ME & MY === 1958 Buick, 1958 Buick, 1958 Buick and……..

[dei]

I was up early on Sunday and with my third cup of coffee in hand went out to wash up the Special before putting her back in her garage. 

 

That also meant pulling out the leaves which had gone behind the grill and laid up against the rad, not a lot blocking the air but didn't want to have them inside the fins possibly rotting. Three core rads are expensive!

 

Took the long route, topping up the tank and stopped by my sons place to find him saying good bye to a fellow that had loaded up the cement blocks he had taken down to open his garage to the back section for access to some machines he has on his want (not wish) list. 

His plans are to have what I envision more of a man cave with insulated walls, ceiling and epoxy floor than my jammed in garages but that's OK, you're young, it's your place and your money so go for it!

 

Had to move on as the Saturday lawn mowing still had to be done having been delayed to play with cars and friends... we all know you play, you pay right?

 

Once safely parked I went on to do the work and came back later to get the car trailer to put it to use on Monday. It has not been moved since Dad's funeral two years ago and naturally two of the four tires were almost flat and the others were holding only 20 lbs of air.

My little portable air compressor was slow but helped versus trying to move the trailer out from the carport to remove a tire at a time to air up at the pump and return etc.

 

The other issue was I had to unload the Whippet also so looked at her tires and they had gone soft too. This wasn't back breaking work but time consuming with the small air compressor, being alone and all...

 

Finally got it home in time for supper and boy did it need a wash!

Carports seem to be dirt and dust collectors and the trailer looked like it had been abandoned being that dirty. That is not a good thing when towing down the road, sending out a message to the authorities that they'd better stop you and check things out... 

With hose and brush in hand it didn't take long to get it looking good again. It's hard to see but those are BUICK hubcaps on the rims. That is somewhat fitting as....

 

The mission Monday will be to have my neighbour / contractor load up the parts car Limited for her last road trip! (at least what's left of her...)

 

It has been on the list of things to do for awhile and since he is rebuilding my back wall / fence and going to install the same type wall on his property at the same time, the remains have to be moved out to get machines in for the build.

 

It's going to interesting...

Edited June 3, 2019 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

I pretty much said goodbye to the Limited parts car today.

 

I started early as there was one last piece of trim I wanted to save before the contractor was to start and load her onto my car trailer.

 

I had to clean out my tools and a few boxes of small parts which was finished just as the crew came to take down the fence between our properties. Without that being done my backyard is isolated for access with machines. 

 

Derek had to turn the car sideways to get the forks underneath her.

 

Once he found the balance point it was up in the air and out to my waiting trailer.

 

My car trailer isn't big, works fine for the Whippet and Overland, but with the rotted floor and rockers gone it fit with some help.

 

I haven't taken it to the scrap yard yet as there was much more to be done where she sat and the rest of the yard had to be somewhat cleared so the excavator could move around to prep for the new poured concrete wall.

It is sitting over where I keep the Special for now as I also need my landscape trailer and mowers for tomorrow. I put the cover on to keep the one cranky neighbour from calling the City on me before it goes away which might not be till Thursday.....

 

We are having a three day dry spell so the contractor is taking as much advantage of the weather as he can. That ditch drains a large area and still has water flowing though the 8 inch tube at the bottom form Saturdays rain.

 

Tomorrow this will look even more like a construction site but without the Limited in the way....

Edited June 4, 2019 by dei (see edit history)

[Smartin]

Is that rear windshield any good?

[dei]

4 minutes ago, Smartin said:

Is that rear windshield any good?

 

Sadly Adam it started to fox around the edges so letting it go.

I had plans to save it and the front windshield too but the ship sailed when I cracked it trying to get it out.

Should have called a local glass guy everyone uses...

 

I do have another rear window up in the rafters that I think was from a '58 Roadmaster 4 dr but can't confirm the model.

What do you need it for?

[Smartin]

I don’t need it, but a coupe rear glass is always worth a buck...as long as it’s not trashed

[dei]

Ok Thanks Adam. 

[dei]

Tuesday was about preparing the area for access for more equipment. The small excavator will be digging a footing for the poured concrete wall going in and then there will be a pump truck requiring access so tree branches hanging over my side of the property needed to be cut back. 

Then the surveyor came in to locate the property lines to avoid any question about where to place the wall.

