[V8] The end of The Black Mariah

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Is upon us.  It is a shame really, but the end of the road for this fine old
girl is upon us...or at least upon me.  The final blow will be struck by the
State of Maine, and although the inspection rules are pretty easy here The
Black Mariah won't pass this summer so I am prepared for the inevitable.

I suppose the car is worth more in pieces than intact, but I thought I'd put
it out here to see what might happen.  It is a project and a good one who
has the time, tools and ambition to resurrect her, and I have no doubt but
what she will run another hundred thousand miles...just not under me.  The
final stroke among all final strokes is that my wife and I are moving into
another phase of living...a sort of easing into an active retirement, and
since she cannot drive anything with a clutch, Mariah must give way to a new
car which will be the principal travel vehicle, and that must be an
automatic.

Much has been done to the car already, especially noteworthy is a complete
new air conditioning system and new Stebro exhaust (this past winter).  Here
is what it needs for sure right now, if I were to take it through inspection
and drive another year.

1.  Rear abs sensors.
2.  Rear suspension bushings.
3.  Rear shocks and shock mounts
4.  The airbag broken wire syndrome hunted down and fixed.
5.  Four new tires.
6.  Possibly new front pads for the UFO's, but the UFOs themselves have NO
pulsing:  they just stop the car RIGHT NOW.

The inside is OK.  No rips or tears in the upholstery, and the headliner is
up and instact.  The rear corner pieces near the gate are warped some
though.  The trim piece that fits on the vent flap of the sunroof is gone
which is not uncommon.  Sunroof works perfectly.  

The rear window motors do not work.  Never have worked since I have owned
the car, but since I always use the A/C or have the roof open, it has never
mattered to me.

Coolant temp gauge is inop.  I assume this is a sensor, as everything else
works. New alternator two months ago.  

Radio.  Well, this is difficult.  There is an excellent Nakamichi cd unit in
place that sort of works.  The issue is that the speakers were frigged with
by the  previous owner, and I have never taken the time or made the effort
to make the system work properly.  The head unit is perfect, but the
speakers need to be replaced (I think) and the entire system rewired.  This
is the second car that I have owned as a daily driver that has had no
functional radio, and I really enjoy the sound of silence...and that is
quite a thing for this classical music aficionado to admit:  I just don't
bother to turn the thing on even when I am in the truck.

Then there is the ECU.  It is seriously punched out.  I don't know what was
done or by whom, but the Mariah will pull 2.4 bar in any gear, and 2.5 bar
in lower gears anytime.  The car is faster than 4.2 V8 ever was going
downhill, and the engine runs so smooth, and pulls so strong that every time
I get into it I question whether I should be forgetting all of this and just
doing a full restoration. I know that I can't replace what I have got with
another one at what it would cost to rebuild this one.

I could go on and on.  Anybody want it?  It is living not far from Bar
Harbor, Maine. Plans right now are to see if there is any interest and if
there isn't, I will donate it to a charity and take whatever they can get
for it as a deduction.  Oh, yes:  185,000 miles.  Exterior is only
fair...that's the best that I can say about it.  The left front fender met a
deer sometime around 30,000 miles, and that fender isn't great:  the body
work was done by an idiot in Boston I think, long before Mariah and I met.

If anyone has any thoughts, let me know.  

Roger


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