will crawl around the underside of the car tomorrow but the actual set up and all with the car was today. By Bluetooth connection to my iPhone 6S plus I can play all my music and take calls and all the rest. This car has USB ports for media and they work too. Everything can be adjusted with voice commands and all in all this just puts the 1995 Roadmaster to shame.


This V6 is quicker than my loaded 5.0. V8 of old. The V6 auto is also heavier by over 300 pounds but nevertheless is 6/10sec faster 0-60, 3/10sec faster to the ¼ mile: How can this be? Well these days the automatics are always faster than the sticks. So finally if you want to go faster – you have to pay more money! So I can’t complain, this is the fastest car I have ever owned; and the sexiest. Liking how your car looks just makes the pain of these extra car payments just that much more livable.


So the past week solved a big time worry in my mind of what I was going to do when the Roadmaster bit the dust. And it is now over and I just carry on. The new car is bought with no regrets, and the Roadmaster was sold in a heartbeat and gone for good. I’ll wash away the last of the oil slick in the garage and fill in the crumbling asphalt on the oil slick in the driveway. And I will throw away the bottles of oil, radiator fluid and paint that was a constant thing with the leak prone Buick.


Finally it is over!


And – as much as I talk about performance and all that, in the end it is just an attractive grocery getter for me. The internet is forever so my past adventures with the Mustangs will stay off-line, but I feel sorry for today’s kids. We could get away with things in performance cars decades ago. No dash cams, no people taking pictures and video of some “bad driving habits,” all the while with you plainly in sight along with the license plate. Try anything nowdays and a cop is at your door and your car is impounded spilling the beans on your driving habits all stored digitally onboard….. Even if you do your thing in some abandoned industrial park there is always security cameras catching you at it. The laws come down on you harder and the insurer penalizes you severely when you transgress. But back in the day you could get away with anything. If nothing happened when you did it, you were scot-free! Now the kids have to take their adventures into the virtual world rather than the real world. Maybe the streets are safer but life in the end is just a series of risks…..




Goodnight…..





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYmgLO16ul0&feature=share (NSFW)

[Maurice Ali]

Well I am done with the car. Everything is correct and it is all kitted out with the stuff I usually have in my car. Everything is good to go for everyday life with a car! I didn’t really show off the car to anyone, it is just a car after all, but I did show it off to my sister and then got the idea to have her son take a photo with the car. That is him there and with the smarts and quicker reflexes he gets from our side of the family, this kid should be good to go with a more modern version of a performance car and have some fun. Then again, the way things are going he may just have the option of hopping in some box and telling it where he wants to go – how boring…..






Anyway, I spent the entire weekend just driving around with the car working every button and buying stuff you need to set up the car the way you want it. Performance Improvements – a speed shop here in Toronto – just called me five minutes ago saying they had my filter so when I finish this I will pick it up and that will be that for the car. It will just be another car after that. I did notice my old Roadmaster still in the parking lot of the Canadian Tire store where I sold it. So I stayed away from the garage lest the mechanic chase after me swinging a wrench my way – he is a mechanic and got a look at it before he bought it – he’s a big boy so no regrets there! I had the plan to avoid buying that Hyundai Elantra by getting the cheapest pony car I could get and from Chrysler, GM and Ford, the V6 Mustang was the cheapest ticket through that door for that type of car. BTW: You have to take a loan out on these cars as the dealers are not really interested in leasing it to you. Thing is, the owners trash and modify those cars and you can’t modify a leased car so….. The loans were the best you can find so that wasn’t a problem but just know you can’t drag down the price with a lease. I did look at some cheap BMWs but they are lease cars and you get rid of them when the warrantee ends or pay some of the highest repair costs in the automotive world. So the Bimmer was out. I was itching to try a new Camaro but there never seemed to be any in Toronto. Then I checked this website the V6s were not even listed as a model in Canada so that explains that – no Camaro for me. The SS V8 was like 20-30 grand more. Finally something like a Dodge Challenger could hit the spot but again the cheaper V6s were never seen and again it was more expensive. So back to the Mustang it was and now it seems a good bet. BTW: don’t’ watch car movies and get the idea you have to do all sorts of engine modifications to get a car to go faster. For my car simply changing the rear axle ratios from a 3.15:1 to a 4.10:1 or even a 4.56:1 (but that is just a track setup) will make it very fast. Just change the gears with the steering wheel paddles if you are just going down the track a few times to get the itch out of your system. Or put in the 4.10:1 in there permanently and get a good tuner to flash the programming to correct the speedo and shift points for the tranny if the engine management can’t take care of it. Not that expensive and you don’t mess with the engine or transmission. It’s as simple as that with these old fashioned cars…..


