Anybody know any good loan sharks?

[Misson]

(A real chick would drive a real Jeep, right? Adventurous.)

Naw - a real chick would drive (like a college GF did) a '63 split-window Vette, that she did all her own work on - including balancing and blueprinting the engine and re-doing the tranny - then go inside and practice her violin.

There's no girl like that. There can't be.

[Red-Handed Jill]

Ummm.... I was a girl like that. But I played the drums.

[PyratePhil]

Yes, there ARE girls like that - SEE: Red-Handed Jill

And yep, I let her get away...Greek/Italian, tall and willowy, Daddy was an OB/GYN, they had a summer place in the Hamptons...

*sigh*

[Red-Handed Jill]

A friend of mine was like that as well. She had been a model as a teenager and used to restore old British sports cars. During college, she worked at an auto parts store and made LOTS of money for them - guys just kept coming back, fascinated by her. Last I heard, she and her boyfriend went down to Antarctica as part of a research group.

[PyratePhil]

Disgusting, isn't it?

[Patrick Hand]

Disgusting, isn't it?

That's just because we don't have a firm set of........eeeergh........ nevermind....

[PyratePhil]

Well, I'm fairly certain I used to -

-I've just misplaced 'em.

[PyratePhil]

Jill - you've intrigued me - what did you drive?

It was a special edition Mustang GT - the 83-1/2 year model. It was snuck in for true enthusiasts before the 20th anniversary model and I managed to get one of them. I never did get it up to its top speed, but can tell you that it did go 0-60 in under six seconds. It was the fastest non-exotic car for that year.

Also, I grew up driving modified, VERY fast cars.

Nice! I hope you drove it like you stole it.

Of course, you know that Vettes and 'stangs are mortal enemies - almost as bad as the Mongoose and Cobra War

[Misson]

During college, she worked at an auto parts store and made LOTS of money for them - guys just kept coming back, fascinated by her.

I was quoting a job with an extruded aluminum manufacturing company and the salesgirl was a lot like your friend sounds. When she left, I could just imagine these 50-something year old purchasing guys being called on by this girl and buying just so she'd come back. (She must have bathed in her perfume, though. It nearly knocked you over.) Alas, I didn't buy from her. I found a company on the internet that was much cheaper.

Actually, the fact that the girl Phil mentioned worked on her own Vette isn't what's interesting about her. (In fact, I would think we (Phil and I) would have little in common with a girl who was good at and enjoyed working on her own car - unless working on cars interested us as well. But that's a supposition on my part about Phil.) What is interesting is that she did that and played the violin. Two things that appear to be at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Although, upon considering it further, they are both mechanical skills. Did she write music for the violin? That's a creative skill. I like interesting contradictions in people. Of course, there's also the aspect that she worked on the car at all which appears to suggest an independent thinker at some level.

I know several mechanically inclined women now that I think about it. They may not buy classic cars and rebuild the transmissions as a regular activity, but their skills could be adapted to such. So maybe I'm wrong in saying there can't be such a woman.

[Red-Handed Jill]

Speaking for myself, for me it's primarily a case of not limiting myself. Or rather, not letting other people limit what I thought I could do. When I was in college, I restored old cars and was a marine pathologist intern. I also dove with sharks and my hobbies were power lifting, sword fighting and martial arts. But on the other hand, I designed clothes, sewed, embroidered and liked to cook. And I did freelance graphic work for clothing and textbooks and had a small tutoring business with specialties in biology, english grammar, algebra and calculus. I should mention that I had to be cautious about talking about this stuff, since it intimidated most guys.

I should also mention that at the time, I only slept every other night.

And in terms of music, it's very mathematical. There have been studies linking folks with musical ability and mathematical aptitude.

[Tudor MercWench Smith]

*sigh* Oh, to be so talented. *sulk* But at least, though he didn't see fit to grant me the intellect to understand the combustion engine, God deigned to grant me a brother that does!!

[Red-Handed Jill]

You never know until you try! If something is the least bit fascinating, take a class.

Or sometimes necessity is the mother of invention - I got into fixing cars because my father was a mechanic, but mostly because I couldn't afford to take my car to a shop!

[Dorian Lasseter]

Anyone own a Jeep? (A real Jeep, like a Wrangler, not a Cherokee or a Liberty.) I guess they scrape the bottom of the barrel in ol' CR, but people who buy them really seem to like them.

AHhhh....

A real Jeep... I never have owned a CJ, wouldn't mind one for a toy...

I have owned several other Real Jeeps... J-Series Jeeps, J-10 Pickups and Grand Wagoneers... Talk about go anywhere and take a licking and keep on ticking...

AMC Jeeps....

I wish they were still in business...

I also wish chrysler would get their head out of their arse and produce the new Gladiator Jeep Pickup already!!!!

[PyratePhil]

Yeah, the whole car thing - I got into it also because at first I couldn't find any mechanics that knew about the kind of cars I drove, then when I found them they were scandalously expensive. (Funny synchronicity here, Jill, with your friend - at the time, I was on my 3rd Triumph TR-6).

Plus I'd always been a tinkerer, so it just came naturally. Plus an older brother who'd been into cars that I watched as a wee tadpole. Plus stubbornness.

LOTS of stubbornness. As in, I was firmly convinced that I could do a better job than the mechanics I did find. And, after a few small mishaps, I did.

Misson - not only did my friend fix the car AND play violin, she'd finish the first one, wash her hands, then go right into the second. But no - no writing music - just playing quite well.

Alas - the charms of a general contractor as wealthy as her Dad and twice as old as her proved my undoing, since a 20-year old had nothing that could beat THAT hand.