trinacriabob

Hey folks. Need some help with electrical issues on the Buick. Tonight, I lost low beam lighting on one side. Not only that, the backlighting for the light switches, at the left of the dash, went dark, too. Within the last month, I lost 1 low beam light, the most used one on the D.I.C., and I noticed the console lamp was also out. Coincidence or connected? (Considering the age of the vehicle and/or the sequential nature.) I looked at the owner's manual. There's a fuse center at the right side of the dash, but not for my issues. For those, the (mini) fuses are located in a plastic box under the hood. I'm wondering if fuse replacement is the place to start. And, if this is interrelated, where to go next. Mechanical issues are almost easier than electrical ones. They are easier to conceptualize. Rear lighting, CMSL, interior lighting, gauges, A/C and radio functions, theater dimming, and turn signals work. I would certainly appreciate some input.

Hyundai Blvd. in Montgomery, AL and Kia Blvd. in (possibly) West Point, GA. Both seen along the I-65/I-85 trek from Pensacola FL to Atlanta. I did see a lot of Hyundais in Alabama. I've acquired some respect for that brand along the years. I spotted a Kia Amanti (with a for sale sign) or whatever the hell that upscale sedan of the 2000s is named. It reminds me of something British and looks like it rightfully has a place in a cartoon. I was once invited to test drive a quartet of cars and this was one of them. Surprisingly, it handled very quietly and nimbly, but I couldn't stomach its exterior appearance. I'll put up a few photos.

There's that ... and more - there's a pressure to be cool and drive foreign iron, especially around people with more coin. And younger kids and their first cars, too. When I would tell people what I drove - either an Olds or a Buick - you could see a slight wince or the slight curling of their lip. All of these proved to be very reliable cars, but trying to educate them would have been a waste of time, so I just let it go at that. I am dyed in the wool B-O-P, even though there's no more O-P. Sigh.

Good grief, I see NO domestic cars in that photo - well, there's a Jeep way over by Hallmark. Is that the Trader Joe's at or near Totem Lake?

RIght. The one before was mostly white. Maybe I was thinking of Massachusetts. I like the old N.Y. license plate - dark yellow/almost orange, black letters, no bells and whistles - looked great on black cars in movies - very GANGSTA!

If the license plate frame covers a portion of a state's name, it would then make it easier to ply the streets of Manhattan in one's sled and not appear to be as much as an out-of-towner. Of course, the license plate base color would have to be the stock off white in both states and, in this case, it is.

Today, I focused on something appended to a car as opposed to the car. I can't stand it when a dealership sells a car and then decides to place their applique with their name on the rear deck lid, sort of competing with the car's very nameplate. I've always tossed the dealership license plate frames into the garage. I did know one guy, an avid car enthusiast, who liked to get frames from a dealership if he thought the dealership had some cachet, even if he didn't buy the car there, and put them on a car. But this was in SoCal, so this can be expected.

I couldn't believe I once stumbled onto a paperback Seattle joke book, given how it tends to be on the forefront of politically correct protocol. However, from the cover and its fonts, you could tell it was hatched before that era. Q: What do you call an attractive person in Seattle? A: A visitor - - - - - Q: What is a Bellevue housewife's favorite position? A: Facing Bellevue Square

Exactly. Loss leader service. Even loss leader cars. When I was a teen, you'd see them advertise random new opera windowed Regals or Cutlasses that were priced super low, and of which they only had one or two, because they came with the base engine (a 6 when all others were V8s), crank windows, wheel covers, and no air conditioning. I actually liked pawing these cars, lifting up the hood and seeing all the space, and how simple they were inside. And, no, I'm not even minimally Scandinavian. But, as for loss leader LOF, I don't mind if they find brake pads that are thin or belts that need attention. What I mind is when they are lying and/or when they want to drum up work for something that barely needs attention, like a seal that keeps on going, because it's all labor and no parts. I've stopped going to dealers with whom I've had a long run when it went this route AND I had also given them tune ups and trans fluid changes along the way. I would much rather pay $35 or $40 for the LOF, not be upsold and pressured, than pay $27.95 and be lied to or feel pressured. Then, if what they identify is outlandish, can you even trust them with your car going forward if you keep turning down that extra work? In many cases, there's no visual connection between where you're supposed to wait and where the car is being worked on.

The above indicates that there's no such thing as a free lunch. I'm also wary of coupons and specials for LOFs "on the cheap," real cheap, at car dealerships. If they're charging $19.99 for a LOF, "it's about something else." Live and learn. Pass.

