Gene Brink

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Gene do you have a green 51 Ford two door? Also weren't you up in Agua Dulce?</div></div> Steve, Not my Ford (although I did have a green 4 door '50 44 years or so ago [ouch <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />]. Was not at Agua Dulce either. My brother had a '58 Caballero years ago. Neat wagon. You certainly have your hands full. Good luck with the new acquisition (assuming you do get it).

I find most imports ride noisy and hard Kind of like your Metros? <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I don't believe all that is reported regarding vehicles these days. They have to watch what they state for fear of being sued plus I am unsure if they would give a bad report on a sponsor.</div></div> Ron, Should cut the same way for both domestic and imports, right? This is actually the same argument Consumer Reports offers as why their reports are unbiased (and it may be true that they are less biased than some but to say so smacks of elitism to say the least) in comparison to others. Again, for me, when I keep reading the same general conclusions on any number of points I begin to figure there is something to the finding (although it does always outweigh the "heart factor" when making a purchase). <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Jordan, Grew up on a '52 - same model. Great car! Good advice from several others and I'm sure you will get her running. Two suggestions - get a new battery. The old one will have gone dry during storage and I doubt it can be brought back. You probably will have to polarize your generator since the car has sat so long. You do this by momentarly bridging the "BAT" and "GEN" terminals on your voltage regulator after the new battery is installed with all cables hooked up. Good luck!

Pete, Beautiful Malibu Blue with white is one of my favorites. Please feel free to post additional photos!!!

Steve, I'm barely into Glendale (five blocks from Burbank) and if I was in the market I'd be over to NH in a flash to check out myself. First car, after getting my license, was a '54 Buick (parents sold it after I was drafted in '66) two-door hardtop that I still dream about. Even with some rust I'd be surprised it it would not clean up okay since we get so little rain out here so would say go for it - especially if it is complete, glass is good, etc. Where in NH ( grew up near Vineland/Victory intersection)? Are you in the area?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Having rode in a coworkers new BMW and VW diesel Jetta both seats were small and felt like sitting on rocks, interiors were tiny and loaded with plastic, above average road noise, etc. I was not impressed, especially considering their cost.</div></div> Ron, I don't know about the "plastic" (assuming you mean cheap looking as ALL cars are loaded with plastic) in any BMW - all I've seen are well appointed with very high quality materials. Might be that you don't find the rather Spartan look appealing (I don't either - a bit too plain). Have never sat in a diesel Jetta but gas powered models are similar to the BMW with regard to quality. German cars are certainly a bit snug with windows curving in close to ones head at top - not a feel I like. Seats are firm but if one travels in either car on a long trip you will appreciate the design. <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">When both rode in my Bonneville they commented on how well appointed the leather interior was, how quite it was in the cabin and how well the air suspension made it ride. Both have hated American vehicles since the mid 80's however neither believe in any kind of maintenance. Run them till they stop is their mind set, then complain.</div></div> If it is any consolidation if both to not believe in any kind of maintenance either car will be one of the worst they ever owned pretty quickly. Neither are low maintenance in nature. Can not say that I blame them on their opinion of most American cars for say the mid '70's - mid '80's. Probably the absolute bottom when product is compared to the competition and am very glad that they are so much better now. (P.S. Get similar comments about my Park Ave's interior and ride and when there is a need to pack six people into a single car there isn't much debate about who is driving.) <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">There are many with the same attitude and if they had an opportunity to drive a Buick Lacerne, Impala, Chrysler 300, Cadillac, etc most would probably change their thoughts regarding American cars. But that probably won't happen any time soon, unfortunately. </div></div> It indeed will take time. Import sales were very low for years simply because the prevailing attitude of buyers was "cheap import" and they continued to buy American. Only problem with that was they observed the "nut" who bought a VW/Datsun/Toyota, etc and saw that he/she never seemed to have as much trouble with their car as he/she had with hers/his and when it came time to buy another car they began looking, liking AND buying imports in huge numbers. No reason to think reversing that trend will take any less time is there? (As an aside it just floors me that so many on this forum seem to think there are so many mistaken people - auto magazines, consumer magazines, auto purchasers who mistakenly think a given car is better than another. Seems to me that when the evidence from many different sources reach the same conclusion that that conclusion has to have at least an element of truth. Right? Having said that it is NOT a poor choice to buy an American car for objective reasons - they are reliable [just not the most reliable in most cases], deliver good value for your $$$, perform reasonably well, etc. Consumer Reports shows they are generally more reliable than European cars and closing on the Japanese makes but to buy one "just because it is American" strikes me as more of the same kind of thinking that got the US auto industry into the place it is today. Will they be able to further close the gap and return to financial health? Who knows? I don't think all makes will make the cut and hope Buick is not one of those who do not make it. All things considered I like my Park Av and will stick with it, thank you!)

