Come See The Changli And That I’m Still Alive At Our NC Reader Meetup!

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You know what I haven’t done since my aorta explosion and surgery and recovery and all this mess? Seen readers, in person! That’s what I’ve been needing! No more fistfuls of Dilaudid and podcasts about erotic utopian communities of the 1800s, what I really need is some intense, quality time with Autopians! That’s where the healing happens! With that in mind, and with the knowledge that David Tracy should be in town with is $500 minivan and our own Stephen Walter Gossin will be here with some rescued heap, it only makes sense that we have our first North Carolina Autopian Reader Meetup! I’ll bring the Changli!

Like all Autopian reader meetups, we’re doing hardly any planning and not exactly getting permission from, well, anyone, but I’m pretty sure this location will work. I hope it does, because it’s the only one I can think of that’s in easy Changli-driving distance. It’s a gravel parking lot just across from a Chapel Hill, NC icon, Merrit’s Grill, which makes sublime BLTs. But we’re doing it this coming Sunday, so Merrit’s will be closed, which is why I’m hopeful that parking lot will be free. Let’s say be there at noon!

Ncmeetuplocation

This will also be the first Autopian Meetup with the legendary Changli, and I think if we want to let readers take it for some laps around the lot, have at it! Life is for the living! Yes, the wires are still too small a diameter, so by reading this you’re waiving your right to complain if they get a little hot. You’ll be fine!

Changli Dorks

This is going to be great! After everything I’ve been through the past month or so, I feel like I have a lot of thanks to give to our readers, so, please, come out, say hello, see the Changli and maybe the Pao, maybe the $500 steaming pile of a Toyota minivan David is bringing, and maybe Stephen’s $220 Dodge Stratus. That’s a dazzling collection of heaps!

So, if you’re anywhere near Chapel Hill, NC this coming Sunday at noon, stop by and say hello! I’ll even show you my gross scar!

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Mercedes Streeter

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114 thoughts on “Come See The Changli And That I’m Still Alive At Our NC Reader Meetup!”

  1. Oh, I wish I could! 🙂 but I’m 4.000 miles away 🙁

    BTW: I found out that 1968+ Beetle headlights fits sorta OK on the Figaro. I had to swap my OG ones out for inspection (as the light in them went to the Japanese side..)
    Maybe a pair of those will go on the Pao as well? Just an idea for getting you back on the road a little faster with that one by just cutting a few corners. Which is what we Autopians do, right? 😉

    (Of course I refitted the old ones right after inspection, for maximum originality, and just adjusted them down to not blind other drivers like 98% of all Teslas do, I don’t drive at night very often anyway)

  3. its 134 miles to Chapel Hill, I’ve got a high-mileage BMW, hard old performance tires (it’ll be cold)—and no sunglasses.

    sounds like a rather good bad idea

  4. I was hoping to get a chance to meet David again near St. Louis, but he’s on a bit of a time crunch and the opportunity for him to get any free time probably didn’t present itself.

    Add to that my electric trike is once again inside for repairs, this time due to melted wiring/connectors and a need to reprogram the controller to scale back the phase current, thus leaving me with only the unmotorized Milan SL once again. His hotel was about 40 miles from me, which isn’t happening when I get out of work at 6 pm or later since it would take me about 1.5-2 hours each way to get there in the Milan.

  5. The Changli will be there just in case Torch needs a jump start to his heart. 12V might not be enough to keep the ol’ ticker running, 60V might do it. Remember, jumper cables are not nipple clamps, unless you reallyyyyyyy need to push those electrons!

  6. Going to try to make this, as I live less than 10 minutes from there. But a 4 year old and a 4 month old makes it difficult to plan anything with less than a month of advanced notice.

  7. OK, I’m in. But what to drive/ride… Too cold for the BMW R100, and its kinda leaking some oil. That leaves either the lifted Lexus GX470 with 300K miles or the 997 Turbo with 120K Miles which is also leaking, but I think its power steering fluiod, so that doesnt count right? What do y’all think?

  8. Sounds like the mending is going faster than any car in your esteemed fleet, wonderful news! Glad to be able to join the large chorus of well wishes and hoorays.

  9. You know that someone is going to show up with the correct wire and terminations to make the ChangLi safe, right?

    (One of you should really do this. 8AWG and glue lined double-wall shrinky please.)

      1. Many good vibes if you do this good deed. 3/8″ will do. Wire should technically be 6AWG, but 8 will almost certainly do unless he drives up a hill fully loaded for 20 minutes on a hot day with the sun shining on the wires.

        1. The Autopian lawyers would like to express their gratitude for your contributions to Reader Meetup Health & Safety.

          As I’m sure you’ll understand of course, for legal reasons they are unable to do so.

  10. I know I aorta be there, and I’d be pumped to circulate with fellow Autopians, but I just don’t have the heart to drive 3500 miles round trip.

    I expect lots of pics and a good writeup, though. Have fun everybody!

