"NinetyQ" (NinetyQ)
12/27/2015 at 00:17 • Filed to: None
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"NinetyQ" (NinetyQ)
12/27/2015 at 00:17 • Filed to: None | 6
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I used the Buick as a Christmas gift hauler today. It was awesome. I’ve never had it out in the winter before, but since the roads haven’t been salted, the worst of it is just getting wet and it’s been through that plenty of times before.
I put my Grand Prix into the barn on Wednesday and took this out and have been using it as my “daily driver” ever since. Tonight it spends one more night in my garage, and then it’s back to the barn before the freezing rain comes and the road crews go salt-crazy. I learned this week that the heater and defroster work amazingly well.
Honestly, I’d love to use this as a cold weather daily driver (at least, just around town, and not in deep snow or on ice...) if no harm would come to it one way or another.
For those unacquainted with this stately old original, here’s an old article Raphy and I put up about it a few years ago:
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Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
> NinetyQ
12/27/2015 at 00:22 |
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That’s a never restored car? Because that is absolutely beautiful. And those bench seats
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NinetyQ
> Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
12/27/2015 at 00:29 |
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Yup, never restored. My wife’s great-grandmother bought it slightly used in 1954. It was her daily driver until she passed away in 1986. Then my wife’s dad and grandma used it as a backup car on a regular basis up until sometime around when she graduated from high school. It still has standard non-classic car plates on it.
And I say it was “slightly used” in ‘54 because by the time I got involved with it in 2011, it had only accumulated less than 40,000 original miles. It’s now up to just over 42,000.
Birddog
> NinetyQ
12/27/2015 at 00:57 |
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I wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to wear a Suit and Hat everywhere I went in that car.
Not in an “ironic” hipster way. It just seems like that’s the way it should be.
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Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
> NinetyQ
12/27/2015 at 01:04 |
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That’s absolutely showroom fresh. I hope it never needs a restoration because that’s an awesome story.
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NinetyQ
> Birddog
12/27/2015 at 01:10 |
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I try to at least dress respectably in it. But a suit and hat would be pretty appropriate.
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NinetyQ
> Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
12/27/2015 at 01:13 |
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Showroom fresh mileage, but it was never cared for as a classic car until very recently. It sat outside a lot, so the paint is well-patina’d and there’s a bit of rust. The interior is in need of renovation involving everything non-metal. The seats have aged well, but even they’re pretty rough from age, especially the back seat and driver’s door card. And under the hood, it’s had a number of shadetree mechanic fixes. It runs pretty well, but not absolutely perfect. It will need to be restored at some point, but I do enjoy driving it just as it is. It’s not my car yet, but when my FIL passes it on to us, it will finally get the real classic car treatment.
PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power
> NinetyQ
12/27/2015 at 02:54 |
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beautiful car.
as for the paint you mentioned, I say bull and polish and wax lightly. I think it'd shine up great!
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NinetyQ
> PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power
12/27/2015 at 03:31 |
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I know what you mean, and I think it presents well in photos, but it has a crackled texture up close. It’s rough, heavily scratched in places, surface rusted in others, and just generally worn out (zoom in on the first picture). But it really does look pretty good for worn out paint. My FIL does what he can with wax and a buffer to keep it semi-shiny. But at one point, the rear-right fender got spray painted in a well-intended by poorly-executed effort to improve the look and delay a proper repaint. Really it just means that it needs repainted sooner, because that fender looks terrible now.
That's gonna leave a mark!
> NinetyQ
12/27/2015 at 07:39 |
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Class.