The Kind Of Rolling Coal We Support Around Here: COTD

Some of the folks who own modified diesel trucks tune them in such a way that they just dump loads of unburned fuel and smoke into the atmosphere. Aside from more or less turning money into smoke, some of the people who do this then dump those smoke clouds on cyclists, pedestrians, and green cars.

We don’t like that kind of rolling coal around here. Today, Thomas wrote a Morning Dump talking about how car repairs can get more expensive because of tariffs. Readers expressed additional concerns about environmental policy rollbacks, but Der Foo got me with this:

Once coal comes back I hope we will see the return of the great steam locomotive engines. Nothing rolls coal like a Union Pacific 4-8-8-4. Suck on that Cummins Boys!

Oh yeah, that’s the kind of rolling coal I can get behind! Yes, I nominated that comment partly as an excuse to post train pictures.

Anyway, ADDvanced pointed out something interesting. Many junkyards have moved away from the “pick-n-pull” model, which is sad:

There’s another thing that really sucks about wrenching a being a gearhead today; almost ALL of the junkyards I grew up going to, no longer allow people to walk the yard and pull parts “FoR InSuRaNcE ReAsOnS”. This is a problem for a lot of reasons; first off, I loved walking the yard and learning about other vehicles that I didn’t own; did you know Merkur Scorpios have a turkey baster thing under the seat that INFLATES the bolsters?! Me neither. Til a junkyard.

But pulling parts yourself is AWESOME, because you can grab tiny little parts that yards simply won’t pull. I had a relay go out in my Astro van, located in the spare jack tool area, that lets the rear hatch function. Called all sorts of yards, nobody would even go out and look for the tiny little relay. Had to resort to a facebook group. Also, finding parts off OTHER cars is way harder; I wouldn’t know the lip spoiler on a Mk3 VR6 Golf would fit an EF Honda, or prelude seats would bolt into a civic, etc. This ruins creativity and hurts the builds of so many potential combinations.

The lack of real junkyards you can go exploring, find parts, and dream up cool mods is a HUGE loss, and most of the yards changed their tune during Covid, and never changed it back. It’s hugely shitty and nobody is talking about it.

Thankfully, not every junkyard is like this. I can still go to pick-n-pull yards where I live, but I have noticed that some yards don’t do it anymore.

This morning, Jason gave us a Cold Start showing some sort of creature called a nauga in ads. Apparently, that’s where Naugahyde comes from. Anyway, Drunken Master Paul says:

The reason it isn’t used today is that nobody knows where the naugahide.

*sips coffee.

Finally, Thomas wrote about a bizarre BMW emergency tire inflator that sticks to your car’s wheels as you drive. Some of you are still sore about BMW’s other bad ideas. I don’t hate manual transmissions: