Entries Tagged 'Cars' ↓

I made it home with the Mercedes late Wednesday afternoon as planned and had absolutely no problems whatsoever on the road. The car drove like a dream and I’m not a HUGE fan of sun roofs (never had a car with one before)!

Rick at Atlantic Motor Group picked me up at the airport and drove me out to the dealership in Kennett Square, PA, which turned out to be quite a nice little country village… I guess it’s quite known around Eastern Pennsylvania for its mushroom harvesting. Anyway, Rick turned out to be a pretty nice guy and didn’t charge me anything extra for the additional fuel filter I asked him to get (but that he wasn’t able to get installed for me… oh well) or for the temporary tags. In exchange I agreed to take the car with just a quarter tank of gas in it. Fair enough. Got the car fueled up there in Kennett Square and hit the road at 2:20pm EDT.

I only had to make it to Zanesville, OH on the first day, but even that seemed really far away, especially since the first hour or so of my trip was going through small Pennsylvania towns where the speed limits would fluctuate between 35 and 55 mph. But once I made it to the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76) I made pretty good time the rest of the way, only stopping once for lunch at Burger King and another stop for a bottle of Mountain Dew when I started feeling sleepy. Once it started to cool off outside around 6:00 p.m. or so, I decided to run the rest of the way with the window open a bit and the sun roof pulled back, which gave me lots of fresh air and just enough wind & noise to help me stay alert. The Pennsylvania countryside was beautiful, and I had to pass through several mountain tunnels and got spectacular views of the upper Appalachians. I’d forgotten just how beautiful rural Pennsylvania could be, and it just got better and better the farther west I drove.

I was too busy trying to make time, not waste it, to stop and take any photos along the way, which is too bad as I would have certainly liked to. Maybe next time, haha. Wheeling, WV, is an interesting town, too. I hadn’t been through there in years, and probably not during the day since family vacations as a kid. All of the homes built right on the sides of the mountains and the brigde into town… very scenic, and very blue collar. The rest of the trip was a blur… Ohio, Indiana, Illinois… not much to report. But upon making it home I realized that the car got well over 34 mpg on the trip. Not bad for an 18-year-old automobile!

Now I just need to wait for the biodiesel homebrew kits to get restocked at B100 Supply so I can start brewing some biofuel!

It looks like I’ll have to wait a couple of months to purchase the Appleseed Biodiesel Processing System that I found via the friendly folks at the St. Louis Biofuels Club. B100 Supply is in the process of reconfiguring the system, which means updating the instruction booklets and everything, which is great, because that means the new one will be even better than the previous. I’m planning on putting this kit in my garage, and to do that I’ll have to clear some room and get rid of some junk that’s in there now (always a good idea, anyway). The garage is a car and a half, so unfortunately I won’t be able to put my 300D in there with my Cuda, and since my Cuda has seniority, it will remain the car that I park there to keep it out of the weather. So until something happens by either me selling the Cuda (doubtful) or us moving into a bigger house with a larger, 2-car garage (probably even more doubtful), I’ll just have to keep the 300D parked out in the street and then bring it around back when it’s time to fill up the tank. No big wup.

Also, the 2-month wait until the new and improved kit is in stock and ready to ship should give me ample time to acquire the 40-gallon electric water heater I’ll need for it, as well as a 55-gallon drum. Those, and the chemicals (methanol & lye, mainly) are the only things that don’t come prepackaged with the system.

I was able to secure a source for the WVO (waste vegoil) that I’ll need, and it happens to be a restaurant in VERY close proximity to where I work, so that’s a big weight off my mind. And, thanks to biodiesel.org, I’ve also located several fueling stations over in Illinois where I can buy various blends of biodiesel/petrodiesel to run in my car to get it (and me) more acquainted with its new fuel.

Meanwhile, I’ve been reading up on the many articles available at the Collaborative Biodiesel Tutorial site, which I highly recommend for anyone else getting into this, as this seems to be the best site I’ve found anywhere for information on getting started. I also just ordered myself a copy of THEE biodiesel home brewer’s bible, Home Brew Biodiesel, so I’ve got some reading to do, too.