Rubber mat was standard on the Super. Bit odd that someone would pay for the A/C but stick with rubber in the front (carpet was standard in the back) but... Guessing a typical CA car with little (or no) rust should not be too bad to fix up. Lamar will probably want to buy it for himself so take his answer with the proverbial "grain of salt" and do it yourself. Good luck!

Thanks for posting - a great way to spend a few minutes drooling...

You really know how to make lots of us jealous, Bill. Great find! <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> Looking forward to pictures.

I am assuming you are talking about short lengths of hose on the bottoms of both covers? If not my memory is probably failing me but I do not remember any other hoses.

Drain for any water that accumlates in the air intake for defroster. Either water from atmosphere (humidity) or if someone hoses the intake grill below windshield too vigoriously (regular tap water). If these hoses become plugged one can get some foul smelling air from the defroster.

Bill, You don't say where she is living but am guessing close to the campus and I do not know any mechanics in that area but if she can drive a few miles (9 or so from USC) up to Burbank I would not hesitate to recommend: Burbank Smog and Auto Center, 301 N. Victory Blvd, Burbank (818)566-6699. She should ask for John and can tell him I suggested she see him to have her car checked over. (Sorry I do not have any used car [or new car either] dealers to recommend but it is always pretty safe to buy a late model used car from one of the large rental companies since they maintain them pretty well.)

Still mechanical, Jason. Check to see if it is installed in the back of the driver side head (if memory is correct that is). Bulb followed by small copper tube that attaches to the gauge. Should be a nut fitted on the line that will tighten against the bulb holding it in place as well as sealing things off (do not over tighten if you put it back as you can rip the bulb open. Good luck.

What year? If a mechanical gauge I'd check the back of the head to be certain someone did not pull it out and plug the hole after having the head off for some reason. Bought a '55 Century 30 years ago and thought it was running way too cool until I checked and found that was the reason. (I always figured the machine shop that cut the valves had no experience with older Buicks and did not know any better.) Good luck!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">sintid, the speedometers that were on my Special & parents Century also were round, but had the red ribbon instead of the standard needle. The Special offered either the red ribbon or the needle. I think the Century came standard with the red ribbon.........it was very cool! </div></div> Interesting. I just chalked up the comment to a minor mistake having never seen a ribbon style speedo on a '55 Century/Special (and, infact, thought all of them were horizontal like my '54 Super). My '55 Century had a traditional round speedo with a needle pointer and is all I have ever seen. Wonder how many different units Buick used???

Great to see your progress and the color reminds me of my '50 Super I had while in high school many years ago... <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Great color for the car.

Paul, Two thoughts. Had a '64 Chevy pick-up truck act the same way - turned out to be a cracked distributor cap. Most frustrating but an easy fix <span style="font-style: italic">once I figured out what was causing the problem.</span> The other thought is a worn distributor. Have it put on an oscilloscope - each spike should be equal distance from others unless the distributor is worn. If worn enough it could be firing way off causing your problem. (Will also show how much spark you are getting to each cylinder.) Good luck.

Joe, Not enough info to know if CU is exhibiting a bias or not. For example look at Buick. 8 models, 4 recommended, 163 problems which is lower than any other marque listed. It could well be that 4 of the models were <span style="font-style: italic">way below</span> the average and the other 4 <span style="font-style: italic">way above</span> so were not recommended while the average appears to be great. CU's standard for recommending a particular model is really pretty low - at least average in reliabilty and no (what they consider to be) serious safety issues. Honestly that is not a very exacting standard and I would hope any manufacturer could meet that litmus test.

