Inspection, Shipping Quote

I ordered a vehicle inspection for the Spokane car last night through the "www.i-van.org" web site. The cost was $250 and the inspector seemed very easy to deal with.

I also requested a transport quote this morning. I will use the one from FedEx Custom Critical to transport the car by enclosed carrier door-to-door. About $1500, which was not the highest quote of the bunch, but towards the high end. I was surprised that DAS was the highest. I don't want to use them again.

Maybe I am getting ahead of myself, but I want to have things lined up. I guess I should start making room in the garage too... :(

One nice thing I found out is, A1 Electric sells kits to add factory-style power window regulators to cars that originally had manual windows. I am such a huge fan of power windows, locks and keyless entries, there is no way I want to be without those "basic" amenities. They are *expensive*, probably running up to as much as $1K to buy the parts. But they can be done in stages to spread the cost. Since power windows were an available option for this car, I don't feel too much guilt over adding them. Would be nice to get the correct factory switches, but probably not possible.

First Look

I had a chance to look at and test drive a '55 Chieftain today. Unfortunately it was not in great shape, having been wrecked and carrying a salvage title. The interior had been redone, but the windshield was cracked, the driver's door was jammed (possibly from the wreck) making it hard to open and close and leaving a gap you could see daylight through, the front bumper was bent, paint looked like Krylon and the spare was missing. Aside from that, the heater didn't work, there was no clock or radio, only blank plates. And while it had power steering, it was very loose. The ride felt abnormally rough too, and he said the rear had been lowered, possibly inducing some harshness. The front had *not* been lowered, so there were likely steering geometry issues as well. Still, it was interesting to drive and the engine ran pretty strong, but definitely needed a tune-up. The trans shifted fine, too. The car might be worth the $5900 the seller is asking for, but I don't think it is the car for me. There is a 4-door version of this car in Baldwin Park I may go look at Sunday.

Meanwhile I am trying to get hold of a car appraiser on the Spokane area to look at a 2-door hardtop Starchief Custom Catalina. The seller is asking $15K and the pix look like it may be worth that. But if I do a loan, the appraisal has to work for the bank.

New Car Bug

It's been awhile. Haven't even wanted to look for a new car for quite some time... two years I think. Well, that's a long time for me. ;-) But when I had trouble getting my '76 Electra smogged, I started thinking maybe I should look for a driver that doesn't need to get the state up its tailpipe every two years. Came across a Craig'sList ad for a '55 Ponitac, plain-jane 2 door sedan and I started thinking.

I've found a couple nicer ones I like, and I've gotten approved for financing, so if I want to do it, I can. I just wonder if I really want to...

I like the idea of the plain model, that is relatively inexpensive, but I do like the much nicer ones too. The much nicer ones do not lend themselves to any modifications whereas a plain one could go Cuban.

I joined the '50s Pontiac group on Yahoo and bought a power steering column, complete with pump, pulleys and hoses in case I need to convert the far more common manual steering model. I also got a tip from a new Pontiac friend that the starter on manual steering models is longer and will short out unless you change it for a power steering one. Apparently, you can use a '56-60 starter (any U.S. Pontiac model). This actually a better starter because it uses the modern solenoid.