 

With my part pretty much done I went off to work for a bit and stopped at the Limited to continue soaking the few things I want to save yet like the power steering pump. Not sure whether to disconnect the pump alone or take the whole idler arm and tie rod ends...

[dei]

Tuesday night there is a new car cruise-in that started three weeks ago and because it is out near Lake St. Clair, call my wife and said I would be around with the Special to pick her up.

Since it was at the Riverside Sportsman Club they advertised the kitchen was open so out we went.

We pulled up to see about 30 cars (mostly regulars) and decided to go inside and check the menu out. They have done extensive remodeling (which it needed...) so looked promising.

 

Sadly they are having staffing issues and after waiting to find out there was only a bar tender there and she was also doing the burgers and wings.... we got up and left for a nice ride along the lake and the River.

(Will wait a few weeks before planning to eat there again....)

 

The evening was warm even though cloudy and stopped along the way for some pictures.

 

Like the rest of the country (both Canada & US) rain has raised the water levels to new heights. Have heard it has beat the record since keeping records!

The shot was at the City of Windsor Marina right at the mouth of the Detroit River.

The light house you see was originally in Lake Erie called the Pelee Passage Light House and moved here when the Government replaced it with a non manned unit.

 

It's hard to see the level here so took this one for posterity.

 

Sadly the City had to close the Marina for the summer as there was a safety issue with the electricity now under water. 

We don't have tides but the Great Lakes can fluctuate as much as 3-4 feet a season or cycle of about 7 years. Taking municipal government decisions into consideration one has to wonder why they built none float docks???

This was a calm day, can you imagine when the wind blows in the right direction? 

 

Proceeded on down the drive past million dollar homes on the waters edge till coming to downtown. 

 

This steam locomotive is the last signs of the major rail yards that existed on this site for over 100 years. The waterfront has gone through a major retrofit for public access and events and while no events were on tonight, people were out in force enjoying the views.

 

That's GM Headquarters in Detroit.

 

Decided to head up the main drive and see what was happening as it was on the way home.

Many changes are taking place again with many vacant storefronts again... Guess the Casino is keeping people inside it then going home when they are out of money.

 

The Special ran great never hinting at a problem but instead of a longer drive, headed home for some dinner.

Work has booked up for a stretch and I was going to miss my car club show and swap meet this weekend but received an email notice today that it has been cancelled due to flooded grounds.

Don't have to feel bad about that now do I.

Edited June 5, 2019 by dei (see edit history)

[Elpad]

2 hours ago, dei said:

Tuesday was about preparing the area for access for more equipment. The small excavator will be digging a footing for the poured concrete wall going in and then there will be a pump truck requiring access so tree branches hanging over my side of the property needed to be cut back. 

Then the surveyor came in to locate the property lines to avoid any question about where to place the wall.

 

With my part pretty much done I went off to work for a bit and stopped at the Limited to continue soaking the few things I want to save yet like the power steering pump. Not sure whether to disconnect the pump alone or take the whole idler arm and tie rod ends...

This is unfair! See no Buick in this picture. 

[dei]

1 hour ago, Elpad said:

This is unfair! See no Buick in this picture. 

 

LOL!

I feel somewhat the same but my wife doesn't ONE BIT! 🤐

 

Not that there are buckets loads of money around after this wall/fence project is done but looking into an addition to the garage and see if I can eventually bring the Roadmaster home...

Come on Lottery numbers! 🤸‍♂️

 

[Elpad]

5 hours ago, dei said:

Come on Lottery numbers! 🤸‍♂️

 

I will give you one number “58” choose the rest of the winning numbers...

[dei]

With the parts car on the trailer still due to wanting a few minor things before going to the recycler I took time today between rain showers to get that done.

I wanted to save the under the seat heater so with PB Blaster in hand finally got it out.

 

It looks ruff but unless it leaks those aluminium cooling fins can be straightened out.

There were a few screws that help clamps for things  that I saved too as they may come in handing putting the good Limited back together or on the Roadmaster (one day...).

 

With luck (and my wife's insistance) the final trip to will happen Tuesday saying good bye forever.

 

Heading over to 1957buickjim's after supper Monday to retrieve a seat back which Lance found for me to replace the seat back from the parts car I gave him for his Roadmaster convertible project. 

