The Hall Family Photoblog - August 2025 - David, Joan, Svea, Brigitta & Annika

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Abby ER

Fiat 500 GQ

Spyder Work

Kent Middlebury Road Railroad Bridge and Slalom

Brigitta Goes to China

Mansfield Landestreffen

August 2025

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Abby ER

Abby is getting old and she's having trouble getting up on our hardwood floors. As a consequence she wounded a knee and that wound became infected. So, off to the Doggy ER we went. Stitches, antibiotics, bandages and a cone of shame.

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Fiat 500 GQ
It was a crime of passion purchase!

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Fiats for over 40 years. My first was a 1957 Fiat 500, which was the first year of the classic Italian icon. The new Fiat 500 is scaled up to about 25%: wider, longer, wheelbase, etc. I have always been loyal to reliable car brands. Statistically Toyota is #1. In the 70’s through 90’s Volvo owned that title. Where does Fiat rank? Dead last, or near the bottom with the entire Fiat-Chrysler Group. So, why did we buy a Fiat? This little car is an absolute joy to drive, and this is coming from someone who drives a classic mid-engine sports convertible daily. I smile every time I look at it and look forward to driving it. One big reason we chose this particular car is that it only has 37,000 miles on it, which is pretty good for a $6,000 car. As unreliable as Fiat is as a brand, it looks like the large majority of them are making it well past 100,000 miles. With many getting close to or even over 200,000. A nice 2014 Toyota with 137,000 might sell in the same price range. As far as miles left on them, it may be a wash (OK, the 137k Toyota probably will last longer). 2014 was also considered to be Fiat’s most reliable year… so it has that going for it. I’ve owned over 80 cars in my life and the vast majority have had over 100K miles on them when purchased. I’ve never had one that felt so new and tight. Another reason why we chose this car is because Joan has always been the one to drive the family minivan or station wagon. Joan is super cool and it’s time she drove something fun and hip. We bought it with the knowledge that the brake rotors were warped. I replaced them a few weeks later.

Yes, the “GQ” edition stands for "Gentleman's Quarterly” LOL. Supposedly Fiat got input from the magazine as to what specs “gentlemen” would want in a Fiat 500 Pop. The GQ has the turbo Abarth engine that develops 160 HP compared to the 101 HP on the standard 500 POP model. It has a 5 speed manual because real men drive sticks! The other big thing is the 3 position Cabrio roof which opens as: a sunroof, a big sunroof, and all the way back-convertible. The GQ has fancier: wheels, brakes, seats, suspension, spoiler, etc. It is interesting to note that the 2014 Fiat 500 GQ had a sticker price of $26K, which is exactly 100X the price of the original base 1957 Fiat 500 price of $260. It has over 12X the HP and will top out at over 2X the top speed of 53mph of the original Fiat 500. The original got a whopping 53 mpg, while ours only gets 30 mpg (combined).

This summer Svea borrowed Joan's 2007 Pontiac Vibe (Toyota Matrix rebadged) and it died for good in East Lansing). Meanwhile I replaced the struts on Svea's 2007 Toyota Yaris, only to have the main brake line rupture after finishing the job. After studying the issue and talking to a mechanic I learned that a pro might spend an entire day remanufacturing that line, and that's with the right tools and knowledge. The car simply wasn't worth keeping, so we sold it fully disclosed of all problems. This meant we were down two cars, (3 if you count selling the old 1971 Fiat 850). As a result we did some car shopping. Normally I'm all about reliability statistics, which is why we have been driving Toyotas for the past decade. The big problem with old Toyotas, however, is that their reputation drives their price up, meanwhile salty Ohio roads rot them (and all makes) away. At 10 to 20 years old rust can be a real structural problem, bolts break instead of turning and brake lines weaken and burst. Since Covid, used car prices have skyrocketed; two or three thousand dollar Toyotas that are not facing terminal rust issues are nearly impossible to find.

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Happy Birthday Svea

(just the gift art)

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Spyder Work

At 24 years old the Spyder's exhaust/catalytic converter broke. I was in the process of replacing the converter and manifold when a there was a request from school for a summer family photo. So, we staged these:

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Kent Middlebury Road Railroad Bridge and Slalom

I regularly bike down Highway 261 and Middlebury Road so I can connect to the Portage Bike and Hike Trail that takes me past Ravenna. Sharing a road with cars is a bit sketchy and the hill over the railroad is even sketchier. So Kent put in a new bike bridge over the railroad and a crazy slalom down to where the trail runs along the Cuyahoga River. This slalom has eight 170 degree turns in a distance of 148 feet (measured in Google Earth). I'm pretty sure the engineer of this portion of the trail has never ridden a bike before. This 148 foot stretch has an elevation gain of maybe 15 feet, so it's a bit steep, but not uncommonly steep. The slalom stretches the ridden path by more than double, so instead of a 10 to 1 rise, it ends up with more than a 20 to 1 rise. But the trade off is a Lombard Street that slows a rider down to 5 mph up or down and also makes it difficult to share the trail in two directions. Before this new trail, I would see many people pushing their bikes up the side of Middlebury Road, and now I see them pushing their bikes up this mess because even though it is less steep, it is a challenge to negotiate. This thing probably had a huge price tag, and I don't really consider it an improvement.