So the weekend was this free enjoyable weekend. It reminded me of my twenties when I got my first performance cars and would just enjoy them without another care ih the world. Of course that does not exist now. Now I am rushing around taking care of personal things, the orgs, and my dad has a problem with a tooth and that will be seen tomorrow. The way things are going I better rush out and get that K&N air filter right now or I may not get another chance all week! So it was short lived but back to the usual.


I don’t live this charmed life, there is always good and bad.


The usual…..







Just for the hell of it here is one person's experience with a high end low volume performance engine. And you all know my experience:


"Our Hellcat was made in January 2015 and we picked it up to take home May 23, 2015. We've had her for under 2-months and she has been pampered, she is only at 900 km (300 km from Brandon to Wpg Canada) and was doing great...until this past Friday, July 3rd 2015. She was hesitant to start late afternoon and I noticed a white puff of smoke that came out exhaust. Phoned my husband who came home to investigate. Found that the white smoke also had a smell that seemed to be Anti-freeze! So he checked the oil and nothing...the car continued to have issues to start and then the check engine light came on. We called the dealer down the street at 5:30 p.m. who said to bring her in Saturday morning at 9 am, so we did. We were all excited to bring her out to her first car show on the Sunday. After the technician did a diagnostic and visual inspection he came up to me with a un-nerving look - he advised that he was really sorry to tell me this but we'd couldn't drive her and would have to leave her at the shop. As it seemed he assumed that one of the Head Gaskets was leaking anti-freeze, worst case that the Engine block may need replaced. OMG this was TERRIBLE news and I cried...like watching a child in surgery. We waited 10 months for our EVILCAT to drive her for not even 2 months...for her to go into the shop with Engine problems??!! Technician understood my emotions and said that Chrysler told them not to do anything until Monday when they could give them directions. We left the dealership and the first thing I did was call Chrysler's customer service line super upset at all of this, provided my concerns but I didn't feel like my concerns were going to be responded too. Ok missed our first car show...waited until Monday. So yesterday (Monday) came, as you can imagine we had a pretty emotional weekend, technicians did their due diligence that Chrysler advised (provided pictures, diagnostic sheet, black box print out, gasket review, etc.) and now we are waiting on the decision from Chrysler. The technician advised us though that his analysis and understanding on what is taking place is that the issue is within the Supercharger!! WOW if things couldn't get any worse here they just did! This means that they may need to replace the whole fricken ENGINE! OMG my heart is hurting so bad! Our green baby might need full heart surgery! We are now waiting to hear the decision from Chrysler...honestly if the problem is within the Engine they best REPLACE IT! We will not be held responsible for this at all. This is a factory issue as we babied this car completely! We haven't even put the pedal down to the floor, I've detailed her 4 times personally and she's covered in garage every night. I hear others who have raced their cars on tracks etc., we have not. Chrysler has to do something for us at this point here...I'm so not happy! We are paying for a giant paperweight at this point. Now if it is the Engine to be replaced our baby will be in the shop for over a month! So I'm paying for the car and insurance, waited 10 months to get a taste of our dream car for under 2 months, only to park her due to problems from Chrysler. No contact from Chrysler at all...I think the least they could do for us is a $1000k gift card and free oil changes for a year to cover our head aches, emotions and time to wait. We will be putting out $2000 for the month of July to pay for this car and insurance for it to be parked...I don't think I'm asking a lot of Chrysler here as compensation. Please replace our Engine and provide us with a full apology and Gift card to satisfy this problem. I'm sure they will want to diagnose the Engine anyways to ensure that all of you don't have the same issue...and have a mass engine recall on their hands. I'll update once I know more...please keep us in your thoughts. We are trying to stay strong and patient here..."

