What’s the Scoop? — March 14, 2014

This afternoon I heard someone paging “the owner of a yellow Volvo” to come to the service counter. It has been a while since I have seen a yellow Volvo. In fact, I don’t know if I have ever seen a yellow Volvo before today. However, a little while later, I saw THE yellow Volvo. Someone shipped this 1972 Volvo P1800ES to our dealership and will have it displayed in the Convertible Showroom near my office. No doubt this will garner a lot of attention. And I must admit that it got me pretty excited. This is a great looking car despite my poor attempt at photographing it. But it is also a very small car that would not fit me very well. My head brushed the ceiling when I sat in the front seat. Still… what a great car!

Remember all those Jaguar parts I didn’t know what to do with? I finally completed the “Jag Stand” to hold my tablet when the docking station arrived Wednesday. The docking station allows me to connect multiple USB, network, and audio devices at the same time. The docking station is sitting atop the gauge cluster from the 1990 Jaguar Sovereign parts car I once owned. The setup works well as I do like having the tablet close to eye level. Otherwise, I tend to slouch and my neck and back begin to complain after a while. So far so good. I’m using it right now to type this article.

I don’t know how the winter has been treating you lately, but here in northeastern Ohio we have experienced a very cold and snowy winter. As I was cleaning off my car on Wednesday, I began to think about all the few lovely people in our area who don’t care to clean off their cars before driving. For instance, one driver pulled out in front of me this morning. I’m not sure if she ever saw me. A good 4-5 inches of snow was still on the roof of the car and the front windshield was only partially scraped. That would probably explain why she was traveling so slowly.

If you are one of these too-busy-to-clean-off-my-car people, please consider a few points:

1. If you don’t clean your windows, you can’t see very well out of your car window. You might not like what happens when you hit something you couldn’t see.
2. If you don’t clean the snow and ice off your car, the wind will eventually blow it onto your windshield, your rear window, and onto the car behind you. That only makes if more difficult for all of us to drive safely together.
3. If you don’t clean the snow off your headlights, your headlights will not light the path ahead of you. The warm fuzzy glow will, however, give ample opportunity for people to take pictures of the “idiot” who can’t see where he is going in the darkness.
4. Finally, if you are in such a hurry, please think of how much later you will be after the accident, surgery, court trial, and funeral. That’s not good for any of us.

Here’s my point. What might save you a few minutes could cause a lot of problems for you and the rest of us on the road. Consider the three fatalities near Sandusky, Ohio last Wednesday. Consider also the state highway patrolman who was crushed between two cars. Do us all a favor and take several minutes to clean off your car. Take the time to do it right. It will make a big difference for all of us.