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TxBuicks

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TxBuicks last won the day on April 19 2018

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  1. We will allow Saturday morning walk-up registrations for local people if they get there before 9:00am. The policy is if they join the BCA then, we will waive the $45 registration fee and they can then enter their car and do other things members can do, with the same fees. BCA members have had a year to register in advance and therefore have no excuse not to pre-register. If a member shows up on Saturday they will have to pay the registration fee like all other members. Please pre-register.
  2. Although not a Park Avenue, my everyday primary vehicle is a 1998 LeSabre that I bought for $500 because it was running bad and had a power steering leak and the owner did not want to repair it. A $40 coil got it running like new. I eventually had to replace the rack and pinion steering unit, but that still put it at less than $1,500. It has 220,000 miles on it and still runs and drives smooth. If you are willing to do a little work on these, you can pick them up regularly for under $1,000 and drive them several more years.
  3. About three months away. It is shaping up to be a great show. Get your registrations in early. The National Buick show will not be on the West Coast for at least a few more years.
  4. Read the names at the bottom. That should bring back some fond memories from us older members.
  5. The wine tour was added for Friday. All tours are now being offered both Thursday and Friday, except for the lake lunch cruise (Friday only). The registration form has been updated, but it takes a while for it to get in the Bugle due to publishing delays. It will be in the February Bugle. If you want to register before then, just make a note on the registration form you have and I will enter it for Friday.
  6. There are seven (7) 1935 Model 46C listed in the BCA Membership roster.
  7. I admire restored vehicles that are so nice they are trailered in and out of shows. But I have more admiration for those cars that are mostly original and driven. In my younger years, I thought the goal was to get a project car and restore it to an award winning car. I went through several such cars, but each time I got to the point where I needed the expensive things that I did not have the skills, tools, or resources to do. In each case, upon looking at the cost to finish them, I would sell them to someone that could finish them. Now, I am content to getting a mostly original Buick in drivable condition and maintaining it. I can do that. I don't mind parking my every-day driver next to a perfect car. Let them get the awards. I find more people are beginning to appreciate the unrestored vehicle.
  8. I was driving my 1991 Roadmaster Estate Wagon once on a local highway when I was rear-ended by a smaller foreign car. Not a major collision, but still enough to get my attention. We both pulled over to take a look. The only thing I could see was a slight impression of his license plate holder in my rear bumper. His car had major front-end damage. His plastic front bumper was pushed back into his plastic grille, one of his headlights was broken, and I think his hood had a bit of a crinkle in it, too. I waved it off, and told him he had to call his insurance company to mess with his damage. Not many cars on the road today with more metal in them than old Buicks.
  9. My theory is that when these cars were made, they were made to drive every day. Therefore, as long as we maintain them to as close to original as possible, why not drive them? For most of my life, I have driven cars much older than the current year, and proud of it. I will say I have never owned a completely restored, award winning car, so I understand those that do not want to drive one after spending a fortune restoring one. But I love getting an original vehicle and maintaining it to drive every day.
  10. In my opinion the rubber strips is a bad design. The rubber expands and contracts with heat at a different rate than the metal it is attached to. Eventually, the rubber will shrink permanently. You will notice a lot of the rubber strips still attached are shorter than the metal strip they are attached to.
  11. Speaking of the photo eye......My son had only had his drivers license a little while when he drove my 1991 Roadmaster Wagon for the first time. He came back and said there was something wrong with the headlights. He told me they kept going off and on. I discovered he had the photo eye set so sensitive that the headlights would turn off whenever he drove under a street light, then come back on as he traveled away from it. I guess he was unfamiliar with how to turn on the headlights, and he fumbled around with the photo eye sensitivity setting. I still kid him about that a lot.
  12. Well, the guy driving my 1998 LeSabre out of the bay appeared to be younger than the car, so I doubt he knew what he was doing. The same place told me it would not pass inspection due to a power steering leak (they said it was a safety feature), and it had a cracked headlight lens. They promptly gave me an estimate of $1,667 to fix the dimmer switch, replace the headlight assembly, and replace both the power steering pump and the rack and pinion unit. I bought a new set of headlight assemblies for $130 and replaced them myself. The dimmer switch was not broken after all. And a power steering leak will not cause the vehicle to fail inspection. I took it to another place and it passed. One more year on the road. Next year it will be 25 years old and is only required to have a safety inspection, so no more emissions check (engine light) issues to worry about.
  13. I discovered something. The 1998 LeSabre has full-time running lights. Basically, the headlights appear to be on when the car in running. Or are they? It looks like the headlights are on, but they are not. When I actually turned on the headlights with the headlight switch, the dimmer switch worked like it should. So, I had to tell the inspection team how to do it. They just assumed that the headlights were on when they saw the running lights, and without actually turning on the headlights, the dimmer switch did not work. Problem solved.
  14. The lever on my 1998 LeSabre to turn the headlights from normal to bright, and back to normal is not functioning properly. I cannot get the headlights to change to bright. Of course, this is causing my car to fail the annual Texas vehicle safety inspection required to register the car. It is the same lever as the turn signals and wipers, on the left side of the steering column. Is there a way to replace that switch without having to completely tear apart the steering column to get to it? Are there any other simpler things I can try to get it to work properly? Thank you for your help. And thank you for you volunteering your knowledge.
  15. I will always have fond memories of Bill and Dee from our annual Buick gatherings at the Stagecoach Inn in Salado, Tx. The event was held for over 20 years at the same place in April when the Texas Bluebonnets were blooming. All 3 Texas BCA Chapters attended regularly. Bill would bring his most recent craft beers that he made himself for all of us to try. He was a kind man and much respected by everyone. He always had a smile. I will miss him for sure. Here is a picture taken from the event in 2010. Left to Right (All BCA Forum members): Roy Faries, Barney Eaton, Mike Middleton, Willie Pittman, Bill Stoneberg, the late David Corbin, Pete Phillips.
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