Edited June 10, 2019 by dei (see edit history)

[GARY F]

Let see how the wall is coming along.

[dei]

Struggling with trying to keep up with work put squeezed in another Buick related thing.

Lance had shipped the used seat back he found to replace my Limited one I gave him and had it sent to 1957buickjim's. 

I also made a milestone work anniversary on the 7th so...

Told the wife we were going out for dinner to celebrate and... do a slight detour to retrieve the seat back at Jim's on the way home.

 

Dinner at the Olive Garden was excellent!

Fully satisfied I punched in Jim's address on the GPS and when we pulled up found him under the hood of his '57 Special which he is driving from Michigan in a caravan with Joe towing his newly restored '58 Caballero and Larry towing his '15 Buick truck to the National some 1100 miles.

 

I wish you all SAFE TRAVELS there and back guys! 

 

Wish I was going but time and finances just are not aligning this time...

Next year my calendar has nothing but BUICK NATIONAL written on it for that week so I will enjoy the fun then God willing.

Jim handed me the box with the seat back in it and with a brief look, know it is going to work. 👍

 

Thanks again Lance!

Thanks Jim for letting me use you as my post office address, it helps a lot!

 

Fun 4 hours tonight but work will be early and a long day/week till Fathers Day. Thinking fire and a beverage might be in order by then after a drive with the top down first of course!

 

Edited June 11, 2019 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

7 hours ago, GARY F said:

Let see how the wall is coming along.

 

I guess with having to get rid/move the Limited I can let you know how things are going there.

 

Derek's Bobcat had no trouble carrying her out to the road to place on my trailer on Monday.

I scheduled the whole day off to be around for whatever had to be done as there was supposed to be a three day window of dry weather...

 

The block wall that remained had to be taken out next.

 

Before any excavating could start there was much cleanup that had to be done.

 

Tuesday I had to go for work commitments and at the end of the the day saw this.

The Surveyor had been there and a line was strung to aid in putting the foundation within our property lines.

 

With grey cloudy skies on Wednesday digging began and two loads on root ridden dirt were hauled away revealing what footing was on my property.

 

This wall existed when we bought the place back in 1983. Who knew what was in the the ground? The consistency of what ever concrete was mixed is crumbling and there were no rebars set in to keep the blocks from shifting off the foundation due to frost, no proper drainage and with high severe winds, blew the wall over at it's weakest point!

 

Then the rain returned that night and has been on and off for the past 5 days. 

it's going to have to dry out some before that crappy footing gets dug out and then a new footing will be dug and poured after which forms will be put in place and a proper concrete wall will be built.

 

The Limited was a hurdle as was my shed to provide access let alone my neighbours fence. Without all that removed the job would have been by hand and there was NO ONE around that was going to touch it!

With my neighbour wanting to put in the same kind of wall for his property the door opened to get this done now but we both need mother nature to give "everyone" a break...

Edited June 11, 2019 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

Interesting FULL day today.

Went early to finish up a three hour job on a 60 ft lift. 

Rain prevented me from finishing it on Sunday as did a hydraulic line leak and had to wait till today for the rental company to fix it.

 

I then headed on to the next job which is back on the island in the Detroit River.

I arrived seeing the tugboat tied to the area where the barge usually is so sent the boss a text only to find out the water was too high to get onto the barge so would have to put what I needed onto their small boat.

I parked the truck after putting what I needed on the dock and waited till the small boat arrived.

 

Indeed the water seemed high but the sun was shinning (no signs of rain) and took a seat on the Tugboat to wait for the passenger boat to arrive.

 

Should have brought my fishing pole sitting there as the walleye were coming to the surface in the fast moving water.

 

I could not ask for a better work environment on the idyllic island and it is not over exerting kind of work so enjoyed the day till everything was done.

 

Since it was the end of the day for everyone, we all boarded the passenger boat and when arrived on the mainland unloaded to get our vehicles.

I'm slowly getting to know the staff and a bunch of them were laughing about something which i wasn't paying attention too till someone asked if I brought my boots?

Seems the water got even higher during the day and I picked the lowest spot on the parking lot!!!

 

Before making the decision to take off my shoes and socks to get into my truck, the boss volunteered to go through the 3 inches of water in his work boots for me.

