back and making Jet-Hot trouble

["Luke M. Kowalski" <interfaces@domain.elided>]

Greetings Alfisti,

Just got back from a two week hiatus in Europe. I
could not get an Alfa in Nice, and had to settle for a
Renault Laguna Diesel, the European equivalent of an
Olds Cutlass. It was punished for being such a
mediocre machine when it was lightly hit during a
parking mishap. My uncle and my wife all contributed
to concealing the damage by dismantling, bending, and
washing the damaged trim. Parking it with the
scratched bits against the parking lot wall helped,
too. This was a good thing, because I declined the
insurance coverage since I paid for the rental with my
Platinum MasterCard. Upon returning, I read in the
travel section of my paper that most credit card plans
do not cover car rental insurance in Italy, most since
93!. Nor do they cover SUVs in the US. Hmmmm....Check
the fine print, unless you want to pay oout of your
regular policy.

There were lots of 156s and 166s on the roads of
France and Italy, with the silver 2.0 TSpark 156 being
my favorite. Not one V6, on account of the extra
taxation, I suppose. We visited the Alfa dealer, who
feeling sorry for us Americans gave us a few 156 TC
postcards, a 166 Majorette model, and even a 156 color
puzzle (b-in-law's baby got that one, could not pry it
away from his little clutched fists...).
I spotted the new Maserati. In Monte Carlo, of course.
There were the cool new Vespas, hideous Fiat
Multiplas, and lots of examples of my small car
favorite, the Lancia Y. In two weeks, I have not
spotted a single GTV6 or an Alfetta, plenty of
Spiders, 164s, 145s, 146s, etc. These all seemed to
have ended up in Holland, I guess. In addition to
pgling cars, I ate lots of Italian pastries and now
have a hard time fitting in the Spider seat. Where is
that cabbage diet manual?

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I just sent my used and cruddy exhaust manifold (from
a 74 Spider) to Jet-Hot (http://www.jet-hot.com). They
promise to cover the interior and the exterior with
nice ceramic silver coating for a mere (ahem) $95. It
is supposed to keep the heat in, allowing the hotter
gases to flow more quickly over a smoother surface,
and reduce the temp. in the engine bay by about 25
percent, or so they say. I will report back once I
install it. If nothing else, the underhood aesthetics
will improve. I am doing this because I am throwing
out my Shankle header, as it is banged up, and does
not serve the predominantly street car as well as the
stock setup.

thx
luke, San Mateo, CA

74 Spider, 82 GTV6, 95 164LS, 99 Audi A6Q


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Luke Kowalski-(Interface, Visual, and Usability Engineering)
http://www.UseThat.com
_____________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com

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