Hobby before Parkers

[Russ Jackson]

This is what I have been up to this past week with Spring just around the corner . My old Bonnet was looking a little rough around the edges ,got lucky and found a new one ,one of our Fellow members put me on to a Great , local Body Shop ,had the Bonnet painted up ,put it back on this week and decided to add some running lights , First two pictures are Before and the last two are after ,which do you like best ? I'm into the Running lights :) . Russ

[Robin Lewis]

Great car! That is my dream car, I had one in the late 60's and would like to relive the experience. BUT......., a few years ago I found one to restore and started down that road but found that getting in and out wasn't like it was back in the 60's. I need to reduce myself by half to own one, so I gave up the project and now simply enjoy looking. Thanks for the look!!!

[Russ Jackson]

Robin ,Thank you ,and you are welcome for the look ,I did a body off restoration on this car 22 years ago ! It's holding up well but I drive it way too much ! I figure I will let the next guy worry over it ,I am going to enjoy it ! I have managed to reduce myself by 39 Lbs. so far , " and have about 15 to 20 more to go " since last hunting season , " It's never too late to start that program " those hills were way too steep ! Russ

[charlie cleveland]

russ i like the car better with the driving lights...shes one sweet looking gal....you done a good job on the resto russ...shes holding up well....if you boys get you a big old 57 chevy sedan delivery yall want have to go on those crash diets....thats what ive been working on... charlie

[Rick Losey]

mine was a 64 BJ8 3000 - great car to be a kid in

on the other hand, nowadays - it would be a bit snug with a brace of setters, spey rods or Pennsylvania longrifles.

guess I'll keep the truck

[Frank Cronin]

Nicely done Russ. I also like the Lucas 576 "Flamethrowers" on the badge bar. Really completes the front end in my opinion. I am putting on a clear 576 lens to switch on with the highbeams and using a clear amber fog light for auxiliary when my car is done. I figured having an amber light on while driving makes you more visible to those big SUV's letting them know you are there!

Twin ambers also would look nice with that BRG green paint IMHO.... :cool:

[Russ Jackson]

Hello Frank ,Thank you ,Any Pictures of Yours Yet ??? :corn:

[Rick Losey]

the grill badges are a nice touch, thats the only thing I took off before mine was shipped to the left coast. so I still have the round national SCCA and the Watkins Glen Regional SCCA shield (with the pre boot outline).

but they would look a bit pretentious on a 4Runner :rotf:

[Bruce Day]

Big Healeys are great cars, Russ.

Here are mine. The SL is a 1980, was my father's, and the SAAB is a 1993, manual trans, turbo.

[Russ Jackson]

Thank you for posting Bruce ,Very Nice ,which do you enjoy the most ?

[Dean Romig]

Hurry- sell the Saab... parts prices will soon go through the roof.

Come to think of it, a sixteen-valve turbo is one screaming machine!
Hang on to it for as long as you can afford the speeding tickets and insurance surcharges :smiley7:

[Bruce Day]

The Mecedes is classy, smooth and lots of low rpm torque. The SAAB is the equal of a BMW 3 series in handling, is the most surefooted car I have had, gets up to 30mpg, and is fun to thrash around. To get performance out of it, you need to be in the rpm power curve , around 3000 rpm and keep the turbo spooled up. It has 173,000 miles on it, the Mercedes 89,000. Very different cars and both very well made, forged cranks, handmade engines, that sort of thing, and I take very good care of them. I tore the dash mostly apart on the Mercedes this afternoon to wire in a new radio and change the instrument panel light bulbs. A full day to do those simple things. Both should be 400,000 mile cars and I change oil and fluids a lot.

The Mercedes is not a sports car, just a two seat sedan, and the SAAB is much more of a sports car.

Insurance on each of them is $200/year.

[John Dallas]

Instrument panel lighting - one of Ford's worse sevice attrocities was on a late '60's Lincoln. To change the radio light bulb, the first instruction in the shop manual was "Remove windshield garnish molding" (then remove the windshield, and unload the dash thru the windshield opening)