OK, I have to admit that this wasn’t the original idea I had when I decided that I would keep my Barracuda and seek out a more fuel-efficient daily driver, but I really wasn’t expecting to find a decent diesel-powered car for less than $10 grand, that is, until I started browsing eBay very thoroughly this past Sunday morning (when I should’ve been out working in the yard). Ever since first learning about biodiesel back in December 2005 (thanks to Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code podcast), I’d wanted a late ’80s/early ’90s Mercedes-Benz 300D. These cars are amazing, and indestructible. Originally selling for upwards of $40 grand, they’re very nice mid-size luxury cars with lots of bells and whistles you just won’t get in a VW Jetta or New Beetle TDI. Plus, those engines last forever… it’s not uncommon to find people driving them in excess of 500,000, 700,000 and even a million miles… seriously! So that’s what I had always been looking for… it’s just that none were to be found anywhere near St. Louis. So, I decided to expand my search radius from 200 miles around St. Louis to “any distance” and suddenly there were several of them to check out, and I’ll be damned if the first one I clicked on wasn’t a real beauty:

My new baby

The $8,999 Buy-It-Now price seemed reasonable enough, I thought, especially if I could get it cheaper in the normal bidding process. I read the information presented thoroughly, looked closely at the included photos, and emailed the seller a couple of times with questions. I also took advantage of eBay’s AutoCheck option, which came back with perfect scores, jiving with the information the seller had provided.

The auction only had a little over 5 hours left, so I knew I would have to make a decision on it that day. The car (sorry, “auto” as MB owners insist on using) was located just outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, so buying it would also mean I would have to fly to Philly and drive it 860 miles back home, easily a two-day adventure. But I had never seen a 300D with under 100,000 miles on eBay, especially one that I had any chance of fitting into our budget. So after thinking on it long and hard, investigating airline ticket prices, etc., I took the plunge and placed my bid via eSnipe (highly recommended!) and set it at just over $7 grand, figuring that would be as high as we would want to go on a car of that age. The bidding rose a bit during the day, getting as high as $5,100 about an hour before the end of the auction, so my bid was good enough, eSnipe successfully placed my bid 7 seconds before the close of the auction, and I got the car for the seller’s reserve at $6,799. YES!!

So I’m pretty jazzed right now. I’ve already made the deposit, spoken to seller on the phone, booked my flight to Philly (just $79 plus tax on American Airlines… not bad!) for Tuesday July 29 and also booked a cheap motel room for my return trip in Zanesville, OH that night. I’m all set. I’ve also been getting more information on biodiesel from the St. Louis Biofuels Club and have located several recommended local auto shops that specialize in Mercedes. Hopefully the 14-hour journey back home will go smoothly (loudly, but smoothly), and I’ll be able to get this new baby fueled up with biodiesel in the near future. I will keep you posted!

The guys on the Early Valiant & Barracuda Club’s email list convinced me to keep it. Admittedly, that didn’t take much convincing. So, time for a Plan B. Will keep y’all posted.

Well, it looks like I’m probably going to have to sell my ‘65 Barracuda. I just don’t have nearly enough time to dedicate to fixing it up like I would like to, nor can I really justify the money it would take to do that. And with the rising gas prices and the poor gas mileage it gets, it just isn’t practical to drive anymore. As it is, I’m putting $30+ of gas in it every couple of weeks, and I’m basically only using it to drive to work and back every day (a 10-mile roundtrip). So I’ve decided that I will need to get a more fuel-efficient daily driver, and I’m seriously looking for a diesel-powered car that I can run on biodiesel (used vegetable oil). Probably an early 2000s VW Jetta TDI (preferably a wagon) or a late ’80s/early ’90s Mercedes-Benz 300D Series. Depends on what I can find and how quickly I can find it. I also need a car that is easier to take my son places. The Cuda has no seat belts in the back, so my son has never been able to even go for a ride in it. I originally had plans on yanking out the back seat and installing belts back there, but like most everything else with that car, other things (house projects, repairs, vacations, bills, etc.) have taken priority. Anyway, this is just a post to let everyone know that I’m seriously considering selling it at this point and will entertain any serious offers. I bought the car for $3,300 in 2002 and have invested a good amount of money in engine work, brakes, wheels, tires, maintenance, etc. that I would like to make at least a little money on it, but I’m not sure what I would ask… it badly needs a paint job as the paint on it now (it was repainted at some point, probably the mid-’80s) is faded and peeling near the gas cap. Some very minor body work, too… very minor dings here and there, but nothing serious. It has virtually no rust, but there is some creeping in here and there if you look closely enough. So if anyone is thinking about buying a very nice, original ‘65 Barracuda (it has a Slant 6, by the way… very strong and runs great) that has never had the sideview mirrors installed (the only one like it that I have ever seen without sideview mirrors as it originally rolled off the dealer’s lot), by all means let me know. I’m also interested in hearing what anyone out there thinks I should set as my asking price… $3,500? $4,000? I wouldn’t go more than that, I don’t think. Thanks.