If you Google Cheers and Gears, the site and the forum may not be the first thing that comes up. In the past, I've gotten this! Cheers and Gears restaurant and bar! Looks very "klassy" and the reviews don't bust past the 4 star mark.

I forgot to update this. After 2 calls from the sales manager, to which I responded once to tell him that the original person I met with was just fine, I got a voice mail from the "Customer Care Manager," yet a third person, to see how I was coming along with my decision. What decision??? The whole message was very scripted and she had one of those interesting gravelly voices of an older cocktail waitress in an off-Strip Vegas casino who had just gotten off a smoke break, so I hit the save button for the message. I tried to call her back because I got such a kick out of her voice, but it went into a general message box so I didn't leave a message. Then, the first salesman called me back and I had to (fictitiously) tell him that this would be an adjunct car to my primary sled and that I wasn't really on the bubble to purchase. Hopefully, they got it. But what a complete turn-off. I guess the lesson is to wait until a person can snag the updated version of this compact car for $19.95 for a day from Enterprise or Budget to go somewhere within 100 miles of home, familiarize themselves with it at their leisure, and not have to deal with all these phone calls ... about 7 in total ... and from 3 different people.

I saw a 70/71/72 (?) Monte Carlo in olive green. It was in near mint condition. It was driving toward me and I was going the other way. It had that unmistakable grille. This car had an important place in automotive history. It put the personal luxury coupe in just about every new car buyer's reach via the Chevy price point. Within 15 minutes of that, I saw a very clean charcoal Pontiac G8. While I liked the G8s more than the current Chevy SS because they started at $29K (MSRP) and could be had with a V6, I still like the Chevy SS. Either way, the lines on either of these 2 cars are timeless.

That's a wealth of information. I didn't know about the 360 increments. In RWD form and with such an engine bay, these engines look like a beauty. Certainly like nothing we see today. I don't know how much the Optispark fix would cost (I'll look) but if the water pump had to come off and the car had some miles on it, they might as well do the water pump at the same time. Now if the water pump goes, that sounds like a bad domino effect.

You can hang your hat on this. The Texas edition of the Silverado is very much a current reality. I photographed one, mostly the name badge, around Thanksgiving 2015 in the Houston area. As for Subaru, they could certainly use a Boulder (CO) or Burlington (VT) package.

Today is Cinco de Mayo. Did anyone ever name a model of car "Alamo?" If you can name a truck "Tacoma," then anything is possible. Tacoma WA is also known as "the aroma of Tacoma," "Tac-town," and "Tacky-oma."

As for the Super, they are VERY rare. Even the 3.6 was somewhat rare. The vast majority were 3.8s ... like over 90%. I may have found a new independent mechanic. Seems super nice. He said he loves the 3800 V6. Those Monte Carlos seem to fall into two buckets - those owned by people who love them and take care of them or those that have allowed to go very "ghetto," for lack of a better word, and are falling apart in so many places. I'm betting that a fender repair on one of those would not be fun, given the pronounced sculpting. I talked to this guy a little bit and told him how I went through the LaX-GP-MC conundrum. I told him of my weariness of the then "new" VVT 3500 V6 and told him that they have now been around for so long and have been hassle free for most people. He agreed and said that when they have had issues, they have been easy fixes. But he still seemed to favor the 3800 V6.

The stuff that shows up on the right side of the C&G page! Wow. Of 2005 vintage. The 5.7 V8s and 4.3 V8s put into the RWD Caprices of the mid 90s touted the reverse coolant flow for keeping the top of the engine cooler and it sort of made sense to me, at least reading what they had to say. So many of these are on the road and I don't believe that people took their stock/base back to the dealerships to have their water pumps changed so the vanes pushed the coolant in the other direction. And so many of them have successfully racked up 200,000 + miles. The other thing that was said of these reconfigured engines was that the spark control (sounds like the equivalent of a distributor and rotor) now had an optic feature. I've read that some people had to replace these along the way. I'm not exactly sure how this system would work.

I see quite a few Teslas around these parts. I am not at all taken by them. The more I see ostentatious and expensive cars (yesterday, I saw an enormous new Lincoln SUV monstrosity - their biggest, very squarish), the more I yearn for cars like my old 1984 Cutlass Supreme Brougham with its 3.8 liter V6 with a 2 barrel carburetor! While I don't miss the carburetor set up, that was the most comfortable car I have EVER owned, by a long shot. Incidentally, when I was recently out of town, I was talking to a salesman who was not pushing me in the least and looking at the new Regal sportback sedan, where I got to sit in it and the sample the visibility. Not. At any rate, he sort of mumbled that the new LaCrosse isn't moving as was sort of expected because the price point can get real high and, at that point, buyers will cross over to Cadillac, also sold by that dealership. Sure, there are LaCrosses that sticker at 37K, but there are also many that sticker at around 47K. I like the third and current gen much more than then chunky second gen, save the high console, but I wouldn't buy one ... even if I had the coin and was in the market.

