Spring Time

[stephen newberg]

Well, Friday I was off to the license and insurance people here in Lotus Land (Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada) and a couple of hundred bucks later the SHO was legal to drive around for the summer to take her to some show and shines. Next, I guess, I need to do some seriously major cleaning to get her spiffy after the winter spent in the 2 car wood shed. I think the first local S&S is the first weekend of June.

pax, smn

 

[SHOdded]

Post up some pix

 

[stephen newberg]

The trick there is to remember to take some after the cleanup is finished. I will try, but no promises. I am not of the smartphone crowd, so finding the camera and figuring out how to use it again...

pax, smn

 

[stephen newberg]

Well, hopefully she will shortly look like this again, once the dust is off. Amazing how much there is, though I think a lot of it is pollen. Its been a very pollen heavy year.

http://s4.photobucket.com/user/newberg/media/P4062486.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2

pax, smn

 

[SHOdded]

Biological gold? No shortage of that here either, esp since mowing season has arrived

 

[stephen newberg]

I have had my spouse on a mutli year mission to reduce as much of the property as possible from its initial grass to flower beds. They look better and no mowing is required. She is making excellent progress.

pax, smn

 

[Liquid_force]

My hooptie is succumbing to peeling clear coat, fading paint, rust, oil leaks, and possible overheating. In general, she's a sad sight to see.
Until recently I took a little bit of pride in that it still looks decent from the driver's side from a few feet away, and of course, the fact that these cars are relatively rare.
However -- I live on a cul-de-sac, and a couple weeks ago a GORGEOUS (flawless?) black v8 shows up a couple houses over. So my little bit of pride is no more.

My spring (probably early summer as well) will include trans fluid/filter chg, trying to find this oil leak once and for all, and trying to determine if it actually IS overheating, or the gauge is just way off.
Wife's truck needs a new cat system installed, front rotors, and also trans filter/fluid.

Yay.

 

[stephen newberg]

Another Gen III moved in a few houses down? Does the owner know about this site and such?

Sorry to hear yours needs so much work. They are to that age where body stuff needs attention. Back in 2010 I had a full take apart restoration done on mine, which was expensive, but it was that or heading for the scrape pile, as the rust was taking out things that were starting to get structural. The fruits of living most of its driving life on the east coast, where salt is the winter road food. Out here on the Island even if I took her out in the winter, which I no longer do since buying the 911 C4S, they do not use salt, so cars around here last a huge amount longer.

I like the 'my wife's truck'. I have that situation too. She has had a truck since the early '90s and has driven pretty much nothing else since then. There is this thing about 100 lb women and 4000 lb trucks that is sort of cool.

pax, smn

 

[Liquid_force]

Not sure on the owner of the local SHO. Car's only here on weekends.

Wife's trucks -- technically SUV's -- Montero (3.0L SOHC), Montero Sport (3.5L DOHC), and now an Aviator, so actually right up against 5k lb
Loved those Mitsu's. VERY little maintenance req'd outiside the usual stuff. No major expenses, drove them to 206k and 226k respectively. Both did well when it came time for trade-in/sale.

 

[stephen newberg]

Took the old girl to her first car show yesterday. It was interesting. 11th annual for Ladysmith, and the show brought in about 175 cars from all over Vancouver Island and a few from the mainland. About 4000 visitors walked the closed main street, I was told. The SHO got some interest, being one of very few sedans, and the only one with a transverse engine at the show. She looked very shinny and I am told a photographer for Vancouver Island Hot Rods took a number of photos of her, so I will try to get those and post them. All in all, a fun day.

pax, smn

 

[stephen newberg]

Some photos of the old girl here from the Vancouver Island Hot Rods group at the car show in Ladysmith. Top 3 of this page and a close up of the engine only on the previous page:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vihr/sets/72157646412675329/page2/

pax, smn

 

[SHOdded]

Hard to imagine it looking better when new! Great collection of cars at the show too

 

[stephen newberg]

Almost a year later, and spring is early here on Vancouver Island this year, so yesterday the Gen III came out of her winter storage shed and got a spit and promise cleaning, with the pollen and dust brushed off and the leather oiled up and all the fluids checked and such. Then a warm up and a drive about on the back roads, so as to not get any RCMP attention as she is not yet licensed for the summer. All went very well. We are now what, 17 years from the factory, and the old girl remains a very fine big sports sedan for tossing about the curves on rural roads on a fine day.

pax, smn

 

[stephen newberg]

We are deep into summer here on Vancouver Island, though it does not officially start for another week or so. Actually, we had an all time record for low rainfall in May, at 4.5 mm, with the norm being 65mm, and looks a lot so far like June is going to follow suit. So, the SHO has been making more outings than normal for this time of year. And of course, its major pollen time, so the first step is always to clean it off, as she lives in an open fronted shed.

Anyway, after the California Brush, sometimes there is more to do and I recently ran across a product called Smart Detailer. Its a baby blue spray fluid, not hugely expensive, and it seems to do a really excellent job for light duty surface clean up and restoring shine. Tried it a couple of days ago for the first time and it all came up as if just waxed, and almost as smooth as if buffed. No idea what is in it, but if you are looking for a quick cleanup when the car is not hugely dirty, this seems to work well.

pax, smn

 

[stephen newberg]

Tje SHO and I were at the Ladysmith car show all day yesterday, from about 5am helping get things set up to 6pm having a meal with all the members of the organizing committee. It went very well, with our numbers up from last year, which is a trend breaker for car show attendance this year on the island, from what I hear from other shows. Though it was overcast, which kept down the heat, it did not rain, which made the car owners very happy. And I spent several hours people watching, which is always fun.

pax, smn

 

[SHOdded]

Any pics from the event?

 

[stephen newberg]

Because I was one of the organizers, I did not get a chance to take any photos, but the guy from Island Hot Rod was by doing a lot of shots. Let me see if he has posted any of them yet.

Yes, the old girl is the second car in the set, just after Tammy's award winning Camaro, here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vihr/sets/72157656891704539

And last year, some place in the middle is my SHO, with a pile of photos:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vihr/sets/72157646412675329/

smn

 

[SHOdded]

Thank you! A lot of gorgeous (and beautifully maintained) rides