A Horse With No Name

Replace them both, and then enjoy the Tahoe for the next ten years. $250 is half of what a new truck payment would be, and you don't have 28K hanging over your head in the form of a bank loan. Consider yourself lucky!

Two different sources of motivation would be perhaps a better way of putting it? Trying to think about how/what to say to clarify this.

"http://failblog.org/2010/10/18/epic-fail-photos-tailgate-grill-fail/"][/url] Just do what the Toyota owner above did, you will have heat in no time!

-----Thread----- I think we just might have a winner, here. Way too cool.....

This would be correct.

Good luck, wish I was in Philly with the day off so I could help you, sir. Sounds like the problem is the $250 part. I'm impressed that its still available. In Commercial HVAC, solving air flow problems often takes care of issues. However, 95% of what I see in buildings is caused by an electrical malfunction, so...I think your on the right track...

wicked and wiled

You would be entirely correct, sir. Part of Japan's funk is that it has set itself up to be a long range supplier of high quality goods, while the rest of the world has kind of imploded and no longer needs them. Also, on a lot of things I buy that are not automotive related but high ticket items, Europe been eating japans butt in terms of the quality and creativity. Especially on things like tools, etc.

Cool! Tell us a little more when the time comes!

You might try a couple of things, Camino. First of all, you might use NO-Lox on the connection to the motor, after you clean the connection.. It will keep moisture and corrosion out of the connection, and ensure that it isn't corrupted in the future. IF one of the ducts isn't collapsed, I'd bet you are not getting enough RPM's out of the motor, or tht an old motor doesn't have enough torque to turn the blower wheel at the proper speed. Only three variables exist, or perhaps 3. 1. Electrical conditions at connections to motor. 2. Condition of motor and it's ability to do the job. 3. Lack of obstruction in the ductwork 4. Control of any subsequent adjustment devices (doors, louvers, etc.) At least this is the way I would see it.... If your serious about keeping the vehicle, would it not be easier to pull the dashboard itself to check the problem? I actually have had animals build nests in ductwork (including rattlesnakes!). I wonder if a couple of fornicating mice might have gotten a little too comfortable and trapped in there somewhere?

Odd...one would think the HVAC system would be simple enough to repair....sorry to hear that you are having problems.

I feel like Mr Rogers...now say it after me..."Decades." I no longer expect to see an economic turnaround in my life time. And we have been sinking since about 1980 or so....

For the money, it is a good deal. I am going to have to do something like this with the Miata soon!

China is a good market to be in, and I'm glad to see the Germans there ahead of the Chinese.

Thanks for posting this one up.

Thanks, DF good deal on the antifreeze!

I'll take that as a sign...that some day I can come get a certain stalled El Camino project at a reasonable price! Can't do anything right now, but....

Looking forward to pics. and highly jealous of the 99 year oid guy who bought the 53 Jag....E types would have been nice. And I have huge respect for brass era cars.

To me, stunning means we re-issue from the 1960's Pontiacs product lineup. Lacking that.... Audi to me has the best design sense of any car maker. GM and Ford are both very good, but the other car makers I like are Porsche and VW in terms of design. I like the way Mazda's drive, but don't want to cruze around in a four thousand pound guppy. SMILE Agree! I agree with you. I have issues with even the outgoing car. Ergonomics somehow to me are much better in the Golf. Exterior blandness...ummm....yeah....not terrible, but a huge step backwards from the outgoing model. I would when I race at the local autocross, but .02% of the population races their car. IRS would be important for me though. The Miata has it and it has me spoiled.

Turbo would help things. Wifes box has 145.000 miles on it, and I know I'm going to have to bite the bullet and bite a car in a year or two. Thinking Focus for one of the cars I'm going to have to buy, but a Turbo + Onstar would help push things into the Chevrolet camp

I've got a few edits for the above section, but its not letting me edit. I'll add more tomorrow...