 

Think those guys are going to laugh about that for a day or two.

 

Driving out the road to the main road wasn't much better...

 

The homes on the right side used to be cottage type places but have been bought and sold over the years and torn down to build nice modern homes.

Fortuitously living on the waters edge most have built higher but questionably one wonders if it will be high enough in the future??

Had to take a shot of this Cougar sitting there. Hope he didn't have to drive it through that water...

 

Came home to smell a late supper on the go and my wife said Derek was there today so looked outside to see this.

 

Had to climb over the hill to see what had been done.

 

The old footing is gone and looks like it's about ready for the new one. 

It's getting really serious now.

Edited June 12, 2019 by dei (see edit history)

[lancemb]

Glad you got your seat.  Hope it looks satisfactory!

[dei]

29 minutes ago, lancemb said:

Glad you got your seat.  Hope it looks satisfactory!

 

It sure does Lance, Thanks!

Can't believe just how clean it is but thinking, being in a two door it didn't get exposed to wet moisture conditions too much...

I have been quite busy at this point and slipped it in the the garage with the good Limited garage for now but will post a picture once I get caught up...

 

As stated in my PM, greatly appreciate you following up on coming through with finding this for my Roadmaster!

 

With this kind of help/support is what has inspired me to move forward on my collection after all these years.

[dei]

Sorry if this sounds like a Facebook kind of posting but came home tonight from a meeting/get together of people I have been associated with in a Drum Corps some 46 years ago who actually remembered me driving the Special back then!! 😲

 

I showed them a few pictures on my camera of recent shots and were really surprised it still was in my possession!

There are plans to get together again later this year and hope to drive it there...

[dei]

With rain in the forecast again today and the down pouring it did during the night I'm almost glad the riding lawnmower is in the shop...

This actually freed up my time to re-strap the Limited on the trailer and take her to the scrap yard.

I moved it over to the garage where the straps were.

 

Looking at this shot realised they are both my first and second cars. They will never be together like this again...

 

Mom's house is only a few blocks away so drove here to get a shot and show her what is happening.

 

This is the same place where the picture was taken back in 1971 just before I got my drivers license that spring.

 

 

Funny ending, I weighed out naturally and went into the office to get what was coming to me. The girl handed me the slip and said you have $45.20 coming to you, sign here.

 

I realised that I got this car free from Dad and 48 years later I was paid 45.20 to get ride of her. 

Not a bad return for use of a car over 48 years was it! 😀 

[dei]

Took 29 minutes yesterday to check out the seat back I got from Lance.

Amazingly it appears to be the same size as the Roadmaster seat which surprises me.

 

 

 

I will need to find someone who is good with a welder to fix the lost bracket but should be good now.

 

THANKS AGAIN LANCE!

[dei]

Finally a day with NO RAIN!

That however meant trying to catch up on the work pushed back and was a long day...

Called my wife and said we were going for drive and get ice cream.

 

Took our time driving along the Detroit River to the small historic town of Amherstburg, Ontario (Canada).

 

As posted earlier the water levels are at their highest and drove in to check out one of the public boat launches.

 

It's hard to see but the man standing behind the boat on the trailer is standing on the dock and it is almost to his knees!

 

The air was about 63 degrees but being around water always feels cooler so left the top up and continued till finding a parking spot in the quaint area downtown.

 

Amherstburg has developed a beautiful waterfront park called King's Navy Yard Park. Being that it is at the mouth of the Detroit River it played an important part in the War of 1812 aiding to establish the border of Canada.

Naturally a stroll was in order to walk off that chocolate hot fudge treat!

 

This is the view looking south at Lake Erie in that gap.

 

This building was built in 1915 which housed the newspaper Amherstburg Echo established in 1874. It published articles until December 2012 when Sun Media (the last owners) closed it down...

It was finally sold to an investor that is operating it as a restaurant/bistro.

Not sure where the historical collecting of newspapers have gone?

 

Getting cooler with the setting sun it was time to head back.

 

With the Special performing well it was a satisfying end to a long day.

Edited June 15, 2019 by dei (see edit history)

[lancemb]

On 6/14/2019 at 6:43 AM, dei said:

Took 29 minutes yesterday to check out the seat back I got from Lance.

Amazingly it appears to be the same size as the Roadmaster seat which surprises me.

