[V8] Congratulations! but....

[Roger M. Woodbury]

It sounds like you got a real virgin!.  Congratulations, BUT:  job one, do 
be done RIGHT NOW, is to have the mechanic pull the timing belt covers off 
and inspect the age and condition of the timing belt.  IF that  car has 
52,000 miles at fifteen years of age, then the timing  belt should have been 
replaced twice, or is in serious need of it right now.  I think this is 
especially so since the original owner was an elderly man who drove very 
little.  But do this right now: best be save than sorry, and if the belt 
breaks you will be VERY Very sorry.

I doubt that the light problem is related to the license bulb lights.  Those 
might be a ground issue.  In fact, the entire lighting issue might be 
related to a ground somewhere.  The car lived in Rhode Island all its life? 
Well, it could have lived along the ocean in Rhode Island, and thus the salt 
air has corroded a ground or two, and the lights are affected.

You are lucky to know who did the servicing on the car, and I'll bet that 
Inskip has service records for the car that they will give you copies of. 
Some dealers maintain copies of ALL service records for some time for 
regular customer cars and if you could get hold of these, you could build a 
good history of the life of this car, therefore knowing what the original 
owner actually had done to the car.  The car might not have given him any 
trouble, but "trouble" to him, might have been something else to someone 
else.  He might have taken the car in to the dealership, and picked it up 
after the dealer rang the bell to the tune of two or three grand, which he 
accepted as "normal" for his cars.

I will be very intrested to read more as you sort this "new" car out.

Roger

Pentosin:  green, expensive, buy it at the auto parts store.  Here in my 
town, NAPA Auto Parts sells it, which is where I bought it.  About eleven 
bucks a quart if memory serves.