Ok, Make that 6 Festivas...

[Guest]

Just bought an 88 with a blown engine for 50 bucks from Tim.. a little over 100k on it.

My current Fleet:

1988 L Black EFI/5spd swap (In progress)
1988 L Red Future BP/G25mr swap (already have them)
1990 LX White (Will get a techno's B6 sooner or later)
1991 L Flat Black Kitted B6 +mods (Techno)
1991 L Blue B6T/G25M-R/Aspire brake swap (Speedy)
1992 GL Red BP/ATX dropped w/custom hood (Zippy)

[25Horseplay]

So is that a collection or a fleet? :lol:

[aithanmier]

does it matter? lol semantics, mere semantics.

[25Horseplay]

If that was me I'd only buy 1 set of plates. (legal or not!)

[Tim]

If that was me I'd only buy 1 set of plates. (legal or not!)

Well, you'd have to colour-code the cars too, so they all looked the same.

Plus, Texas requires you put inspection/registration stickers on the windshield, with the car's VIN and licence plate number on them....

But in more lax states, this is doable.


Regards,

Tim

[25Horseplay]

Ohio has no inspection stickers, and the color is not listed on the registration. The only time you might get caught is if you gave them reason to check the VIN, like in an accident. I have been stopped with fictitious plates before but because the car's were similar (89 mustang and 93 mustang) it wasn't detected!

[Tim]

Ohio has no inspection stickers, and the color is not listed on the registration.

Lucky!

The colour's not on the registration here, either, but Texas is notorious for having cops who are jerks... :roll:

[taxcider]

I want a fleet, too... dangit. No space for more than one at the moment, unfortunately. I envision a fleet of 7, plus a spare or two.

Gotta get a few acres and a festiva barn.

Congrats on the new addition!

[packrat427]

That would be a Festiva ranch ! :lol:

[Safety Guy]

Hey, someone's stealing my ideas!:

Go to our Archives section and the "Off Topic" Forum. Look for my "'Festiva Ranch' Gettin' off the Grid..." thread on page 2.

My original post was on 1/21/'03:

"Festiva Ranch" Gettin' off the Grid...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This probably could have gone in general, but is mostly off topic.

Living in a condo, I have nowhere to work on cars, but I want another Festiva to eventually take over from my '89, and to keep practicing and learning mechanic stuff. Doing my Aspire suspension and brake swap was a hellish, yet liberating experience. Festivas are relatively simple, and also very frugal gas misers due to their small size.

I want to move. Out to the country, with no more than an hour commute to Ohio State University, where I work. I'm planning on getting my own land and having a pole barn built on it (about $10,000) which I would slowly convert to a house. I'd go solar power and wind generator. Windmill power (both water pumping and electric generation) was very common in the boonies back in the twenties and thirties, but when power companies came out with power line grids, people slowly did what was easiest and cheapest and gave up the "old ways."

I'm currently doing my homework on all this. There are "DIY" alternative energy websites which show building your own wind generators and hooking up used solar panel systems, etc. (Buying new "off the shelf" stuff can be expensive.) It will be a lot of work, but it will give me my own land and place to live and work on cars, etc.

My condo is paid off, so even though I'm just a security guard, I really think I can do this. Hell, I swapped that corroded suspension, didn't I?

Anyone else think of or do this stuff? It's the ultimate in self-sufficiency and frugal living. I think there are some electric Festivas around, too. I'm no "tree-hugger" or "survivalist" or anything, but gas seems likely to only going to go up in price, and with all this money spent on the "war on terror" I don't think we'll be having any huge boom times anytime soon. Doing your own car work, growing a garden, and not having to pay for electric, etc. (or cutting way down) would be nice.

Just getting away from a lot of zoning crap and condo rules (all the blinds have to white or off-white in color, ad nauseum...) would be worth it.

But being outside on the cooooollllld nights shows the reality of doing this. A lot of work and discomfort for the first winter or two until everything is finished. No way can I afford everything at once!

Anyone else thinking like this?

Karl

My second post was almost exactly a year later:

Re:
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Day-amm! It's been a year (minus one day) since I first posted my "plans."

They aren't coming to much. Land is too expensive, and within an hour commute of Ohio State University, it is too high for me. A little over an hour away and it becomes more reasonable, but I won't commute more than an hour.

So I'm looking for a house. I'm sure it'll take enough upkeep to keep me busy. That and my cars.

I'm driving my white & blue '89 Festiva still. Just did a rear brake job on the Aspire brakes. Got over my fear of drums and springs and pins, etc.

In September, I bought a red '93 Festiva with auto and air. The body is in good shape, but it is high miles: over 180,000.

I got it for $600 out a dealer's door! Not bad, and the small oil leak was solved by a new oil plug washer!

Then a few months later, the coolant began leaking. I had the water pump and timing belt replaced--and the coolant still leaked. It's coming out the front of the block at the head.

Now I've been seriously contemplating an engine swap. I'm not spending $$$ just on a head gasket job and the same old 63 hp.

But the house probably has to come first. Then I'll have a place to work.

Karl

Karl

[taxcider]

Whoa... that's crazy!!! We've been wanting to get off the grid for quite some time, too, but have to wait until we get out of Cali (too 'spensive to buy any proppity out here, we're heading back towards Bexar county in about a year). Gonna raise a herd of dik-diks, and have some acreage, hopefully. And have a good job at UT.

[Guest]

S.A huh? Well then there won't be an excuse not to show when we do the FF.Com get together in Houston this year.

[Gforcefd]

houston

its in houston this year, awwww

Well looks like I will make the 2007 one, when Im livin in az.
Logan

[Guest]

no.. not ff '06 we usually have a small get together here in the spring.. usually it's just those of us that can't make it to ohio...

[Tim]

no.. not ff '06 we usually have a small get together here in the spring.. usually it's just those of us that can't make it to ohio...

When in the spring? I'll be around until mid-March.


Regards,

Tim