Happy New Year 2024!

image source: dreamstime.com

Thoughts as the old year of my automotive hobby winds to a close. 

 Glue-O-Rama! 

Take your choice!

If you're talking about plastic, the subject of glue can't be too far away. You know that those plastic bits are eventually going to break!

 Plastics. 

"Remember one word. Plastics."

It was the wave of the future recommended enthusiastically to Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate."

 Progress is measured in small steps.

My mascot approves of my efforts.

More little fixes to the Riviera. 

 Still another trip to the wrecking yard!

This is the blower motor resistor module.

This time I was looking for a fan blower motor resistor module.

 This is why we can't have nice things!

Photo from the internet,
not my table. 

This is a refrain that we might have heard from our Mothers as we were growing up. Or we just might have heard it from our Wives or Significant Others in the present. 

 I haven't forgotten about my truck.

It's hard to discern what this picture illustrates, it's the end panel of the windshield cowl grille. 

 Chuck Berry memorably sang;

Ridin' along in my automobile

My Baby beside me at the wheel

I stole a kiss at the turn of a mile

My curiosity runnin' wild

Cruisin' and playin' the radio

With no particular place to go...

No particular place to go...

 I've been reading Hot Rod magazine for over fifty years.

I would guess that I've been a subscriber for at least 40 of those years. And no, I've never owned an actual Hot  Rod. 

 Another trip to the wrecking yard.

Pick and Pull inventory page.

 Breaking up is hard to do.

I think that it still looks pretty good!

Again.

This is a subject that non aficionado car owners, or just most people in general will find a bit silly.

Why does anyone care  about what happens after you sell a specific car?

 Sometimes the "Old Car Gods" smile on you.

Kickin' it on Olympus.

Ol' Zeus probably had other things on his mind, when I was messing with my Jaguars! Nothing was ever easy with those cars!

 More rambling thoughts about Rivieras.

What was the reasoning behind my latest purchase?

"Who has never wanted to own a "10,000 dollar" car? Or at least some kind of special car?"

 I spent the entire day rearranging the garage so that I could park my new Riviera inside.

Under the cover, my '06 Mustang looks
absolutely huge from this angle.

My '96 Mustang had to go, and it will not be returning. It's former position will now be taken up by the '06 Mustang. The '96 will sit behind my truck at the curb, under a car cover, this will make it more convenient to take to events. 

 I went to the wrecking yard Today.

Rancho Cordova. I just happened to be in the neighborhood.

I hadn't done any serious wrecking yard scrounging since I was looking for the smart junction box for my Daughter's Mustang. I have the feeling that I'm going to be spending a lot more time in places like this. The entry price has only gone up a buck to 3.00, not too bad.

 Meet my "new" '97 Riviera.

In the CL listing, the color was identified as "brown." ???

 My truck just passed it's latest milepost,

Photo taken  several years ago on a trip to
the Oregon coast.

It just completed 170,000 miles. I bought it brand new in 2007. 

 Seek and Ye shall find. Part Two.

 How will it fit in my garage?

This is the downsized version?

This aspect of car selection is becoming more important to me. 

I would like my cars to be able to fit in my garage.

 OOPs !  I think my roots (blue collar) are showing!

That's a big pile of dirt, and that's not all of it!

It's my DIY state of mind.

You don't have to scratch too deep to find the blue.

 Seek and Ye shall find. Part One.

This is the Lincoln MKZ.

Good advice.

 I'm retired, Go around me!

I used to have a little suction cup mounted sign stating that sentiment visible in the rear window of my truck. I had found it for sale at a supermarket at one of our usual vacation spots. It was on display with all the tourist stuff, like T shirts, hats, and bumper stickers. I thought that it was kind of funny, and played into stereotypes about older drivers. 

 June 10th, 2023: Bay Area "Carmageddon."

Several years ago Interstate 405 in the LA area was going to be completely closed for some vital repair work. I was down south with my Wife and we heard, and saw news stories and advisements of the impending traffic nightmare. It was popularly dubbed by the media as "Carmeggedon." 

 "Into each Life some rain must fall." That's according to Henry W. Longfellow

Not what you want to discover.
photo source: Tirerack

Or, "Into everyone's tire, a screw or nail must find a home." That's according to this fellow!

 Last month,  I experienced an interesting juxtaposition.

This image from Motor Trend is merely representational.
'Though the car in question was almost as nice.

I was approaching Guru Electronics, a stereo store that is located in an industrial area of San Jose. Coming towards me was a '65 Chevy Impala convertible, and it turned left  into the driveway. I also turned into the driveway and came to a stop behind the Chevy, which was a Low Rider. I didn't know if he was stopped airing up his bags to deal with the speed bumps. I waited for a bit then went around him. 

 How much is that old Doggie in the Window?

 Depoe Bay Oregon, 2023.

I've posed with many different vehicles in this same spot.

I was really looking forward to driving my Navigator on this trip. I'd already put almost 3,000 miles on it since I bought it last November. I've taken it on a few shorter trips, to Pismo beach, and Windsor, besides quite a few of those 100 mile plus round trips for errands and trips visiting family. 

 Is a Navigator really too much? Part Two. 

That's a Navigator on the right,
Don't forget that a semi truck is bigger than both!

