Hey, it's time the New Englanders have a gathering!

[Areometer]

so, who won the raffle? or was the raffle ever drawn?...

Hello, we haven't done the raffle thing yet. Sorry. Bob has the name list now & let's see if he has time to get to it before he heads off to Antartica in less than 10 days!

Oh, I have something to ask Theo about his black Prius, what's his handle here please? Thanks.

Edward

[hobbit]

I didn't get a whole lot of pix, but they're here:
http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/nepg-0508/
.
Awesome time today. Great to meet y'all, even
if I never really learned anyone's names!
.
_H*

[gwnc59a]

[font=Comic Sans MS:3025714af0]Great to see everybody yesterday. We had a wonderful time. I listened carefully and improved my mpg from 43 to 51.9 on the trip home from Framingham to Brockton.
Edward, I would like to continue our conversation about microheat and rear window wipers. What is the best way to contact you to ask you these questions?

Jay[/font:3025714af0]

[mrv]

[quote]

Oh, I have something to ask Theo about his black Prius, what's his handle here please? Thanks.

Theo used to be on the yahoogroups as B5junkie, but with work and all he gets too much mail and stopped all his Prius subscriptions (figuring that he'd just get all the info from me). That was before priuschat was even formed.

My mother mostly only lurks on the toyota-prius yahoogroup and the MA-hybrids yahoogroup. She skims the email digests.

For those that were asking, I'm owner of:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/MA-hybrids/
And moderator on:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/toyota-prius/ (wow, membership is higher than I thought, it's up to 11874 members - last I checked it was just over 9000.)
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Prius_...echnical_Stuff/
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/toyota-prius-sat1/
(and also owner/moderator of several other smaller groups...)

I also recommend the ad-free site http://www.priusonline.com/ I've been mrv over there for a while.

I rarely ever come over to priuschat. Only recently did it even start accepting my usual web browser (I could read, but it wouldn't allow my browser to post, so what was the point of reading? it's also annoying to read, so much fluff in the way of the messages (frames stink)). I really dislike graphical web browsers, but I had to put that aside to post on this thread...

Sadly, WICN (http://www.wicn.org/ 90.5FM out of Worcester, Jazz/Folk/NPR station) doesn't still have the last show with Gilles LaBelle, Jim Dunn, and Craig Van Batenburg (I'm surprised that he didn't come in his Insight) available in their online archives. Their last show (which sadly I missed) was on an interview show called "The Business Beat" on the Sunday May 8, 2005 episode.

I was happy to see the NESEA (NorthEast Sustainable Energy Association) show up. They run their own news, forums, and shows/rallys at http://www.greencarclub.org/ . Upcoming events include the 3rd annual AltWheels festival at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline MA on Sept. 17-18, 2005 (http://www.altwheels.org/), and the annual Tour de Sol festival/rally (last held in May 2005, http://www.tourdesol.org/ )

I never counted the sea of 2004-? Prius yesterday. By the end, I saw 4 Insights, and 4 classic Prius (including mine and my mother's, a used Electric Green (2001?), and a 2002 Blue Moon Pearl). I'm not sure if the Civic I saw near the end was a HCH or just some random Jordan's patron parking near us. There were some random Jordan's patrons coming over and asking questions - that was neat. 8) I'm still wondering if the Black 2004-? Prius with the 17" Pirelli wheels and leather was a SouthEast Toyota region transplant (MA plates), or just someone locally who did a bunch of upgrades. I did see a few CT and NH plates, and one of the Insights had a Georgia plate.

This was just an extended gathering for me, since my mother drove up in her 2002 Brilliant Blue Pearl Prius. She just followed me in my 2001 Aqua Ice Opalescent Prius and my husband in his Pioneer 2004 Black BC Prius... Unfortunately, my family is too small to be able to fill out the Prius set with a 2003 and a 2005. ;-)

for the logs that we posted on our cars:
http://www.kluge.net/~felicity/prius.php

Photos of the Oct. 2003 meet at the Worcester Airport, where we got to play with the first 2004 Prius in New England: http://www2.kluge.net/2004/

I haven't downloaded my photos yet off of the camera, and my mother is still using film (so it'll be a while before she finishes off that roll)...