 

 

 

I will need to find someone who is good with a welder to fix the lost bracket but should be good now.

 

THANKS AGAIN LANCE!

Doug, that's surprising indeed that it's the same size!  With that being the case, I might suggesting just having a trim expert swapping everything onto the seat frame I got you.  It's pretty clean, and wouldn't have to worry about potential weak spots from welding or alignment issues...

[dei]

That thought had crossed my mind before getting the Limited interior to you (for down the road...) but luckily for you didn't move on it.

I'll search around now that I have both seat backs and see what can be done.

There is a fellow that used to work at RM Restorations in the early days and started his own business restoring cars that would be my first choice for this. It is mostly a one man operation consequently slow but work is excellent and after all, I'm not restoring the car just now so... 

Hopefully the seat material is in good enough condition to survive a transfer but will see.

 

At the very least it would be a nice road trip out to his place in the Special!

 

[lancemb]

13 hours ago, dei said:

That thought had crossed my mind before getting the Limited interior to you (for down the road...) but luckily for you didn't move on it.

I'll search around now that I have both seat backs and see what can be done.

There is a fellow that used to work at RM Restorations in the early days and started his own business restoring cars that would be my first choice for this. It is mostly a one man operation consequently slow but work is excellent and after all, I'm not restoring the car just now so... 

Hopefully the seat material is in good enough condition to survive a transfer but will see.

 

At the very least it would be a nice road trip out to his place in the Special!

 

Doug, for a good upholstery guy this is not a big deal and I can guarantee your upholstery would survive just fine.  In fact, any weak spots could be reinforced while off.  I wish I'd known they were the same size and I would have tried to talk you into bringing your seat back to me when you came so I could have my guy do it for you.  I can still do that if the seats get down here.  Swapping upholstery is without a doubt what I'd do, for what that's worth. 

Edited June 18, 2019 by lancemb (see edit history)

[dei]

8 hours ago, lancemb said:

Doug, for a good upholstery guy this is not a big deal and I can guarantee your upholstery would survive just fine.  In fact, any weak spots could be reinforced while off.  I wish I'd known they were the same size and I would have tried to talk you into bringing your seat back to me when you came so I could have my guy do it for you.  I can still do that if the seats get down here.  Swapping upholstery is without a doubt what I'd do, for what that's worth. 

 

Thanks for that offer Lance!

Sure wish I lived closer to you man. I will look around here to see who other guys do their work and if I'm happy that this can be done properly OK, otherwise a small road trip to Blenheim, Ontario will be in order to see if Stan Uher of Classic Coach Works would be able to take this on.

Stan restored and drives a Grey Dort Touring and has a few more stored last time I heard. 

 

Anyway, I'm whole with our trade/business and much appreciate doing it!

 

 

[dei]

With a light work day Monday quit at 4:30, grabbed the Special, picked up my wife and went to the Monday night Cruise-in at Brews & Cues for the first time this season.

 

We went in for dinner (wings were great!) and stayed until door prizes and 50/50 were drawn then looked around at the cars. I saw this nice 1967 Mustang which the owner said he had restored.

I used to have a '67 coupe also but sold it to get a '70 Buick LeSabre.

This is not that car as it has a numbers matching 289 automatic and mine was a 6 three speed on the floor with no console. 

 

They are fun cars to drive and would love to have another if I weren't so deep in Buick's???

 

We decided to drive along the River to downtown and the phone rings. Seeing it was Tony who owns a '58 Limited four door we pulled into one of the public parking areas along the river. Seems he had a question about the brake pressure switch on his car. It had the original single mater cylinder replaced with a dual but was having issues with the brake lights working then not working. All the time the brakes themselves worked properly so wondering if the switch itself would be defective. He is a bit frustrated after changing out a third one only to have the same situation after awhile.

Best I could offer was to make a call to the company that supplied the dual master and see if they have experienced calls on this issue.

Meantime we talked about next weekend getting together in Chatham, Ontario for what will be RM Restorations 40th Anniversary Celebration along with Chatham's annual Car Show. He is coming so hope to connect then and see his Limited again.

Thankfully the parking lot was busy and the boats on the river were out keeping my wife occupied during another "car conversation"...

 

Unfortunately my camera battery decided to go flat so no pictures but the drive through downtown on a Monday night was discouraging! 