Continued: Stang fidgeted nervously in his seat, well aware of the tension in the big red Poncho. Tin Indian obviously liked the car, but was unsure about what he was going to add to his collection. Cutty seemed to have some minor buyers remorse over that particular 68 Olds, and The Cat just seemed to know something was wrong. "Could we have a little music...whatever is fine." Breaking the tension and enjoying the test drive was what Stang wanted most. "Try FM 97.9 perhaps?" "It's only got AM radio....and not a very good reception around here as it is." The cat called back from the drivers seat. "Ahhh...here we go....." Smooth music filled the car as it warmed up, and then the DJ came on loud and clear. "It's an all day festival featuring the music of B.B. King...." Stang immediately noticed something else about The Cat. He was catlike in how you could tell from his ears what he was thinking....and every time the letter B was mentioned, you could watch his ears twitch and the back of his neck turn red. "You could turn that to another station or off maybe." Stang offered, trying to be helpful. A quick twist of the chrome radio knob broke it, and the station wouldn't change either. Obviously the wrong thing to suggest. CC was openly hoping to make a sale, and sensed the tension also. He walked over to the passenger side of the car, and asked gently "Got enough fuel...everyone comfortable?" Tin Indian looked over at the gauges, and then shook his head. "Below baseline, basically." Stang noticed the ear twitch again, and also saw the vein in The Cat's arm pop out of a muscle. Not good. CC smiled weakly, unsure of what to do. He knocked his finger against the front fender, creating a dull thud, and then pointed towards the back of the lot. "Basically, Bay B Beyond the parts department is where you can fuel." He thought for a minute. "Beyond the baby blue Buick boiling over." Stang was getting worried, because the letter B seemed to be highly offensive to the cat and drive him mad. "So do you like watching television?" he asked Tweety Bird, the girl. "Yes, but there are things daddy won't let me watch." Tin Indian tried to be helpful. "There are things that are more for grownups than young children." "Oh, I wasn't talking about that." Volunteered the girl. "I can't watch Sesame Street when they feature the letter B." Tin Indian seemed to sense the tension, and threw a glance towards the back seat as they drove back towards service. "So how was the weather when you left Columbus?" "Brisk." Stang volunteered, realizing the folly in his choice of words only too late. It was his turn to ask Tin Indian something, so he shifted in his seat and asked "So how was the worst of the last five millinia? "Brutal." Tin Indian replied, and again this was obviously the wrong answer. "I mean, I was in Europe during the black death, and that was probably the worst time in my life." "So, where were you living back then?" Stang ventured, not sure of how to proceed. "In what is now Brussels, Belgium." Tin Indian replied. Again, the wrong answer. the Cat's fingers went white on the steering wheel. So Tin Indian started talking cars, and that calmed everyone down. He started talking about the sliding roof in the 1962 Studebaker Lark wagon, and then ventured about the GMC Envoy XUV, and how it was engineered. Stang liked listening to the guy, he had an easy simple way of making you understand complex stuff. They stopped in front of a set of vintage Sinclair fuel pumps, the kind the P-59 might have gassed up at when it was new. Five high school age boys in 1950's era uniforms checked the oil, adjusted the tire pressure, cleaned the already spotless windshield, and fueled the P-59 up with full lead ethyl. The guys noticed a Corvette in the service bay ahead, and began to comment on it. "I don't know they made a 53, 54, or 55 Corvette in gold." Cutty volunteered. "They made a few in Bronze, although your right, it's almost gold....you could say that it's barely bronze." Tin Indian volunteered. Stang was getting worried about the sanity of the driver. Something seemed just not right about the whole situation. CC wandered back and gave the Pontiac one final, gentle pat with the palm of his hand. "Trust me, you'll find this car Beyond Belief." To Stang's dismay, the Pontiac