      1. “You’re so vein.”
        Yeah, I probably think this post is about me.

        I was just happy to be able to draw first blood. I’m usually just a beat behind and miss the opportunity.

    3. About five-ish hours each way for me, and it ain’t like I have to show up for work the next day. But lacking a working car or valid license at the moment does present a roadblock.

  13. I was gonna say ‘cmon man there are many larger parking lots around here we could use’ then I realized the Changli’s range in 30 something degree weather is a real limiter. Maybe you can fit it in the back of the Sienna with the seats down?

  14. Here was my internal conversation in my head on getting 2hrs up I-40 at 75mph with a trunk full of tools…and then back to The Cape Fear again:

    Should I take the:

    -Buick Park Ave: fusebox was rained in; won’t start, needs 3800 Supercharged wiring diagram and prayers
    -’08 Nitro R/T: Blown engine
    -’93 New Yorker: in the paint shop
    -’94 LeBaron: in the upholstery shop
    -’13 300C: brother is borrowing it in Nashville
    -’02 Jag XK8: leaking coolant, leaking exhaust, leaking oil, etc.
    -’07 XK: top won’t latch; quarter window won’t roll up
    -’05 CrossFire: blocked in garage by extra Nitro engine
    -’04 Durango: bad tires
    -’95 Trans Am: bad wipers, exhaust leak, bad headlights, etc
    -’04 Titan: no 4th or 5th gear

    …$220 Stratus it is then. That thing hasn’t seen that section of I-40 in 7 years. Wicked pumped!

      1. One would require travelling the entire way (in January temps in the 20s-30s with the top down (so that it does not inadvertently become a sail on the highway) and the other will probably kill me via CO poisoning before I arrived.

        One day soon though! That dream will come to fruition. Hope all is well, Jack!

        1. I was imagining it’d be like in Seinfeld, when Kramer drives out to Long Island in the winter to pick up Jerry and Elaine in a convertible whose top won’t go up…

          All kidding aside, Stratus remains my favorite for its pure sport coupe-y goodness. (I fought for the Cavalier Z24 ‘vert in Mark’s Shitbox Showdown yesterday b/c I’d rather spend my time driving an enjoyable car than sitting around talking about how expensive/complicated it is to fix my German luxury machine)

        2. We are still waiting for the powers that be to bless the Jag story. I want my Jaguar content! (owner of a 1988 XJ6 here that marks its territory with power steering fluid)

    6. Can’t believe you ran 40 in that: I was well over 4k rpm for most of my stint on it. Traffic was absolutely rolling!
      Great to finally meet you, man! And I can attest that you car stories are just as good—if not better—in person 🙂
      Forgot to ask: any idea what caused the natural speed-slot in front of the LR tire? Just seemed an odd place.

      1. Dude I’m you are too kind, thank you.

        I’m as perplexed as you are about that specific area regarding the Kentucky-derived salt accumulation from back in the
        Stratus’s earlier days.

        Your Z3 M was way, way, way cooler, for the record.

        Guys/gals/people like you making drives like the one that you did to be there is why this website exists.

        Hit me up anytime you’re near the NC Coast!

        1. Will do!
          That phallic bmw did 323 miles in just about 5 hours with one gas stop (24mpg) and only used about 1/4 qt of oil.
          A Good Day 🙂

          and I can’t believe the average on that is over 60 what with stoplights, church traffic, etc.

  16. Not local, so I can’t make it, but can someone who is going and isn’t a complete idiot bring some proper wiring for the Changli? It should take a smart Autopianite only a few minutes to make it not a firetrap.

    1. So, let’s see. You’re Reverend Naughty, and you’re picking up a hearse. Not just a hearse, but a sweet Toyota hearse!

      Please tell me Stef is doing a Member’s Rides on you!

      1. if i were a rich man, i’d travel down to light the fire myself. (my mom loved that movie when i was a kid; ipso facto, us kids watched it, often 🙂

  23. Hey there, can I complain? Why don’t you give people more heads up than 3 days? I am pretty sure a lot more people would show up if it would be say, next weekend?
    Other than that I am just jealous that I can’t get to see the ChangLi

      1. So what prevents it from being next weekend instead of this one? You know give people some time to stuff that trunk with spare coolant, oil, other fluids that might be leaking …you know enough for a round trip because let’s be honest, no one coming to this site has a fully functional turn key car

        1. I was excitedly describing this to my gf and realized that virtually everyone coming is coming with a spare quart or two of *something*. Then she asked if I was gonna take the Z4 and I was cut.

      2. I conferred with my close confident Rev.Dr.Bunsen Honeydew, and he assured me you both are classified as Homo-Seldom-Erectus-Autopianus. He went on to describe this as perfectly normal behavior for the species. You two shrewdly pop schedule winter time-no real accommodation-conflabs so the resulting conflagration doesn’t require Statey intervention. There was a time when I behaved likewise, but those times have passed. Glad you’re feeling better, and wish all HSEA a hearty good time!

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