Windsor has decided to move the Public Library on the main street to another location and is giving it to a homeless organisation... Word must be out as every corner has pan handlers of all ages hanging around and just... Sad. 

We are NOT a large city with only 200,000 officially but would think we are going through another recession by appearance. 

So be it, there are other places to be and enjoy.

 

Put the Special away after dropping of my wife and took notice of the trip odometer.

It reads 699.0 miles.

The Chatham trip next Saturday will be another 120 miles or so round trip. Pleased things are going smoothly with her.

Edited June 18, 2019 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

Where to start...

 

The good things:

Finally there is a window of three days with NO RAIN! 

Went to a clean up dump run for a customer and slipped home for lunch to find "the crew" out back doing something on the retainer wall/fence project.

They were securing the footing forms in anticipation for the cement truck to come that afternoon. 

 

Just then the phone rings...

It was Mom in obvious distress  and she said she had fallen and thought she broke her ankle!

Fortunately I'm not far away and when I walked in found her on the phone on the floor talking to 911.

While waiting for the ambulance found out she was out in the front yard pulling out weeds and stumbled, falling over on her right side telling me she heard something pop. 

The neighbourhood only has 12 houses on it and is quiet so naturally no one was out to see this happen. She crawled across the lawn on her knees, up the three concrete steps, opened the door and on into the back family room of her ranch style home using an old wooden yard stick to get the cordless phone.

Fortunately the ankle did not swell up which usually happens immediately when something breaks but the ambulance attendants said that an ex-ray was needed to confirm.

The incredulous thing is my Mom is 91, lives at home by herself and still drives! One tough bird!~!

 

After putting a neat looking plastic splint contraption on her foot/leg we hear one of the attendants asking on the radio which hospital they were to go to. 

As stated in my earlier post, Windsor has only 200,000 city residents and the surrounding area has possibly 100,000 or so more but... there are only two emergency rooms in the city and one other some 45 miles away in Leamington. Guess which one they were sent to?

 

Off they went and I grabbed the keys of mom's van out of her purse as she has a handy cap parking sign to head on down after talking to my wife.

The good thing, no broken bones, just a severe sprain so she is wrapped up and told not to put pressure on it for a week and then only if it feels OK to attempt to walk on it.

This all took from 12:30 till finally getting home at 8 pm.

Life.., one just never knows...

 

Meanwhile, with all this going on and texting progress to my wife, she tells me there is a huge cement truck in our back yard!  This is just for the footing.

 

I knew there was clay underneath the three feet of top soil but wasn't sure the bank would hold with the kind of weight one of those units would carry. 

Hopefully by Friday the wall will be poured and sometime next week the back filling will take place...

 

To be cont'd...

[JohnD1956]

Whew! Glad to hear your mom is not seriously hurt. Time to eliminate the gardens that need that type of maintainence ?

[dei]

On 6/19/2019 at 9:25 AM, JohnD1956 said:

Whew! Glad to hear your mom is not seriously hurt. Time to eliminate the gardens that need that type of maintainence ?

 

OH yes John!

We now have an understanding that this is #1 strike.

Should she get to strike #3 there could very likely be an address change in her future...

[dei]

Had a pleasant return call last night from Classic Coach Works owner Stan Uhre.

Explained fully the needs on the Roadmaster seat back and he is more than willing to do what it takes to get the seat to work for me. Once He knew the whole car wasn't coming to his shop, he said that he likes to do those kind of table top jobs between car restorations.

I told him we are planning to be at the Chatham, Ontario Retrofest this Saturday and hoped we could meet up to discuss it further.

He was very agreeable to doing that but with my trunk on the Special being full of spare parts and car show chairs and a cooler told him I would most likely not be bringing the seat backs with me. 

Besides, it would give me an excuse to go on another road trip later to his shop in Blenheim!

 

Nice thing about this arrangement with Stan is that he said he could likely have it completed in about two weeks for me. 

Dang, it wants me to get thinking about working on her now....

Focus Doug, focus...😯 

[GARY F]

How is the wall coming along?

[dei]

2 hours ago, GARY F said:

How is the wall coming along?

 

Things came to a screeching halt yesterday with the all day rain making things too muddy to continue...

Prior to that the boys put re-bar and wire mesh in place before the forms are in place. This thing (wall) will outlast my lifetime! 