seemed to take on the anger of the driver. It lurched forward towards the open road, like a furious panther let out of its cage. Stang could see why these cars did so well in NASCAR, on drag strips, and on dirt tracks back in the day. This machine was nothing to joke about. There was something catlike about the car as well as the driver. It was a born hunting machine, eager to unleash its claws. The Cat drove effortlessly and smoothly, and the guys met an odd sight on there way out of the lot. One of the largest guys Stang had ever met was standing next to one of the smaller cars on the lot, and one of the smallest guys he'd seen was standing next to a 2011 GMC Denali one ton dually. It made quite a sight, and The Cat Broke out laughing. This might not be so bad after all...Stang thought. "You boys having any luck?" the Cat asked, alert and curious. "Find of a life time." Replied the large man. "Drove all the way up from Charlotte North Carolina in the FOG to add to my Camaro collection, and I've scored a 1967 Z28 Rally Sport." He pointed back towards the service bays. "I've also scored a 1982 Pace Car Camaro. Kind of unusual and different, not sure I was going to like it but...right now I can't resist." "What about you?" The Cat gently asked the small guy. "We checked out an old abandoned rail line and I found this." The small man raised up a piece of wood with the letters W W on it, which must have meant Whistle or something of the sort back in the age of steam locomotives. "I'm looking for a truck. Got a nice new truck for a daily, but I want something unique. This Denali is nice, but they've got a 91 SS 454 that I like also." The small man cleared his throat. "Hard decisions to make even if I can buy five vehicles, because they have a big block 72 Camper Special pick up I like as well." As the men were speaking, a family of rats walked across the path of the Pontiac and in front of the guys. Stang wondered if there would be more rats as the day went along. The Cat shook hands with both of his fellow GM shoppers. "Good luck guys. Some Cool stuff here, Yes?" "Very late 41 Chevrolet truck in the back row, and a 58 GMC Cameo on the other side of the lot. I would say yes!" W. W. smiled, and that seemed to put the cat and everyone else at ease. "Keep it under a hundred and keep the shiny side up boys." Replied FOG. For some reason, Stang thought of Foghorn Leghorn when he saw the big guy, so he just thought of him as FOG. The Pontiac pulled out onto the road, and Stang could tell that Tin Indian was impressed with the car, which was saying something, because he didn't seem like an easy guy to please. They drove along listening to BB King, the rumble of the big Pontiac V8, and the sound of birds along what must have been the one scenic tree lined street in this dismal town. As they rolled into the commercial district, The Cat pulled the Poncho into MacDonalds, and it was soon obvious to Stang why he did so. Across the Street was a Burger King, and the same strange aversion to "B" seemed to come back. Driving around the backside of the beige brick building, they bypassed buying budget burgers in the drive through lane. As they pulled back up to the boulevard, they brushed the Pontiac against a bramble bush, bruising but not really hurting the car. Bandaging the Poncho could come later. But before breakfast could be brought forth to the boys, blazing bright chrome brilliantly greeted them and briefly blinded both front and backseat passengers in the form of a convoy of vintage tin on a tour. Bird was the first to notice, and then once she'd brought everyones blindsided attention to the boulevard they guys became buoyant and animated. "Bridge." Bird tweeted, "Both lanes." Bringing up the front was a 1933 Pierce Arrow, followed by a Rolls Royce from the late 1920's. Those cars were followed by a supercharged 1939 Graham, a Cord with a coffin nose, a Chrysler Airflow, and then a 1934 Ford Touring car, or phaeton, followed. Bunched up behind the Ford were a 1927 Buck roadster, several Studebakers, a Stutz Bearcat, two T model Fords, and several Packards. This was all followed by a 1937 Seagraves fire truck with a dalmatian riding as tail end Charlie. As concerned as he was about The Cat at times, Stang was glad to see he was a fellow car