LocostUSA.com

Yo Dave-
Just move to Tallahassee, the Center of the Universe, and live happily ever after.
We got the mosquitos in Canada beat, ours would eat theirs just to warm up before a real dinner.
We got lakes, oceans, bays, ponds, rivers, creeks, swamps, marshes, bogs, and most every kind of fish in 'em. Just don't try to take a fish away from a gator.
Our healthcare is just as bad as everybody else's.
It gets warm and humid here... In the winter time. Rest of the time it's hot and humid. Enjoy.
Leave my goats out of this, they're innocent. Except for that one with the cute ears...

Come on down! (Over? Up? Across? Whatever...)

JDK

Hmmm. Canadians are also polite so I'll leave it there.

Bill

Who's is the wickedly cool fiat bill ??

hey mate ..as i dont have a dog in the fight i will keep my 2 cents worth to myself.Ive been here for 8.5 years,before that i lived in england ..nz,aus,usa and england are really similar in alot of ways,put it this way..you wont get off the plane in any of those countrys and it be a colture shock,basically your going to look around and say..aah same poop different scoop.This place is big,so is aussie..if you have been to aussie ,its alot like here.The weather here is like this..the west coast is like most of nzs weather,then you go east to arizona where its just plain stupid hot..me and the wife have been talking about moving to san diego..then as you keep moving east up goes the level of humidity,and snow in the winter..i personally havent lived in a place that snows so i have made up my mind im not interested.If you like pies,fish and chips..well good fish and chips,l&p lamingtons,ok anything from the bakery then dont expect it here..its all machine made and you will be quickly dissapointed!..but if you like mexican food your in luck because its actually one of the 3 main food groups here,pizza,mexican and hamburgers are your staple diet washed down with bad beer,or corona if your chomping on a burrito.Its a fantastic place if your into cars..the americans love to show them off..every weekend there is some sort of car show.You will never be bored here..ever..because there is really an endless supply of things to do and getting around is cheap,ive got freinds coming over in a couple of weeks from nz and we are meeting them in vegas..for $250 myself and my wife can fly return ..why drive? .I could waffle on all night about the goods and bads but like i said ,here is so similar in so many ways to nz its probably more of a preference where you want to live.
wayne-o

The avatar is a photo that I pulled off the net as I've never been able to get a shot of mine with the wheel in the air. Mine is a 1959 Fiat Abarth 850 and I've had it since 1973. I'm currently doing my second rebuild on it, not because it gets a lot of use anymore but seals deteriorate when it's just sitting in the hanger. It is a fun car. 946c pushrod that turns 9000 rpm (although I seldom rev it that high anymore....too expensive to rebuild and I've only got one spare motor). The one below is mine with me in it.

Thanks for the rundown wayne-o that kinds puts things in perspective..was lookin at property
up around JD's (Gonzo's) way looks like a nice area ..Im thinkn of planning a holiday to the states so im gonna check out a few place's

CHEERS Kiwi DAVE

That car is awesome Bill..did ya get that PM i sent you ? you may have seen it before its been well raced here in nz should bring yours over for Targa nz .......http://www.targa.co.nz/