Did I mention the contractor is German? Everything he does is over engineered but done right!!

[dei]

Down loaded the pictures of the wire going in the wall tonight.

 

Those are the boards that interlock once taken out of the cage to form the wall to pour the cement between. 

You can see the water that remained after the all day rain yesterday. Clay does not drain easily... There will be drains put in the wall and the back fill will be gravel to avoid water being held back and freezing when winter comes.

 

Access for this work was due to my neighbour wanting the same wall for his property and with the City alley on the far side of his house allowed equipment and cement trucks to back up right into my yard which saved about 1,500 for a pump truck that would be needed for the concrete.

 

When the work is completed and a fence is up will see what it will take to add onto my garage...

[dei]

Saturday was an early morning start (5:45 am) to meet three other cars and go to Chatham, Ontario RetroFest where RM/Sotherby is also celebrating their 40th Anniversary.

With upper 50's temps I left the top up to keep Cindy happy and lead the way for our group.

I watched the GPS and glad I did as the car is running so well that it seems I creep up the speed now and then...

 

Once we entered the Downtown area to park I went further than the rest as they stayed close to the entrance, but felt I had a better spot to show off her well worn glory.

 

There was much to see of the 800 plus cars spread over 7 or 8 blocks like:

 

This beautifully restored Grey Dort parked right around the corner from me.

 

Just a stunning Willys Knight roadster.

 

Check out the door treatment. I suspect this is one of RM's restorations...

 

A beautiful Buick Electra convert. (red on this beast just does it for me!)

 

Another fine early Buick Touring.

 

The one nice thing about this annual show is that there are a lot of "antique cars" more so than street rods like this unusual 1921 Lincoln Limo whether you are a fan or not.

 

 

This Packard has such a classic appeal.

I believe someone said it came from Peeble Beach just to be here.

 

Then there were the unusual type vehicles...

 

Quite the trailer hitch... Wonder how that Model A handles the trailer??

 

Don't know what chassis or power is under all this.

 

 

When was the last time you saw a Nash bus?

 

I heard some say that Jay Leno and Tim Allen were around but that might have been on Friday for the Cruise which had 700 cars attend. 

I did see Wayne Carinii from Chasing Cars being driven around on a golf cart...

And missed seeing Kidd Rock but here is his Pontiac.

 

Not as nicely done as the Wells Fargo '58 Limited Convertible in my opinion but too each his own.

 

Something different is what it is all about I guess... (coming from someone that still has three '58 Buicks!)

 

I loved this Airstream Bambi trailer the owner had behind his Ford! 

After talking to him saying I'd love to have one behind my Special that it would compliment all the chrome on the car, he told me how much it takes to keep it looking the way it is...

Might just have to reconsider...

 

 

Met up with Tony & Susan who drove their '58 Limited four door from Delhi about two hours away.

Spent time with them at the Special showing some things under the hood. He says he has the springs I gave him from my Limited parts car all cleaned up and is going to use them on his to see if it will level better than the ones he has now. 

One more piece of my old girl will live on.

 

Having come later in the morning he was parked way down the end from me but one day hope to get shots of the two cars together.

His car would be a nice addition to my '58 collection...

 

The show ended around 4 pm so gathered up our group and set out for home. Not before we filled up again just to be safe.

 

My top up was only 27 bucks this time filling her up with the 91 octane that was available.

The Special is performing quite well (touch wood) and found myself having to back off the accelerator more than a few times when I realised the gang was falling behind.

When we got home had a call from my buddy in the white Monarch asking if we would go with him for supper? 

Sure was our response and met at a place called Smoke & Spice for a great order of ribs & wings. 

Brought some home I could not finish it all!

 

We said good bye and went for a drive out to the City Marina again since we were at that end of the City to see what the water level was doing.

OMG!

 

Local authorities are saying that there will be flood watches posted for the rest of the summer as storms will push levels to historic highs... 

I love the lakes and such but glad I don't live along there to fear damage to my property.

 

Had to take this shot with the top down.

 

Parked the Special finally in the garage at 9:30 for a very satisfying day!!

