a pro car week

we had a wild run to Il this last week to say good by to Kandy's Mother. she passed away not unexpected from heart complications after a long down hill run. so we took the time to drop off stuff and pick up stuff while we were out. started out with a late night meeting in a parking lot at Albert lee Mn to swap parts. Mike gave Kandy some flowers to replace the ones the deer ate at home. thanks guy. man the car smelled better then that mustard dipping sauce after that. then we got to be re united with the 72 Seville that Brendan has been keeping for me. Virgle took delivery of it as they did not want to drop it off in SD. I did not get to look at any of Virgil's cars that night but the next day Larri wanted to drive the 72 and get some pictures with his so of course we did. yes I have to publicly admit Larri's is bigger then mine. then we rented the 99 Eagle for the occasion. it did the job and things went well.
we drove the 72 around a bit finalizing things before we headed home. I followed her out of Il into Ia and we swapped places for the next 817 miles. the Yukon did good it made about 19.6 on the average with it 5.3 liter engine, 6 speed double over drive, tall tires and multi-port fuel injected, computer controlled engine and tyranny. the poor old Seville never had a chance with the 454 q-jet points and turbo 400 undersized tires. the best it did was average 14.5 I did get it up to 15.5 one tank though. funny thing the gas gauge read empty when we headed out, but I had a gallon can with me and keep expecting it to to run out any time. it never did and that little puff puff from the exhaust manifold is kind of a cackle now but looking under her this morning there is not one drip. haven't checked any fluid levels though. when I called Virgle to let him know since I was across the Missouri I was releasing him for his offer to come and get me if it quit. he asked me how it was running. I told him like a antique watch you keep getting it out and holding it up to your ear to see if it's still working. man I'm glad to get it home. we could have waited till June though. Rest well Mom you earned it

Wow Ed! You're not kidding. His really is bigger than yours but it's red.

Good to hear that the ole Merry Oldsmobile made the trip "better than expected" with on problems. I'll bet that the Olds was thinking "what did I do to have been abandonded for a year in Rhode Island". "What ever it was, I promose to behave and be a good car for the rest of my life". LOL.. Ed........ Kandy... Welcome home.. Paul

Sorry to hear about Kandy's mom, although I can't stand to see anyone suffer. I am glad to hear your trip went well, in spite of it's purpose. I really like your Seville, it looks great!

Ed and Kandy, deepest condolences from us, you are in our thoughts and prayers. I'm glad the Seville made it home, it was a little hard starting but when I got it running, it ran great. It is nice to have my garage back, but I do miss it a little. Best of luck with her. That Olds Rocket is quite an engine! Paul, there is nothing wrong with a little respite in Rhode Island!!!

Lucile was 4 months into her 90th year. just could not over come 3 bad valves in her hart and was not a canadate for surgery. I will say she lived life her way. has 3 husbands to greet her. buried with her first husband. Kandy's father who died when she was 16. he was 42. she of course was 90. one of the boys could not get the image of that reunion out of his head.

just a few things to finish up on the 72 and I think we are good to go for a bit anyway. we need to use some of that weather striping we got from Mike there is a lot of road noise coming from the rear doors. i'm thinking of trying to spot in the pant were we repaired the rust for now. it's a nice roomy feeling in the car driving it and I discovered that in 72 the armrest will rest you arm. strange stuff. here are a couple more shots of thins on the road sundown in mn, larri's 75 and the view out the back window. one of Hy 20 in north central neb. i think he car count might be 10 a hr

Midnight exchange

I met "Ed" and Kandace in Albert lea to trade some parts while I had my back to Ed I heard him say looks like a midnight parts exchange, and immediately it flashed in my mind that it sounded like Ed was captioning his next picture and before I could turn around to strike a pose for a picture, FLASH from Ed's trusty Kodak in the McDonalds parking lot, with some folks doing some trading from the open back end of a Yukon to the open back end of a hearse. Yes, I could see where folks might think it a little bit odd of goings on. And to top it off at the gas station again, the nice girls running the Shell station in Albert Lea wanted to know if any dead people ever been in the back of the hearse? Okay, I probably should not be saying things like this because I really don't know but I told the girls probably a couple thousand people likely. Then the shreeks and giggles. And the next question, how can you stand driving it? First off I tell them its a Cadillac and the price was right. Okay then on the way home can't shake the shXX eating grin I had on my face after talking to both the Renstroms it is like we knew each other from previous lives or something so I give my self a reality check and tell myself to stop daydreaming and pay attention. I am in the fast lane going North on 35W and I figure no need to use the left lane and I can settle in taking up the right lane instead. Out of the pitch black like a couple minutes later I just missed the most horrible deer kill I have ever been lucky enough to have missed. That left lane had like 20-30 gallons of blood covering the road with so much carcasss it would of wiped out the fiberglass coach work. (The deer in Minnnesota have that much blood in them, Really!) Oldsmobiles, air leaks, door rubber, I still have been getting samples in the mail of door rubber, and I just want to tell you Ed, we did darn good with the stuff we had made compared to whats out there for the money. Not as good a quality hands down compared to the stuff we had made. That 72 is deserving of the TLC not many of those around anymore please use the rubber on that Oldsmobile. I remember working at the Oldsmobile dealership In the early 80's when one of those Ninety-Eight's came in and could not believe how long the 4 door sedan was and how nervous I was setting the pads up to put it up in the air on the hoist. The instrument cluster on the dashboard is nicely set up on your Oldsmobile, practical, still one of my favorite dashboards besides the ones that used a rear view mirror to view the speedometer, remember those?

Please let Kandy know that we're all sorry to hear of the passing of her mother. I'm glad to hear your trip went well too.

Sorry to hear of Kandi's mom, but you said she lived life her way-thats what matters!! Let Kandi know we are all thinking of her.

Glad you were reunited with the Seville, at least it dont take up as much room as Brendons ambulance!