Take A Hike

I’m getting older.  Aren’t we all?  I try to exercise – as most of us do.  But the 30 minutes on the treadmill at 7 mph I used to be able to handle when I was 30 and weighing 190 aren’t cutting it with a 49 year old metabolism and 225 pounds slamming down on those knees and ankles.  So the challenge is getting that exercise without winding up on a cane or in a wheelchair.

One thing I’ve been trying, for more low impact exercise, is hiking.  A few months ago I did the circuit in Overpeck Park in New Jersey, completing both The Company Band album and the Dunsmuir album – both with Neil Fallon of Clutch – on the iPod, meaning just over an hour.

Now I’ve been investigating the local trails in Northern Virginia, particularly in Arlington and Fairfax County.   Last weekend I did the Custis Trail, completing Camel’s Moonmadness studio album (+ 2 extra tracks) on the way in, and the live second CD on the way back, about a 2 hour walk.    Miraculously the weather was fine that day and rainy the next.   Thank you, GOD! 

My expectation is that the more intense the workout the shorter you need to do it to achieve the same result, so a leisurely hike instead of a brisk run on a treadmill is going to have to be twice as much time.  The treadmill is indoors and doesn’t depend on the weather, while the outdoor hike Is clearly more entertaining, though a treadmill soundtrack evens things out. 

The other issue is that the hike takes you places you’ve never been before, whereas the treadmill doesn’t take you anywhere.  And if rain is an issue, dress appropriately.   I will probably be doing more hiking.   FYI, one trail goes for 45 miles, which is probably not something I’d handle.   My Custis trail adventure was about 5 miles, over two hours, roughly 2.5 miles a hour. 

Firebird the First Generation

Sorry for more of this, after one on my other Birds and another on Burt Reynolds, but I realized the ’67-69 models were underrepresented in my blogging. 

Now the GM F-body is limited to current Camaros, themselves based on the original 1969 Camaro.   Both models started with the 1967 model year to compete with the Ford Mustang.  The Camaro consistently outsold the Firebird by a wide margin, though.  I can’t resist a blog entry devoted to the earliest Firebirds. 

Oldsmobile F-Body.   When the Camaro and Firebird were in development phase, Oldsmobile asked to be included in the mix.  But GM brass decided that three versions would stretch the market too thin.  Instead Oldsmobile was given leave to make what became the 1968 Hurst Olds, a black & silver special edition Cutlass with ram air and a hot Olds 455.   Fun to imagine what an Olds F-body would have looked like…

Model Years.  Only three: 1967, 1968, and 1969.  The 1967s were late coming out, in February 1967, whereas the 1967 Camaro came out in September 1966.  The 1967 and 1968 models had a full chrome bumper (upper center), the 1969 (see 1969 Trans Am lower left) had the chrome in the middle with body color on the sides, a look few people liked.  The ‘67s and ‘68s can be distinguished as the former have vent windows – the little triangular windows in front of the main windows, designed to let air in without having to roll down the main windows, a relic of an age when A/C was far less common than it is now - and the latter don’t.

Logo.  By now we’re used to the FIREBIRD with upraised wings of fire, prominently featured on 1973 and later Trans Ams and known as the “Screaming Chicken”.  But back then the wings were lowered and it looked more like a native American Indian thing, which is how it was inspired. 

Convertibles.   Although convertibles made a comeback in 1991-92 for the end of the third generation, and briefly in the mid-90s with the fourth generation, they were available across the board for ’67-69.  No roll cages, though, and the body stiffening made them heavier than hardtops. 

Overhead Cam Six.   (Upper left picture).  At this time, six cylinder engines, almost all inline, were the entry level engines with no special features or attention.  DeLorean, the Pontiac manager, decided to spruce it up by giving it an overhead cam and a brand new rubber timing belt.   Innovative and unique, but an idea which fell by the wayside in an era when V8s were king.  Later on Buick turbocharged its 3.8L V6 and made the Grand National and GNX superior cars – the engine even found its way into the 1989 Twentienth Anniversary Trans Am, the only Trans Am with a six cylinder engine.  But before the Buick V6, there was the Pontiac OHC 6.  Oh, some people even put them in Jaguars….

