trinacriabob

I'm going to guess '74, maybe '75. I'd pull over, too! That's a good price - probably a 400 c.i., maybe a 455 c.i.? Back to the V6. I don't think I'd want to do the turbo 231. It's not a project I'd do or could do. I was wondering if one could swap out the '77 "odd firing" V6 for the "even firing" "offset crankshaft" one that followed in '78, '79, '80 etc. My dad had an '80 N.A. 231 and it fared well, save some CCC issues. I had an '84 N.A. 231 in a hand me down Olds and really liked it. It's more about getting an engine that has less vibration and more longevity. There really was a difference in smoothness. So, I want to know if the basic exterior design of the following 231 ('78 on) matches up in terms of manifolds, throttle cables, and all that, or is it different enough that a swap wouldn't be a slam dunk. They made that last "even firing" 231 N.A. engine with a carburetor from '78 up to the '87 or '88 M.Y.

Aggressive * ever watch them chase those "Jungle Cruise at Disneyland" type boats in the same body of water that they're in? *

October 3 - more conventional cars seen: Blast from the past - I believe it was an '85, per the grille - in very good condition - could do without the pimpy coach light and metal decoration in the B-pillar This was about 4 houses away from the Cutlass! Just a minute or so away. Wow. Again, these look sharp in silver with burgundy leather inside. Who said we don't need coupes anymore? A GP in great condition considering where it was - a 2004 because of those wheel colors and a keyed trunk lock - all that was missing here was Mary Tyler Moore (just kidding ... RIP MTM, a cool lady). Last but not least, the Chrysler product - a Ram truck. Granted, their grilles have gotten nicer. Within the last few years, it has finally sunken in that it's not a Dodge Ram, but a Ram. What struck me here is that this dude, or chick, can keep their truck in perfect condition but not pop for a needed window pane for their garage door in a cold climate.

I'll do this post as a stand-alone post and do the boring more current domestics as a separate one. October 3rd - a very clean (unknown year to me) Chevrolet Bel Air convertible

I have Windows on the HP I bought a while back. So far, I have really liked their home computers. It's the only brand I've ever owned. *keeping my fingers crossed.* I have read that Microsoft has done a really good with the current Edge browser and it is giving Chrome and Mozilla some stiff competition. I'll look again to see if Safari is Mac only. I was doing a quick glance of the articles and I think I pulled one up that said it was also available on a PC, but that article could be stale dated by now.

Any ideas on these as additional browsers for Windows on a home desktop computer? (Pros and cons of these) Epic? Opera? Safari? Every once in a while, you might be in a hotel lobby's business center and see that they have Opera or Safari as a browser.

lunch or "Cafe 150" stop? - - - - - I'm going to go back in time with the spotting. This would have been October 1: Second-gen and final Aurora - spotless - 3.5 V6 and gold package From the tropics to the tundra, complete with the little Cuba sticker in the rear window ... there's a story behind everything.

Midwest

Not because I like this song, but because I recently learned that such a song even existed. Fairly nutty premise for a song. I've seen her on TV, she reminds me of the grown up version of a girl who lived 6 or so houses up the street from us, and I like her LESS as a result of reading her bio, despite her being a NYU grad.

Some end of month spotting Here's my favorite version of the FWD Bonnes and you can see the trestles holding up "the El" tracks over State Street Spotless, 11 to 13 years old, and in downtown St. Paul ... this could have been owned out of state and brought up into the Land of 10,000 Lakes A renegade 2005 to 2007 (?) Grand Prix confidently taking a left turn and dwarfed by the archdiocesan cathedral in St. Paul. I couldn't believe how many of these very last GPs I saw in the Twin Cities, both in excellent and deplorable condition, and still running strong.

An extra scoop of ice cream or gold star if this is an original factory color. Wow. Look at the tiny window for the rear quarter. The colonnades of the next decade (even if this Eldo is B-pillar-less) were obviously derivations and the way GM put the PLC in the everyday American's driveway en masse. Those were the days.

That would have been cool. I circled out and back using Minneapolis (airport) ... ridiculously good Southwest fare. Stories, indeed ... having people wave to you or pointing at you, pulling your hair out looking for parts, haggling with people to restore the rust spots, etc. but you're right about living only once. Would prefer a colonnade coupe with either the 260 V8 or the inline 250 6, and no A/C, to toy with. I know those engines. I periodically look for those. If there was a cheap "even firing" V6 in excellent condition from the late '70s or early '80s that could be swapped in, that would make this more attractive. I had a feeling this unit would rumble like an earthquake if I cranked it over ... but then I could have been surprised. The lady's husband needed to be around for me to ask more questions and look at it more carefully.