guy. The sight of that caravan had been worth the trip here, and they'd caught it totally by accident. they proceeded with their test drive, and again Stang was impressed with how well The Cat drove. Not a wasted motion, smooth, almost elegant, like that Pierce Arrow had been. That was, until they passed Ben's Barber shop, whence The Cat pulled the Poncho onto the sidewalk on the other side of the street, barely missing a few parking meters and a newly plated tree. At least for once Cutty was Speechless....sort of. Until the Pontiac stopped. Stang knew what was the matter. On each side of the street was a bank. Because he couldn't drive forward, backing brazenly burnt bias ply bruises into the pavement as the Poncho switched direction. Brave black ravens held to the last, but Birds scattered as the Poncho went up over the curb and into some grass. Continuing rearwards, traffic on the boulevard was breached by the Poncho, which seemed to be breathing fire in it's fury. Cars scattered like the birds had, and The Cat pulled a perfect Rockford style 180 degree turn, barely upsetting the crayons in his daughters lap as she calmly colored. "Your father always drive like this?" Tin Indian asked, alarmed. "Basically." replied the girl, not even bothering to briefly look up from her coloring book. Stang was impressed, as he'd drag raced and autocrossed. He'd ridden with good drivers at SCCA style events, and worked as a corner worker where guys named Unser and Andretti had raced. But The Cat was a pure artist behind the wheel, and the Poncho was gaining speed like a walrus shot from a catepault. Flashing red lights filled the rear window of the car, and Stang was alarmed when he looked back at the black and white Charger. That thing had a Hemi in it, and the guy in uniform driving it looked none to happy. The Cat calmly talked about the evils of debt as he raced away from the cop, and all of the guys in the car agreed that they really believed in financial responsibility. Racing away from that bank might have been the symbol for something else, and not just a ruse about the letter B. It was still strange being in a high speed chase where the driver was so calm. "I wish they had Accords or Tauruses as police cars." Cutty volunteered as the Charger gained ground greedily. "Patiance, my son..." The driver shot back. "We'll get rid of him soon enough." Stang wasn't so sure. The Cat was surely catlike in his knowledge of ally's and their subtlety. Charging past old industrial buildings at near triple digit speeds, both the Poncho and the Charger took turns getting briefly airborne. Twice Stang was hit in the face with blowing trash brought up by the speeding cars, and once The Cat was creative enough to switch positions, so that he was chasing the Charger. "Oh....." Cutty seemed to want to use an obscenity, but couldn't some how find one obscene enough for the amount of speed they were carrying through this large, apparently endless abandoned industrial park. The Poncho crashed through the gates of a closed AC Delco plant at eighty five miles per hour, with the Charger in hot pursuit. "Going to put her sideways boys, hang on...." Called out the driver. Stang thought for sure the Poncho would flip as it skidded through the enormous potholes in the pavement, but some how the whole Pontiac Wide Track thing was working very well in an application it was never deigned for. They had lost a hubcap when they'd crashed the gate, and a pothole at the west end of the lot took two more off of their car when they'd barely managed to avoid the Charger by driving up over a curb and into another section of the parking lot. Two more came off when the two cars sideswiped each other, and then the Poncho found an open garage door, plunging into the old factory at over a hundred miles an hour. Five hubcaps lost. A car was only supposed to be equipped with four. The only car chase Stang could remember where a car lost five hubcaps was the Black Charger in the Movie "Bullit" with Steve McQueen. That particular black Charger had gotten airborne and crashed into a gas station with spectacular results. As the Poncho continued to scream through the blackness of the empty building, Stang had a strange feeling it wasn't the black Charger that was about to crash and burn this time.

