I picked that place under time pressure...figuring all could find it... but you had said something about ' Chinese food ' and I kept waiting for someone who knew some other place to go to speak up.... but clearly your brain was fried from your proving that AC did not have to be used in Austin Texas on a fine June day....

It was nice to see y'all. I have to admit that Randy's 115 looks really cool. It is really too bad that I wasn't able to drive my SD, on account of very untimely car trouble (to be described in a separate thread). I agree that for the next GTG we'll need to arrange for an environment that's more advanced than a parking lot (although standing around leaning against a Border Patrol cruiser has that cool side to it). This was a very nice meeting nevertheless.

As it happens, I just proved myself last Sat that driving in Austin, in the summer, in the middle of the day, with AC off, can indeed be done. It is painful, to be sure. Here's how it's done: replace the monovalve insert, screw it up by forgetting to put in the large metal washer that goes below the metal coil casing, realize that several miles away from your house, and voila, here you are driving with climate control off. Last night the weather was actually relatively cool, last Sat around 2pm it was HOT. The crappy thermometer (that I use to measure vent temperature when troubleshooting my warm AC) in my car hit 120F and would have kept on going had there been more room on the scale.

But you did not prove it ON PURPOSE... Just to make a point.... Randy has officially lost his mind....

No one said " lets leave here".... so I stayed....

I picked that parking lot partly because at the last get together one of our members said he was associated in some way with that Bingo Hall.... Thought he might be at the meeting... Randy needs to check his notes and see who that was.... He had a nice car....

Rurik,
The place I was describing for head work was...

Elliot Brooks - Cylinder Heads
2311 Thornton Rd # P
Austin, TX 78704
Phone: (512) 442-5454

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

So you guys met in the middle of the parking lot and did what? Oh well, at least there was shade...........

__________________
1984 300SD 326,997 miles and counting . . . No wait, my odometer is still dead

Only Mike and myself had good suntans.... so I thought we should meet in the middle of the parking lot to increase the Vitamin D available to these white faced computer geeks....

............bahhhh...........that GTG was nowhere near comparable to our NE/Mid Atlantic GTG held at Bill Murrow's house. 17 M/B lined up in a row............ pristine surroundings.................. a barebecue with excellent food.............cold beer.............. perfect weather.............a local drive around the Maryland countryside.

................yeah...........unlike some GTG's we had a fully functional bathroom.

............and nobody had the temerity to show up in a Honda.

At the gtg we did learn that one of our members is going to drop 38 grand on a lawn mower.

Big or small, it was fun meeting up with fellow mb nuts and shooting the breeze.

__________________
Anders

1995 E300
2015 VW TDI Sportwagen 15K
1977 240D (197K)
2002 Subaru Legacy L Wagon (115k) (Wife's)
Gone but not forgotten:
2005 Buick LeSabre
1998 C230
1984 300D
1983 240D
1981 300SD
1974 240D
1974 Fiat 124 Spider
1968 Triumph TR250

.............well, when you have over 200 acres of land, I suppose it's a necessity.

Rampant speculation.

Actually, this is more in my budget:

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Randy,

If you had any class at all you would come to S. Tx. and rent my 115/300d for the occasion and arrive in real style.

Looks like it was absconded from Greg's place.








..........whoops.........nah..........that machine is way too modern.

Actually, Greg has a nice ol' Ford 5000 that I'd take in heartbeat. That IHC in the pic is a '58 model and is a pretty decent tractor...power steering, etc.

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

It was great seeing Randy and Greg again, and great to meet a few new folks. For a heat index of 102* it was very nice out, didn't feel a degree over 90 to me.

I'd completely forgot about that Chinese restaurant until I was leaving, in hindsight we probably should have moved inside for grub. I woke up a tad hungry this morning, especially since I only had a lunch yesterday.

Hope I get to come down to the Austin match every year so we can make this an annual thing to compete with Suginami's annual visit.GTG in Dallas. It was another looong day on the range, just finished cleaning the guns and now it is time to hit the shower and grab some eats (can't go another day on short grub ). Ill be back later.

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

"Select O Speed" ??

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John