Could hardly let this discussion die with out my own 2 cents worth and wayne-o has probably hit it on the head. Basically the grass is always greener over the fence and some people spend a lifetime wandering all over the place looking for their Shangrila but when it really boils down it is the people that you associate with that make a difference and, guess what, those people are in the very place where you live. I have travelled and lived in England & Aussie as well as spending time in the US, Europe and Carribean and have seen some fantastic sights but most of them are forgotten, however the people that we formed friendships with and the good times we have had remain fond memories. By now you will have guessed that I am a very proud Kiwi and do not want to go live in the USA or Aussie or anywhere else for that matter. Now I am not saying that I don't like any of those other places it is just that I am prepared to practise what I preach. I expect you people to be equally proud of your own countries and I know that you are. Some Kiwis, I think, feal ashamed of their own country and I am not sure why but one thing is that we are constantly being ridiculed for our shortcomings by the news media etc instead of being praised for strengths and we do have some. Lets start with the sporting stage. Currently at the Olympics we have 3 golds and the US 34, for us thats 1 gold per 1.5 million people approx and the US 1 per 9.2 .World yachting and in particular the Americas cup is well represented by our people in fact one of our own took the cup from us. The power of the Cheque book won. If you play Rugby then the place you go to learn is NZ, most of the other teams around the world will have an NZ connection. Jet boating was invented here, bungy jumping, screw caps on wine bottles. We are often the testing ground for new technology and were one of the first places with EFT POS. We were the first to give women the vote, climb Mt Everest, and a Kiwi split the At-om. Equally we stood our ground with an anti nuclear policy. The list goes on but with only 4.4 mil people our backs are always going to be up against the wall. Dave! wake up man, by all means go for a visit you will love it, but equally you will like to get back home. Finally I am going to defend our rules regarding building these cars, sure there is a bit of red tape but they are written with common sense and the result is we have relatively safe cars on the road, they do not appear to be as tough as Aussie nor the UK. I could rant on but won't. (I can hear the sigh of relief from here)
KIWI Bruce

Well said nisseven.... my sentiments exactly......

'oh....sorry.....scuse me.....sorry.....oh, did i say sorry.....'

What ...you dont think i know all that stuff..im 55 years old man ive paid a crap load of tax over the years..im a successful business owner i dont need other people telling me what i can and cant do..i think the car build regs here are utter [Baloney] a money spinner for a select few people nothing to do with safety...i dont care what other people think..thats my view ..end of story live with it

3 tracks within 2 hours? I have to travel 2 hours just to get to the nearest one and I'm at the southern end of California Car World. No whining, Dave. Spank, spank, spank.



Now, that's better, Dave. Think of this interim period as building up your future funding for that race car building enterprise. And anyway, aren't you Kiwis supposed to be the 3rd happiest nation on earth or something like that? That's what our press keeps telling us, anyway. Remember, the best revenge is to live well and be happy.

Cheers,

Totally cool little Abarth, Bill. My suggestion is that you immediately find a way to work that little gem into a retro-based ad similar to what those very clever Fiat folks are rolling out across the USA (Canada too?) starring this homely young lady:

Fiat Abarth ad in USA ==> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siWVgAzhFC8

Apologies to you, Dave, for hijacking your build thread. However, I knew you would enjoy it too. Insist on the same cast, Bill.

Cheers,

Lonnie

No sweat Lonnie ..you can hijack whenever you like..i also found this kiwi fiat 600 race car

http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~malsim/projects_6.htm

loved the fiat Abarth add..but was there really a car in that add ..all i seem to remember was
a very pretty young lady

I think it's worse than that, self appointed, self justifiers who feel the need to keep saving us from ourselves.

I am so glad I live somewhere that I can breathe.




Bogans.



Bastards.




Bill, awesome! Always been a favorite since I got my first "World Cars 1974, Automobile Club d'Italia" book (and a few editions/years after as well). Extensive Abarth models and specs in it.

I got the same book back then, its still on my shelf. Although the thing that got me hooked on the 600 based abarths was seeing a 1968 Berlina Corsa (as I learned later on) running between stop lights one afternoon right with a late 60's 383ci Road Runner. The Abarth stayed right with the Road Runner all the way down one of the main streets of the city. The sound took my breath away, the roar of the Road Runner and the nasty, angry high revving scream of the Abarth....man, I get goose bumps now as I relive the 4 or 5 minutes that I was able to watch them. I fell in love that day and had to have an Abarth. Had a similar epiphany a few years later driving a friend's Series 1 Lotus 7 but I've never fulfilled that desire....until now, with a Fiat powered Locost in the works.

Now back to building a Locost down under.....Thanks for loaning us your thread Dave!