Check this out! ---Quote (Originally by mikie)--- Rumor has it that Smart Center Portland has an orphan available. Just like the Picture...:cool: Image: http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=271 ---End Quote---

I was told to say hi here by the administrator... HI!...

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to be picking up my Smart on Monday!! I've only been on the reservation list since mid-June, but my dealer (San Antonio) came through with an orphan. I read on this website that it pays to keep in touch with your dealer, and keep reminding them that you are interested in an orphan, and that advice worked well for me. I called the salesman several times a week, and I guess I just wore him down. He had to find me a car just to get rid of me! I'm getting a yellow/black Pure with AC and LoJack. I didn't really want to pay for the anti-theft system, and the car has no radio, but I can live with that to get the car so quickly. I figure I'll install an aftermarket head unit when I get a chance. Anyway, I'm very happy to be joining the Smart community!

The event is almost here and we are busy making plans. If you'd like to come we would love to have you visit. Please follow the link and sign up. There is no charge for the days events and giveaways. See you at the fourth annual smart car cruise - Niagara Falls Canada James Niagara Cruise News - Club smart Car (http://clubsmartcar.com/index.php?showtopic=13729&st=60)

The event is almost here and we are busy making plans. If you'd like to come we would love to have you visit. Please follow the link and sign up. There is no charge for the days events and giveaways. See you at the fourth annual smart car cruise - Niagara Falls Canada James Niagara Cruise News - Club smart Car (http://clubsmartcar.com/index.php?showtopic=13729&st=60)

The event is almost here and we are busy making plans. If you'd like to come we would love to have you visit. Please follow the link and sign up. There is no charge for the days events and giveaways. See you at the fourth annual smart car cruise - Niagara Falls Canada James http://clubsmartcar.com/index.php?showtopic=13729&st=60

We got up this morning and decided to have breakfast in Idyllwild. So, at 6:30 am, we loaded our lab puppy into the back of the car and headed up the mountain. The drive from Hemet on 74 is outstanding. It really felt like I was driving a go-cart with all the twists and turns. And no problem with power (climbing to 6,000 feet). The car did great! Breakfast at Oma’s was followed by the perfect local small town 4th of July parade. Where else do you see the grand marshals ride a tandem bike or the Mountain Quilters Unsynchronized Drill Team perform? Barbeque, beer and live music followed under the pine trees at Jo’anns. Overall a great day and I recommend it as a quick getaway to everyone. Next year we need to enter a Smart Car unit in the parade!

I have been taking care to see approximately how much gas equals one bar. Answer: it varies a lot. Here is a 'chart' showing how many miles I'd driven and how much gas I'd consumed (according to my ScanGaugeii) when each bar disappeared: Bar 1: 112 miles / 2.25 gal Bar 2: 130 miles / 2.64 gal Ok, so far that first bar is looking pretty unreliable, as usual! Bar 3: 180 miles / 3.62 gal Bar 4: 218 miles / 4.42 gal So with half a tank showing, I've driven 218 miles! Looks like I'll hit 400 again! Bar 5: 267.4 miles / 5.46 gal Bars 6-8: TBA Theoretically, each bar should equal 1.0875 gallons (8.7 divided by 8). Dividing my bars from the most recent trip, we get: Bar 1: 2.25 gal (we know that's not truly equal to 1/8 of a tank) Bar 2: 1.32 gal per bar (still a bit too high) Bar 3: 1.21 gal per bar (getting there) Bar 4: 1.105 gal per bar (that's a bit more accurate!) Bar 5: 1.09 gal per bar (just about right). [The 'fact' that I've driven 267.4 miles using 5.46 gal (if that last figure is to be believed) indicates I'm getting nearly 49 mpg. That's about right, given my hypermiler tendencies of late (see my other posts for details), so I don't doubt that. If my driving holds up, I should surpass 400 miles on this tank with over a half gallon to go.]

Please note this isn't from me... just found it Need Smart Car for display at corporate event in Las Vegas! Any owners willing to loan? - Yahoo! Answers (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvD56ciJ_R8PskHWAgWABccjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20080702125126AABC9i5) My company is doing a private corporate event in Vegas and we need to display a Smart for a couple hours at the event. We are willing to pay the owner of a Smart Car $500 to loan us the car for this event. I have already tried to rent one (they're booked/not available) and there are NO Smart Car dealerships in Vegas. Please help!

Today being a holiday, I had the day off to finally install the Breathless exhaust. Job #1: remove the valence. two T25 screws, 2 clips toward the ends, 2 push pins in the corners Use a small flat-blade screwdriver to pull out the center pin, then yank that puppy out. Hopefully, the rest of the pin will come out on its own, otherwise work it out a bit with the screwdriver and pull it out the rest of the way with a pair of needlenose pliers. 2 more clips on the underside, six tabs that hook under the rear bumper cover, undo all that and lift out and upward and the valence comes off Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3093/2637012903_02b47b0a31.jpg Anyone know what those tabs with holes on the bottom are for? Mudflaps? Job #2: remove the stock putt-putt exhaust. Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3106/2637853594_04d16bd92a.jpg E12 female Torx socket with a 3/8 breaker bar to get the bolt loose Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3118/2637853596_df07d73b82.jpg 10mm box wrench to take the bolt out Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3084/2637853600_ef91720e4e.jpg the bolt on the far side didn't have enough clearance to use the bar, so I used a 3/8 T-bar handle as a sort of extension on the 10mm wrench Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3068/2637853604_8325abf490.jpg with the bolts out, here comes the gasket. Metal center ring, and lots of flakey glitter from the edges Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3172/2637853614_cbcae1d269.jpg Don't forget to take out the little bolt above the flex pipe holding the heat shield. Little 8mm wrench works here. Even after vigorously applying WD40 to the rubber hangers, they were still tight, so I wriggled them off with a pair of channel lock pliers. No pics here, sorry. out with the old, in with the new Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3065/2637853620_7c3faa1b7c.jpg Stocker weighs 15 pounds, BPP is about 7.5. put the new one on the hangers and wriggle the flanges, bolts, and gasket into position. It can be done with two hands, but three or four would be easier. Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3163/2637860492_51574b2805.jpg At this point, things got icky. With a very tight area to work in and the rubber hangers shifting things out of alignment a bit, I kept crossthreading the near bolt. At this time the first of a series of thunderstorms also made its presence known. After prodigious use of curse words and dodging intermittent rain for a few hours, I finally decided to pull off the rear panels and bumper so I could see what I was doing. Having chewed up the threads on the supplied hex-head bolts I reused the originals, and pulled the left rubber hanger back off so I could line things up more easily. finally, the exhaust is bolted up tight Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3278/2637860502_69f2fd5f19.jpg I put the rear panels, bumper, and body sills back on, and fired it up about a quarter after six. So, was it worth the aggravation and two band-aids? Heck yes. Nice deep tone, no drone, perhaps a bit on the loud side for some people (there is a quieter Touring version). Pretty quiet on light throttle, good sound on tip-in, and a nice series of brupp-brupp-brupps when the auto is downshifting. :D