Models.  Whereas later the models each had a variety of available engines, for the first generation the models were determined by the engines themselves.   The 400 was the top end, and with Ram Air were the absolute best.   Note: the 400 was shared with the GTO, but the lighter Firebird would have been a faster car. 

Base.   OHC 6 with a one barrel carburetor.  Hardly anything special.  The OHC displaced 230 cubic inches in 1967 and 250 in 1968 and 1969.

Sprint.  Add a Rochester QuadraJet to the OHC Six – amazing.   No one was putting four barrel carburetors on six cylinders, as even V8s came stock with 2 barrel carburetors.  With its lighter weight came better handling.  Moreover, models with the four speed manual transmission got a slightly hotter camshaft.  DeLorean was proud of the Sprint model but no one else cared.

326/350.   Next model up had either a 326 (1967) or 350 (1968-69) cubic inch V8 with a two barrel carburetor and a single exhaust.   Note the 350 is NOT the same as the Chevrolet V8 which debuted in 1967 in the Camaro SS.

HO.   Slap a QuadraJet and dual exhaust on the 326 or 350 and you have a better model.

400.   (Upper middle picture, a ’67 hardtop).  The top model, includes the GTO’s 400 cubic inch V8 with fake hood scoops, QuadraJet and dual exhausts.  This was my dream model but as yet I haven’t been able to buy one.  

The stock 400 cubic inch V8 (6.6L) put out 325 HP (gross) and was itself a good engine.  In fact, the engine continued to be available in Firebirds up to the 1979 model year in Trans Ams and Formulas, though by then reduced to 220 (net) HP and only available with a 4 speed manual.  The late 60s were its glory days, and a buyer who wanted the hood scoops on his/her Firebird 400 to be truly operational could pay more for the Ram Air option.  As noted below, this changed the engine itself to some extent. 

Ram Air I (1967 and early 1968).   This option opened the hood scoops for true cold air induction.  However, the rest of the engine was pretty much the same as the standard 400.

Ram Air II (late 1968).  (Upper right picture).  WOW.   Pontiac finally made round port cylinder heads which well outflowed the stock D-port heads which were normally standard.   This made the car much faster than the standard 400, making the RAII models favorites at dragstrips – so much so that by now the original 110 run are down to a handful.  Properly tuned RAII models ran consistent mid-12 second quarter mile times at the dragstrip and were highly competitive, which explains their popularity. 

Ram Air III (1969).    Using Ram Air, but only D-port heads.   The entry level Ram Air engine in 1969.

Ram Air IV (1969).    Improved round port heads, the RAIV engine became the most popular 400 cubic inch Pontiac V8.   So much so that when Edelbrock finally came out with aluminum cylinder heads for Pontiacs, they used the Ram Air IV heads as the basis, even though the RAIV heads are actually cast iron. 

1969 Trans Am.  (Bottom left picture).  Nowadays the Trans Am is famous because of the 1977 Special Edition – the so-called “Bandit” Trans Am from Burt Reynolds and “Smokey and the Bandit”, but the model got its start at the end of the first generation.   By now the model has far eclipsed the race series in popularity, but back then the Trans Am races were still going strong.  They mandated the use of a car sold to the public with an engine no larger than 305 cubic inches, which prompted the Camaro Z/28 with its 302 cubic inch V8 (the Z28 option, mandating a hardtop – the only convertible owned by Chevrolet GM Pete Estes – and a four speed manual transmission), while the Camaro SS had a 350 or 396.   However, Pontiac’s experiment with smaller V8s didn’t pan out.  That didn’t stop them from paying SCCA for the right to use the name, and slapping it on a Firebird 400 with either a Ram Air III or Ram Air IV 400 cubic inch V8 – thus the model didn’t even qualify for the race it was named after.   The ’69 Trans Am came in one color, white, with a pair of blue stripes, a different hood, and a spoiler.  Essentially it was just an appearance package on a Firebird 400.   For 1970 and the second generation (1970-81) the Trans Am became a model of its own.   Of the 697 Trans Ams made in 1969, 8 (4 automatic, 4 manual) were convertibles, making them highly valuable.  

