Over The Hill Gang , Old Farts with Young Cars

[RubyCamaro]

Welcome aboard abaucom21! You will fit right in here.

[myold88]

Originally Posted by RubyCamaro

Goodbye Massive TV, Hello flatscreen! The room looks sooooooooo much bigger now. We still have some work to do cleaning up hte mass of wiring but already so much better.

I did get to take Ruby out for a drive today. It was sure a nice day. But severe storms moing on for Thursday. That is the price we pay for a nice winter day in Tennessee.

So funny. I have the same giant T/V in our den. I can't wait to get rid of it
but it just will not die. I swear it must be 10-12 years old. lol.

[RubyCamaro]

Ours would not die either (and believe me I contemplated ways to murder it LOL). I just finally won the war to get rid of it anyway.

[dianeokie]

Originally Posted by 69supersport396

Jeez, people could have lived in that old TV. New one looks nice.

This is just a PSA to everyone having weather issues, including issues the weather has caused; the house next to me is for sale, and it has a three car garage and a pool that you can invite me over to swim in.

Originally Posted by RubyCamaro

That sounds nice Rick. Any job openings in Mental health treatment?

We had VERY heavy rain & hail here last night. Thank goodness for a garage & a carport. The yard looked like a lake on all sides of the house for a while but luckily it stayed away from the house & garage. Forcasters totally blew that one. They barely mentioned some "showers". More rain today then potentially severe storms predicted for Thursday. It is back to the grind today. I hope my commute goes batter & I feel les disoriented in the new facility today. Have a good day guys & gals.

I need that house and mental health treatment!

Originally Posted by abaucom21

Been visiting this site since mid 2010, and never scolled all the way down the topics page until today. Will have to visit this thread more often. Try to check all my favorite websites about every other day as I don't like getting on the web when I get off work.

A little background on me: Just turned 63, a college professor, car nut since age 4 when I helped Dad buy a new 1955 Olds 2-door '98' hardtop. That only got me started so 3 weeks later talked Dad into buying Mom a matching color 1955 Olds Starfire '98' conv. From then on Dad only took me car shopping with him which is funny because my older brother later became an automotive designer. Family never bought anything but 2-door or convertible models and to this day I have never owned a 4-door.

Lived in an Air Force family and grew up in so many states hard to remember as well as Japan and Germany. As an adult relocated to many states as well as spending time in Qatar and since 2003 a permanent resident of Canada, Ottawa Ontario the nations capital. Plan on staying here until the end even though I hate winters. Still have not unpacked all my boxes since I moved here from Dallas in 2003, but at my age feel no need to hurry anything.

Currently drive a 2011 2LT summit white that I special ordered mid May 2010 and took delivery early Aug. 2010. Like to have my autos my way so most of my favorites over the years I factory ordered. Also have a 1998 Riviera pearl white low mileage summer only garage queen that was my South Carolina aunts last Riviera. Over the decades she owne many different white Riviera's and I was the only one in the family she took car shopping. Regardless of where I lived at the time, Aunt would give me 2-weeks notice to go car shopping. I was expected to do the research, report on time, we would test drive 4 of her favorites, yet she kept buying white Riviera's. She blamed me for her passion for white cars when in 1976 I came to visit driving my then new 1976 white Eldorado convertible. Loved my aunt dearly and she loved to drive and drive fast. I still keep her tradmark red umbrella in the supercharged Riviera and remember all the road trips we experienced together. Sad that so many younger people today don't have all the wonderful family road trip memories I experienced with my family back in the "old days".

I only drive both the Riviera and Camaro about 1,500 miles per year each. I bought the Camaro because I loved the body style and wanted a style I would like well into my 70s. Still think its a keeper. First mid-life crisis in my mid 40s, quit my designer job in NYC and earned a grad degree. Second mid-life crisis in my late 50s, bought a Camaro (much less expensive and time consuming than earning yet another degree!). Thankfully my bucket list is just about completed except come spring must get all this damn road salt crap washed away on my Camaro.

Welcome here!

[zandron263]

Welcome Abaucom21 I got an unexpected day off today. I had to go report for jury duty yesterday and with my luck I get picked to be on a jury for a one day trial today. It was a personal injury case. I go to court today and as soon as they seat us the judge apologizes to us and declares a mistrial and excuses us.

We ran into one of the attorneys in the hallway and the issue was the plaintiff was Canadian and they did not do appropriate research to see if NYS accident rules would apply to a Canadian citizen. They will need to figure that out and call a new trial and jury. It won't affect me as I have now served so I am good for the next 7 years. I am taking advantage of the day off to work on my winter Camaro mods.

