Hey guys. Sorry for my long absence. It's been a lousy last half of this year. Feel like a black cloud has been following me around. Problem after problem. First, my daily driver Grand Prix exhaust pipe (between the cat and the muffler) broke (from rust) at the bend before the pipe goes up over the rear axle. Because I only drive it to work and back (a total of 8 miles a day) the water from the cat pools at that spot and doesn't get burned off. Then, a little while later, the right front wheel bearing self destructed. Luckily I was able to "baby" it home and the spindle didn't get damaged. The only thing that was holding the wheel on from flying off and passing me as I drove it home was the caliper and pads. Then just this past week as I was turning onto my side street from the main street I heard a momentary metal scraping noise. I didn't like the sound of that and had an idea of what it was. I slowly drove the remaining 1/2 block home, parked it, ran in the house to get my flashlight and immediately looked at the left rear trailing arm. Yep, that was it. It was bent into a "V" shape pointing down towards the ground. Rust got it. Good thing it happened so close to home. If that had happened at normal cruising speed I would have probably torn out the whole rear axle and that would have been the end of that car. This is a typical problem with the "G" bodies that have a lot of age on them (and rust). Here's a "heads up" on that trailing arm (also sometimes called a control arm). There's a place in Lincoln, Nebraska called Speedway Auto that has reproduction original trailing arms for $69.99 each (no bushings included). They have a store on eBay so you have buyer protection. I received it yesterday and it's exactly as described and is an exact duplicate of the original. For those of you who would prefer to keep their "G" body original I highly recommend them. And as you know, these are no longer available anywhere else (dealer or auto parts store). So now I'm using the '86 GP I bought earlier this year temporarily. I will be clearing out a spot in the garage this afternoon so I can get the '84 in to repair that trailing arm.
And finally, about 3 months back, the implant lens that was put in my right eye about 20 years ago (cataract surgery) slipped out and is now floating around in my eye. So now my right eye is practically useless as everything seen through it is just a blurr. Talk about some bad luck right?
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know what was going on and here is that picture I promised to post when I found it. I'm guessing this was probably about 1962 or 1963 and would have made me about 7 or 8 years old. I'm also guessing that it was probably Easter Sunday as I'm all dressed up in my fancy duds. The picture was taken in front of our house in Chicago. The small imperfections seen in the picture are the result of the age of the picture and are not on the car. The car color is "Presidential blue" and those are the same wheel covers that are on my '63 Galaxie. They were optional for '63 and are much nicer looking than the standard wheel covers that would have come on a '63. It had a 292 CID engine and automatic trans. Hope your dad's 62 turns out this nice Jared.
As for my 70 Plymouth resto, I have almost finished blending in the right quarter but probably won't be doing anything more on it till spring. Even though it's a heated garage, using the heater nearly doubles my heating bill since the garage is almost the same square footage as my house and I don't make enough money to support 2 houses.
And finally, about 3 months back, the implant lens that was put in my right eye about 20 years ago (cataract surgery) slipped out and is now floating around in my eye. So now my right eye is practically useless as everything seen through it is just a blurr. Talk about some bad luck right?
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know what was going on and here is that picture I promised to post when I found it. I'm guessing this was probably about 1962 or 1963 and would have made me about 7 or 8 years old. I'm also guessing that it was probably Easter Sunday as I'm all dressed up in my fancy duds. The picture was taken in front of our house in Chicago. The small imperfections seen in the picture are the result of the age of the picture and are not on the car. The car color is "Presidential blue" and those are the same wheel covers that are on my '63 Galaxie. They were optional for '63 and are much nicer looking than the standard wheel covers that would have come on a '63. It had a 292 CID engine and automatic trans. Hope your dad's 62 turns out this nice Jared.
As for my 70 Plymouth resto, I have almost finished blending in the right quarter but probably won't be doing anything more on it till spring. Even though it's a heated garage, using the heater nearly doubles my heating bill since the garage is almost the same square footage as my house and I don't make enough money to support 2 houses.
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