Leaderboard

I parked this car because it had a stuck lifter. Still ran fantastically strong. So 2 weeks ago, after the urging of 2 friends and my son (who loves this car), I rounded up 4 tires that hold air & swapped them on, rolled the car outside, we washed it and started airing out the interior. I used to have mice running around in my shop, so the windows have been closed all these years. Interior got hella moldy. There were still 2 contained mice nests- one in the back seat and one in a cardboard box in the trunk. Minimal activity either way. About 90% of the interior has been cleaned now. Going to pulled the buckets and clean the carpet, then button it all back together (I had the rear seat out / just sitting in there). Hooked a power unit up and tried out a few things- power antenna works, parking lights work, horn works. Didn't try the windows- the power unit isn't the same thing as an actual battery (horn was weak), so didn't want to have them stuck down. I turned the engine over manually last year, currently have some Marvel Mystery oil in all the cylinders, and going to rotate the engine a couple turns. Next is rebuilt the carb, clean out the tank (it was coated years back), replace the fuel lines. Check the ignition bits (they only have about 800 miles on them), and probably try to start it. If it runs, the next hurdle is moving. If it moves, it gets a brand new brake system & tires, and it's time to cruise. Then there's this to consider :

Wire-wheeled / hand sanded 3 rims down, got 2 of them etch-primed for paint. These are for my ‘64 - if the powertrain examination/testing goes well and it runs/moves, then she gets all new brakes /tires.

WTF????

Rather than create a separate thread/review, I thought I'd write update what's gone wrong / gone right in 100,000 miles and 12.5 years of motoring in the LaCrosse. Stuff that wears routinely such as tires, brakes, hoses, struts, and batteries excluded, though they did hold up well. 1 - Powertrain: - fitting at the junction of the transmission cooling line to the radiator was leaking and had to be replaced 2 - Cooling system: - thermostat was throwing a check engine code that it was not correctly informing the coolant temperature sensor and had to be replaced 3 - Suspension and braking: - front driver side hub bearing assembly for ABS had to be replaced 4 - Hardware: - front hood prop struts gave out and had to be replaced 5 - Electrical: - door actuators (3 of them) went bad - headlamps (3) - hard to get to - had to be replaced - many dash illumination buttons (D.I.C., light control switches, and console) went bad - - - - - That's it. Not too bad. Still on my original serpentine belt, but waiting to replace it very soon. Was going to tune it at 100,000 miles, which I will do soon, but got ~ 32 mpg on a road trip within the last three weeks, so that tells me things are tight. I'm just driving it until the automotive market gives a clearer indication of where it's going to see if any vehicles I like get refreshed or introduced.

This is my tire machine. Yes, obviously, it’s manual. It’s actually a Coats, but it’s probably from 1950. A buddy gave it to me about 30 years ago. Maybe once every 5 years I use it, quite the workout. Today I did 3 of the ones in the background, but the foreground rubberband tire wouldn’t work on this machine. Once my brother & I used it to mount 38” truck tires. Anyway, good to have around.

^ a hot rod Henry J.

Yeah, I don't think I'd buy the first year of a new model or new generation. Many vehicles historically have had improvements the 2nd model year to take care of shortcomings of the first year. I'm probably going to be looking for what's next in about 4 years, when my current Jeep is at 10 yrs/100k miles. Though I still haven't gotten to 50k miles yet.

NJ's inspection is a joke now. Used to be much better. But I work in PA and it seems the inspection here is pretty strict. It seems among other things they check for rust extensively.

I think new. I don't buy that frequently. However, I wouldn't buy a brand new model and would wait until the model has been around for 2 or 3 years ... just like I did with my current and last car. I want to make sure it gets broken in correctly, which is somewhat of an "old school" concept. I know that I've also been advised on here to look at CPO. I'll have to see. As they say, it's the "second largest purchase."

Here's what I did for the car "lately" - within the last week or so, given it was around 100,000 miles: Dealer - my usual dealer - lube, oil, and oil filter; cabin filter Dealer - NOT my usual one, and won't be - air conditioning service and charge Costco - free tire rotation and balance (was told the Michelins are wearing very well) Me - FRAM premium air filter with the red paper, Techron fuel system cleaner, and a full tank of Shell 93 octane to go along with that

Never get tired of hearing this one.....

It's not common for someone mid-aged to still have the first car they ever bought. I picked up this '64 GP in '86, it was 22 yrs old then. Still got her, 34 years later, and she's now 56 years old. Thankfully, she's basically the same shape as when I got her, as opposed to having degenerated in the time in-between. Very nicely optioned for '64: heater/defroster, power steering, power brakes, AM-FM, power antenna, power windows, A/C, Electro-Cruise, tilt wheel, Cordova vinyl top, automatic. Standard were the 4bbl 389 V8, dual exhaust, bucket/console, padded dash. Regarding the tilt or the AM-FM, one is a first year option, the other is 2nd year. I think tilt is first year. When my buddy asked me to borrow $100 to buy it, I said 'let's go check it out'. It was parked with 2 other cars for sale: 1963 Buick LeSabre 2-dr sedan, 150K miles, painted white with a ROLLER. $150 1966 Pontiac Catalina 4-dr sedan, 125K miles, no keys, gold, $125. and this triple-black Grand Prix Sport coupe was just $100. Needless to say- I lent him the 100, with the caveat that he give me first dibs when he decided to sell it (inevitable, and on a short time span based on past history). Now, the car was bought in '86. The inspection sticker in the window was dated from 1971! So it had already sat for 15 years. Owner said he started it regularly, but the alternator always gave him trouble so he parked it. Odometer the day of purchase said 55554.5 My buddy then (we were young squirts) basically only bought cheap old iron to use as daily drivers. Went thru them fast & furious. Even though we rebuild the carb one night at his gas station job, the tank had enough gunk in it that the car continually stalled out while driving. Why he never dropped/cleaned the tank I don't know. I think it was mere months later when he offered it to me for the same $100. I accepted, August 21, 1986.

Has it always had a fiberglass body?

You found Tesla's Long Lost Cyber SubCompact POS!