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39BuickEight

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Posts posted by 39BuickEight

  1. 19 hours ago, nat said:

         I haven't looked at the manuals to compare the 38' and 39' suspension so I may be full of gas.

         The 39', (which has lots of one year only interchangeability of parts), uses coil springs without trailing arms.  The only things that keep that axle in place are the torque tube and radius bar.

    You must be thinking of something else, as 1939 Buicks definitely have trailing arms.  

  2. I worked for a rental car company for a while years ago, and I can say the 1999-2007 Tauruses were the only cars we had that absolutely never had a single problem-even with rental car customers driving them.  3.1 and 3.4 GM cars of the era were also pretty darn good.

     

    Along with a couple previous posts, my first vehicle was a 1988 2.8 S-10 Blazer.  I put 230,000 miles on it, but we did replace the engine due to a broken crankshaft, and the transmission also failed at about 160,000 miles.  
     

    I’ve had company cars as daily drivers for ~20 years now.  Several Grand Caravans, Equinox’s, and 3 Traverses.  I don’t like much the technology in new cars, but I am grateful I always have a new car to drive.  They’ve all served me well.

    • Like 1
  3. 5 hours ago, TAKerry said:

    I really like the coupes. I dont think they made too many of those, so if there is a rare solstice thats the one. I like the solstice, but I prefer the front end of the Satun a bit better. But either one is ok in my book ("and I have a book").My son was thinking about picking one up for a daily driver to keep the load off of his GTO a  bit.

    There is a VIN database of the coupes that’s kept.  Most of them are accounted for as far as location and condition.  Mine is number 834.  They made 1266 total in 2009 and 2010.

     

    A couple of people have actually rebuilt wrecked coupes and put Saturn front ends on them.  Here is one:

     

    IMG_4679.jpeg

    • Like 1
  4. 28 minutes ago, 8E45E said:

    They show up with regularity at our local Friday night A&W Cruises during the summer months.  Therefore, they'll never be considered 'rare', as in 'few survivors'.

     

    Craig

    Yeah, they made over 100,000 combined (65/35 ish) Solstice/Sky convertibles, so they certainly won’t ever be considered “rare.” 

  5. 4 minutes ago, arcticbuicks said:

    too bad the solstice just never had much of a performance engine or anything special

    Mine has the GMPP 2.0 and makes 290hp/320 lb ft at barely 3000 lbs.  Sure it’s not the typical V8 that we think of in terms of American sports cars, but it scoots along and handles like it’s on rails.  They are odd cars that many people forget about until someone mentions them.

    • Like 1
  6. 1 hour ago, TAKerry said:

    Im a die hard Pontiac guy, but I think the Saturn version had better styling than the Solstice. 

    I agree that the Saturn roadster looks better than the Solstice roadster.  That said, I think the Solstice Coupe is the best looking car GM has made in 50 years, which is why I bought one.

     

    IMG_0441.jpeg

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  7. I’ve done both.  The Lincoln Highway can be just as fun if you are into finding and following the actual original road.  It’s more of a scavenger hunt than 66.  There are some sections out west that are truly desolate and mystifying.  It’s not nearly as popular or celebrated, but just as much fun, in my opinion.  You get both dynamics of big cities and extreme isolation moreso than 66.

  8. My 1939 Buick has a pan there to keep air coming through the grille from escaping through the bottom of the car. It “forces” the air to actually go up and through the radiator.  Many times people leave the panel off, as many old parts and running cars alike do not have it.  I think many feel it hurts cooling by trapping air, but in fact it helps cooling by directing air.

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  9. 1 hour ago, TAKerry said:

    Not growing up in Detroit I knew nothing about this car until it was hyped for the auction. Great for the seller. They are also selling a limited number of new challengers that are 'black ghost' editions. I think the funniest part of the story, according to the lore, is that the car got its nickname 'black ghost' for its late night street racing. It was supposed to be a formidable foe, would come out of its hiding spot, street race, win for a bit, then go back into hiding for some period of time then do it all again. Hence why it was a ghost. AND the original owner was a Police Officer!!

    From what I’ve read, many people from Detroit who “street raced” at the time haven’t heard of it either 😆

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    • Haha 1
  10. 48 minutes ago, edinmass said:


     

    Hi……can you expand on this please. I’m interested to hear what you have to say in the subject…….thanks, Ed.

    Hi there Ed, it’s hard to summarize in a meaningful way, but…

     

    Statutes in Florida allow, and in many ways encourage, exorbitant injury claim settlements.  That makes it impossible to be an auto insurer there.  Auto is by far the biggest problem, not property. Hurricanes are increasingly expensive, making property insurance increasingly difficult there.  Insurance companies always buy reinsurance of their own to cover large losses.  Many large carriers in Florida now send over $.90 of every dollar a customer pays in premium right back out the door to pay their own reinsurance premiums.  They are operating (poorly obviously) on the remaining $.10.  That is not sustainable and every year more and more carriers simply leave the state.  Something has to give soon.  Either the government will have to subsidize it or it will simply become too expensive to live in or visit Florida.

     

    The big national carriers are still there because they don’t want to not be.  They want to be in every state because it’s what they do.  The others are slowly leaving.

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