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Well, it's new to us anyway. I posted a question a number of months back in regards to fuel milage of pickup trucks. Our old truck had just gotten too long in the tooth to be using everyday, especially with the miles we rack up. We were seriously considering a four door pick up, but with a budget of $15,000 the choices were kinda slim. That plus most of the trucks suck gas pretty badly or rode rough or didn't offer any kind of leg room in the back, we opted for our other choice. That being a PT Cruiser. We had one on loan last year for three weeks and really loved it. This one is a 2001 and it cost us about $9,000. The original game plan was to fix up a small trailer to tow behind it but we nixed that because of the manuverability hassle. Magoo mentioned on my gas milage post how he used an air tight box in a Suburban. So I built one out of birch plywood, smoothed all the screwholes and seams with bondo and painted it the same silver as the car. It looks like it sticks out in the photos but the hatch closes with room to spare. It's mounted on six inch legs to get the work platform at a comfortable height ( Denise's idea ) The inside is finished in a spray on truck bed liner. The door/work platform has a piece of plexiglass mounted to it for easy clean up ( also Denise's idea ). It holds just about everything the truck held with the exception of a ladder, which we never use and One Shot, which only gets used two or three times a year. The box unloads out of the back of the car in a minute, you have to remove the paint kit and two gallon cans to make it light enough to lift but it's no biggie.
After years of in your face graphics we went the super subtle route this time. I had great difficulty photographing the striping as we don't have a digital and the colors we used are sooooooooooo subtle. It looks like it's a one color design but it's actually two, a pewter like silver ( silver with a little black added ) and a light metallic violet ( silver with a little purple added ) In certain light the striping is damn near invisible, then as you walk around the car it comes to life. I made patterns for the hood and the deck as it's pretty hot in these parts and stabillo's ( Staedlers actually ) are kinda messy right now . The rest we just winged. Finesse was used for the doubles around the car. The lettering was vinyl in a silver that matches the car. I did the hood and the doors, Denise did the deck and the C pillars. I might mention, Denise never saw a sword striper til about a year ago.
Oh yea, I forgot to mention, the box fits behind the back seat.
[ June 20, 2005, 04:45 PM: Message edited by: George Perkins ]
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
posted
Damnit, George... Now Dana wants me to finish ours. Thanks alot, Pal. I owe you.
BTW... your's looks bitchin'!
-------------------- Bruce Bowers
DrCAS Custom Lettering and Design Saint Cloud, Minnesota
"Things work out best for the people who make the best of the way things work out." - Art Linkletter Posts: 6451 | From: Saint Cloud, Minnesota | Registered: Jun 1999
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9 grand for a pt cruiser thats a great price(i know its us dollars. New pt cruisers in oz start at 30,000 australian. The striping looks slick though.
-------------------- Mark Stokes Mark Stokes Signs Mount Barker South Australia Posts: 388 | From: Mount Barker | Registered: Jan 2005
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I can attest to the fuel consumption. We just got a 2005 Chevrolet 2500HD 4 door 4X4. The onboard computer says that we are getting about 16MPG, hard to belive. With gas at about $2.19 a gallon, it's a hard pill to swallow at the pumps when it's time to fill 'er up.
-------------------- Mike Berry New England Posts: 534 | From: New England | Registered: Jan 2002
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Damn nice George, striping looks killer, love the looseness. Have to imagine colors, but from experience, I got a fair idea of it's quality's. Nice choice, I too, practice subtlity(is that a word?) It sure looks good in my mind...
That box is a great idea huh? sure love mine...scotty's more amiable when not sniffing fumes...plus my gear is out of the public's eye...
-------------------- Frank Magoo, Magoo's-Las Vegas; fmagoo@netzero.com "the only easy day was yesterday" Posts: 2365 | From: Las Vegas, Nv. | Registered: Jun 2003
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I always knew I liked ya for a reason! Looks awesome! Too bad you won't be up for the big Cruise the Falls in Niagara Falls, Ontario this weekend... almost 440 PT Cruisers are registered, and they're expecting another 100-200 just showing up.
Heck, if'n ya wanna make a road trip this weekend... you guys have a place to stay!! Just make sure you have everything you need (and leave at home the stuff you don't!) to cross the border!
So... did ya save the FOR SALE sign and use it in your truck again? It seemed to draw responses the last time...
-------------------- Dana Ferry St Cloud, MN Posts: 1556 | From: St Cloud, MN | Registered: May 1999
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Does that box have matching stripes too? It looks like it. I like how everything is understated. Nice job, very impressive. Love....Jill
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Looks great, George. Great idea with the box.