This is a photo of my old ‘75 Pontiac LeMans Grand Am that I drove to work and school during my Junior and Senior years of high school. I remember we got it from a used-car dealer in St. Charles for $1,050 (they were asking $1,150) in late summer, 1982. It had 98,000 miles on it. This photo was taken in the summer of 1983, shortly after getting my first personalized license plates and having it painted “Mediterranean Metallic Blue” at Earl Scheib for like a hundred bucks or so (it was originally silver… not sure why I didn’t just have it repainted the same color!). This was actually my 2nd car. My first, a ‘74 Chevy Monte Carlo, I wrapped around a tree on a rainy day only a month after getting it (the damned thing fishtailed like you wouldn’t believe). I only had the Pontiac for a couple of years before my dad somehow talked me into trading it in for a ‘78 Ford LTD like this one. The Grand Am was pretty sporty, and fast. Handled much better than the Monte Carlo, too. Both had the typical 350 under the hood. I remember hitting 110 mph on Highway 40 with this one once, racing some friends. Yeah, the stupid shit you do when you’re young…

Oh, yeah, that’s my mom walking out the front door as I snapped the photo… taken with a crappy old Kodak disc camera (remember those?).

I thought a friend of mine who called to ask me if I’d sold my car to some guy in St. Charles was off his rocker when he said he’d seen my car on the local TV news, a red bubble-back Barracuda with “WAYBAC” license plates and all (even though my plates are different now), until I went online this morning and found that a photo of my car was indeed used in the original story last Friday, and then again in a follow-up story on Monday! The story is about a used-car dealer who found an old class ring under the backseat of a car he’d bought and was wanting to return it to its rightful owner.

At least in the follow-up story John Auble says “a Chrysler (sic) Barracuda like this one” (in the original story they didn’t say that, which made my friend think that mine was the actual car the ring was found in)… In any event, they must’ve found the photo of my car on the Web or something. Weird! You’d think the news crew would have taken shots of the actual car that the ring was found in… I mean, they obviously went out there to interview the guy, right? How hard would it have been to get a couple shots of the real car?

By the way, the 2nd photo used in these stories is NOT my car. If you look closely, you’ll notice it has a side-view mirror on the driver’s side (mine doesn’t have side-view mirrors), and the wheels are also different. I don’t believe that 2nd photo is the actual car, either, since it appears to be a photo from a car show.

I suppose I should demand that Fox 2 News return the photo of the car they used to ITS rightful owner. :\

May as well post this here, too…

I’d like to convert/upgrade my Barracuda’s 225 slant 6 to a 2-barrel “Super Six” setup (this was standard on all slants made after 1977), so I’m in the market for the complete kit. “Complete” meaning that it came right off the donor car with all the extra brackets, small parts, nuts, and bolts included. Here’s a list:

• Two barrel intake manifold
• Carburetor (Carter BBD or Holley 2280)
• Two barrel carburetor choke thermostat coil
• Exhaust manifold compatible with the two barrel carb choke coil
• Cable-style throttle cable, cable bracket and return spring bracket
• Automatic transmission kickdown linkage for a two barrel carburetor
• Super Six air cleaner

Also wanted: The metal fuel line from the donor car, if possible (between the fuel pump and the carb).

Would prefer everything rebuilt, blasted & painted, but as long as all the parts are all there I would settle for them dirty & greasy, too. Just trying to avoid eBay prices. Can anyone help me out? Looking to spend anywhere from $150 to $250.

Thanks!

The Dodge “Dude” pickups were only produced for two years, in 1970 and ‘71, and they’re about as rare as a vegan at an NRA barbecue. Dodge introduced this new model in August 1969. The “Custom Sweptline” held the title “Dude Sport Trim Package.” This new model was essentially the standard D100, (1/2 ton), 128” wheelbase pick-up Dodge already had in production, with an added black or white body-side “C” stripe decal; a Dodge Dude decal on the box at the rear marker lamps; tail lamp bezel trim; and dog dish hub caps with trim rings. It was also available with bucket seats and a center console, and you could also get it with a powerful Mopar 383 V8. The C-stripe was very similar to that of the Dodge Superbee, but instead of a bumble bee on the side, you had “The Dude.” The Chrysler plant in nearby Fenton, Missouri is the only known factory to have built the Dude Sport Trim package pickup truck.

And hell, if Don Knotts thinks it’s cool, well gosh darn it, Andy, it IS cool!

For more info on the “Dude,” visit DodgeDude.com and its page on Allpar.com.

…a 1962 Dodge Dart Wagon, like this one (yeah, if anyone sees another one of these buried in the Missouri mud somewhere, by all means LET ME KNOW!).

Don’t get me wrong, I love my Barracuda, but if I had a chance to get a ‘62 Dart wagon, I’d jump at it. Just look at it. That grill is one of the most unique ever put on a car, and the combination of that and the ultra-cool early ’60s Mopar wagon (Valiants and Furys are cool, too… we had a ‘63 Fury Wagon when I was a kid) is what makes this one the ultimate car in my mind. I might even consider swap for one if the condition of said car was comparable to that of my own.