Crikey? Strewth mate. Haven't you heard the late Crocodile Hunter say it? It's a bit like "golly" and is kind of twee, which is why I like it I guess....I was born in Ontario but have lived in Australia and New Zealand since 1974, moving back to Canada only last year....so I kind of picked up a lot of sayings.... If you want mad and eccentric, you can't go past a kiwi- NZ'er.... Take this for example: http://www.asciimation.co.nz/beer/ Or this guy: http://www.interestingprojects.com/cruisemissile/ Aussies have their mad inventors too, but they're not half a patch on the Kiwis, who have produced some brilliant export earners with their innovation. Personally, I think it's the Scottish Engineer influence (lots of the early European settlers in NZ were Scots) Here is a link that might be useful: THE JET POWERED BEER COOLER

I never could afford a "dream" car, but my best liked, all around family car was the 1964 Dodge Dart, Automatic, with the 264 cubic inch V8 engine. I drove that one to 100,000 miles and would have kept it longer except the body was rusting out due to our winter laden salted roads and I needed a replacement for our growing family. It had a good balance between power and economy, a smooth running trouble free engine, and was a good long distance driver. Visibility was good. What was unique about it? This little V8 was based on the larger 318 engine, but had thin wall castings for weight savings. Many of the internal parts were interchangeable with the 318: Crank shaft, cam shaft, cam chain, distributor, and oil pump. The spacings between cylinders were indentical so the engine could be made on the same line as its big brother 318. The pistons were smaller but the designers used a large heavy wrist pin to make the piston-wrist pin combination weight the same as the larger engine. That way, both engines could be run on the same engine balancing line. The all time most smooth engine I ever owned was a 1954 Dodge Red Ram V8 (its a hemi). It was not a particularily powerful engine, but so very smooth and quiet. One day, we were shuttled into a roadside safety check. The officer made the inspection and laid his clipboard on the hood to make the final entries, AND the he asked me to start the engine. The enigine had been running all the time. I had to jazz the throttle to convince him. He did not feel it while writing on his clipboard which was on the hood and he could not hear it over the street noise.

They could. I tried matching one on Google but didn't get anything. If they were Excalibur, they'd have the sword logo with Excalibur written around it, or with a couple of waggly motion lines on either side. Corvette is crossed racing flags. But they could be anything, including the owner's own logo. I've pretty much eliminated Spartan--one of the more poplar kit cars. In the pictures I've looked at, the Spartan II has too square a radiator, what looks like a standard hood, as opposed to the side opening, and doesn't have the fender mount turn lights or the bullet on stalk tail lights. AHA!! This might be its sister: http://www.autobia.com/car-detail/replicakit-makes/ReplicaKit-Makes-Phillips-Berlina-Mercedes-Benz_141713244490.html A Phillips kit on a Corvette. It seems to have the same trim, and looks like the same fender, with the sweep of the door rise but without the crease, and without the pipes through the hood and fender. Google Images shows quite a number of them that look the same, but with better paint jobs than the one above. :) And one with the same logo as the wheel covers on the gas cap. ...And, it looks like the same logo on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_Berlina And it certainly could have been an anniversary model Corvette (of which there are many iterations) that is the base car. Thank-you, Lindsay, for giving me inspiration to keep looking. I've seen lots of Excaliburs, and some Clenets (rear mount spare), but never heard of Phillips. A special thank-you to you, Jemdandy, for the really fun puzzle!!

Not at all, watchme, not even close but it is sad you would feel it appropriate to so speculate. At least you can be sure the boo birds I've disagreed with are waiting to give such comments huzzahs. glenda will join the group if she happens along. Ignorance is bliss, as they say, and I encounter more blissful people than not most days. There's a difference between being ignorant (not knowing) and stupid (not knowing or caring that there's more to know) and I try to be complete when helping people who care enough to ask. Your experience may be different but I've found those who think their self-acknowledged "common sense" is all they need to get through life are more often not ignorant but rather stupid, to not recognize their own limits and to think they can do or that they know something beyond what they should be confident about.