Houston's Flood VS Hummer H1

This modified Hummer H1 seems unaffected by the flooded Houston streets, even when it’s over the hood.  Modified by Search & Destroy Tactical Vehicles I was so impressed that I contacted them to see what they can do for an H3. Turns out there isn’t much.  The H1 has the diesel engine which can be waterproofed whereas the 3.7L in my H3 isn’t as flexible.

My H3 can of course get some of the cool bits like a snorkel and so forth but I'd be a little concerned that when the water gets high enough that the snorkel would be needed I'd be testing the seals on the doors for sure.  Reading the forums I guess the H3 has a great deal of waterproofing right from the factory.

Anyway check out the cool H1 in action on Houston's flooded streets.  For more info about Search & Destroy's modified vehicles check out their site.  Search & Destroy

Second Drive and Ticketed!

Some people have never gotten a ticket.  Some have gotten so few that they can recall what happened with each one.  I have gotten so many tickets I literally have no clue how many I have gotten.  Mainly they were all from speeding but there have been other things like excessive acceleration but never a fix ticket because I generally keep everything in tip top shape.

Well today I was driving the Shelby to work for the second time since I bought it and got pulled over.  I was doing absolutely nothing wrong so I had no clue what the problem was.  "Sir, I'm pulling you over today for not having a front plate."  I said, "Go look, there is no place to mount it." "Sir, that's not our problem.  In Ontario you are required to have a front plate."  BAM! Fix ticket for $110.

I'm sorry Officer but no amount of money is going to force me to drill holes in the front of a Shelby Cobra.  Really stupid law, all you see of a Shelby is the back anyway.  ;)

I Got Away With IT! ..... sort of.

Insurance in Canada is crazy expensive.  I really don't know why people put up with it.  In the US my 2007 Mustang GT cost me about $85 a month through Allstate.  Here in Canada my 2007 Hummer H3 costs me about $100 more than that.  That's right, almost $200 Canadian.  Insane.


So before I bought the GT500 I contacted my insurance agent and said, "If I buy a car in Canada and register it in Ontario can you still insure it?" She said sure.  So I then contacted Service Ontario (Ontario DMV) and asked if I could use a US insurer to cover a car registered in Ontario?  Their reply was, "Allstate is an accepted insurance company in Ontario."  So to me that said yes.

So yesterday I go to Service Ontario to finalize my GT500's registration.  I applied for two years and when it came time to finalize they said, "Wait, it says you don't have insurance."  I then showed her the paperwork from Allstate saying I did have insurance and they said, "Well it's not in the Ontario database."  I said. "That's because it's a US insurer." "Oh you can't do that."  But I checked with Ontario Service and they said I could and my insurer said I could and I couldn't have gotten a loan without full coverage.

Frustrated she said, "I can override it once and allow it but when your stickers expire you won't be able to do it again."

So I guess we'll see what happens then but for now I'm good for two years of my GT500 legally on the road using cheap US insurance.  Of course it all happened just in time to have an April cold snap and blizzard.  I'm afraid there is no cure for Canada.