 

Edited June 23, 2019 by dei (see edit history)

[cxgvd]

Thanks for posting photos from RetroFest, the show was a smashing success for Chatham, On.  I had too many jobs helping out so I didn't bring a camera.  I am a pre war guy and you posted the highlights, the Willys Knight Plaidside roadster is a Pebble Beach car as well as the Packard V-12.  The 6 cyl 1916 Buick D 45 is from NY and we toured with them 2 years ago at the AACA Vintage Tour in Pa.

Thanks again, Gary

 

PS. Here is my photo of the Willys leaving on the Friday night cruise around Kent County.

 

Edited June 23, 2019 by cxgvd
add photo (see edit history)

[dei]

14 hours ago, cxgvd said:

Thanks for posting photos from RetroFest, the show was a smashing success for Chatham, On.  I had too many jobs helping out so I didn't bring a camera.  I am a pre war guy and you posted the highlights, the Willys Knight Plaidside roadster is a Pebble Beach car as well as the Packard V-12.  The 6 cyl 1916 Buick D 45 is from NY and we toured with them 2 years ago at the AACA Vintage Tour in Pa.

Thanks again, Gary

 

PS. Here is my photo of the Willys leaving on the Friday night cruise around Kent County.

 

 

It was great talking with you Gary. Cindy was surprised you recognised her till I explained afterwords that she has been in a few of my postings. 😁

 

There indeed was much to appeal to everyone's taste in cars! Great Show!!

 

Not sure how long you have been a member of the Kent Historic Automobile Club but would you have been way back when our Clubs met at the campground in Morpeth and toured (1973)?

Every time I go past this location on #2 Highway it reminds me of that day. I had blown an under the seat heater hose , found a station open, put on a new one and caught up with the group here hence I wasn't back in the line from the tour.

[dei]

As to the wall...

When we came home after the car show to find this scene.

 

Seems they went to work on Saturday to take advantage of the dry day.

Apparently 95% was completed/secured and the remaining work is the details at the ends of the wall which should be completed on Monday (if the rain holds off till later per the forecast...).

 

There has been water running through the 8 inch clay drain pipe (hard to see) since the last snowfall this year.

 

When we first moved her in '83 the ditch wasn't kept clean by the City very well and once the debris floated down to this culvert heading under ground blocking it, naturally the water backed up all along our properties. My neighbour had a 14 ft aluminium boat and a 10 year old son who actually rowed down it as there was three feet of water into our yard. 

Don't know why I don't have pictures of that but it did happen MrEarl! 

 

Many calls to the City and they finally sent out a back hoe to clear the opening so the water would drop. (My name I'm sure is on a list down there somewhere...)

[dei]

One of the things I did before going to the Chatham Car Show was go through my file box of the Special.

I found my receipt for the convertible top installation I had RM Restorations do back when they were on Park Street.

 

 

I had hoped to possibly meet some of the RM people that might have done this install and show them what it cost back then.

Since there was a bus transport out to their current location my guess is that most of them were there to promote any new business and entertain their past customers. We stayed at the car show downtown all day which was just as exciting but may take a road trip there another time. 

 

This little piece of paper is more provenance of my ownership of this car.

Moving on with life I found I had to put her away in storage as the top had started to rip at the rear bow and didn't have the money then to put a new top on.

 

Storage was cheap enough so kept her out of the elements till after things became more stable.

Once the new top was on I lost the storage at the farm due to the widow selling so found another place to put "the collection".

Yes that is my good Limited and the front of the Roadmaster convertible. They were parked inside first and the Special came out for the summer and back in for the winter.

Once again due to the sale of that property there was another moving of the cars but by then I also bought a new home with a garage where I brought the Special to have at my whim to go for a ride.

. 

 

After some time I worked a deal out for storage at a customers house for keeping up the property parking the Special there and brought the good Limited home thinking it would be handy working on it when an evening here and there came up...

 

Eventually we bought that place out of the estate and my son and wife still live there renting it from us.

 

Having her back on the road even with her "well worn look" is proving to be such a joy! 

And the now 34 year old top still passes muster. Bet I can't get that work done again for what I paid... hahaha

 

[dei]

Received this from a friend and thought I'd share the car video from the Show last Saturday.

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2dk0AESxPM

Copy and paste in your windows browser to view.

 

If you go to almost the very end of this long video he closes with a shot of the Special.

(recommend shutting off the sound as I find his voice and music annoying...)