[Maurice Ali]

Well back to the real world.

Punching this out at the dentist where my dad has a problem with a tooth. The orgs need my attendance and the regular things of life need attending. I will get back on the editor today even if it is just to turn it on.

The car insurance people already took out hte new amount from my bank account so we are just living with the new reality of life with a new car. So a bit more style as we sell the series despite myself. The new car does open the possibility for driving to the UN and staying at more affordable hotels and taking the subway to Grand Central Station. That alone saves me a grand a trip so it seems with the other savings that the car may not be as expensive as it seems. Only time will tell.

The squirrel seems to have left or maybe left to an air conditioned house but only time will tell. But the honey bee hive and the squirrel problem is out of my mind for the time being. I will check and make sure the business accounts are topped up while I am at it. Check in with the secretary at our official office in Markham as I have been doing it from home the last few days with the car business happening. On a positive note humandestiny.org finally made it to page one of Google's ranking yesterday. Today it is back to page two but this is progress. That is the most important thing in the end and not a car. You get the idea.

At least the car business is finally resolved. Now just getting back into the grove.


Later.....

[Maurice Ali]

I am slowly getting back into the state I was in before the Roadmaster up and died on me for good…..


Taxes and bank accounts and then the usual. That is what I am doing on Wednesday. As I said the car is basically all sorted out. I am only waiting on a tube of touch up paint – it has come to that. I am happy how all that turned out, I have no regrets and – yes – no regrets. Most of the V8 5.0s are all sold and the sixes seem to be gone and the remaining are just the turbo 4s. Expect the six cylinders to come back though; probably as the Ecoboost 6 as is found in the Ford GT. I witnessed the birth of the Ford GT as manufactured up here in Markham a block from FOF-IAIJ offices at this place called Multimatic. Multimatic got the gig because they were already involved in racing modified Mustangs for Ford. I was there the first time they drove their prototype (sans the carbon fiber skins (except for the doors) they would later manufacture) at a mind boggling 5km per hour up and down the back lane of the building as everyone lined up and watched, with the owner fretting about nobody leaving the parking and possibly hitting the car! I had a sort of informal gentleman’s agreement as a journalist not to take advantage of my inside knowledge as everything back then was super secret. But that is old news now…..





That photo above was taken by me on my cellphone in July of 2015 and the photo below was taken at the Toronto International Auto Show in February 2016 with the finished product. The top photo is with the bare carbon fiber skins applied and there is a guy with a laptop fiddling with something behind that gull-wing like (actually known as dihedral) door. But anyway, that car had a twin turbo EcoBoost V6 and I think a single turbo EcoBoost V6 may – and I repeat , may – make it into the Mustang family sooner or later. Time will tell.





In the meantime it is back to the usual. I went to the office yesterday and our receptionist gave me a stack of mail for FOF Entertainment - groan..... Anyway it is back to getting me mentally into the editing mindset again. The car business took me straight out of it. I turned on the editor for the first time in a week yesterday and all I could do was label some clips. I lost the gusto that made me want to get back into it. But it will come back now that the new toy I got becomes more familiar…..




Later…..

[Maurice Ali]

I am slowly getting back into the routine…..


I actually worked on the shows yesterday. Just a bit but I did work on them. And I am catching up on things like the annual return for More Vision, paying for annual domain renewals, checking up on accounts and so on. Yesterday was productive.


In other news our humandestiny.org website is again listed on page one when you search “human destiny” and now occasionally just human destiny. That really shows you how much we as a species lack ideas on where we are going. Not that I have the truth, but I have ideas…..


Anyway it is a strange feeling that you can have some influence on something as basic as human destiny. I look at the world in a very small way. Before it was this vast thing and I was this small inconsequential person. Now I see the world as a much smaller place and I see all of humanity as this small furry ball; like a small furry tennis ball you can hold in your hand. Of course the real question is why I am motivated to help them as I have my personal experience. But the better aspects of our minds win out and we have to try. So it is heartwarming to see progress happening quickly. I have the access and the ability to make change. There actually is a road map for me. Who else do you know that can do what I can now do? And how did that happen – that actually has its humorous side given my history.