And yes, Theo (my husband) is a big red raccoon (sunglasses line through his deep red sunburn) today...

[LisaMurray]

Just wanted to add my two cents. I had a great time yesterday; it was so much fun to meet all of you. As I mentioned to a couple of people, Prius owners in CT don't seem to be the friendliest of folks (no one ever waves back!), so I guess I'll just have to frequent MA more often!

Ed, thanks for bringing the bug guard and window visors. I installed them this morning with no problems. They look great!

[Areometer]

To Jay: You can email me @ info [at] sigmaautomotive [dot] com

To Michelle (mrv): I noticed that Theo’s black Prius has this front protection film which has turned matte black, I wonder if that was intentional or not? And how did it happen if you don’t mind me asking. The black Prius with 17” rims is owned by Ethan. Every upgrade that you see (17” rims, carbon fiber dash kit, leather seats) is Toyota Dealer-installed Option. He got his Prius from one Florida Toyota dealership. Neat huh?

To Lisa: Glad that you liked the products. If you have a chance to take pics, that’ll be great. Thanks.


Edward

[mrv]

To Michelle (mrv): I noticed that Theo’s black Prius has this front protection film which has turned matte black, I wonder if that was intentional or not? And how did it happen if you don’t mind me asking.

I can never remember the name of the company, but it's an aftermarket installer that Gilles at Westboro Toyota uses. It is a clear plastic film that covers the front bumper and part-way up the front hood, the side mirrors, and the rear bumper. I can only assume that the matte look is from pitting from rocks. (Prius delivered Nov. 2003.) Normally about the only way I notice it is that to me it looks like a big horizontal scratch across the hood (which is really just the different refractive index of the edge of the film).

The black Prius with 17” rims is owned by Ethan. Every upgrade that you see (17” rims, carbon fiber dash kit, leather seats) is Toyota Dealer-installed Option. He got his Prius from one Florida Toyota dealership. Neat huh?

Neat? hardly. SE Toyota loves to load up their cars with options that you didn't ask for, to bring up their price, among other shady practices. My guess on the source of the car's mods was on track, then. The 17" wheels do look nice, but I haven't seen the MPG data for them yet (since they're not stock, it's not in the Toyota/EPA tests). I really have to shudder at the leather. How could someone do something so earth-unfriendly to an otherwise "green" car? yuck. But if you like the mods, and are willing to pay extra for it, that's your choice. (Not that SE Toyota really gives anyone the choice to NOT get the options...)

[Areometer]

The complete front protective film on Theo’s Prius looks *uniformly* matte. No way that individual rocks could cause that.

I have protective film too and a few projectiles even made it through the film. But the glossiness remains. So I wondered.

About Ethan’s car, the 17” rims & carbon fiber dash kit look really sweet for me. We don’t know how much he got charged, right? But I got your point. Any way, if I don’t find these neat, I would be the biggest hypocrite cos’ I sell 17” rims + similar dash kits for the Prius!

About leather seats, do you remember seeing the 2 big SCUBA tanks on my front passenger seat that people mistook as NO2 for the Prius?! :P I will not sit on my Prius microfibre upholstery with saltwater-soaked swimming trunks & gears. Leather seats on my 4Runner, on the other hand, repel such abuse beautifully well all these years. So, there is at least ONE use for having leather seats. Although they tend to get too scorching hot during summer days under direct sunlight. Will I leather up my Prius upholstery? I may if it is my only car. And that means one less SUV on the road cos' I may just sell my 4R. So does that start to make a lil' sense to leather up a green car in my case?

[Areometer]

Guys & Gals, let's not forget about the upcoming AltWheels Festival which is to be held on Sept 17th & 18th, 2005 at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, MA !

I just posted a new thread for it @ our New England Local Forum: >> Read the AltWheels Festival thread here...

[lcdJunky]

at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, MA !

Right in my backyard! Thanks for posting