You heard it here first.. URBANIZING...... the act of modifying your car so it can excel in extreme urban driving conditions, in my case Hamilton.
Background
My brother-in-law is now residing in a retirement building deep in the heart of downtown Hamilton. Due to this I often find myself driving on those "streets" and have made the following observations.
1) Most everything is falling apart. It used to be the heavily travelled arterial roads but now it's everything, main streets, side streets, parking lots and peoples judgment.
2) This winter has been so bad that where a concrete roadbase is in place they are shifting, creating 1 1/2" vertical faces that clunk the hell out of your car when you hit them.
3) Roadway around manholes badly patched, or patched with concrete or even worse sticking above the pavement.
4) Lanes nearest the sidewalk being terribly uneven and bumpy. I take the posted speed limit, divide it by two and that's about the fastest you can safely drive while keeping all four wheels on the ground.
5) Nobody cares about walk signs, red lights or using signals, even worse if they are driving a scooter. Attitude is everything.
All in all it's a nightmare to drive downtown,. As much as I would prefer to drive through the always sunny meadows of Ancaster where the only problem is hordes of financial advisors driving badly in their BMWs.. well that's sadly not possible, I have to go downtown.
What to do?
Only one option, it's time to Urbanize the old C5.
Gone are the 305s, replace the 19" wheels with 14" and very skinny tall sidewall tires, that should help cushion the ride. Along the same line I'll replace the coilovers with 78 Oldsmobile suspension (used of course), that should also provide comfort similar to my couch at home.
A 6" lift kit can be adapted from a 4x4 truck to allow me to easily roll over the misaligned manhole covers. Pedestrians and scooter people will be handled by massive rubber bumpers (think what you hang off the side of the dock) that will be glued to the front end.
A faux handicapped parking sticker stapled on the dash will ensure that all parking options are available to me to me.
Manny gave me a good price, and said it can be back in my hands by April 1st. He also promised me a 35% discount if I promise not to bring the car to the Coping Event.
It shall be done, and I'm sure this will be the best summer ever!
it has been a long winter.....
Background
My brother-in-law is now residing in a retirement building deep in the heart of downtown Hamilton. Due to this I often find myself driving on those "streets" and have made the following observations.
1) Most everything is falling apart. It used to be the heavily travelled arterial roads but now it's everything, main streets, side streets, parking lots and peoples judgment.
2) This winter has been so bad that where a concrete roadbase is in place they are shifting, creating 1 1/2" vertical faces that clunk the hell out of your car when you hit them.
3) Roadway around manholes badly patched, or patched with concrete or even worse sticking above the pavement.
4) Lanes nearest the sidewalk being terribly uneven and bumpy. I take the posted speed limit, divide it by two and that's about the fastest you can safely drive while keeping all four wheels on the ground.
5) Nobody cares about walk signs, red lights or using signals, even worse if they are driving a scooter. Attitude is everything.
All in all it's a nightmare to drive downtown,. As much as I would prefer to drive through the always sunny meadows of Ancaster where the only problem is hordes of financial advisors driving badly in their BMWs.. well that's sadly not possible, I have to go downtown.
What to do?
Only one option, it's time to Urbanize the old C5.
Gone are the 305s, replace the 19" wheels with 14" and very skinny tall sidewall tires, that should help cushion the ride. Along the same line I'll replace the coilovers with 78 Oldsmobile suspension (used of course), that should also provide comfort similar to my couch at home.
A 6" lift kit can be adapted from a 4x4 truck to allow me to easily roll over the misaligned manhole covers. Pedestrians and scooter people will be handled by massive rubber bumpers (think what you hang off the side of the dock) that will be glued to the front end.
A faux handicapped parking sticker stapled on the dash will ensure that all parking options are available to me to me.
Manny gave me a good price, and said it can be back in my hands by April 1st. He also promised me a 35% discount if I promise not to bring the car to the Coping Event.
It shall be done, and I'm sure this will be the best summer ever!
it has been a long winter.....