Always something in a thirty year old car.... Trying to preserve a ten year old one is enough of a struggle for me right now....

I can relate to the short on money thing, 'blu!

Continued. CC rolled up in a beautiful silver 76 Monte Carlo, brand ndew and fresh from dealer prep. Stang had almost forgotten how good the stacked headlight design looked in person on that car. Maybe Methuselah had a point.. Getting into his new car, the old man bid farewell. "I've got revivals to preach, ungodly nations like France, Botswanna, and Boliva to smite with prophecy, and I'm going to turn back a plauge of locusts. Or at least try. That locust thing ate up a lot of time back in the day. But right now it's time to burn rubber and put some gas on it!" And with that the Bblical patriarch was gone in a cloud of bias ply tire smoke. Tin Indian looked at the sister dealership across the street, the showroom where they sold the pre-41 stuff. "Sweet, a 1907 Bick, my first brand new GM car" Everyone tried to hold back laughter at that point, and then CC chimed in. "I've got something I think you'll like much better. I just had service get it ready for a test drive." And with a motion of CC's right hand one of the lot boys brought up a 1959 Buick Invicta four door hardtop, dark blue, the chrome relecting the bright Ohio sunshine. "I like it, but I'm not sure it's exactly what I want." Tin indian ran his hand thoughtfully across his chin, taking in the pristine Buick with a sense of awe that one might reserve for a European cathedral. The young girl wa wearing a bright yellow Tweety the Bird windbreaker, which contrasted nicely with the dark blue car. Tin Indian opened the passenger door, and she hopped in on the passenger seat. "Can we go for a ride, daddy?" She asked. "This is just like the white car, only it has more doors." "And no B's...." Replied her father. "It has no B's..." Stang concluded that if the little girl was like tweety bird, her father was like a very clever and creative cat, so he thought of the man as The Cat. "That's a really clean and neat old car, I don't think it has any insects living in it, especially bees." Stang chimed in, noticing only too late that The Cat glared furiously towards him, as if he were a complete idiot. "I don't like or trust B's, ever, anywhere, or at any time." He smiled, and stang saw something catlike again in the smile fo the girls father. "Unless it's a B-59, in which case it's just fine, unless it's a B-59 with B's, which makes it less fine." Meanwhile the Tin Indian and Cutty were checking out the rest of the car. "Don't think this will quite do it, but it's very close." Tin Indian said thoughtfully. "What else have you got?" CC thought for a second, and then motioned towards the east end of the lot with his pen. "I've got a red Hardtop same year, but in a Pontiac." "Bring it up and let's have a look...I kind of like the sound of that. My sixty four could use a garage mate...." "Do you have a Cutlass in about this color?" Cutty broke into the conversation, annoying Tin Indian. "Like my dads." CC thought for a second. "I've got a Sixty Eight in a 442 Automatic." Cutty got excited. "Sixtyeight would be just great." CC was as good as his word and in under five minutes the blue Olds and the Red Pontiac rolled up to the small goup standing beside the dealership. Stang had always liked both the 68 Cutlass and the 59 Pontiac, two of GM's less known designs, but still great cars. "A Sixty Eight with no B's would be sure to please..." remarked The Cat, running his hand over the top of the open doorsil on the hardtop. Stang was starting to get irritated. "does he always talk like this?" He asked the girl. "Pretty much..." She replied. "I'm sold, I'll take the Cutlass/" Replied Cutty. "My dads buying a car, as are one of my friends and my two cousins. We've got 5 cars and we've got the cash." CC smiled. "An excellent choice sir. Why don't you all take the Pontiac for a test drive, and I'll have the paperwork ready on the Olds when you get back." Tin Indian opened the passenger door, and Tweety climbed to the center of the front seat. "I'll take shotgun, you can drive." Stang and Cutty climbed into the back seat of the two door hard top, while The Cat slid behind the wheel of the Pontiac. Stang was having the feeling that this would be no ordinary test drive. He reacxhed down to buckle up, only to remember that 1959 was before seat belts were put in all cars. With the look on the girls fathers face, this could get interesting indeed. As the Big Pontiac Mill flared to life, Stang had a very uneasy feel about another red 1950's hardtop, one with a girl's name similar to his own name. A similar pattern of things was starting to emerge, and that had him worried, very worried.