15 Apr 2000 biffhero   » (Journeyer)

It is just after midnight, but I need to get into here what happened the next Monday at work. I posted an email to <foo>@valinux.com with a subject line of "I bought me a car!". I got some good responses, here is a summary:

(oops, 36 emails in that thread, have to cut it down some)

Kevin Collins: Dragan said: "Why the hell would anyone buy a car like that?", He doesn't understand the lure of a 63 Lincoln with suicude doors...

Two congrats, one request for a ride to SVLUG, one description of it as a boat, not a car, three more comments on suicide doors.

I had to convert the 430 in^3 to Litres for Marc Merlin, and it comes out to be 7.04643580. Dragan of course was too practical, saying that 7.0 Liters was 1.0 MPG, and that it was unsafe in an accident and a few more boat comparisons.

I even made the mistake to leave the original ebay information in the page which I showed everyone at VA. The _wonderful_ Scott McNeil even tried to buy the car, thinking that I was joking about buying it. Heh....

9 April 2000

So then, the following Sunday, I was able to go get it. I drove up there with a friend, and the flat bed driver was happy to get on the road. I gave the fellow his cash, bought a center link from him for $100 and bailed back to Milpitas.

That day was full of admiration, checking out the colors of the paint in the sun. It is dark dark blue, you can only tell it is blue when the sun is directly on it. Drug a damp rag over it, got it looking a bit better. I guess I will have to figure out where to put it. It isn't as long as the Honda Odyssey, though. It looks longer, but it isn't longer, so there. :-P

I also looked inside a bit, saw the windshield in the back seat, grabbed the service manuals, and perused them a bit.

We couldn't get the trunk open, we aren't sure how the mechanism works. One of the keys goes in the trunk and turns, but nothing happens. I think that the button needs to be unlocked and then it should pop out, so that I can push the button, and get the trunk open. It is kinda bugging me, since I am hoping for an air cleaner in there.

12 April 2000

I talked to Tony at work a bit about it, he is all for pulling the engine and doing a complete rebuild on it. I am not sure. My dad suggests just trying to get it running. I know I don't have the $$$ for the rebuild kit right now. Tony _did_ offer me his engine stand for until July. I don't think I could finish the rebuild that quickly. He also mentioned that some places could turn around a rebuild in a weekend, and I really wish I had the $$$ for _that_.

I got home and decided to mess with it a bit. Had to find a battery somewhere, couldn't find one. Ah, take one out of the Cutlass, but it is to painful. I am not going to take the battery out of the Odyssey, so what to do? I know! I pulled the Cutlass over to the Continental, and hooked up jumper cables to the battery cables. Which ones? Oh, the wiring diagram told me.

Hey! Now I can move the front seat!!! (electric and all that) This thing might work someday after all!

Crack! What was that sound? "Heather, you can laugh at me any time now.", I says. There went the windshield. Argh! Argh! Heather helped me carry the (now worthless) windshield into the garage. *sigh*.

Back to the car. All four headlights work. High beam and low beam works properly.

That was as far as I got, it was getting dark, Brian was running around the place, and we needed to get inside.

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