Tube City Almanac

April 08, 2008

I Heart the Internet

Category: General Nonsense || By

Just a quick note to mention that I love the Interweb tubes.

Yesterday, I concocted this convoluted analogy between the city-county merger and the Studebaker-Packard merger in 1954, and I figured that everyone was going to roll their eyes and think, "Well, grandpa's off his meds again."

Needless to say, instead Alert Reader Vince and I got into a long discussion of postwar Packard arcana.

(Before the Internet, people like us would have had to get a life.)

And then, who should post a comment but the owner of the nifty Studebaker Lark that sparked my article in the first place?

Writes Alert Reader J.R.K.: "That is my car, and yes it makes a decent commuter car, 17 mpg in Oakland traffic isn't bad for a 40-something-year-old car. It's fun, a little slow but who cares when you sit on Bates for an hour or two everyday any way?"

You're a man after my own heart, J. I wrote here three years ago about my unrequited lust for either a Rambler convertible or a Studebaker Lark Wagonaire. When I was taking the pictures, I must have had a big cheese-eating grin, because the guys who run the parking lot started teasing me: "You wanna marry it? You look like you wanna go on a date."

I showed the pictures around the office, and my supervisor also fell in love with your Lark ... and she's not a car buff. "That car's cute!" she said. "I want one!"

Alas, I have made a vow that no more cars are going to follow me home until I get this beast running:


I put a new electronic ignition on her, and now she runs worse than before. I think the timing is messed up.

My goal this summer is to get her street legal again, and then I'll drive her into work and we'll park next to you, J.

Maybe your coolness will rub off on us, but I some how doubt it.

. . .

In Other Business: I was prowling around last weekend, looking for a new image for the Tube City Online home page. With the warm weather we've been having, the snowy shot of the Carnegie Library just wasn't making it.

Unfortunately, nothing was blooming yet at Renzie Park or the riverfront, and the public works crews hadn't finished setting up the docks at the marina.

I wound up poking around down at the RIDC Industrial Park. I know it seems like that site's been empty forever, but there's a lot of activity going on under our noses.

Steel City Products, which distributes auto parts, cleansers and hardwares to stores throughout the mid-Atlantic states, is adding a new wing onto their building, and work should be underway soon on a new "flyover" ramp to carry traffic from Lysle Boulevard over the CSX Railroad tracks.

Next to Huckestein Mechanical Services' new headquarters, there's this nifty speculative building that's suitable for offices or light manufacturing:


Do you know any entrepreneurs who need a building? There's one ready to go in McKeesport.

Yeah, it's not as cool as a Studebaker Lark, but it'll hold more passengers.






Your Comments are Welcome!

Dodge Diplomat, right? A fine car indeed. You’d like my car, I think. I’d show it to you, but I don’t want to give my secret identity away :) I have heard that Nigro’s will not be having a car cruise this year. I don’t know the details. Also, the Elk’s in Lincoln Place is in Jeopardy. I think the parking garage off of Walnut would make a great place for old cars to meet. At least it would be shady and if a rain shower comes through the cars (and poeple) would stay dry. The lot in front Echostar would be perect, but no restrooms are available.
The Dude from West Mifflin - April 09, 2008



You mean to tell me you still have that car – the staple of every early to mid-80s TV Cop Drama in your garage? I hope it’s paying rent…it’s been there a while!
Eric - April 09, 2008



Since this site is quickly turning into Tube City Car Chat, anyone wanna’ buy a 1978 Cadillac Coupe DeVille D’Elegance? Vehicle hasnt been inspected since 1999 and hasn’t been started since the battery died in it in 2000. Silver with a tattered silver vinyl top and burgundy pillow velour Barry White interior. Power windows, locks, tilt-telescope wheel, AM/FM cassette. Bought it as a restoration project and have now lost my storage.

And, even with the bees living in it, it’s still functions better than most government in our region…
Keith Paradise - April 09, 2008



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