Barrett-Jackson backlash

I spent a good bit of time this week watching Speed's coverage of the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale. They even had a 1984 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible on the block today. It was nearly identical to the Riv, but with the 4.1L fuel-injected V-8 instead of the 5.0L "Y" code engine in the Riv. The Cadillac had 61,000 miles on the odometer and sold for $5,830 including the bidder's premium. I'd been hoping for more interest, but I'll blame it on its placement as the first car across the stage.

I haven't done too much in the past couple of weeks other than take the Riv on weekly rides to keep her joints limber. I spent 3.99 on a replacement 'under-the-hood' lamp today, but the new bulb didn't light up when I installed it, even if I turned on the headlamps and shook the wires. Oh well, my wife's Civic got a pair of new wiper blades, so the trip to PepBoys wasn't a complete washout.

Out with the old; In with the new

It's hard to believe that a full month has blown by since my last post. The holiday season and a couple of rainy weekends made it tough to get much accomplished.

Truth be told, I'd been reluctant to run around much in the Buick after she nearly skipped out on her parade appearance, and then a couple of days later, repeated the 'I-won't-start-unless-you-absolutely-make-me' routine. The second time around, I was able to revive her and get home without a jumper box, but it was a profanity-laceddelicate two minutes. The next weekend (must've been Dec 14th) I pulled her out into the driveway to hang lights on the garage, and her exhaust was a touch smokier than usual. Nothing belchy, but you could tell she wasn't feeling well.

That was enough to keep my enthusiasm in check, and schedule the Riv for a trip to the shop just ahead of the Christmas weekend. But as with so many well-intentioned plans, that trip to the shop got rained out (remember, there's still a window that won't go up), and I haven't found the time to get a trip back in. Since then, I've taken her out on two short battery-charging drives, and she's run much better. No smoke, and no throttle problems, even after brief stops.

So as a reward this afternoon, I tore out her old hood insulation pad (my Nov 8th post had a photo), wiped down the underside of the hood because she'd accumulated a decent collection of petrified miller-moths, and installed the new pad I'd had sitting in the garage for a few weeks. Say aah! --