No 350 Stage 1. Could be a confused owner though - my brother's '72 Stage 1 (bought new) came with a 350-4 sticker on the air cleaner. Has caused lots of confusion through the years...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">(I just discovered this was with badly underinflated tires from the dealer, however.)</div></div> Tsk, tsk. 11 months to check the tires? Cheap shot but could not resist, Dave.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Long story short, I'm graduating next month with my MBA. I'm doing a monster report and presentation on the Hybrid Auto Industry (it was the only way I could do something about cars ). Please reply to this thread, so I can have all the responses in one place. Thanks! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 1. What is your current daily driven car? Year '89 Make Volvo Model DL 2. How many miles do you commute per year? <5,000 - less than (another 7,000 miles or so in the wifes '93 Part Ave - much nicer ride!) 5,000-10,000 10,000-15,000 15,000-20,000 25,000+ 3. What MPG do you currently get in your daily driver? 23 mpg in town, 29 hwy 4. Have you ever owned a hybrid vehicle? No 5. If you answered NO for question 4, do you plan on purchasing a hybrid in the future? Sometime I am sure it will happen. No plans presently but do plan on being around long enough that the choice will effectively be made for me. 6. If you answered NO for questions 4 and 5, please state the reason. 7. If you answered NO for questions 4 and 5, would you be willing to purchase a diesel with equivalent gas mileage rather than a hybrid? </div></div>

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Gene, for the record I thought <span style="font-style: italic">CU</span>'s financial analysis on hybrids was overly pessimistic and downright harsh. For one thing the Prius ownership costs were compared to the Corolla, not the much more size appropriate 4 cyl. Camry. For another the luxury (RX330) and performance (Accord) tuned hybrids were lumped in with the emissions/economy tuned cars (Prius/Civic).</div></div> Can not argue with your points as I often find the CU's point of view is not my point of view so I discount what they say in varying degrees depending upon what it is, etc. Would not be a huge difference to have used the Camry instead of the Corolla though.<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><span style="font-style: italic">CU</span>'s added hybrid depreciation and maintenance costs are simply not something I'm seeing in the real world. Priuses in particular have been run 200K+ miles as taxis with <span style="font-style: italic">zero</span> hybrid system related costs.</div></div> If I were a betting man I'd bet you would always be at the upper end of reliability for a given vehicle as I sense you maintain and drive them carefully so I'd be inclined to give less weight to your personnal experience when compared to CU's statistical data from multiple users (in fact your discounting is a bit like a number of other readers discounting CU's conclusions about US/Japanese/European cars isn't it? ) And I have to think that because commercial use, like a taxi, accumlates mileage is so short a time period that comparisons are not apt to be applicable to non-commercial use so may not be a good predictor of system reliability. It will be interesting to follow your experiences with your car. <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">According to Edmunds.com my Prius is currently worth $800 more than I paid for it, with 11K miles and in an area of relative low demand for the car.</div></div> Hmmm. I'd like to know what, if any, influence a premium on a new car might have in driving the price up. If any I would expect the used price to drop quickly once one can buy a new one for a better price (by the way, any chance your purchase price was negotiated at a "good" price making this an anomaly for you personally?). Prius' are still bringing a premium mark-up here in the Los Angeles area for most buyers but have no idea about Ohio. <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">That said, it is quite true that buying a hybrid has more to do with morality than economics.</div></div> Don't know about the morality of this (don't really see it) but think it is more like the whale oil thread a couple of years ago. Our use and dependence on oil will diminish as alternatives become fiscally practical and probably not until then (do not think technology will drive this without it making $$ sense - which means longer rather than shorter timewise). Once that point is reached old car hobbists may be the only folks wanting gasoline (not in my lifetime though...).<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Perhaps the best part of driving my Prius is that I get just as many comments and questions from people as I do when drving my '60 or my TR6 (when it ran--currently under construction). They're now a common sight around here and people still stop me and ask about the car regularly.</div></div> This is a good thing and I am convinced will drive progress in this area as companies do attempt to meet user needs/desires (although sometimes much too slowly and NOT for the few - more for the many in their customer base). Like you I am glad there are viable hybrids and look forward to more of them. A hybrid line primarily attached to one GM line might be a good idea (although I am fearful that by the time GM adopts it will be too late...). (Know what you mean by "when it ran" with regards to a British car as I have a '72 MG Midget [although it is MUCH improved over the '60 MGA I had years ago] that currently is not running.) Enjoy these exchanges!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Dave, the performance figures you quote seem suspiciously close to what I've seen Car and Driver and Motor Trend quote for a normal 1998 era Buick Regal with the Buick 3800 V-6! The 1/4 mile ET might be a tad slower in the Buick (as in 1/10s of a second) and similar with the 0-60mpg time. I DO know that the real world cuise economy of a 2004 Buick LeSabre (according to the onboard trip computer . . . your Hybrid got one of those?? we haven't talked about that luxury item on it . . . with the a/c ON) is above 30mpg at 65mph, which I HAVE observed myself.</div></div> Willis, your point is? Dave has never said hybrid's perform better than other cars in terms of acceleration - but they do keep up. Real work mileage of the Accord hybrid is pretty amazing given the performance specs (i.e. acceleration) - especially given it's mpg and emissions specs. His point is hybrids currently are not a matter of giving up the flexibility and drivibility one has with a "normal" car like they once were <span style="font-style: italic">as well as pointing out that, in his opinion, GM (including Buick) is not bringing cutting edge products to market.</span> Hard to argue with that given the available product. <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">So, Dave, using your quoted figures and comparing them to many years of road tests of Buick Regals with Buick 3800 V-6s, plus the mpg I've observed myself in the 2004 LeSabre . . . just WHAT is the real, "real world" advantage to a Honda Hybrid in the first place? You pay more for it, comparatively speaking compared to other similar brand vehicles. You don't really know what it'll be worth next year.</div></div> The latest CU clearly points out that when cost of ownership is the prime consideration the current hybrids do NOT make sense. That, however, does NOT mean they are necessarily a bad thing to buy - just will not pay a cash dividend over <span style="font-style: italic">other cars of similar size and performance</span>. And regarding resale - that is pretty well known as a number of hybrids have been available long enough to see what they are being sold for as used cars. They seem to be holding their value quite well generally (and I would expect the newer hybrids to be similar in this category). Lower emissions are certainly an advantage the hybrids have and I guess one could make an argument that clean air is "priceless" (but, of course, we do put a price on it every day and rationalize that driving old cars <span style="font-style: italic">so little</span> is an acceptable manner in which to enjoy our hobby -- and I agree with that having made the same rationalization myself) <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">So, using your figures, Dave, it appears that many of us in here are pretty intelligent for choosing Buicks with the Buick 3800 V-6 in it!</div></div> Did he ever say it wasn't a good decision to buy a Buick? He has pointed out over and over that CU has rated a number of models as recommended (which means a good choice to buy). <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">We might debate just when the Japanese hybrid vehicles started making money for their manufacturers, but it doesn't discount the that they had to sell them "too cheap" in relation to actual production costs just to get them out there.</div></div> And what car <span style="font-style: italic">ever</span> available to the general car buying public was not sold "at a loss" for a long time before the manufacturer started turning a profit? Development costs are huge and it takes a lot of sales to make the money back. Nothing new here... Are we reading posts objectively???