That's right ... BA did/does fly a jumbo from Phoenix to London when US Airways folded into AA and PHX became a One World hub. But, when US Airways was Star Alliance (IIRC), Lufthansa served Phoenix to Frankfurt with a jumbo. We've gone from the Big 6 to the Big 3 within the last decade or so. I'm betting those heavies have to work harder if full flights and taking off when it's 110F outside. I remember being on a full Lufthansa 747 from Germany to San Francisco and it rotated effortlessly in misty 65F weather. Planes and either Arizona or the Mojave Desert are a match made in heaven when it comes to "retirement!"

I don't know. This plane was launched in 2011. The same was true with the launch of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in December of 2009. There were two of them. I think it has to do with photographing, security, monitoring performance, etc. It would be an interesting thing ("chase planes") to look up. When I almost bought the Monte Carlo instead of the LaCrosse and found one in another state, they were going to sell it to me in my state, just over the line and at a DMV, so I could purchase it with the much better tax situation. They were very accommodating but I got cold feet on the Monte. At any rate, the guy said he'd also send up a "chase car" to bring the driver of the Monte back to the dealership.

A beautiful spring day to have made history and to have launched the latest rendition of the "Queen of the Skies:" Just incredible ... both the rotation from Paine Field in Everett, WA and the descent to Boeing Field in Seattle, with the Cascades in the background. Note the chase plane (a routine thing on inaugural flights) and the fact that the landing gear is in the operative position after the climb out. Sadly, airlines have not been lining up to buy these in pax form as was hoped. There have been way more orders for the freighter version. It's all good. Lufthansa was the launch customer and has/will have 19 of them. I believe there are Air Force One orders for this version ... it's about time. Either way, the 747(-8i) should live to see 50 years of flight next February 9, since it first took the skies on that date in 1969. If being the "King of the Skies" means one has to be as ugly as the Airbus 380, it's probably better to settle for being queen. I swear ... even today, when you're in an airport and one of these taxis by, everyone still turns to look! At one time, I believe there were 2 YouTubes - one for the take-off and one for the landing. I was just poking around and found this YouTube which consolidates the events.

A tribute to rear wheel drive?

Since your location shows STL, did your cruise begin and end in Galveston, TX? Carnival and Disney are the big regulars there, with some Royal Caribbean. I would think the New England - Eastern Canada cruise would be interesting: New York - Newport RI - Boston - Bar Harbor - Halifax - St. john's - Sept Isles or Saguenay Fjord - Quebec City (most or some of those ports). The QM2 does it once or twice each autumn. When I did see the QM2 there and it was departing Quebec City, the band was playing "New York, New York." People ashore got a chuckle out of that. I've only been on full crossings when I was a kid, courtesy of my parents' travel choices. They didn't like airplanes but then had to get used to them because the ship stopped being an option.

Agreed. Your caption is funny. I saw this yesterday. (Still, these group photos are always sort of cool.) This is the largest segment of the Royal Caribbean fleet. People derisively call them floating condominiums or cruise boxes. They are sad in that they are too big and mostly all about bling and bells & whistles. Traditional ocean liners were noteworthy and memorable because they were designed with the forecastle pushed back far enough from the bow and with rear decks that tapered nicely behind the funnels, and with the outdoor pools were typically placed on ample rear decks. On the British and French liners, there were also additional pool(s) indoors, on the lower decks. On the Italian liners, all the pools were outside. The QM2, the only true transatlantic liner today, had to do a balancing act. It was required that the bow was sleek enough, that the forecastle was pushed back enough, and that the rear of the ship would be tapered while upping the number of exterior and balcony cabins compared to the outgoing QE2. That was a tall order, but they did a good job with the design. Sadly, the QE and QV are part of the Cunard fleet, were built at Fincantieri near Venice, are boxy, are used primarily for cruises, and fortunately are NOT the Cunard flagship. This shows what I'm talking about, with the QM2 in the middle, looking pretty darn nice to me: Again, people respond to good design even though they may not be able to verbalize what they like and dislike. Many ships come into Quebec City during the cruise season, but the area's citizens generally only turn out in significant numbers to see the arrival and departure of the QM2.