You know you are getting old when:

[Trenchfriend]

Oops, I forgot, that I already had three spoons sugar in my (fresh grounded) coffee...

But that's not really an aging thing on me. I sometimes just have these neural lapses.

 

[Tiki Tom]

The last ever 747 has been delivered.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/last-boeing-747-leaves-everett-washington/index.html

I remember when the 747 was the newest, coolest thing imaginable. Getting onboard, you could fantasize that you were Alexander Mundy, jet-setting off to some Cold War adventure in one of the glamorous capitals of Europe. Ankle boots, bell bottom trousers, a turtle neck, and a navy blue safari jacket completed my look. (Hey, I was 14. It Says something that I remember EXACTLY what I was wearing on my first 747 trip.) Next stop: Frankfurt. Now, alas, the 747 is a footnote to history, like the DC-3.

 

[tonyb]

The rollout of the first 747 was a BFD when I moved to Seattle, in 1968. That very aircraft, the first 747, is a permanent feature at the Museum of Flight adjacent to Boeing Field, aka King County Airport.

The 747 has been a hit by any measure — more than half a century in production, and it’s a safe bet the ”Queen of the Skies” will still be flying decades hence.

I believe I mentioned elsewhere here at the FL that Boeing bet right by not developing an even larger passenger liner, thereby avoiding Airbus’s mistake. The A380 has ceased production too, after a much shorter run of far fewer planes. It’s said that Airbus lost money on each and every one of them.

 

[GHT]

Tiki Tom's soliloquy about the last ever 747 being delivered took me back almost fifty years to the time that the very last Jaguar E-Type rolled off the production line. It was every young man's dream to own one.

Norman Dewis, was working the Jaguar stand at The Geneva Motor Show when Enzo Ferrari reportedly strolled up with a gang of Ferrari engineers. After examining an E-Type Fixed-Head Coupe, Enzo said: “Congratulations! What a truly beautiful car it must be the most beautiful car in the world! But you know, it has one fault? It does not have a Ferrari badge on it!”

Some compliment!

Production of the E-type came to an end in June 1974. From its launch at that Geneva Motor Show in 1961, the E-type was to have a production life of thirteen years, during which time the car went through many changes and several different generations. The original Series 1 was fitted with an uprated 4.2 litre engine in 1964, and a long wheelbase 2+2 coupé version followed in 1965. A modified ‘Series 1½’ was introduced in 1967, and the Series 2 appeared in 1968.

The final phase of the E-type came in April 1971 with the introduction of the Series 3 range, which featured the brand new 5.3 litre V12 engine developing 266 bhp. This engine had been designed and developed by Walter Hassan and Harry Mundy. It had originally been intended for the would-be Le Mans challenger, the XJ13 of 1966. As fitted in the 1971 E-type, the engine had a single rather than two overhead camshafts per bank. This was effectively the world’s only mass-production V12 engine at the time.

Today, Jaguar E-Type's change hands for a king's ransom, if only I had bought one all those years ago!

 

[The one from the North]

The rollout of the first 747 was a BFD when I moved to Seattle, in 1968. That very aircraft, the first 747, is a permanent feature at the Museum of Flight adjacent to Boeing Field, aka King County Airport.

The 747 has been a hit by any measure — more than half a century in production, and it’s a safe bet the ”Queen of the Skies” will still be flying decades hence.

I believe I mentioned elsewhere here at the FL that Boeing bet right by not developing an even larger passenger liner, thereby avoiding Airbus’s mistake. The A380 has ceased production too, after a much shorter run of far fewer planes. It’s said that Airbus lost money on each and every one of them.

Almoust ten years ago I celebrated me turning 50 with a trip to South Africa. Lufthansa flew from Frankfurt to Joburg with either A-380 or 747 and I was sorely disappointed that mine was A-380. Might have been my last chance with 747!

 

[Trenchfriend]

@The one from the North
Maybe helps a little. Boy, that intro!

 

[Edward]

Tiki Tom's soliloquy about the last ever 747 being delivered took me back almost fifty years to the time that the very last Jaguar E-Type rolled off the production line. It was every young man's dream to own one.

Norman Dewis, was working the Jaguar stand at The Geneva Motor Show when Enzo Ferrari reportedly strolled up with a gang of Ferrari engineers. After examining an E-Type Fixed-Head Coupe, Enzo said: “Congratulations! What a truly beautiful car it must be the most beautiful car in the world! But you know, it has one fault? It does not have a Ferrari badge on it!”

