Summer is Officially Here

c5 rv · #1 (**permalink**) 05-23-09, 09:16 PM

Today was mostly sunny with highs in the upper 70s. The Allante was clean and the top went down. We went to supper where we could park outside the window and leave the top down. Then we stopped at DQ for dessert. The car ran great.

submariner409 · #2 (**permalink**) 05-23-09, 10:59 PM

"Summer" is not officially here until June 21 at 0145 AM EDT, at which time the Sun enters Cancer (The Crab), the Summer Solstice (from "Sol stices", literally "the sun stands still"), the most northerly declination of the Sun, 23.5 degrees above the equator.

.............from an old submarine navigator........

wcoates · #3 (**permalink**) 05-24-09, 07:40 AM

Greg

Yesterday was 80+F ( today it rains) and the sun was shining. New brakes worked like a charm. New wires, plugs etc had the baby running strong. Damn. I love these cars when the moon is in the 7th house and Jupiter aligns with Mars.......... Old Army medic says summer is here in Ohio (what do those Navy guys that drive Ford trucks know?). Have a great Memorial Day to all. Even those Navy guys that slept on clean sheets and ate the good food.

Summer officially ends Nov. 1 when the hardtop goes back on.

c5 rv · #4 (**permalink**) 05-24-09, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by submariner409

.............from an old submarine navigator........

Can you use a periscope to get a sextant reading?

submariner409 · #5 (**permalink**) 05-24-09, 01:47 PM

Believe it or not, yes. Several diesel boats and lots of nuclear boats had a gyro stabilized sextant in #2 scope. Printed out altitude,time,azimuth on thermal paper. Diesel boats......normally we just surfaced and shot evening and morning stars with a standard sextant - good for a smoke break, too. (Everybody smoked. Lucky Strikes, Chesterfields, or early Marlboro.)

The early ballistic missile boats had a Type 11 scope which was used for multiple, automatic star sights and also to "rotate under a star", a tedious system for checking gyro North. When you're shooting a bird 4,000 miles to a target, you want heading/azimuth dead on. 1 degree of arc at 1 nautical mile is an error of 100 feet. Figure out how close we were to drop a basketball into a swimming pool at 3,800 miles.

What the hell do ground pounders know about Ford trucks ?? Willys/Kaiser JEEPS.......

c5 rv · #6 (**permalink**) 05-24-09, 02:03 PM

I figured it was something like that. Even with all the satnav gear, a good mariner still should to be able to use the celestial navigation methods perfected over the past couple centuries.

submariner409 · #7 (**permalink**) 05-24-09, 02:10 PM

Well, not quite. I'm told that the latest fast attack and missile boats don't even carry Quartermasters (Navigator's assistants : assistants, my ass. We carried the load and made the Navigator look good.) They carry either trained Electronics Technicians or junior officers to punch "Save - Enter" buttons.

Wanna see what happens when you forget the art of navigation ??? Look. 600 feet down, enroute Guam to Australia. Seamount at >25 knots. Killed 2 and injured 30. No leaks into the pressure hull. Limped back to Guam under her own nuclear power. Do we build a tough sub or what ??? (The boat is back in the fleet........)

Google "uss san francisco crash".

billc83 · #8 (**permalink**) 05-25-09, 09:59 PM

Well, good weather is here, at least (even if it's not summer officially).

I drove the Allante from my home to Long Beach, WA to spend some time with the family over Memorial Day weekend. Between driving there, taking a cruise around the peninsula, and driving back, I added about 450 miles to the old machine. It is by far the longest trip I'd taken in it; everything ran perfect.

c5 rv · #9 (**permalink**) 09-14-09, 01:20 PM

Another beautiful top-down weekend around here Sep 12-13. High temps were in the upper 70s / lower 80s with no rain in sight. I didn't have to ask my wife twice if she wanted to go places in the Allante. Summer is hanging on - for now.

billc83 · #10 (**permalink**) 09-15-09, 02:04 PM

Seattle is reverting back to its typical rainy self. Today it seems like the weather will hold, so I'll go topless while I still have the chance.

A few weeks back I took the Allante around the Cascade Loop (~440 miles in Northern Washington). There's some beautiful scenery to be taken in, if you're not too acrophobic. On SR-20 (a.k.a. the North Cascades Highway), there's a lake tucked away with the most incredibly clean blue water I've seen.

wcoates · #11 (**permalink**) 09-16-09, 08:26 AM

The beautiful Seattle area, remember basic training at Fort Lewis Washington as if it was yesterday. Started Jan 5th,1970 and it rained every day but two. One day it snowed, one day the sun came out and I remember a break during range qualifying and turning to see the biggest most beautiful mountain close enough it seemed that you could touch it! Never saw it before 'cause of all the dreariness.

the thread below is another site and the gentlsman has an Allante in Finland. Below freezing F and still has top down! Anyone here drive year round in the North?

"Ok, today was the first time this autumn when the temperature was below 0 C in the morning. Temperature at the dark side of our house was -1 C and only +4 C on the sunny side. So it was time to test Allantes heating system top down, and I was not left wanting!
I left the to car warm about a minute after taking the cover off, set the temp to +32 (econ + low) and directed air down. My commute is about 50 k, I normally set the cruise somewhere between 128 - 138 km/h, settled for 127 this morning.
Turned out that I should've not worried, with the windows up and wearing a simple vest over business shirt and trusty Tilley, I was warm and cosy like sitting in front of the fire place! Mind you, I did move the seat forward for about an inch in order to get more air to my body.
So, it seems that I won't be putting the alloy top up just yet!
-J"

Canfield Ohio

Re: 1st cold morning - no problem!
Us guys (oh yeh Foxpaws also) will soon (November or so) put our babies to bed for the winter. After reading your mid September post, I think we must be sissies. What town in your country are you near? Describe your winter and do you drive the Allante year round?
Bill Coates

c5 rv · #12 (**permalink**) 09-16-09, 01:41 PM

A few weeks ago in late August, we had a chilly Saturday. Coming home from a friend's house, my wife looked like she was freezing. I had to stop and put the top up. It was the first time this summer we drove with the top up.

babylac89 · #13 (**permalink**) 10-03-09, 07:36 PM

It was 87 degrees today and will be in the upper 80's all next week, so the convertible top weather is still rules!!!

Chief

c5 rv · #14 (**permalink**) 10-04-09, 01:50 PM

It's rainy in the mid 50s this weekend. The weather is making me think about winter storage.

babylac89 · #15 (**permalink**) 10-05-09, 01:05 PM

I happened to be in both Ohio and Michigan many years ago during the Winter and all I can say is that "once is enough!" You have to have a special fortitude to deal with inclement weather and I don't possess it!

Chief