Reality can be strange and it is what it is. This is not destiny as I have road blocks constantly put in front of me. But I am doing something in a realm where few do anything…..




Goodnight…..





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyv905Q2omU&feature=share

[Maurice Ali]

Back in the day when I was a kid the baldest, fastest car I could think of was the Plymouth Superbird – or roadrunner as the horn sounded like the roadrunner beep beep – of 1970.




Plymouth Superbird



That car came with the 426 hemi V8 packing 425 hp in the 7.0 liter engine with a pair of 4 barrel carbs on top. That engine could accelerate the limited edition car (just to get the car into car racing) from 0-60 in just 5.5 seconds! Wait a minute you say – that V6 Mustang you bought last week can also do this in 5.5 seconds (Car and Driver) and on 87 octane fuel as opposed to high octane leaded fuel for the roadrunner. How is this possible? And there in lays the question that humans can only be trusted with so much power and torque and performance. 47 years later those performance ceilings still exist despite all the new technology. It is the humans and their reaction times that are the limiting, bottlenecking factor.


And it always has been.


I spent last night looking at performance figures of legendary muscle cars and their track times and it is incredible, but that lowly Mustang I bought gets the same or better performance than them all.




1971 Corvette 454



Take the 1971 Corvette Stingray 454 V8 Turbo-Jet 365 hp car. It would get 5.7sec 0-60 and 14.3 in the quarter as opposed to my car that does it in 5.5 and 14.1 (Car and Driver) – How can this be? The typical “Vanishing point” 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T with a 383 V8 gets you 0-60 in 7.0sec and 15.3 in the quarter mile. The 440 six-pack and the biggest and baldest Hemi were the only cars that could outrun my car on 87 octane by maybe 2 or 3 tenths of a second, but put in 91 octane in my car and it’s a horse race again.


How can this be?


I am old enough that I never, and repeat never, saw the racing made limited edition examples on the street – you just never saw them. So basically I am correct in that the car I just bought is the fastest car I have ever driven. And- it beats every Mustang up to 2010 with the exception of a Shelby Cobra that matched its times. Anyway, it’s all moot now. Ford killed the V6 and you have only the 4 for the everyday man to buy. It is all smoke and mirrors. They deliberately made the V6 sound slow and useless at 87 octane and deliberately made the 4 look better on 93 octane, because they were getting rid of the V6. What happens when the four cylinder runs 91 octane instead of 93? Well you get 0-60 in 6.3 and that quarter in 14.5 which is 8/10 s sec slower than the V6 and 4/10 sec slower in the quarter (Californian figures for 2016 as they don’t have 93 octane there). And that is still with the 4 using 91 and the V6 using 87 octane. Put 91 octane in the V6 and it is even worse for the 4 banger. And yes, the V8s will be much faster but these days they sell the V8 for 53,000 dollars as opposed to 30,000 for the V6 fleet car. The modern day V8s now have performance never before seen in cars but are now priced so high nobody can afford them - 23,000 more for 2 extra cylinders and God knows how much extra in insurance? So the performance limit for the common man still sits at the same level as it was before. And that is because human beings have not increased their reaction times given the roads they have to use – and it has probably gotten worse over the years – so the performance of cars ultimately has a limiter dictated by the humans that drive them. Sure the car makers can make cars with ridiculous performance but they are so expensive and almost uninsurable that they remain garage queens for collectors and the performance is never seen on the street. Humans can only be trusted with a certain amount of power and torque and speed – it’s a simple as that.


Don’t just take my word on it check it out yourself and see how the fantasy of these cars is just fantasy and not reality. Want some more reality: Those Hemi engine cars would stall at traffic lights and the cars would not break the tires out to balance the car in a turn now matter how hard you mashed the pedal. The V6s were much better handlers, but personally I would still have gone for the V8! So many of these cars were trashed in turns because they were so nose heavy. If you are a collector then you know to watch for V6 cars turned into V8 muscle cars because the V8s always got trashed. But that is another discussion…..




Later…..

[Maurice Ali]

Yes this one is really late but it was a busy day.....


I will write this as I go along doing things tonight. It was a busy day and evening but the night is ours for you stay at homes.