As I explored in the last post, a person that chooses to travel by large SUV is going to be spending more money than a traveller in a compact car.

 Nostalgia, Again.

You'd have to have a heart of stone to resist this beauty.

Recently there was a post on Curbside Classic that featured a '57 Chevy Bel Air.

The writer confessed to having a decades long love affair with this model, and he admitted to his long term desire to own one for himself.

 Is the Navigator really too much? Part One.

I've never had an Aviator, but I had a '97 Explorer,
which was the same size.  The Navigator is the big one in the picture!

I suppose that it depends on what you mean by too much.

 Taking a look at what the Navigator might need.

Nice and new from Amazon.

I've already covered the cosmetic work that I did on the Navigator, repainting the front bumper being the primary thing.

 This why I shouldn't be scanning the for sale ads on the AACA website.

1948 Lincoln Continental offered at 35,000.
Or B/O

I often find something that I would really like to own. 

Sometimes the price is low enough that I can swing it. Barely.

Other times it's more than I can handle without a major reorganization of my hobby car fund. 

 Every once in a while, I still think about riding motorcycles.

This beautiful '64 Sportser is selling for 14,000 dollars.

Again.

I rode motorcycles for a very long time, around forty years, and I rode a lot. Not just on weekends, puttin' around town. I rode every day, through all kinds of weather, and on many long trips. 

 Why do many old car guys think that only really old cars can be the vessels of our fondest memories?

Does it require sepia tones to be authentic history?
photo source: Unsplash

Black and white toned scenes float by in our memories. But how many of us were born in the era before color photography? How many of us have grown up in the digital age, where images are rarely, if ever, consigned to hard copies? 

 My '06 Mustang GT personalization post was well received.

This is the before shot.

I saw pageview numbers that I haven't seen in a long time.

I had tacked on an addendum to that post that stated that I had installed the spoiler and was pleased. That is true, but I forgot that I had taken a few photos of the process.

 Personalizing my '06 Mustang.

The spoiler is on it's way, and should look something like this.

My Mustang had a few minor mods done to it before I bought it.

They were mechanical changes like the open air intake and the Magna Flow mufflers.

 Every month I'll take a trip to the Barnes and Noble book store in West San Jose.

They have been cutting down on the number of their locations.

Like the defunct Fry's Electronics stores, they have a large wall of periodicals, which feature quite a few automotive titles. 

 Do I still think that old cars are Cool?

That's a rare '53 Buick Skylark.

Maybe.

At least I did for a very long time.

After the bumper re paint, taking care of this and that, between supply chain issues and the rainy weather! I have been working on this post for over a month, Please forgive me if it's a bit disjointed.

You can see how the edge of the license plate mount is cracked. Obviously this picture was taken before the bumper was repainted.

 GoodGuys All American Get Together.

Last Saturday I thought that I would celebrate the window of clear sunny weather to attend this show. The last event that I attended was well before Covid.

 Hero to Zero? Really?

Yeah, sure.

Further thoughts on this topic. Just one old man's rant!

What had once been considered to be pretty great, should it now be considered to be mediocre, or even worse?

 I'm currently finding myself in kind of a funk, thinking about cars in general.

Too much thought, and not enough action!
Rodan's famous sculpture.

I know, I know, that's what I get for thinking!

But this time it's due to a somewhat different situation.

I now find myself with newer cars that fulfill the functions that I had once wanted to fill with more vintage vehicles. 

 No, I haven't forgotten about my '96 Mustang.

image source: seekpng.
What to do, that is the question.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do about it.

The smog test shop has a free retest within 90 days.

I'm a bit puzzled by what happened. Especially since there weren't any codes displayed. 

 I took my Navigator on it's first weekend trip.

It's a nice drive through the Sonoma valley.

It wasn't that far, only about 280 miles for the round trip.

 A car guys nightmare. Part Two. 

This is what it looked like from the outside.

I knew that I would need a new set of hinges. I found the kit for 180.00 at Home Depot. The springs were extra, available separately, at under 30.00. Like everything else prices have gone up steadily over the years but it had been at least twenty years since I replaced the hinges.  

 A car guys nightmare!  Part One.

This picture is from a Home Depot ad.

The garage door hinge broke while both of my cars were in the garage!

 The day that I feared for so long, has finally arrived!

The bad news is highlighted in yellow.

One of my cars, the 1996 Mustang, has failed the smog test! 

What am I going to do?

 I just took my first top down drives of the New Year.

Not my actual car, but close enough

The first was in my '06 Mustang. I had changed out the MAF sensor and wanted to take a longer test drive before I called it good.

 I did not want a cold air intake, Part Two.

It's easy to get used to ordering stuff from Rock Auto.

I think my K&N filter killed my MAF sensor, or at least shortened it's life. The oiled filter allows some oil to mix with the intake air. Over time this will foul the hot wire in the MAF. I started having problems that lit the little wrench icon on the dash. The car also went into restricted mode which noticeably reduced the power. The first couple of times I just turned off and restarted the motor. That reset the sensor and it ran fine for a while. 

 So how did that front bumper turn out?

Was it worth the money? Absolutely.

I was enticed by the coupon for bumper paint at Almost Everything Automotive in Fremont.