Jump to content

Reatta Man

Members
  • Posts

    2,299
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About Reatta Man

  • Birthday 01/02/1955

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

Reatta Man's Achievements

10,000+ Points

10,000+ Points (6/7)

  • Collaborator
  • Posting Machine Rare

Recent Badges

4

Reputation

  1. I have a 1965 Buick Wildcat Custom convertible that has been stored for about 20 years in a heated garage. I'd like to ask if anyone knows or can recommend a shop in or near San Antonio that can get this car on the road again. I know the gas tank and lines will need to be cleaned, the carb rebuilt, and possibly all four wheel cylinders replaced. After having a near-nightmare experience with a local NAPA shop for some repairs on my 2003 Chevy pickup, I don't want to just pick a shop and hope for the best. Any recommendations and stories of past experiences would be greatly appreciated. Joe
  2. Used to be a liason to our fire department....they train on the strength and weakness of most cars. Knowledge=time=survivability.
  3. There was a story in the NY Times about a Frank Lloyd Wright house scheduled for destruction in Phoenix. The slide show had several photos when the house was new; one of them was this unusual Buick. I've never seen this side trim; what year is this and is it a stock car or a customized model? Here's the link to the slide show containing this photo:
  4. Great, Bill! Judy and I bought our '65 on our honeymoon. That was 29 years ago; still have the car!
  5. Sounds like you need to get one of those Federal bailout loans. Wait a minute, those start at $100 million and up, and you have to spend at least 50% of that on senior executive pay! Never mind......
  6. Bill, One suggestion I forgot to mention before. When you go to glue the front of the top to the bow, open the top about 6-9" and let the top bow rest on something, keeping it paritally open. I think I used an empty paint can. The reason for this is because there is no way you can pull the top tight enough with your hands. When you staple it with about 6-9" open, then close it, the top will then pull very tight. By the way, how much money did you save doing your own paint job? It looks great! Joe
  7. Don't worry; I heard Casting didn't suffer; he just melted away.
  8. OK, I may possibly be looking at swapping engines on my 2002 Park Avenue with a Series II 3.8 engine. Has anyone done one lately? If so, did you take the motor out of the top, or drop the cradle from the bottom? Also, any lessons learned you would like to share? Joe "Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought --Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937<o:p> </o:p>
  9. Ah yes, the pristine car with the ridiculous price. Gotta wonder why the owner doesn't have the price listed in the link, but wants $30,000 on ebay? This looks like the kind of car that should be run through one of the higher-end Barrett-Jackson or RM auctions. However, the owner probably doesn't want to make it drivable, at least across the auction block, or pay to have it transported. And, in light of today's market, I don't think this car would bring more than $20K-$24K at auction...way short of the asking (demanding) price of $30K. It IS without a doubt a beautiful car, and a very rare find. But, could you buy it and drive it (enjoy it)? And, can you imagine the look on the clerk's face when you bring in the MSO for a 1975 car??? Joe
  10. Yeah, I am hoping to find standard-sized bearings, which will tell me they haven't been touched before. As for whether the crank is out of round, I'm hoping that good ol' forged steel crank will take a little excess beating and still be OK. Had the same thing happen to a V-6 Olds version of the Northstar and had to replace the motor. THAT motor was so bad, I almost thing GM intentionally designed problems into it! The knock is a very light knock, so if the CR bearing only wore through a few thousands of an inch of metal, well, I am keeping my fingers crossed..... I'll keep you posted. Joe
  11. As for my comment about the Buicks we all love and preserve being light years from the Buicks of today, it was more of a character statement. Buicks looked different, drove different, had unique engines, transmissions and features than the "corportate bean counter" Buicks of today. Add to that the fact that every car has a rounded front end, rounded swooping headlights, a highly raked windshield, a "center stack" where there used to be a unique Buick-only dashboard, and you get the drift. Can we/should we go back to the uniqueness of the Buicks of the past? Probably will never happen, as long as every car manufacturer worships at the altar of CAFE and Federal rules seem to be mandating accomplishments that aren't even science fiction right now (CAFE standard of 61MPG by 2025 when a hybrid Prius gets 51 MPG now; trucks must get 30 by 2025). So, the Buick of 1965 was 95-99% Buick. Now a Buick is 80% GM, 15% GM worldwide, and 5% Buick.
  12. If you can put both together, the difference will likely be the base plates. If you can swap them and get the Buick-unique linkage on the other carb, it should work. For what it is worth, I changed out the Rochester 4GC with a Carter and got a lot more performance!
  13. Business is business...and the taxpayer is getting the 'business' done to him and her. We will NEVER see all of OUR money come back to us, and even if it did, the thieves in DC are at least as bad as the ones in Detroit. The fact is, everything that comes in one door goes out the other doors, windows and the mail in DC. The car companies can do what they want, just like Kmart, Sears, Best Buy, Circuit City, Montgomery Ward and a dozen others....only WE didn't help subsidize it. The fact is, we are lucky it was Pontiac killed and not Buick. But, if the Chinese stop buying Regals, look for Buick to get the axe. There is NO loyalty in any business any more. Buy what you want, drive what you want....the classic Buicks are light years from what wears that logo today.
  14. Very rare 'Cat with a floor shifter and buckets....go for it!
×
×
  • Create New...