Decisions decisions

If you're a regular reader then you've figured out that I'm somewhat of a car buff. Kind of weird since the father figure in my life was not a car buff when I was kid.

Although he has told me of the hotrods he had as a teen and now I wonder what happened to that man that he lost that part of him. I mean he had some really sweet cars!!! A 1965 Mustang 2+2 Fastback, a 1968 Camaro SS, a 1964 Chevrolet Corvair. When he met my mother he had a 1974 Chevy El Camino SS.

Domestication can do weird things to people I guess. I've tried to not lose parts of who I was/am in life, marriage and kids. I'd like to think that you can change direction without losing touch.

So where is all this going? Well I've had something come up twice now the last time we have been at the in-laws place.

For a quick brief history lesson, apparently when my father in law came to Western Washington in the late 1960's he wanted to be involved with auto racing in the worst way. He wanted to build cars for racing teams. Again domestication kicks in and he became a printer. He didn't completely lose sight though. He did restore 2 Studebakers and one Avanti.

He has always wanted a Porsche though. About 3 years ago he finally bought one for himself for Father's Day.

A nice Guards Red Porsche 944. Some will argue that since it's a watercooled, front mounted engine that it's not a real Porsche. True it's not a 911 or a Caymen or a Carrera, but it's still a Porsche. Get out and drive one and you'll see what I mean.

Back to the dilema at hand.

So regular readers here will know that I belong to the local/national chapter of the BMWCCA and that I have a 1987 BMW 325 is. Affectionately dubbed the "Bronze Bitch" for some of the issues that it can tend to throw my way.


One of the better angles of the Bronze Bitch.
This shot doesn't really do it justice. It was taken more as an art photo.











So getting back to the subject at hand (again) is that my father in law has been itching for a newer Porsche. He really wants a Boxster. He's even been out to see a few of them.

This leads to him asking me if I want to buy his 944.

*dead silence as I ponder this briefly in my head*

Do I want to buy his Porsche 944?

Well hell yeah who wouldn't. It does need a few things and fortunately these are minor things. It needs new engine mounts (he has them in his garage, thank you) and some minor body work on one fender. No big deal.

This is not the actual car that my FIL owns, but it is the same model and the same Guards Red that it comes in.

I really do love the Bronze Bitch. I've had it almost 4 years now and I've definitely spent the time and money to get it to where it is now. It does have a way to go however.

This car on the other hand does have fewer issues. Only one is really all that major and doesn't need to be done right away. It will need a clutch. The bonus is that my in laws have taken it on several road trips in state and out of state and it has never let them down. That is really huge in my book. I like to road trip and I want a car that can handle it. I don't want to have to rely on the Paisley's Subie and even though renting a new car is fun, it can get expensive.

Another bonus is that the local chapter of the Porsche Car Club of America is affiliated wit the local chapter of the BMWCCA and events of both groups often coincide with each other. That makes me happy since I really want to be more active in my car club and to be able to go to events with folks that I already know is important to me.

At this point I'm leaning towards selling the Bronze Bitch in order to push me into the world or Porsches. It's a natural progression and well quite frankly it's one that I would have made later if not sooner. If only there was a way to keep them both.

Group 2, Gerber and Goodman: Pt II

Thought that I should get something posted up today.

No better place to start than some of the cool shit in the collectors warehouse at Gerber.







If you've ever seen the movie Animal House then this is familiar to you.

The Deathmobile as constructed from a Lincoln Continental.






Back upstairs in the cleaner of the two level are some Porsches just hanging out itching to hit the pavement running again and show off their timeless looks.










Back on the lower level again. There's just so much in here you really don't know where to begin.











One of many business signs/banners posted all over the lower section of Gerber.












Looks fun, but it just can't take the place of the real deal.

I remember these in arcades about 15 years ago.










One of my favs: the classic mini. Quite a hardy little car and I seem to be seeing more of them in Western Washington these days.

I would love to have one as a commuter for work. Sure would make parking easier since most people don't know how to properly parallel park.






This is a tasty little treat in a shop filled with vintage and collectible cars........the lonely motourcycle just sitting here longing for another to be added.

I think a Norton or and old BSA would be perfect sitting next to this Ducati.







Here's an interesting one: the Messerschmidt car. Who knew?

You can actually see one of these in the Addams Family movie toward the end. Cousin It drives one.








Lastly the rare and coveted Ford Rally. Only a handful of these little gems in the world and Gerber just happens to have one hiding out in the lower garage among the other rarities.










Look for the final follow up with the photos of Goodman Racing.

A bit of "thanks"

I've been really bad about posting anything lately.

I seem to be pre-occupied with work and getting out of the house now that the weather is nice and a myriad of other things that just happen to come up.

I see from my tracker map that more people have been reading either in part or in whole. Thank you all for reading along.

Thank you especially to those that read on a regular basis. You all help keep me writing.

Cheers.

Reviving the "rice burner"-Subie Engine install

Well this is the last section on the Paisley's Subaru.

As of last Sunday the engine was in and mounted up to the transmission, but that was about it.

Seems that crawling about on and under cars is not something that agrees with my back anymore.

Thank (insert favourite worship idol here) for Vodka and muscle relaxers.

Thankfully there was help. Marc "Big Red" was the muscle and Dan "The Coach" was the speed. Thanks to these two the work went pretty quick for all our chatter and obviously having the right tools at hand. You can see just two of Dan's tool carts behind them. There are two more just underneath me from where I'm taking this photo and more tools on the otherside of the car. Good thing Dan is a tool pack-rat.


Ah well back to the task at hand. So this is original engine just prior to the boys and I really starting to tear it apart.

In this shot the radiator and fans are already removed. The airbox and pipework is already out as well.








Draining the fluids from the block. This is funny to me since Big Red and I discovered later that we didn't get all the oil out of the block when we set it on it's back so I could get to some of the transmission cooler lines on the bottom of the block.

This is Dan's brand new garage and now my wife's car has christened his floor, which hasn't been sealed yet.

Sorry Dan, when I have my own garage one day you can let your car pee on the floor in return.


Ah!! The hoist is in place and we are ready to pull the engine out!

Fortunately we were able to just unbolt and move the A/C compressor to one side instead of having to let the nasty R-12 refrigerant loose into the ozone. We might not be professionals, but were environment friendly.






That's what is looks like in there!!! It wasn't too bad in there. You can see the oil build up on the bottom of the crossmember there.

It didn't take too long to get crossmember cleaned up and the surrounding areas.

No sense in putting a new (to me) engine into a dirty engine bay.





And here's the new (and gently used) engine up on the chains and getting prepped to get dropped into the engine bay and bolted up.

First order is to get that nasty looking old clutch pressure plate off the block. This one will be going into an automatic tranny model.

Funny thing is we looked for one in a five-speed and just couldn't find one. Now 2 years later there are manual tranny Forester's popping up faster than Wal-Mart can build a new store.


After all was said and done, it came down to one transmission cooler line holding things up. Seems the bloody little hose stressed after being taken off and wouldn't hold a seal when it was put back on.

Sorry to report that once again the Subie pee'd on Coach Dan's new garage floor. I'm just glad that it was small drops and not half the transmission.

It was so good to be able to take the Paisley up to Coach Dan's to pick up her car. It's not totally finished.............we are currently waiting for the money sucking dealership to get in a part that I need to put on the car. We only have three of the four mounting bolts for the A/C compressor on the car. Not a big deal.

We happily drove it to work today. I've missed the heated seated seat and the quiet exhaust. Don't get me wrong, I still love the Bronze Bitch, but there is something to driving that car occasionally instead of daily like we have for the past two months.