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Or is a brain chip implanted in the owner, the same one that causes the owner to subscribe to CR and to respond to the yearly CR survey that their Japanese car is the greatest thing since sliced bread? </div></div> Enough already. You can't have it both ways... <span style="font-style: italic">CU subscribers are a bunch of brain-washed Japanese loving...</span> Has anyone wondered why CU subscribers that respond for Buick, Ford, etc. do not rave about their cars like the folks owning Japanese cars? Really - same "gene pool" so there must be <span style="font-style: italic">something </span> to the possibility that some cars are indeed more reliable than others. Yes, CU's annual survey has it's flaws - CU buyers are highly educated (not in and of itself a bad thing, of course, but not representative of "Joe average"), not a purely random group, etc... BUT the numbers are large enough to eliminate most anomalies that would be possible with a smaller data set. One can certainly argue about the validity of what and how they test but I don't think anything they do should be tossed out - perhaps just weighted differently. They do an excellent job of testing in a standardized manner and it does seem to me that they attempt to eliminate bias (not entirely possible). Does that mean one should blindly accept what they say? NO. Does it mean one should ignore what they say? NO - that would not be a smart thing to do and as Dave has said over and over and over - Buick has done pretty well in CU's survey over the last few years -- something that agrees with what I've observed with cars owned by people I know.