balthazar

I have a '98 Intrique promo we got from the dealer when my wife got her '98. I have a promo for my '64 GP, tho it's grey w/ a black roof and my GP is all black. I had a promo for my '59 Invicta coupe but I sold it to put the money into the actual car. I try and avoid buying 'dustcatchers' as much as possible.

Mustang is "bland"? HAHAHAHAHA. Don't change your stance; you were all about retro=bad. Bland is another pointless discussion. PSST- that bmw we can't talk about IS retro. Wanna shift ground again?

"originality" is overrated. The Aztek & element are "original". You can have them.

Say 'no' to bad design- no one wants another maxima.

International Motor Company was rejected, United Motor Company was too close to the New Jersey-based United Motors Car Company, so General Motors Company was chosen (changed in the mid-teens to General Motors Corporation). I would love to learn any further detail on this.

Try the chain auto part stores (Pep Boys, etc). 104+ is one brand, there are others.

Saw gas today at $7.50/gal. I suppose I should mention it was 116-octane race fuel.

Lead additives every once in a while (2 or 3 times a year) are fine. But, I never hear of people using them once the car has over 20-25K- hobbyist experience has shown the initial hubbub back when lead was banned from gas has turned out to be for nothing. It seems cars drank enough lead over that mileage to lube the exh valves for the rest of it's days. If lead additives were a real neccessity- there would be a good 6-10 products on the market and there aren't. Know that when lead was banned, it was only at about 10% of what it was before the long slow reduction process started years earlier- practically nothing. I never used a lead additive in my '64 over the 25K I drove it, but it had 69K when I started. I haven't pulled the heads but valve recession doesn't seem to be a problem anywhere except in very rare instances. However, this 225 has some real low miles: I would research and find what any other vintage owners are using for a lead additive product (there are a few legal, good quality additives available) and toss in a bottle every 10K miles until it reaches 50K (or whatever the product recommends). >>"I wouldnt dare be heavy on the pedal...I wouldnt want t destroy the car. "<< LOL- that Buick is far more over-engineered than modern cars: flooring it daily is something it's literally built for. Unless you have giant sticky tires out back getting real traction, you'll just spin and relieve drivetrain stresses out as rubber smoke. The only concern for hammering on it is the gas quality/detonation issue because of it's high compression- not component engineering. Of course- the car is 40 years old; things can still break. You should use octane booster before you worry about lead additive. Check it: http://www.buickstreet.com/my66electra.html

1-8-9-14-3-6-11-2-15-10-7-4-13-12-5-16 '30-37 Cadillac V-16.

There's one called 'Friendship' on Rt 206 in the southern half of NJ- haven't been there but people have told me it's pretty good. Other than that I'm more familiar with central Jersey yards than south. Looking for anything in particular?

$5K for 140,000 miles??? A-HAHAH...oops!; we're not allowed to talk about the car itself. Sorry; forgot.

Quite the fine tuning on the pro-car chassis'. I wonder if Cadillac is 'getting back into' promoting these vehicles; I only knew about them last year after doing some pointed research. Nice to see pro-cars back in the 'literature' where they belong.

305 doesn't need the inherant brute strength the TH400 offers; won't develop nearly enough HP/TRQ. TH400 takes another 18 HP to spin over a TH350- which is an upgrade over the TH250 your 305 likely is bolted to. Same applies to the rear/driveshaft: if you keep the 305- there just isn't much in the way of 'gonzo' parts out there to require a beefed drivetrain. I agree with rkmdogs: swap in a 350 then we can talk trans/rear upgrades.

My local mitsu dealer made the horrific busines decision to expand his dealership about 3 years ago. It's positively huge- must have 400 vehicles. Lately it has employeed the practice of putting used, non-mitsus on the front line (on an extremely busy interstate), and it's seemingly only these that sell; the rest of the endless rows always look the same. Also, tho I cannot swear to it, I believe the building used to have standard 'Mitsubishi' lettering on the fascade, but recently those large red letters were removed and replaced by a separate signboard that's much smaller. If true, I don't kow if it's an effort to up-play the co-owned hyundai dealership next door or a facilitation of a 'cut-n-run' gameplan when mitsu pulls the NA plug.

To each his own: I prefer the 4-dr over the coupe. The 2-dr looks too stylistically stretched to me, the 4-dr looks more tightly wrapped and solid. It also stands out to my eye as more distinctive and modern than -say- the altima.

right and like I said- you should run 94 octane, 93 if you're not heavy on the pedal. I wouldn't settle for 92, tho.

Anyone think these no-reason-for-it segregated tests only promote the subconscious opinion that domestic product "can't compete" with foreign models? I do.

I really liked the G6 interior I sat in, thought it looked (and felt ) great. Flintstone is like the origial Beetle- about 10 years past its prime... except in JF's case it's more like 25.