I'm going to have to retire my "92 Silverado" some time soon. It doesn't get used much, because most of my work has gone indoors these days, but when I need it, I need it.
-------------------- Bill Diaz Diaz Sign Art Pontiac IL www.diazsignart.com Posts: 2107 | From: Pontiac, IL | Registered: Dec 2001
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Jill, yes the box has matching stripes. Kind of a waste as they are hidden when the hatch is closed and when the hatch is open, the box door is down.
Suelynn, the only thing I ever had to show Denise was how to roll the brush when navigating curves. She has picked up everything on her own. She has developed a couple of styles of her own as well as matching my style. She has also gotten very good at matching colors when doing body shop repair.
Jackie, our milage has ranged from 25 mpg to 31mpg. These are small cars with four cylinders (2.4L) but they are also pretty heavy for thier size 3000-3200 lbs. The engines have very little torque and the power doesn't come on til over 4000 rpm. I've found the best milage is obtained by being real gentle with the gas pedal and not being aggressive, I mean it's not gonna go a whole lot faster if you "mat it" I try and keep it to where it shifts at 2500 rpm
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
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Top knotch subtltety there George & Denise! Very classy! Judy
-------------------- Judy Pate Signs By Judy Albany, Georgia USA 229-435-6824
Live simply...Love generously...Care deeply...Speak kindly...Leave the rest to God. Posts: 2621 | From: Albany,GA,USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Cool striping george love the colour combo and style. P/T's are very popular over here in the uk.You guys over there are lucky when it comes to gas,Just to put things into perspective here in the uk we pay nearly £4 per gallon thats about $7 at todays exchange rate. I run a Dodge ram 250 day van 318ci and have just bought a Damon Intruder RV with a 454ci chevy in it. At 8/9 to the gallon I'm going to have to sell a lot more signs to go away weekends
-------------------- Paul Priestley Signworx South Yorkshire England paulpriestley@blueyonder.co.uk
never too old to learn Posts: 66 | From: uk | Registered: Nov 2003
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Diesel here just hit $1.16 per litre, glad the VW tdi doesn't burn much, things can only get worse. Oil at $60 usd/barrell and I think we'll see $80 before we see $40 again.
-------------------- Mike O'Neill
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value. - Arthur C. Clarke
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we have never gotten close to 30 MPG out of our Cruiser. I think the performance is just ahead of a slug but when you look cool going slow, hey, it's the price you pay for profiling.
-------------------- Bruce Bowers
DrCAS Custom Lettering and Design Saint Cloud, Minnesota
"Things work out best for the people who make the best of the way things work out." - Art Linkletter Posts: 6451 | From: Saint Cloud, Minnesota | Registered: Jun 1999
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George, my truck has a 2.3L and is about the same weight as the PT so I feel your pain about "sluggin" it... but it gets you around town so that's all that matters. Jon Butterworth in OZ says Chrysler is putting a 6 cylinder in the PT's down there now so they can get out of their own way.
Looks good though and too bad you didn't make it to the show in Ontario, I had a few customers that took their PT's up there. Ironically, they had all chosen the same graphics kit but each one had different treatments to customize them.
PT People are fanatic about personalizing their rides.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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Mike - $1.16 a liter for diesel?? Pricing is screwy these days when they can sell diesel/stove oil for more than the refined gasoline blends. Reg unleaded in Halifax is 99.9 cents a liter and I saw premium for $1.10/l at an Esso station earlier tonight.
They claim they aren't making any money yet the big-name gas stations have all spent money changing their 3 digit price signs to flashy new 4 digit LED ones around here. We're getting screwed big time.
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We had fun at Cruise the Falls. It's amazing how 500+ people can start with basically the same car... and everyone ends up with something totally different!
There was some REALLY cool striping and airbrushing, especially on some PTs from CA. The pinstriper from OH, Matt, did some really nice stuff and was swamped all weekend. The PT he did for his Dad had some really nice varigated leaf striping and scrollwork. (Too bad that stuff doesn't last long enough!)
I still don't have a CLUE how you can consistantly get that kind of mileage with it, George. Hopefully, there'll be a Cruise the Falls 6 (or something like it!) up around here next year... and we can talk when you guys get here...
-------------------- Dana Ferry St Cloud, MN Posts: 1556 | From: St Cloud, MN | Registered: May 1999
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