Idiosyncrasies.   Air conditioning was available but rare – the compressors were heavy and inefficient.  Skinny bias ply tires were standard back then, and even the best wheels, Rally II, were steel and not aluminum.  Power steering and power brakes were also options, not standard.  For that matter, front disc brakes weren’t even standard, so four wheel manual drum brakes were common – try stopping quickly with those.   The steering wheel was skinny, and the linkage further back, with no sway bars, so aside from the Trans Am, these early models didn’t handle very well.  Oh, and bench seats and column shifters were also available, though fortunately rare – though I did see a Firebird 400 – upgraded to a 428 – with those.  Even so, the bucket seats were little more than a slab. 

In fact, by the time I began actively searching for a ’67 or ’68 Firebird 400, I had my ’92 Firebird Formula 350, which had excellent seats, stellar handling, overdrive (TH700R4), power steering, and four wheel disc brakes – oh, and air conditioning.  Its Tune Port Injected (small block Chevy) 350 put out 300+ HP, net (not gross).  By every standard the ’92 was a much better car.  I may have been disappointed that my search failed, but getting back into the Formula was not nearly as disappointing as getting back into a Cavalier or Tercel would have been. 

My own?  I may have mentioned my trip to Detroit in October 1995 to buy a 1968 Firebird 400 hardtop, which failed.  The car was advertised in Hemmings, and the owner swore it was roadworthy and promised to meet us with it at the bus terminal in Detroit.  Thanks to an overnight bus trip from DC to Detroit, with a 3 a.m. stopover in Cleveland, my buddy Phil and I wound up by ourselves at the terminal, and the owner conveniently forgetting his promise.  We had to get a cab to the airport, then a rental car to his house near Flint.  There we found the car almost impossible to start with its ignition switch poking through the left knob hole where the radio would be.  We tried to locate a flatbed truck, to no avail, so we simply drove the rental car all the way back to Northern Virginia.  So much for that.

Over the years I’ve seen a few at car shows, parked on the streets, etc.   Someone in McLean had a ’67-68 convertible 400 in burgundy; in Falls Church a burgundy 400 hardtop; and in Alexandria a red 400 hardtop.  I test drove a 67 400 hardtop in gunmetal grey, and a 1968 400 convertible in white with a black interior.  Sadly, my budget precludes another, so I’ll hold onto the ’76 and upgrade its Olds 455 to Rocket standards.   Maybe someday… 

Deadpool

I checked my blogs and lo-and-behold!  I had never covered the eccentric and terminally humorous Marvel Comics superhero before.  Allow me to rectify this egregious oversight, effective immediately.

He started out as a supervillain in the comics, before eventually morphing into more of an anti-hero and getting his own comic, then his own movies.  Naturally I haven’t read any of these, except for a more recent compilation.  I’m not really motivated to read comics and prefer to enjoy the movie.  Actually, I do a lot of reading, it’s novels and stuff without pictures.  Anyhow.

The authors gave his original human alter ego the name Wade Wilson, apparently completely oblivious to the Minnesota Vikings quarterback from 1981-1991.  

DP 0: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009).   His first appearance, indeed portrayed even at this early hour by the one and only Ryan F’in’ Reynolds, was here.  He faces off against both Wolverine (Hugh Jack-Man) and his big brother Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) atop the cooling towers of Three Mile Island.   As my cousin Jimmy alerted me to the power plant’s location just south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, I stopped by there on my way back on my last visit to New Jersey.  The trio, as you might imagine, was long gone by that point.  And as those who bothered to watch all the way to the end of the credits know, he survived that encounter.  However, his next appearance seems to be a complete reboot – by popular demand, in fact. 

