The New Old Family Wheels

So a little while back Molly was looking around Craigslist when she found this gem only a few minutes from her parents in GA. Erik was nice enough to go take a look at it for us.

Erik said it was in really good shape and even if we decided not to keep it, at the price we could flip it and make a few bucks.

Erik did a lot of maintenance that needed to be done as well as ditched the 40 year old fuel injection. It made it from GA to NH about 1200mi and now is the new family truckster!

The original owner picked it up from the factory in Sweden and drove it around for a while then had the factory ship it to the States.  It pretty much lived the rest of it's life in GA and the guys wife drove it back and forth to K-Mart for over 20 years. After the drive up from GA it has just over 116,000 mi.

1972 Volvo 145E Wagon

4 Cyl 

Auto Trans

We also have the steel wheels which I think I'll save for summer wheel/tire combo

Big steering wheel means NO power steering. Also, this has the tightest turning radius of any car I've had hands down!

This is a picture with the rear seat up but with it down we get just over 7ft of room!!

If we ever get to the point of needing a bit more seating this also had an optional third row seat, we'll just have to find one.

Check out that perfect headliner!

We also have the owners manual which is really great just to read, kinda funny too.

Here are a few of the stats, ours is the F engine

So far we're pretty pleased with old car. I have a few more things to do before it gets cold but that shouldn't take too long.

IT'S A BOY!!!

GEORGE HUDSON HOUSE

8/16/2012

3:06pm

7Lbs 8.8oz

20.9in 

Everyone is doing very well. I don't want im to grow up too fast but I can wait to watch him learn and grow

Hiking New Hampshire

A few weeks ago a friend of mine from church and I went hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.We drove up Hwy 16, passed the entrance to the Mt Washington Auto Road and parked just off the road at the trail head. Our plan was to hike Carter Dome, maybe up to Mt Hight if we were feeling good, then back down. It turn out to be about 9-10mi round trip. We were on the trail around 9am and the first 2mi were pretty easy relatively flat slightly rocky and followed a river most of the way. The trail split and we hung a left because we read that hiking the loop anti-clockwise was a bit nicer and got some of the more rigorous part out of the way first. As we made our way up and up and up we ran across some folks coming down the other way and they told us to be sure and hike Mt. Hight (there is a way to hike around without going to the peak). So we went about another .2mi and found the trail up to the peak of Hight. Pictures don't do the incline justice because it was pretty darn steep and by this time I was feeling it as we trekked up the very steep and rocky trail. The view from the top was well worth the sore legs, 360 degree views with a view of Mt. Washington and you could see the auto road going up one side and down the other. From there we walked across a short ridge to Carter Dome then steeply down to the bottom. At the bottom we walked around the base of Wildcat Mt and came back to the fork we took earlier then it was 2mi back to the car. It was a great day for a hike with temps in the low to mid 80's and good conversation the whole way.

 

Matt

The top of Mt Hight

Looking @ Carter Dome and across the short ridge

Looking down from Carter Dome at the hut

Down at the base near the hut looking back up from where we just came.

Sunday

 Today we were invited to some folks house from our church for lunch and a little skeet shooting. Lunch I do everyday, skeet shooting I don't do nearly enough anymore. We stepped out their back door and had a wonderful view to shoot over.

I LOVE my 8 month pregnant wife!!

New Hampshire Lobster

 My boss Leo goes lobster fishing every summer as often as he can and a week or so he dropped several lobster traps down so here are a few pics of us going out after work this week to see what he caught!

This is the bridge on the Spaulding Turnpike

 This is an old prison that is on the same island as the navy shipyard here in Portsmouth. It's sad to see it falling apart now. Anyone out there with some money that wants to open a cool hotel?

 

Not a great picture but this is the old light house near Portsmouth. The light house keepers house is on a different island just behind it.

We came home with several of these guys! You'll have to check out Molly's blog at pocketsizedchef

to see what this one looks like on the plate!

86th Laconia Classic

 A couple of weeks ago I was able to go to the 86th running of the Laconia Classic motorcycle race. This is the longest continuous running motorcycle race in the U.S.

Most of the races were different classes of modern sport bikes as well as a modern sidecar class and a vintage sidecar class. The race is held at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the weather for the event couldn't have been better, lots of sun and mid 80's. I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked because all I had was my phone, that also explains the quality.

Diving into turn 1 during morning practice

This was a great looking Honda sidecar. Notice the frame and the offset engine. I saw the owners (who were competitors in the sidecar classes) driving this two up on the bike with one in the sidecar.

Most of the vintage sidecars were larger BMW 750's but I was drawn to this little CB450. Check out the custom laced wheels using half the rear drum and the front rotor so they can run a "wide" front wheel!

Very nice Laverda

One of the fastest vintage sidecars of the day.

I really loved the pipes on this BMW, I was going to talk to the guy a little but their brakes were not working so they were a little busy between sessions.

Out with the Old, In with the New

The battery I've had in my bike was a conventional lead-acid battery which usually requires replacement every riding season. I've been looking into getting something that hopefully will turn out to be a good investment. It's a Iron-Phosphate battery which is totally sealed and dry so it can be mounted in any position as well as not having to worry about leaks and it quite a bit lighter.

Here is my old battery weighing in at just over 10 pounds!

Here is my new battery from Ballistic Performance weighing in at just over 1 pound!

Front view side by side

Side view

from the top

The Ballistic battery has a special charging port between the terminals if you want to use their charger which allows you to charge each individual cell equally. They also have a three year guarantee this small battery has 270 cold cranking amps and doesn't run out of juice the more you crank like lead acid batteries tend to do. It doesn't seem to crank the engine over any faster than a new well charged lead acid but it keeps cranking and doesn't slow down which is a big difference. Some of the draw backs of this battery is that it cost a good bit more but if it lasts for several years then it equals out. Also, if it is run down to less than 20% of it total capacity then it can kill the battery permanently which is not covered by the manufacturer and over charging can do this as well. So, make sure that you regulator is working properly and that you have no parasitic loss anywhere.and you should be good to go. So far I've been very happy with the purchase. I have plans to build a new battery box in order to fit different suspension under the bike which will make the battery side mounted. I'll post on any new news of this battery good or bad...