As for the cars- sure: plenty of potential- lots of great project starts. Lots of horribly rotted stuff, too. As for the yard- from what I was told the owner got sick & died in '96 and the widow wanted nothing to do with running a junkyard. She still lives there but instead of an old truck door with "Manchurs Truck & Auto Parts" on it (actually the door is still there- painted over with the address), a hand-painted sign advertisies 'chickens for sale'. No improvement, IMO. Folks, old time junkyards are disappearing rapidly, esp with the chinese demand for steel. Go now while you still have the chance- you will not regret an afternoon peeking into ghost lives gone by. Get to see some awesome automotive detailing up close, too. I have a cool glass-covered Art Deco Pontiac Indian Head from the dash of a circa '46 on my dresser from there. A thousand stories....

My wife had a '93 GA and the seats were world's better: the friend's bmw's were thinly-upholstered plywood- absolutely awful. Maybe he built them himself (he didn't). C&G can "come first" but you are not asking for opinion but specific, legal procedures and allowances. I would always go to the source creating these procedures first rather than ask a message board, but hey; that's me. I pay far less for insurance & maintenance than anyone else here... from doing research thru proper channels, not asking cyberspace. That said; I don't know why you ask for advice then unilaterally reject every suggestion, but it's your dime.

I can remember many, but 25-acres of cars is a sh!t-load. A rough calculation comes up with 2000 cars; you're not going to ask me about Montes, are you? Sorry; I've never been a Chevrolet fan (tho there are a handful I like). A 1st gen MC is a nice car, but I would run, not walk past one to get to a '70-72 GP instead. Even AMC/Ramblers got more attention from me. Here's 3 treasured pics from circa 1990: This is Row #2. You cannot get any idea of the size here. There were about 28 rows, mostly organized by make. The black car in the left foreground was particulally rare: a '58 Buick Limited convertible, 1 of 839 built. Restored they are roughly $100,000, but sadly this one was already too far gone even 20 years ago. The silver hardtop to the right was a '60 Invicta with factory air. I still recall the 2 stickers in the rear window: a waving 48-star U.S. flag and a white on blue rectangle: "This car equipped with Buick AIR CONDITIONING". This here was a '57 Pontiac Super Chief 4-dr hardtop. Both my grandfather and my father-in-law had '57s- unfortunately both long gone before I 'arrived' or I'd own them now. Gorgeous machine. Brake pedal had "BRAKE" stamped in the stainless trim, which is not unique, but the "POWER" stamped into the gas pedal was. Attached quite differently or this very car's pedal would be in my '59 Buick. '59 Cadillac Sedan deVille. I used to be bigtime into these. Last time I saw it someone had cut the entire rear clip off: hopefully to repair a runner rather than make a couch out of it... tho as it turned out- I would take a couch rather than send the entire thing to the crusher. Damn sweet memories of wandering this 'DisneyWorld' for hours on end. Would rather be there (junkyard) than most any other place I can think of.

I knew a guy who owned a 318- it was a &#036;h&#33;box with the worst seats I have ever spent time in, period, which matches the little feedback I've ever heard about them. More than once I've seen them listed as one of bmw's failures. And how old is this tin can; looks like circa 1990. I thought you didn't want something "too old". If it's like 14 years old, $5K has to be complete rape. I haven't (noticed) one of these on the road in years, and this in a state where bmws follow each other in packs of 2 or 3. As for the loan question and 'seeing proof': Pick up your ViperFone & call 'Brookville First National': they set the rules for loan approval- not the state. Your folks' insurance company and the PA DMV will be able to tell you if you can register it under your name & insure it under theirs (which I doubt). An internet message board is not the research source for this level of specific information. Good friggin' luck.

'60s Hi-CR motors require better gas than has been available in years. A 10.5:1 motor requires 98 octane (Research or RON). Modern fuels are rated as motor + research / 2 = octane rating. If the modern 94-octane is less than 98 on the research scale, the Electra may still ping under load. >>"...wouldn't mpg have increased over 2 years..."<< No-ooooo; if MPG increased by 1/yr from 14 in '64, a big Buick would be getting 56 MPG by now, no?

It's not (or shouldn't be) about "retro" or not; the issue should only be about good, lasting, engaging design. Which a vast majority of the so-called "retro" cars have in great quantity. Thusly: bring it on!

Hoo boy- do you really want to know? I tracked every tankful over a 2-year period when I was driving my '64 Catalina. I have a very heavy right foot and treat every traffic light like a Christmas Tree. It averaged 14 MPG with a well-tuned low-compression (regular fuel) 389 2bbl. The Electra 225 Custom has a high-comp 401 4bbl. It should return around 12 provided you do not heavily engage in lighting up the rear tires (which would push it down to more like 8-10). There was no regular fuel option as far as I know: you will need to feed it 94 over even 93 octane unless you retard the timing to avoid detonation. My advice?- to hell with fuel costs: you're profiling! Look at your buy-in price and figure out how long you'd have to drive a worthless POS 2-yr old sentra or corolla to break-even and enjoy yourself. Or get a knowledgable appraisal and throw the beast on eBay. It's worth some good bucks being what it is. Bucket seats or bench? Where are my damned pics??