Deadpool (2016).   We get the “origin story”, so to speak.  Mainly he makes smart-ass remarks, kicks butt, and when his own ass is kicked he has to go into hiding and recuperate.  His healing powers are such that it’s almost impossible to kill him.  He often makes negative comments about Spiderman and Wolverine, though neither of these appear in the films with him (though I know there’s a Deadpool/Spiderman comic book).

He has a girlfriend, Vanessa, played by Morena Baccarin, who some might recognize from “Firefly”. Not only is she a brasileira (female Brazilian) but a carioca (someone from Rio de Janeiro); cariocas seem to be proud of that.  Having been to RJ itself five times I can say the pride is well justified, favelas notwithstanding.

Deadpool’s major deal during this film is trying to take down Ajax (Ed Skrein), the guy who “made him”, while brushing off Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, the B-list heroes assigned to recruit him into the X-Men.  Needless to say he triumphs over Ajax.  Oh, and there’s an Indian cab driver he befriends.  Overall a toxic dose of nonstop irreverent humor, which is good because too many of these superhero movies, particularly the DC Comics ones, have too little humor and take themselves too seriously.

Ironically, the movie made a huge killing in gross worldwide sales ($783 million) despite a relatively modest budget ($58 million), AND an unheard-of R rating for a superhero movie.  They really got their money’s worth from Reynolds.  Needless to say a sequel was going to happen.  And it did.     

Deadpool 2 (2018).  Now he has a nemesis to bump ugly against, Cable (Josh Brolin).   He’s befriended a particularly unhappy mutant, Collins/Firefist, and eventually sent to the Ice Box with him, a supersecure prison for mutants.  It seems that in the future, Firefist will kill Cable’s wife and daughter, so a time-travelling Cable comes back to prevent that or avenge the deaths.  More humor but with the requisite dose of action and adventure we’d expect from any of these films, which makes it that much more remarkable and enjoyable. 

As you might imagine, the sequel also killed, $734 million worldwide versus a budget of $110 million, still highly successful though not as profitable.  Lucky for us, Deadpool 3 will be forthcoming.  With Hugh Jackman retiring as Wolverine after Logan, the best we can hope for is Spiderman (Tom Holland) herein.  However, I think we can expect to be highly entertained.  Stay tuned.   

Burt Reynolds

Here I was, wondering what my topic would be, and sadly, it fell into my lap when the veteran actor passed away on September 6, 2018.

Florida State.  He played football for them in college but was injured, which ended his career.  Would he have pursued an NFL career had this not occurred?   Alternate history writers, get cooking.  You’ll have to figure out who will play Bandit in place of him.

The Deliverance (1972).  This camping trip gone wrong film is well known, but I never liked it that much.  Ned Beatty sodomized by Trump supporters is really not something we really need to see over and over again. 

The Longest Yard (1974).  He plays a football player who went to prison and organizes the inmates’ team to compete against the guards.  As his character had a notable scandal of throwing a game, the issue re-asserts itself when the warden cynically offers him a similar deal.  He also showed up in the remake with Adam Sandler miscast in his original role, Reynolds acting as the team’s coach.

Note: as seen above, both films predate his famous mustache. 

Smokey & The Bandit.   The 1977 Pontiac Trans Am Special Edition will forever be immortalized – to the extent a car can be described as such, not being mortal – by the movie and its sequel. 

He and Snowman (Jerry Reed) have to drive from Jawja to Texarkana, pick up 400 cases of Coors, and drive back in 28 hours.   Snowman drives the rig itself with his dog, Bandit drives a brand new Trans Am to draw off attention from Snowman – for the most part, successfully.  Remarkably, the westbound leg of their trip is completely uneventful.  But when Bandit picks up Carrie the Frog (Sally Field) by the road wearing a wedding dress, her scorned groom and would-be father-in-law, Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason) chases after him, well outside his jurisdiction – as the local authorities repeatedly point out to him.

Oddly, some have pointed out that the route back includes various weigh stations which Snowman would have had to stop at – and doesn’t.  But this is even stranger, since the very beginning of the movie shows a truck seized at such a station.  I suppose the only way to reconcile this is to note that Snowman has to avoid those stations to make the deadline and avoid inconvenient inspections.  But if it were this easy, it wouldn’t be a problem in the first place.  In any case, the beer gets where it’s supposed to go, and Snowman only pulled over once in the whole trip.    

