[V8] All the Best Cars have been built: #1

Wed Nov 18 17:08:52 PST 2009

Have you considered a vintage "Rambler" stationwagon ??

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roger Woodbury" <rmwoodbury at roadrunner.com>
To: "'V8List Fans'" <v8 at audifans.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 4:08 PM
Subject: [V8] All the Best Cars have been built: #1

> My car is back.  Of course, I do not have the garage ready so it is 
> sitting
> outside getting cold tonight, but it is back.
>
> I wonder if I have ever expressed how much I really, REALLY like my V8?  I
> drove it around a bit this afternoon on some errands. About sixty miles in
> total, and I was just as impressed as always by how smooth and secure the
> car really is.  It is extremely hard to remember that my car is now twenty
> years old!  In truth I believe that all the real, good cars have already
> been built.
>
> So, here's the fleet as it is right now.
>
> First of all is the car that gets the preponderance of driving, and that 
> is
> my wife's 100CS Avant Quattro.  It's a 1994 and I bought it in Kansas City
> with 39,000 original miles from the dealer who sold it new.  I paid around
> $14,000 for it in 1991, flew out to Kansas City and drove it back.  We 
> have
> put around $13,500 into the car to maintain it over the past nine years 
> and
> 108,000 miles.  The car is today pretty much as it was then mechanically,
> although I can hear the air conditioning  compressor bearings when it 
> first
> starts up.  Otherwise, mechanically, the car is "as new".  The car has had
> nine Maine winters, and has been used in the winter extensively.  It is
> beginning to look like it.  Both fog lights are out, although one can be
> reinstalled but the right side one was a casualty of war, having met a
> foolish cat that ran out at precisely the wrong moment.  EVERYthing works 
> in
> this car except for the rear washer and one or two of the interior window
> switch lights.  The engine uses just about a quart of oil every thousand
> miles or so, and the car gets between 21 and 22 miles per gallon of pump
> regular.  I seldom goes further than thirty miles one way, and most trips
> are to Ellsworth and back, which means around 20 miles in total round 
> trip.
> Right now, I am thinking that when the economy firms a bit, and when we 
> sell
> some real estate, I will take the car to the Worlds Most Expensive 
> European
> Car Restoration Service and get the exterior restored and the interior
> cleaned and detailed to "new" condition.  We can easily continue to drive
> this car for another 100,000 or more miles, and it is a shame that is
> beginning to look like it has had ten Maine winters.
>
> 1997 GMC Sierra 2500 regular cab.  This truck was new to me last year at
> this time, and I bought it on eBay from a used car dealer in 
> Massachusetts.
> We drove down and bought it, and drove it back in the same day.  It had
> 82,000 miles on it at the time and had had only five or so New England
> winters, the rest of the time it had been used to haul a trailer to
> somewhere else for the winter.  The truck was clean and nearly as clean as
> one that had never been exposed to New England's salt and yukki anti ice
> stuff. Best of all, it was as tight a truck as I had ever driven aside 
> from
> something new off the lot.  It's fully loaded with all the normal stuff, 
> and
> has a big block (454 Vortec) engine.  I put my Boss plow on it, and it 
> plows
> the roads here and our properties in the winter.  I went to the GMC dealer
> when I first bought it and asked them to pull the bill sheet for the 
> truck.
> To my surprise, the truck is very close to a 1Ton, and was obviously 
> spec'd
> out originally as a heavy hauler.  Now with 91,000 miles, the truck 
> averages
> around 12-14 miles per gallon under me, unless it is carrying the plow and
> plowing.  This is very likely the last truck that I will ever own.
>
> 1990 Audi V8 Quattro:  white pearl over black.  Odometer shows 62,852 
> miles
> but is actually around 71,000 miles since the odometer was inop the first
> summer that I had it and I was doing a fair amount of driving over known
> distances.  The speedometer has been successfully overhauled (Thanks,
> Steve!), and I have taken the car back now.  The car has been at my 
> wrench's
> since early last summer as it still needs some things that he hasn't 
> gotten
> around to, yet.  Now with a child-in-law WITH child, moving in from Texas
> for a year or so, he will not have time to deal with my car before year 
> end.
> Hence, I have it back.
>
> I bought the car in April '08 and hauled it back from Pennsylvania
> on
> trailer and straight into the shop.  It had the original timing belt
>
> and John did a complete service and did a bunch of other things just
> n
> needing to be done to a 62,000 mile Audi V8 that had not had
> EVERYTHING but MOST everything done to maintain it since it was new.
>
>
> After my folks died, I drove it to Belfast and back on the estate
> business for about ten thousand miles worth, and then it was time
> for
> tires and brakes.  We still have to trouble shoot the ABS and the
> heated seats, and I need to install a new cruise control module
> which
> I have.  The ABS is of most concern, and we will do that around the
> end of the year.  The car is so clean and NEW looking that I doubt t
> that it will be a big deal...just some time, and I only want John to
>
> work on this car so that means that he needs to sort out his wife's
> daughter and her issues first.  No biggie:  I have anew "bomb" now,
> new sticker now, and the car is ready to go for the next year.  The
> car has had only one Maine winter so it is still much like new.
>
> I wonder if this is the lowest mile V8 in the US at this point?
>
> Total to date is around $10,000 including purchase price and all
> work done to date, all of which was professionally done. What can you buy
> for ten grand?  Anything like this?  Nope!
>
> Roger
>
>
>
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