John_Maine

Jim, the tree was one of the few things I remembered from my first visit to the Estate in 1973. I'm sure it has grown some in the intervening 40 years! I remembered it as being closer to the house but obviously, that was a faulty memory. I also thought the Ford house was part of the museum back then but that wasn't the case either. We had a wonderful day there and would like to go back in another year or two.

When I look at an instrument cluster like this, I always wonder what happened at the exact moment the odo stopped working, assuming it was working when the car last ran. This odo stopped at 39457.7 (almost). Was that when it went to a junk yard? or was in an accident? Guess I'm weird.

One of the things we did last March in Florida was visit the Edison/Ford Estate Museum in Ft. Myers. Beautiful spot and very interesting. Although the Fords really spent very little time there - a couple of weeks to maybe a month every winter - there was a lot of interesting history.

When we bought a 1990 Dynasty in June of 1990, the state of New Hampshire insisted on titling and registering it as an '89 because it was manufactured in November '89. Coming from Maine, I had never heard of such a thing as Maine always went by model year. They listed both years on the title - year of manufacture and year of model. I didn't really complain because I paid taxes and registration fees based on it being an '89. When we moved back to Maine in 1991, Maine (surprisingly) didn't give me any grief and titled it as an '90. Don't know if they still do it that way or not. Regarding changing a title, I had a customer that financed a Ford LTD but due to a typo, the title listed it as a Ford PTD. Since the loan documents and title have to match and obviously Ford never made a PTD, I called the state title office to inquire. They said it couldn't be corrected, even if it was wrong. That once it was titled as a PTD, it would always be a PTD. Didn't make any sense to me, but I went with it.

My favorite is still PB4UGO on a van full of kids. Another one on a lime green New Beetle here in town is BILIOS.

As a career banker, I spent many, many hours with customers talking about loans, taking applications, etc., only to have to deny them, not have them apply at all or go elsewhere because they could get a better rate. However, many times people would come back to me weeks or months later because I took the time to talk with them when I did and they remembered it. In my view, it's part of customer service and building goodwill. I see the dealership's point but now they have alienated a customer who probably won't go back to them again.

Kansas or Arkansas?

Very nice looking Buick.

Guess I'll move to Kentucky. It cost me $864 to register my 2013 Taurus and $165 for the wife's 2007 Mariner. Fortunately, Maine isn't too bad on antique registrations. My '72 LTD and '71 Buick cost about $35 each.

I always wanted to go to Hershey and finally had the opportunity in 2004. I've been every year since except for 2007. I was miserable that whole week thinking about Hershey and vowed I would not miss another until I can no longer make the trip. I just turned 63 so I hope I have another 20+ years to go. If you like cars, it is addictive, no question. I started the thread about the number of days to Hershey in 2012 and here we are 6 months to go. Don't know where the time goes.

Boy, I was thinking $4K was a pretty good price for such a nice car. If it were for sale at Hershey, it probably would be $6.5K. I guess the price depends on whether it has been gone through - as mentioned the rubber parts, etc. - If it's already been "updated", then I'd offer close to the $4K. If not, then less.

For years, we always stayed to the east of Hershey - Manheim, Quentin area. Then hotels got wise and raised their rates significantly during Hershey week. For the last 3 years, we've stayed to the west, off 283 (?) on Eisenhower Blvd. Theres Red Roof, LaQuinta, Comfort Inn, Sleep Inn, Holiday Inn Express and probably others. Very easy to get to and very easy to go back and forth to Hershey on 322 & 422. There's also Capitol Diner which is open 24 hours and is pretty decent for the money. I'd just do a search for hotels in Harrisburg and pick the one you like depending on your pocketbook.

Not my experience at all. It works great from both my home PC and the laptop I have in Florida. I have Time Warner in Maine and Brighthouse in Florida. Sometimes I do have internet issues but that affects everything so it's not this forum site.

I don't believe you need a Florida license to register a car in Florida. A couple of years ago, due to health reasons, a neighbor couple of mine here decided to fly down for the winter rather than drive from then on. They bought a car here to use for the winter and have Florida plates on it.

I have been contacted in the past by the Maine DMV on cars I financed at the bank. They do follow up. On one in particular I did the loan as an unsecured personal loan, so I did not need any documentation on the vehicle and told them I was unable to confirm the purchase price. In some cases, we used to finance the purchase price with additional money for repairs, taxes or whatever so the loan amount did not reflect the purchase price.

I'm glad I live in a state that does not require titles for vehicles 1995 or older. All we need to register is a bill of sale and a copy of the prior registration. Just have to be sure NOT to show DMV the out of state title if there is one.

Wasn't Lancer the name Dodge gave to its hardtops - like Buick used Riviera?

Hi Art, thanks for the additional info. Never having been to a meet other than Hershey, I more or less expected the major regional events to be similar. Yes, the brochure had all or most of the activities on it but it also had the flea market and car corral - which is what I'm primarily interested in - so I think it was a little misleading to a novice attendee. It's not a big deal for me, really, and I'm not going to give up my AACA membership because of it. Now I know and if the meet is close enough to me to warrant going to the car show on Saturday, I will attend in the future.

Just want folks to know I'm not criticizing the meet itself or all the hard work that folks put into it. It is what it is, just not what I expected and that's why I was disappointed. Now that I know, my expectations will be different.

Matt, if Lakeland is typical for a regional national meet and meets the expectations of the members that attend, then that's fine. I'm just saying that from the brochure, it wasn't what I expected. The only AACA meet I've attended is Hershey and I sort of expected this meet to be sort of a junior Hershey. Now that I know, I just won't make the effort to attend in the future.

I remember reading about these, but have to wonder why??

Man, what beautiful interiors and dashes in those cars compared to the bland, dark interiors we have today.

Steve and all - I was going to say exactly what you said and I totally agree. I drove over from Seminole this morning (60 miles one way), arriving around 10:00. There were 6 vendors and maybe 6 cars to look at. I was very disappointed. I was there about a half hour and headed home. From the brochure, I certainly expected a LOT more. I did talk with an AACA fellow who said what was there this morning was typical, that this show is more about the comraderie, seminars and car show on Saturday rather than a large car corral or flea market. I sure am glad I didn't get a motel and expect to spend 3 days there. After driving over there in the mad Tampa traffic, I'm in no mood to go back tomorrow for the car show. I guess Hershey spoils you for everything else. Next year, I will make Zephyr my destination.

Impalas had the bubble top in '61. '62 was the first year of the faux convertible Thunderbird style roof.

Regarding $10K per year back in the 50's - I remember watching a movie from 1956-1957 with Gregory Peck in it. He was riding in a car with a couple of other men when one of them told Peck's character that if he came to work for him, he would offer him a salary of $7K per year. Peck's character's response was that that was an awful lot of money and he wasn't worthy of earning that much. Back in the early 60's, I remember my father coming home from work with his pay envelope saying that if he only made $100 per week, we would be so much better off. My mother was a school teacher so with both incomes, my folks did okay. Then in 1963, my uncle bought a '62 Olds Super 88 and I remember him saying it cost $10 per week in gas for him to go back and forth to work - about 40 miles a day. My parents were shocked that he could afford to spend that much in gas. It's all relative, I guess.