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Post by Beekster on Nov 24, 2023 16:32:36 GMT -6
As some of you may know, I take my SLK out this time of year whenever the opportunity presents itself. This afternoon the wife drove the C300 and I took the SLK, and we drove to her favorite garden store just south of town to get a Christmas tree:  That's seven feet of Grand Fir stuffed in there, with the base of the tree in the footwell. In past years we dropped the back seats on the old C230 and got a tree in through the trunk; we're not ready to do that to the new one just yet. Other times we've borrowed the family Mazda pickup and used that. But on a sunny afternoon at 54 degrees, top down works just fine. And yeah, the looks I get in traffic are priceless! |
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Post by JEFF on Nov 24, 2023 18:17:28 GMT -6
Some times you gotta do what you gotta do,Beeks. That's awesome.😎
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Post by JCON on Nov 24, 2023 20:10:57 GMT -6
Nice!!!
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Post by Beekster on Nov 24, 2023 20:11:07 GMT -6
The return trip with the tree was pretty uneventful. Leaving the garden center itself posed the biggest challenge, since I had to make a left turn out of the parking lot and my vision to the right was a wee bit obstructed, to say the least. I could use my right hand to push on the foliage to get a view of oncoming traffic in that direction, and once I had a clear space I was off. Every other turn on the way home had a light to control traffic flow. I was limited to first through fourth gears, though. Fifth was barely reachable because of the tree's bulk, and sixth was impossible for that reason. Fortunately, we traversed local country roads and city streets so I wasn't going fast enough to really need anything above fourth. Pretty noisy drive, though...several feet of tree sticking up does generate a lot of wind noise.
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Post by JEFF on Nov 25, 2023 7:55:48 GMT -6
Did you notice any increase in downforce? 😄
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Post by Beekster on Nov 25, 2023 8:25:19 GMT -6
No, just noise and turbulence!  Since the car is the base model V6 (221hp) with a six-speed stick and no options (it even has manual, unheated seats!) it is pretty light for the power it has, but aerodynamic bits would be a total waste of time. A wing on the trunk lid would not only look silly, but it would also overstress the hydraulics that raise & lower the roof. It simply isn't fast enough for kit like that to make any difference at all and straight-line speed isn't it's forte anyway. It's a corner carver. |
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Post by BUCKY on Dec 4, 2023 17:10:02 GMT -6
We bought the '68 Imperial Crown convertible in 1998. Drove it at least once a month with the top down for fifteen months straight. Came to a halt when I put in the paint shop for a respray. Those drives were really fun!
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Post by Beekster on Dec 5, 2023 13:04:41 GMT -6
We bought the '68 Imperial Crown convertible in 1998. Drove it at least once a month with the top down for fifteen months straight. Came to a halt when I put in the paint shop for a respray. Those drives were really fun! Even in the Pacific Northwest, it's rare that an entire winter month is so rainy that I can't get the convertible out at least once. Cold temperatures aren't a problem; proper clothing, gloves, & headgear combined with the heater will keep me warm in temperatures as low as the twenties. The SLK wants to slide around a bit when it is that cold since the summer tires don't ever come up to operating temperature, but all that means is that the stability control kicks in earlier. |
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Post by BUCKY on Dec 5, 2023 15:02:21 GMT -6
We had the Imperial in a Christmas parade one year, and it started to mist a little rain. Couldn't pull over to raise the top. We had an umbrella with us, so Mrs. Bucky held the umbrella while I drove the parade route. Big fun.
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Post by JCON on Dec 5, 2023 15:06:23 GMT -6
Can't use that convertible in the whole Pacific Northwest... It would never make it in our winters here Beekster! Ha, ha, ha!!!
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Post by Beekster on Dec 5, 2023 17:43:03 GMT -6
Can't use that convertible in the whole Pacific Northwest... It would never make it in our winters here Beekster! Ha, ha, ha!!! That might be true up your way in northeastern Washington, Joe. At least it wouldn't make it without further financial outlay. With the lowered Eibach suspension I don't have a lot of ground clearance, so there's that... Even if I were willing to chance the snow in any serious fashion, I would have to purchase a second set of rims for snow tires. I'll do that for the sedan, but not the roadster. I can get around in a couple of inches of slush and patches of packed snow, and haven't had any problems. I've occasionally encountered that when we've had weather come through that has given us a little snow at 500 feet elevation or higher, and some remains in shadowed areas up on the hills outside town at the time I go out for a drive. |
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