Cars

My Cutlass still has the original radio in it, in addition to the after market one mounted below it. I have never really liked how it looks, but have been hesitant to cut up dash in my car. I'm not sure why. I'm not all about keeping the car original, hence my replacing the perfectly fine 3 speed transmission for the 4 speed 1.5 years ago. But I just like how the old school radios with two stalks look. So I've been hoping to find a radio that would fit in my dash, but had an auxiliary input that I could plug my iPod into. Finally, Autoblog introduced me to a radio that'll do that. Some company called RetroSound put together a shaft radio that has an auxiliary input but also will allow one to plug in a USB flash drive loaded with MP3s and play them strait off the flash drive. I think I'll be able to get one this year, now that I'll actually get a tax return instead of having to pay in this time for the first time in 5 years. Buying a house and having a second kid really helps out in this area.

But this radio is a good thing in that it's gotten me excited about my car again. I haven't driven it in months. All it does is sit in my garage under a car cover most of the time. And I really wouldn't bother with the car cover except that I have a hyper active 2 year old. It doesn't provide total protection from him, but it's better than nothing. Anyway, I've been having thoughts of eventually selling my car and buying one of these:
I'm really excited about the new Dodge Challengers coming out. I'd really like an R/T with the 5.7 Hemi and 6 speed manual, when they release them later this year. I've never been married to the idea of driving a 37 year old car. But Detroit stopped making cool looking cars around that long ago. Until a couple of years ago with the new Mustang. I've never been a Mustang guy so that didn't excite me overly much. But that Mustang convinced Chrysler to make the new Challenger that looks like an old Challenger after a hotrod shop has gotten hold of it. Plus it'll be faster, handle better, be safer and more comfortable than anything built in the era of my car. But the Cutlass is paid for and I have no illusions about how much it's actually worth on the open market. It is a nice car, but there's probably a 20-25 grand difference in price that I'd be forced to pay. In addition to the yearly taxes and insurance. I only pay $27 a year for plates on the Cutlass, whereas the Vibe is over $200 by a fair amount.

Anyway I know that we won't be getting any new cars until Corwin starts school and gets out of daycare. And even then, I don't think a new muscle car will be able to take a priority over trading the Alero for an SUV or 4 door pickup. So my new black Challenger is a pipe dream at this point. It's good to be excited about putting a radio in my old blue car.