Ok the first thing on the agenda was Dan's interview. That thing ended up plaugued with technical problems but in the end the "B" roll stuff was useless but the "A" roll was excellent quality. This took until 4 in the afternoon and I was so tired after that I slept till seven. Sorry but I have to get on a real keyboard as the touch typing on a cell phone is driving me nuts. Plus I want to take a walk. So back in an hour.

More coming up - trying things in real time tonight.


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All right, to make a long story short I am having problems capturing Dan’s video into my editor. That actual video is excellent as I hooked up the camcorder to an HD TV set and it looked really good. So rather than getting frustrated with capturing the file I just turned it off and went to bed as I was very tired. It will get in the editor if I have to capture it with another program and import it as a file.


So the real time Saturday night with me turned into a complete bust! But back to what I was doing on Saturday.




Johnny's Hamburgers


Like I said Dan took until four and then I slept until seven – I must have been sleep deprived….. I got up and then did a christening of sorts for the car – I took it to Johnny’s Hamburgers and had a cheese burger and fries with gravy and a Coke! Nothing says you are truly comfortable with your new car than when you take it to your local hangout and can eat a burger and fries without worrying about dropping a greasy fry or some mayo in the car, the car is now being lived in. BTW: that new car smell isn’t what it used to be. Now it is more, much more, petrochemical and you really don’t mind when it disappears. Back in the day the new car smell was actually alright and you wanted it there for as long as possible.


Not any more…..


Anyway, there is a Johnny’s Hamburgers in every neighborhood. That one is mine and yours will be like it with a different name. I saw this kid with a large new black truck drive up and park his new ride. He had his girlfriend with him so I knew what that was about. Buy some burgers and then really christen the truck with the girl friend afterward. Man there are a mess of new cars around. Like the first days of summer get people wanting to buy new cars! So I finished with Johnny’s Burgers and thought the only thing left was to hand wash the car and all the ceremonies for new cars were over. But I had to park it at a few places that night and a shiny new car gets dented and scratched just because it is new and shiny – so I held back till later in the weekend. I also believe that shiny new cars get hit by other drivers because the shiny new car attracts looks and drivers follow where you are looking and – bingo – new car gets into an accident. So the best plan is to let that new car get as dirty as possible until you and the car have settled in. Trust me on this – it is the truth…..




Out with the old and in with the new - but check the new tires on the Roadmaster!



I was wondering - also – if that mechanic that bought the car had sent it to the scrap yard yet. So off to Canadian Tire (actually that morning before Dan) and low and behold the old car has four new white wall tires on it! So the dude is making a go at restoring the old bird! That cost a few hundred, and I checked in the window and he has all kinds of cleaning supplies in there so he really wants the car. This made me feel good. This car has issues so I could only sell it to a mechanic and the man wants the car. So I can say goodbye to the thing that has been in the family for 23 years. For a gear head what happens to their old car matters. The Mustang went to “Mustangs Alley” for a full restoration and this one goes to a mechanic. I can finally turn the page. I then saw some fireworks and looked at some cars on some car lots and came back home and you know the rest.


So that was Saturday…..

[Maurice Ali]

Well Sunday turned out to be a more productive day than I thought…..


First of all I finally got Dan’s video into the editor. I had to change a cable but these editors are so esoteric – who knows? After that I finally got a chance to videotape Sam and I did that around supper time


And just like that – I am back on the editor and finishing up the series! I am finally working out that new car buzz I had since I picked up the car a week and a half ago. As for the car itself, well everything is working. It was made in June so I literally got it right off the transport from Flint, Michigan. Maybe 300 more kilometers and the break in period for the engine will be over and I don’t have to baby her anymore. It is strange to be back in that realm again. I turned up my nose at driving a Hyundai Elantra and stretched for a Mustang. Like I said I stretched for the cheapest sports car I could get. The four banger was out of the question just because of pony car tradition and the V8 was out because of cost, so it was the six. And that engine was for the fleet market niche, reliable and “detuned”, so there is plenty of upside to improve on that if you were so motivated. The interesting thing about the six is that now it will be discontinued in 2018 you don’t have that worry about your car looking old when 2018 model comes out as your 2018 car is not there anymore…..Hehehehehehe….. Anyway 2018 is a mild refresh so most would not see a difference but they are using a new gearbox and I would stay away until they work out the bugs on that transmission. Like everything else, you buy the product when it has all the bugs worked out. The difference is that you don’t get it when it just came out, but you end up with a more reliable car…..


