We have a shop at the farm with a pit in the shop. It will be there tomorrow. From what I can see and touch underneath it looked good. Thought maybe 3’s just had a weak spot there or something. Been in St Louis since new. Kind of the rust belt but not really
When we bought my f-150 it was the same way, new had rebates and financing deals which kind of made it cheaper than ones a few years old. Salesman said it was kind of hard to sell the used ones at that time
I doubt St Louis qualifies as a rust belt. Moved to kirkwoood in 64? from duluth MN, one day school was cancelled due to a 2" snow. Mom pickred me up in an old mercury station wagon I believe, Now all the drivers there, slow as a snail going down the hill, then gunning it at the bottom of the hill and sliding out. My mom just cruised down the hill then up the hill, saying these people do not know how to drive in the snow.
Were a little east of st louis and last year they cancelled grandsons school because snow was predicted. Didn’t snow either. I figure it’s the liability issue if someone gets hurt in a slide off.
When I was in grade school in the 70s our bus got stuck in the snow, driver sent an eighth grader down the road to a farm for help. He rode back on the fender of the tractor that pulled us out. Don’t think that would go over well these days.
Places that very rarely get snow simply don’t have the sand, the salt, the sanding equipment, the plows, the windshield scrapers, or any of the other things necessary to make driving safe. The smart move for them is to cancel school. It’s better that all the students miss a day of school than that one student dies in a crash.
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Wow forgive me for a snow remembrance, But there I was in Norway coming back from a postal boat tour of the Fiords, Now I was an a make a link take a tour with whoever you meet kind of thing. So a bud I had met at the youth hostel wanted to do the mailboat tour. Tour was great, ride on the mailboat for minimal charge.
So it was a switchback road going out of the Fjiords, and a car was coming downhill as we were going uphill in the bus. For whatever reason we decided to sit in the back of the bus.
Now in the hairpin turns the bus and the car could not negotiate the road at the same time.
Bus puts on the brakes, and there is a 6" curb between the road and the cliff.
Bus starts sliding backwards, bud and I looking over nothingness, wheels hit the curb, but we are looking being at the back of the bus past the curb at a 500 ft drop! More stories later
Posters here seem to like their M3’s, so with the added info about the level of prior maintenance, I think that’s a great choice you made. The only systematic complaint I’ve heard here about them is maybe their ride is maybe a little harsher than other cars competing in that price range.
I have noticed in most other countries grown men do not wear shorts unless they are at the beach. I was in Milan Italy in September 2000 dressed in T-shirt, shorts, and sneakers. My Wife had asked if I could bring her an amber necklace. I entered a jewelry shop and found several in a display case. The shopkeeper asked if he could help me. I asked to see one of the necklaces. I told him I would purchase it. He very seriously stated “Sir. do you realize the price is 285,000 lira”? I answered “yes about $95 US. That is fine”. Your service director was a wise man.
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I dont know if you remember this from Nashua a few years ago. Nashua hired a new head of the school district. Her last post was in Georgia. First 3" snow storm she cancelled school. Kids were happy but not many other people. They had to explain to her that you can’t cancel school for just 3" of snow.
I’ll admit that I took a snow day once and nary a flake came down. It was predicted but didn’t happen. It was vacation time anyway. I used to figure about 4-5 days a year of vacation to use for bad weather when I had to drive 100 miles a day. The older I got though the more reluctant I was to drive.
Our crew wears shorts in defiance of winter, 50 degrees seems to be the cutoff point.
Then there are dresses all winter long. Remember when the girls used to wear slacks under their dresses in the winter for walking to school? Then they’d take them off and hang them in the “cloak room” until school was out. I suppose no one later than the 50’s knows what a cloak room is but every class room had them back in the day.
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I was told by my European friends that my the American tourists stand out by the way they dress. I have been more conscious of it and when traveling try to follow their dress quote.
But this is not necessarily good; while in Spain, some local guy was trying to ask for directions. I showed him how I tried to tell him that I do not speak Spanish and am a tourist myself which got him pretty pissed.
Cloak room, sure I remember that, but when was the last time anyone could even buy a cloak, Duluth no girls wore anything but nylons or stockings or tights and a skirt (skirt was dress code for girls), never saw leggings or pants. Guess the dad must have warmed the car up before driving them to school. And god forbid if the skirt was higher than two finger width above their knees!
Exactly…also, don’t take anything personally. They have their own reasons for overcharging which may nclude what the dealer has invested in a used car. Remember too, dealers make more money off used cars then new; that’s their bread and butter. It’s a tough business with lots of competition. Do your own homework and “be willing to walk.”
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Yikes!
How did you manage to pay attention in school with all of those topless girls around you?
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That sword can cut in both directions, with some bad consequences. Back in the '60s, my school district hired a new Superintendent whose last assignment had been in upstate NY (Watertown, I think…?), and despite a prediction of at least 8 inches of snow, he opted to keep the schools open.
After the chaos that ensued was sorted out, and he was grilled by the members of the school board about his bad decision, he claimed (probably honestly) that he had assumed that every town and county had the ability to clear snow in the same way that the folks in upstate NY were able to do it.
I grew up in what was a rural area in East Central Indiana. I attended a country school which housed grades 1-12. The bus drivers were owner/operators who also farmed. We could have 8" of snow on the ground and still have school. Part of the route we traveled were gravel roads. I was transferred to a city school for my high school years. The city schools were run by wimps. The country school would nor cancel in bad weather where the city schools would.
What gets me today is that in extremely cold weather the schoola go on a 2 hour delay. The reason is that it is hard to start up the fleet of diesel powered school buses. Back in the 1950s, the owner/operators managed to start up the gasoline powered buses and get us to school.
I don’t recall that (I don’t even remember what I did last Friday!) but it doesn’t surprise me.
Cancelling schools is usually a difficult decision as it is, and for someone without experience in the variables involved I imagine it can be impossible.
We were always advised to be careful what we wore in Europe because you don’t want to stand out as Americans ( I don’t know about you but I’m really tired of this). Even the bus was not in anyway identified as carrying Americans. But one sure sign was looking at the back of the head for guys. Americans have their hair shorter in back so it is off their collar, but Europeans have it longer.
OTOH you can always tell a European because they call the US “America” and not the “United States”. I always kind of suspected they were a little miffed at us and that’s why. But they have to realize that America includes Canada and Brazil, and our American friends in Venezuela.