[RubyCamaro]

I'm starting to feel a little more settled in the new office and the commute went better. Took about an hour this morning & coming home about an hour & 15 min. In 2 weeks I get to start working on Fridays in my home towm so one less day to commute. If I can increase the clients wanting to be seen here & can add Tuesdays too. That also feels better. I also found out today they have changed the bonus structure for the better, so more mod money. Things are looking up, but change is still the pitts! I have some notes to do so have a good evening crew.

[RubyCamaro]

Good Morning crew. Up early agian to tackle this dreaded commute. I need to try to leave early this afternoon to be sure I am home before hte storms move in. Jim Cantori is in Nashville so you know to take the storms seriously. I am getting a cold. Yuck! But ai can't fuss too much as it has been a long time since I have been sick. I'm pumping in the juice & echinacia hoping is will pass quickly. Have a good day all.

[RubyCamaro]

Quiet in here today. I made it home before the storms but they are here now. Not too bad though. Wind, rain a few specks of small hail & we got a tornado warning but it was past us when it spun up. I have a couple of notes to do then I need to rest. This cold has me tired. Sweet dreams.

[skipinminn]

really hitting us here :(

[zandron263]

My CAI intake may just send me to an insane asylum. It was looking kind of dull to me after being installed for almost 3 years. So after polishing my strut bar I thought the CAI would look great polished as well. I used the same process that used on the strut bar wet sanding and polishing it. It looked no different than when I started.

Ok I thought I will paint it instead. So I wiped it down with alcohol to remove any polish residue. Then primed and painted it. I wanted a 2 color scheme on the lid so I masked off the area I wanted to keep black and made a mistake so I pulled the tape back to fix that and it took all of the paint and primer with it. I made the surface so smooth nothing would adhere to it.

Ok I should have known better so I will sand it down with a rougher grit of sandpaper to scuff up the surface and paint it again. I test my surface after I primed it the second time and its all good the paint is adhering properly. I paint it again in the 2 color scheme. Finally I decide to clear coat it so I will be done. The first coat of clear cracks and bubbles. Looks like I will be sanding it down again.

At this point I have probably scratched the surface so much leaving it as bare aluminum is probably not an option. I just need to figure out what I am doing wrong in the painting process. I just finished using the same process when painting my Hex Vents and those came out perfect. I usually don't have this much trouble painting things so this one is leaving me scratching my head.

[RubyCamaro]

Just plastidip it! That is what I am thinking about doing to mine. Mine looks bad too. Either that or I may just see if I can buy just a black cover.

[69supersport396]

One more day until the weekend!

We received our first bid on a back yard swimming pool and it was WAY out of our pool budget. That was from a local builder. Going to get a bid from a chain company next. We may have to give up some of the features we want to make this affordable.

Today we signed a contract for a mild master bath remodel. We're not gutting it, just getting a new shower and tub. That will start in April.

Happy Friday gang.

[RubyCamaro]

Nice plans! Hope it goes well. We need to do some remodeling at our house too but it will have to wait. Several things need replacing first: camera, computer, refrigerator & stove. We need the whole house painted some repairs to the wood floors which may have been caused by foundation issues that would have to be fixed first. Then we want to build a sun room where the deck is & remodel the bathrooms. It will have to happen a little at a time. Got to run. Company big wigs will be at the new office today. Happy Friday crew!

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by zandron263

At this point I have probably scratched the surface so much leaving it as bare aluminum is probably not an option. I just need to figure out what I am doing wrong in the painting process. I just finished using the same process when painting my Hex Vents and those came out perfect. I usually don't have this much trouble painting things so this one is leaving me scratching my head.

Can you re-sand it to a satin finish and just clear-coat that? Or is powder-coating an option (sorry, I don't know much about that process).

It wasn't all that long ago that I finally scuffed the mirror-bright finish on the eyeball vents and instrument panel surround trim in my car down to a satin finish, specifically to eliminate sparkle at track days as you don't need any of that at 110+ mph with a 60 mph turn approaching. Something I should have done years ago just for the daily driving.



I thought my wife had gone off to work when she came back in the house with a car complaint. Seems there was this scraping noise when she went to back out of the driveway. So I had her drive down the block and back to see if it went away, which of course it did. Guessing either worn-out brake pads or a bent left front dust shield is what I'll find come tomorrow (hoping the weather holds, as I'm not about to lay in a puddle to diagnose this, and it's what spare cars are for anyway).


Norm