And yes I actually said “sports car” because that is what it says on the official manifest- a subtle change in nomenclature. By old school definition a sports car had to reach 150mph and this one does if you take the governor off the car. All Mustangs have their top speed limited electronically. Like the previous top speed of the 4 banger was 125 and they upped it to 148 just by punching in a different number in the program. The V6 was limited to 113mph a few years ago which almost any car could beat and then they upped it to 125 like the 4 banger (remember these are fleet/rental cars). I don’t know what it is now but it should be 130 as the all seasons on the car are only H rated. But whatever, I checked and I wanted the cheapest ticket into the performance/sports car world and I got in, with the cheapest car that makes it. It’s like buying the cheapest house in the high end neighborhood. There is nothing but upside for the owner of that home. Everyone gives it more value than it actually should get. So that is how I bought the car. And I checked while on the car lots, a regular GT Mustang convertible goes for 60,000. This is the opposite where you have the most expensive house in an ordinary neighborhood. You spent the most but nobody gives you credit for it because of the neighborhood. At 60 grand – I – would have stretched further and bought a new Corvette that you could get for 73,000. That same principle, the cheapest ticket into the expensive neighborhood – or in our case: Corvette town….. And that my friend is how you buy a car. Cars depreciate so fast you may as well get the biggest perceived bang for the buck as you can get and that is how I approached all of that car buying stuff.



Sam during Pride 2017!


Monday is a work day even if it is a holiday. We catch up on things at IAIJ. I think Sam may post some photos from Pride day as she was there, we shall see. And I actually get back on the editor and start improving the shows, as I am finally motived to do so…..



Goodnight…..

[Maurice Ali]

Well I am back into the editing process again…...


I was going to finish with the car business once and for all and be done with it but I want to get back on the editor and really get my head into the shows again, so this will be brief. It is a relief to get back that want to edit again. Having the Roadmaster die on me and having to buy a new car just wrecked that vibe I was in that made me want to work on the shows. Now it is coming back and I don’t want to mess with it.


Having said that the new car stuff is really wearing off now. Up till today when I got up the first thing I wanted to do was go out and drive the car. This morning – to be honest – I wanted to get on the editor. But I did the drive to the coffee shop and look at cars thing one last time and I just got back. The only thing of note about the car this past long weekend was that I was driving southbound on the Don Valley Parkway (a north-south freeway in Toronto) Sunday morning and this guy my age in a Ferrari (later ID showed it to be a Ferrari 430 ragtop) pulled up beside me and raised his arm in the air and pointed down the road with his finger. The idea being he wanted a race for some noise or giggles or whatever as he clearly outclassed that “secretary special” I was driving (we were literally the only cars on the road at that time). To be honest I really didn’t know if he meant race or that there is a cop ahead waiting behind the bridge abutments coming up to this street called Eglinton. So what does a guy like me do? You’ve seen what happens in the movies! But what do I do? I slow down and and get behind him in his lane like the bitch I am – that’s what I did….. How come you never see this in the movies…..Hehehehehehehe…..


There is a dose of reality for you!


But forget about that. The shows are what matter now and not some ordinary car. I am just glad I am motivated to get back in the editing chair and start to finish this up and still do the sales thing during the summer as getting the rejection in the fall and winter is just too depressing…..



Later…..





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5W9Bd_q9gk&feature=share

[Maurice Ali]

This will be a quickie.....


The AAVRY KNAPP show is almost done. I will make one last pass for time and then that show is good to go. Then it is only the explanation segment on the experiment for the first show and then all we have left is the last show which will need some work but I am actually happy and proud of the revamp shows so far. I really have to believe that this is the best product out there to sell this thing to the broadcasters and I am getting there. We had a two week delay with the car business but I am back where I left off.


We are actually getting somewhere with this stuff now…..


Later…..