Some compliment!

Production of the E-type came to an end in June 1974. From its launch at that Geneva Motor Show in 1961, the E-type was to have a production life of thirteen years, during which time the car went through many changes and several different generations. The original Series 1 was fitted with an uprated 4.2 litre engine in 1964, and a long wheelbase 2+2 coupé version followed in 1965. A modified ‘Series 1½’ was introduced in 1967, and the Series 2 appeared in 1968.

The final phase of the E-type came in April 1971 with the introduction of the Series 3 range, which featured the brand new 5.3 litre V12 engine developing 266 bhp. This engine had been designed and developed by Walter Hassan and Harry Mundy. It had originally been intended for the would-be Le Mans challenger, the XJ13 of 1966. As fitted in the 1971 E-type, the engine had a single rather than two overhead camshafts per bank. This was effectively the world’s only mass-production V12 engine at the time.

Today, Jaguar E-Type's change hands for a king's ransom, if only I had bought one all those years ago!

As seems so often to be the case with a Jag, buying one wouldn't be the real expense.... running it would!

If I had the garage space and the inclination to run a car, though, money no object I'd be very tempted by the idea of a 60s S Type, converted to run on electric. Very similar to the MKII, but a slightly longer wheelbase courtesy of a somewhat longer back end, always said to have give it a handling edge over its more famous sibling.

 

[tonyb]

As to E Types …

I prefer the earlier versions, the ones without the flared wheel well openings. It’s a simpler, cleaner look.

Over here in the colonies the car is more often than not referred to as the “XKE,” continuing the “XK” designations used on Jaguar’s earlier two-seater sports cars — the XK120, XK140, and XK150. To my ear it’s a little grating, but when in Topeka …

I’d have to be much richer than I will ever be to even consider owning one. It’s a beautiful thing indeed, but I’d fear using it as a car, lest is show signs of that use, as it inevitably would.

 

[tonyb]

Almoust ten years ago I celebrated me turning 50 with a trip to South Africa. Lufthansa flew from Frankfurt to Joburg with either A-380 or 747 and I was sorely disappointed that mine was A-380. Might have been my last chance with 747!

I doubt I will ever set foot aboard an A380. They’ll remain in service for quite a number of years yet, I’d wager, but not on routes I’ll likely ever fly.

My understanding is that Airbus was banking on the hub-and-spoke route system to be the A380’s stock in trade — carrying large numbers of passengers from major hub to major hub, from which those passengers would board smaller aircraft to get to their final destinations. What’s happened since is the trend toward point-to-point routing, which is much more appealing to the flying public.

The way to profitability in our deregulated commercial airline business is to come as close as the airline can to selling every seat aboard every flight (hence the overbooked flights, when too many “no shows” actually show up). Southwest kinda showed the way, with its all Boeing 737 fleet flying customer-friendly routes on customer-friendly schedules. And it worked quite well for a number of years, until the bean counters held sway over the people in operations, who issued their warnings well ahead of the big meltdown over the past holiday season.

In business as in private life, relying on everything going right provided everything goes right is a recipe for disaster. There will always be the unanticipated and the mistaken assumption.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Milky Way?

Lactose-free oat milk way, now...

 

[tonyb]

Milky Way?

Lactose-free oat milk way, now...

My lovely missus prefers almond “milk.” I’ll never understand that.

On those occasions when I do purchase honest-to-goodness comes-from-a-cow milk it’s of the nonfat variety. I got used to it and now whole milk is just too rich for me. And nonfat froths up more readily with the espresso machine steamer.

 

[GHT]

My lovely missus prefers almond “milk.” I’ll never understand that.

On those occasions when I do purchase honest-to-goodness comes-from-a-cow milk it’s of the nonfat variety. I got used to it and now whole milk is just too rich for me. And nonfat froths up more readily with the espresso machine steamer.

Are we long lost siblings? My wife has almond milk, soya milk and coconut milk in the fridge. There is also honest to goodness cow's milk but it's fat content just ain't there! There was a time, not so long ago, when we all opened our front door to pick up the pint of milk bottles that the milkman had left.

Gold top, that being the colour of the metallic bottle top, was a rich, full cream, seismic calorie laden, unbelievably fattening rich milk, which today is no more than a dim and distant memory. But oh what a memory, how I loved it on my breakfast cereal.

