Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Trying to slip a cover over an enormous egg.

Not this one.

But I read and enjoyed this book as a kid. 

Now I've got my own enormous egg.

Putting the cover on is not that easy!

Covering it is the foundation of the preserve, protect, maintain, and improve mantra.

It's important to keep your car covered if you park it outside. You've got to protect it from UV rays that will fade the paint and the interior. It's important to keep things like tree sap, bird droppings, and leaves from damaging the original paint. By keeping the car cleaner, you avoid having to wash it too frequently. The best way to preserve your car is to keep it in the garage when you are not driving it.

This cover was a bear to get on for the first time. This car is nothing but smooth curves. The new cover was  shrink wrapped for shipping, and is full of stubborn wrinkles. Pull on one side, and the cover would slip off, pull from the back or the front, same thing. 

There is nothing anchoring the cover in place. That's why I tied a lanyard to the rear of the cover. I secure that in the trunk latch, and it gives me something to pull against. The cover came with a fabric ribbon that encircled it, I used that. First I made sure that I was satisfied with the fit and coverage, because I would be poking a hole into it, making it un-returnable. Then I threaded the lanyard through the hole tying it loosely to determine the length it would need to be. 

Can't send this back now!

I left a bit longer than I thought it needed to be.

It has a strap at each end to secure it to the car. 

This has been a very wet Winter, leading into the Spring. The Riviera is spending a lot of time in the garage, until the weather improves. I don't see any reason to get it dirty using it in the rain. Besides, the inoperative defroster HVAC system is a problem in heavy rain. I drove it in the rain once, and had to keep the windows partially open, as well as constantly wipe the windshield. Since I've got plenty of other cars it's not an issue. I'm still concentrating on paying down that credit card bill. Hopefully later on this year I can have the system diagnosed and repaired. 

Once the weather dries out, I plan to keep the Riv in the driveway and use it as my daily driver. 

Lately, I have been attending a lot of local Cars and Coffee events. I have been trying to raise interest in local members of the Riviera Owners Association. Hopefully I could find a group that wants to get together for ROA specific activities. I've reached out to them, and told them that I would be attending these events and to come by and say hello. I also made contact with a few through my email outreach. I've never done this kind of organizing before, but I'm willing to give it a try. Those C&C events start awful early in the morning. Ever since I've retired, I usually don't get up that early anymore!

There has been really good turnout, now that the weather has improved. There seems to be a lot of guys that are very involved in taking their cars to these events. They will attend month after month. I've spoken with one participant that told me that he no longer goes to any shows like Good Guys. He said "Why should I have to pay money to let other people look at my car? For what, a trophy? I've got plenty of trophies."

The C&C events that I've attended seem pretty low key, and drama free. Groups of friends and club members will get there early and save spaces so that they can park as a group. The owners are pretty open and welcoming to those that are interested in their cars. The atmosphere reminds me of the Friendship Day event that I used to attend.

These are face to face events, in contrast to the on line forum activities that are more popular. I will admit that I spend a lot of time and energy on line.

There is a good cross section of cars, some are quite rare and expensive. The Exotic CC in Morgan Hill has a larger concentration of high end cars, but they don't restrict more common cars, even those that are in somewhat rough condition.

I quit going to Good Guy events because I thought that they were too expensive for what I got from them. Parking alone is ten dollars, the gate was almost twenty dollars per person. For the most part, I don't have a lot of interest in the show cars. I used to spend my time at the Car Corral and the swap meet. 

I often tell people that my current Riviera has been the best investment in "interest per dollar" of any car that I've owned. These Rivieras are pretty rare now, they weren't particularly popular when new, and now that they are getting close to thirty years old, they are even more scarce. The "concept car" styling really stands out, even Today. At each event there has been at least one person that has displayed a lot of interest in my car. 

I bought this car specifically with the intent of getting involved in ROA activities. While it's not a requirement for membership, I'd feel kind of silly if I didn't own one, or plan to buy one.

I don't know how this ROA thing will turn out. There has not been a regional coordinator in our area for several years. Do members really want to get together in person and do stuff? I've never been in a real club. I've always just done my thing, mostly by myself. A lot of the members are pretty old, myself included, they might not want, or need the hassle of getting their cars out. 

I have been a member of the ROA for over twenty five years, on and off. Though I haven't owned a Riviera since around 2007. I had attended a ROA convention in Klamath Falls with my family. I also dropped by one that was taking place while I was in South lake Tahoe 

As a member of the Antique Automobile Club of America, AACA, I receive their excellent magazine. The events pictured inside, show tons of participants at those events! However there doesn't seem to be a lot of AACA activity on the West Coast.

Do I need to be active in a club to enjoy my car hobby? I've never had any friends that liked cars in the same way that I did. 

Probably not. I enjoy my cars by using and working on them. But I'm willing to keep an open mind.