The sequel features an elephant.  As such it was somewhat of a disappointment as the mercenary aspect went missing.   Then again, you’ve got a flotilla of Justice’s various comrades, including a Mountie well south of Canada, gives us an impressive climax.  The first film merits permanent Blu-Ray ownership, the second just a brief view on Netflix.  I’ve never even seen the third one which doesn’t even feature Reynolds himself, except in a brief bit.  Snowman takes the lead role in a third generation Trans Am, i.e. a chubby black & gold version of KITT, minus the talking computer.

   

Bandit T/A.  The funny thing is, an actual 1977 Special Edition has a 400 cubic inch Pontiac V8 putting out 220 horsepower.  That was my preference back in 1988, but by 1992 I’d acquired an actual Firebird (170 HP 5.0L V8) and soon learned the sad truth.  By the time the S/E came by in 1977, the power numbers were way down.  Were I to get a 70’s Trans Am, I’d avoid the ’77 S/E and get a 1974 Trans Am SD455 in dark blue.  Even so, there’s no denying that with its T-tops and CB radio, plus Carrie in the passenger seat, as featured in the first movie the S/E is an amazingly cool car. 

Not only that, up until then, the Firebird was pretty much a poor younger cousin to its Chevrolet F-body equivalent the Camaro.  But no Z/28 from 1970-81 (and they weren’t even sold in ‘75-‘76, as Chevrolet had dropped that particular version of the Camaro for those two years) comes close to the notoriety of the Trans Am.  It takes the ’69 Camaro to even get there, and who can name a major film or movie star giving the ’69 Camaro as much publicity as “Smokey and the Bandit” and Burt Reynolds did for the Trans Am?  Hell, that also applies to the ’82-92, ’93-02, and current Camaros.  There’s no Camaro equivalent of KITT, essentially a black-on-tan modified 1982 Trans Am.   The brilliant thing is that Reynolds’ character, the movie, and the car, were all equally awesome.  To his credit, Reynolds held on to many of those Trans Ams and never forgot his relationship with them.  Amen. 

More movies.  As you might imagine, those four movies weren’t his only ones, but I can’t say that I’ve seen them all.  The ones I have seen are Gator (1976), The End (1978) (somewhat cynical), Hooper (1978), Cannonball Run (1981) and its sequel (1984), Sharkey’s Machine (1981), Stroker Ace (1983) (about a NASCAR driver in some questionable endorsement deals because he didn’t bother to read the sponsorship contract), City Heat (1984) (with Clint Eastwood), Stick (1985), Striptease (1996) (premiere of the “HOT” Demi Moore), and Boogie Nights (1997).  He played himself on Archer, which often features Archer himself in mustache driving a ’77 Trans Am.  

Cosmo.  In 1972 he posed naked on a bearskin rug for Cosmopolitan magazine.  His arm was strategically placed and you can’t see his Mr. Johnson & the Juice Crew.  As a handsome guy with a nice body, it proved highly popular.  I’m not aware he did it again – let alone recently.  As yet Cosmo hasn’t asked me to do the same.

Sally Field (1977-82).   For the life of me I have no idea why his relationship with her fizzled out.  They seemed perfect for each other.  She remains a dazzling, beautiful and classy woman even today.  I seem to recall him recently expressing profound regret that he let her get away.

Loni Anderson (1988-1993).  This Loni is NOT from Shanghai, best known as the busty receptionist from WKRP in Cincinnati.  They were a visible couple during this time. 

COOL.  The #1 thing about Reynolds is his cool-ness.  Here’s a guy who was remarkably handsome and desirable, and as noted below, had some prime female companionship over the years.  But he always kept a sense of humor which was suitably self-deprecating.  I say the definition of cool is not being an arrogant bastard when you have every reason to be, and by that standard I’d say Reynolds clearly qualifies.