Nowadays my cereal has a milky white water poured over it, I tell you, it's like the smoker for whom the tobacco has been withdrawn. Help!

 

[Tiki Tom]

Have mostly given up on milk altogether, for that very reason. With your eyes closed, it is usually indistinguishable from water.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I meaned it as a joke to our galaxy.

 

[GHT]

I meaned it as a joke to our galaxy.

It was taken as such but probably lost in translation.

 

[tonyb]

I meaned it as a joke to our galaxy.

I got it instantly, for whatever that’s worth. But we tend to riff around here, and generally find a way back to the topic of the thread. That’s what happened in this case. Your little joke mentioned milk that ain’t really milk and I ran with it and GHT and TikiTom brought it back to “you know you are getting old when … “

 

[Granville]

Tiki Tom's soliloquy about the last ever 747 being delivered took me back almost fifty years to the time that the very last Jaguar E-Type rolled off the production line. It was every young man's dream to own one.

Norman Dewis, was working the Jaguar stand at The Geneva Motor Show when Enzo Ferrari reportedly strolled up with a gang of Ferrari engineers. After examining an E-Type Fixed-Head Coupe, Enzo said: “Congratulations! What a truly beautiful car it must be the most beautiful car in the world! But you know, it has one fault? It does not have a Ferrari badge on it!”

Some compliment!

Production of the E-type came to an end in June 1974. From its launch at that Geneva Motor Show in 1961, the E-type was to have a production life of thirteen years, during which time the car went through many changes and several different generations. The original Series 1 was fitted with an uprated 4.2 litre engine in 1964, and a long wheelbase 2+2 coupé version followed in 1965. A modified ‘Series 1½’ was introduced in 1967, and the Series 2 appeared in 1968.

The final phase of the E-type came in April 1971 with the introduction of the Series 3 range, which featured the brand new 5.3 litre V12 engine developing 266 bhp. This engine had been designed and developed by Walter Hassan and Harry Mundy. It had originally been intended for the would-be Le Mans challenger, the XJ13 of 1966. As fitted in the 1971 E-type, the engine had a single rather than two overhead camshafts per bank. This was effectively the world’s only mass-production V12 engine at the time.

Today, Jaguar E-Type's change hands for a king's ransom, if only I had bought one all those years ago!

Years ago I was working on a low-budget movie and one of the assistant directors promised the director/producer he could deliver a Jaguar for one night of shooting and it was written into the script. It was a major plot point, some made-up poem/prophesy about a "monkey riding a jaguar" -- the boss hired a traveling circus to provide the monkey and other animals for the shoot. The big night arrives, shooting the finale (we were going to put the monkey in the driver's seat and that was going to make the prophecy come true and unleash whatever from hell), and the car is some new model sedan, four doors, with a flat-to-the-hood badge, not the iconic leaping cat hood ornament. Boss had a melt-down. The AD's friend (a Jaguar dealer) thought he was doing us a favor, bringing the company's latest model. The next night he brought a more classic and recognizable Jag with the cool hood fixture (still not the E-Type I think everyone was expecting), but we had to distract the dealer (I think we put him in the makeup trailer and put him in a bit part) while we filmed the monkey behind the wheel and had a stuntman drive from the floor. Boss was worried the whole time the monkey would take a piss on the leather seats.

 

[GHT]

Years ago I was working on a low-budget movie and one of the assistant directors promised the director/producer he could deliver a Jaguar for one night of shooting and it was written into the script. It was a major plot point, some made-up poem/prophesy about a "monkey riding a jaguar" -- the boss hired a traveling circus to provide the monkey and other animals for the shoot. The big night arrives, shooting the finale (we were going to put the monkey in the driver's seat and that was going to make the prophecy come true and unleash whatever from hell), and the car is some new model sedan, four doors, with a flat-to-the-hood badge, not the iconic leaping cat hood ornament. Boss had a melt-down. The AD's friend (a Jaguar dealer) thought he was doing us a favor, bringing the company's latest model. The next night he brought a more classic and recognizable Jag with the cool hood fixture (still not the E-Type I think everyone was expecting), but we had to distract the dealer (I think we put him in the makeup trailer and put him in a bit part) while we filmed the monkey behind the wheel and had a stuntman drive from the floor. Boss was worried the whole time the monkey would take a piss on the leather seats.

What a great story, cracked me up.

 

[Tiki Tom]

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Man, that is the boss. And man that hurts.