1987 Mercury Grand Marquis

To continue my Detroit Iron in Moscow (DIM) column on this blog, wherein I do a bit of car spotting and photograph and report "Detroit iron" in Moscow -- i.e. full-size American automobiles that I see on Moscow streets, lanes and especially in back yards whilst not specifically looking for them, here is something from my other blog, Spotted...Cars in Moscow.

By the way, full-size in automobiles is taken to mean anything longer than 5,000 mm, although there are some other parameters, but this is the one I go by.

Lo and behold! One previous owner (!) 1987 Mercury Grand Marquis! Continuing verbatim from my other blog as specified above.


Seen in May 2015 is this 1987 Mercury Grand Marquis full-size automobile.

I spotted this one at a dealer's lot - traded in by somebody and is now available to buy.

To quote wikipedia:

The Mercury Grand Marquis is a full-size rear-wheel drive luxury sedan that was sold by the Lincoln-Mercury division of the Ford Motor Company from 1975 to 2011. From 1975 to 1982, it was the premium model of the Mercury Marquis model line and became a standalone model in 1983. For its entire production run, the Grand Marquis served as the flagship of the Mercury line; it was the Mercury counterpart of the Ford (LTD) Crown Victoria. From 1979 to 2011, it shared the Panther platform along with the Lincoln Town Car

 

The reason I made so many pictures is that, as I said, I saw this at the car dealer where I was having my car, a Ford Focus II, serviced so I had plenty of time and had nothing better to do. 

But I don't think it's time wasted as I am into car-spotting and also have a soft spot for these American full-size cars in particular (see my other blog - DIM - Cars) and collect their sightings in Moscow, of which these pictures are a proof, not that I have ever driven one or ever likely to the way things are looking at the moment.

Front window through the glass shots... nice interior, velour. 

No seat belts in evidence.

Making "White Russian"

My Food & Drink column on this blog is about to be continued with this post on the making of "White Russian".

So the scene is I am making a glass of White Russian of an evening in our kitchen.

The most important ingredient, after vodka of course, is the Kahlua liqueur. And I have it, as I do everything else, i.e. some milk and ice.

This thing was hung on my Kahlua bottle and contains cocktail recipes, all involving Kahlua of course. When I see these things and similar labels I always want to try but it rarely happens that you have all that you need. 

Watchismo Times: Shocking New G-Shock Limited Edition Watches Just ...

Watchismo Times: Shocking New G-Shock Limited Edition Watches Just ...: New Limited Editions G-Shock Watches Limited Edition Polarized, Slash, HUF, Heathered, Gulfmaster, Gravitymaster, Rangeman, Mudm...

Koutouzoff's soviet watches: Very Early and rare 3133

Koutouzoff's soviet watches: Very Early and rare 3133:

 

Leroy, John, Sue & his Dad

Leroy

Jonny Depp Komandirskie Photoshoot

The famous Johnny Depp Komandirskie Photo Shoot - Michel Haddi, 1998 on Depp Impact.

And the year is 1998... personally I thought it happened earlier.

Lenin Monument

In my Monument of Moscow series and also the start of my new Leniniana series, here are some pictures of a monument to Lenin, V. I.

Approaching to him on the dark side.

The monument is located at a certain education facility in the North of Moscow, not far from my place.

And now from the sunny side.

Collage Photo of Some Watches from my Collection

Here's a crude collage photo of some of the watches from my collection (not all of them by a mile).

For a while I used it my header photo on my Russian blog but then I removed it.

***

Baikal BB Pistol

From my hoard of useful (or useless) and/or obsolete things, aka Gadgets, comes this Baikal BB Pistol.

To give its full official designation, this is a Baikal BB Pistolet Makarov (PM) CO2 Pistol MP-654K cal. 4.5 mm / .177 - year of manufacture 2002. 

It uses most parts of the PM, except, of course, one or two critical things that make it essentially an air pistol as opposed to a fire arm.

Some specs on the box... bullet velocity 70...120 m/sec... depends on how full the CO2 cartridge is.

It is just a toy for some target shooting maybe. And it's very different from shooting a real PM, of course.

Unwrapping...

Actually, this type of pistol (but more often other similar but rubber bullet firing Izh pistols) has seen much use in criminal circles. The thing is underground weapon shops can re-convert them back to fire live 9 mm bullets. The resulting units are not as reliable as properly factory-manufactured pieces and can be fired only a limited number of times before failure but their more slowly flying bullets cause horrible injuries at close quarters which makes them fearsome close combat weapons. 

PPK

Continuing my CD-collection countdown.

Today is PPK x 2.

A very famous trance act from Russia... which is now no more in the sense that they broke up years ago and only existed as a group for a couple of years. 

But they managed to produce some endurable hits, like Resurrection in particular.

I have in my collection two mp3 CDs of later songs by some members of the original PPK plus some remixes, including Resurrection in one of the versions.

The disks were very cheap. I think I bought them at a clearance sales or something.

Resurrection feat. Yuri Gagarin

Pobeda ZiM Radar Dial 2602 Watch

Another ZiM Pobeda watch from my collection. I have many of them.

In fact, I have more left than I have cataloged so far on this blog. 

BNIB... aka brand new in box (with papers).

What I like is the color of the face which is old parchment-like.

Also the face design. I happen to know that this design is called Radar. You can easily see radar-related motifs here. And there are no less than 4 numerical scales... talk about overreach redundancy military style.

I have more radar-dialed watches so more will be forthcoming. 

I remember even wanting to get me a nice collection specifically of these radar-dialed watches (that is, mostly ZiMs but also a related Cardi or two).

A good and memorable dial.

BBC News - Tiananmen Square: Watch commemorates 1989 crackdown

Interesting stuff from the BBC.. if political (as per usual)...


BBC News - Tiananmen Square: Watch commemorates 1989 crackdown


***

Belochka Vodka

Food exploration time. In fact, it's drink this time.

Belochka Vodka... only Belochka is in my fridge, Belochka and nothing but Belochka.

Belochka means a little squirrel... but you have guessed it, and looks more than a bit soused already.

It says, "Here I come!". 

 

Go away! 

In fact, there's a nasty-ish word play here at work too, as Belochka means in slang Delirium tremens aka "White Fever".

The cap.

No more juice for this squirrel!

The hind quarters.

It used to have an own site but it is no more - scared off by the Russian authorities.

This the kind of Belochka I like...