Right, too new for you. My "niche" here seems to be the championing of these GM colonnade coupes from this era. Could an "even-firing" 231 c.i. V6 from the next few years that followed slip into this engine's place, just like THM 350s could be slotted where THM 200s used to be (having had that done for a previous car, which was the right thing to do)?

From some vantage points, without badging, it looks very Mazda-like.

So, I'm far away, in the land of fall colors, driving along in the U.P. of Michigan, and I see this old but familiar Buick in a driveway. No, it can't be. I pull off and find a spot where there is room to park. I take out my phone and set it to camera mode. It was a '76 or '77 Regal colonnade coupe. It had the V6 badge. The lady of the house comes out the door and I explain to her that my dad used to have one of these as a second car. I asked if it was for sale. She said that her husband would know the details, that he wanted to rescue this piece of history from going into oblivion, and she gave me their number after we talked a bit. She didn't know much about the car. I explained to her how it was a '77 as opposed to a '76. She said it ran. I suppose I could have turned over the engine, and hear the "odd firing" V6 come to life, but I felt that would have been so random, having just walked up to it. I asked if it had the original engine and transmission. She said she thought it was original. With all the info I knew about the car, I suppose she deduced I wasn't a flake. There was a good deal of rust on it, especially at its base and where the bumpers hook onto the car. The interior fabric is tattered. It's the pale blue base cloth interior. On the other hand, the gizmos are nonexistent. Sure, it has power steering and brakes, but no power windows, tilt wheel, or any of that. Also, as I expected, it didn't have A/C! This thing was hilarious. The price would be low. I still have their number somewhere. Mechanically, it would be very simple, with no bells and whistles. It could be fun to have this .... and it could also be a money pit to bring it back to being presentable. Would you have done it (moved toward buying it) or would you do it (if it's still available)? Photos: Parts of it look okay and parts of it look weathered: you can see the rust at its base ... also, check out the V6 badge! The area where the bumpers slotted into the ladder frame had seen better days ... there was a fair amount of rust I guess this household is voting for "RUMP." I didn't know you could do that. (I swear I didn't trim the photo.) The crossbars in the grille mean it's a '77. The '76 had the basic "Parthenon" grille, with only vertical bars in the grille. I didn't even lift the hood. You'd see that compact engine pushed up against the firewall! I was driving toward scenic sights that were on the checklist, not this Regal from yesteryear. WWCGD? What Would C&G-ers Do?

private

I am contemplating what the next Dodge Charger might be like. I hope the progression is a good one. If it's a change like, say, from the '76/'77 Cutlass Supreme to the '83/'84 Cutlass Supreme, then I'd be okay with it. I'm talking analogies here. The latter of the Cuttys mentioned above kept all the good qualities of the former ones, but in a slightly smaller and lighter package. You could tell that they were lighter when driving them, but they still remained great cars worthy of their name and heritage. I spend too much time thinking about what this future car might be like. *sigh*

Right, I had forgotten about the Pine Barrens. I don't know if the cranberry fields are in the Pine Barrens or they are two separate places. The one thing that stunned me is how close Matawan (of 1916 infamy) is to NYC. I had always thought that that waterway emptied into Egg Harbor, or somewhere down there, along the Atlantic Seaboard. Mostly, I know Bergen County because of relatives - and the way down to Newark Airport as well as the way up along the Palisade(s) Parkway back to the New York state line. When I'd visit, I would take the NJ Transit buses to get into Port Authority in Manhattan on the cheap and riding with entertaining people along the lines of Maude or Rhoda was guaranteed.

I lost a college friend to this brand of wench. I was in the wedding party. In the course of his marriage, he has handed over his testicles to her on a silver platter. - - - - - response to thread: Belly

Things have changed. Rental car rates are way up. Weekly pricing is mostly gone. The per day rates are high, and they seem to hold on the weekends. Some better prices can be found via Costco's car rental program, any discount codes you may have, and/or renting from satellite urban and suburban locations rather than airports. Still, it appears that rental rates are going to remain higher and that the bargains we've seen will be less frequent.

Being that this is a thread of ve-hickle spotting in October, would that imply that those of us posting here are hicks ... or that we have an affinity for them? I'm wondering if there is somewhat of a hick quotient in the cranberry flats in the middle of the Garden State. I couldn't believe how unpopulated it is as one drives from Philly to Atlantic City, for example.

Are we not in enough pain? The election, the SCOTUS confirmation, domestic terrorism, coronavirus, stimulus gridlock? WTF is this that Scott Peterson's verdict and process might be revisited? Given that they put a man on the moon some 5 decades ago, nothing ought to surprise us. Still, unbelievable ... in a bad way.

Scratch

I'd take it, sell it, buy a new $29K Dodge Charger with the proceeds, and save the rest ... like a good tightwad.

Got the power steering fluid changed. It had been about 4 years and 50,000 miles since I last did it. Feels good to refresh the car like this every now and then.