Clarence, Iowa

I saw another nice possibility this week on Ebay. A guy in Clarence, Iowa had a Lincoln Towncar engine and auto tranny for sale asking just $800. The car had over 230,000 miles, but the engine was brand new less than 50,000 miles ago and the tranny was rebuilt at the same time. The engine wiring harness and computer were to be included as well. He even offered to deliver it for $1 a mile. If I were really committed to doing this, I could probably have gone for it. I emailed him and did not really forsee any titling troubles. It ended up that nobody bought it and he has re-listed it. Maybe in another week or so I will have more conviction that I really want to go ahead.

08-05-07 Another bad engine

Very little happening right now on the car front. Early in the week, I identified another engine/tranny possibility on craigslist. It was a 92 T-Bird, 302 and AOD automatic. This one was complete with computer and engine wiring harness. I talked to the seller, Mike, and he was very nice. But there were 2 problems that I was not willing to accept. The engine had 180,000 or so miles on it, although Mike said it was good when he got it, no blowback. The other problem was with the title. There were about 5 owners of this original car, and there was some dispute somewhere along the way. So I was not willing to go this route--just too risky.

There were 2 cruise-ins this past Friday. Another out in Wentzville that was supposedly well attended by Cobras. And the usual one at the church on Gravois where this time, there were not any Cobras committed to going. I ended up going to neither one. It was tough timing, and there was a last minute rainstorm that came in, so I decided to bag it.

7-29-07 -- Almost nothing going on

The only thing that happened this week was that I saw another ad on the local craigslist. It is for a 302 engine and AOD tranny from a T-Bird. This one also comes with the engine harness and computer, so it is basically complete. I have no idea about its mileage though. The ad said it was sound, but I have not heard back from the seller yet. Now that I am back in town, I will try to follow up this week.

Almost nothing happening

The car project is definitely in a rut. I did find out early last week the Art did in fact have his engine buyer pick up the engine from him out in Arnold. Back to the drawing board. Nothing remotely hot on the landscape. I should call the Kansas City leads I got from Hurricane.

7-15-2007 -- Off again

Well, the engine deal with the guy in Arnold appears to be off again. I got an email from Art earlier in the week, and he said his auction winner (from Memphis) did manage to come up with a $200 deposit to hold it until yesterday. I sent Art an email today and haven't heard anything back, so I presume that I am not going to be getting the engine from him afterall. Here is a picture of it...


You never know.

I did also get an email from a guy at Hurricane. He had a couple of leads for me to call in Kansas City that might be able to supply my engine/tranny needs. Haven't gotten a chance to call them yet, but will this week, once I am sure the Arnold deal is dead.

7-9-2007--Crummy looking shed

Funny how posting pictures on the web makes you appreciate the way things really look. Take for instance, the storage shed on the side of my house. Last week I posted a picture of it, not thinking anything really all that wrong with it. Here is that picture...





So with a little encouragement from Baba, here is what it looks like after a going over with a $2 rattle can of white Rustoleum...



The grass-laden driveway will have to wait for an equally cheap solution, I am afraid.

7-8-2007--Engine deal alive again?

I got a surprise this week--an email from the guy in Arnold (Art Gordon)who had the engine/transmission auction on Ebay that I bid on and came in 2nd. Well, now it looks like his supposed auction winner is going to be backing out. Not sure why.

So I told Art that I would still be interested his stuff and that I would live up to my highest bid which was $940. I was very comfortable bidding up to $900 at the time and went a little higher just to be sure that I would not regret losing out for one last bid. I also felt okay driving the eventual price up a tad to compensate Art for the time he spent with me talking about this project.

So it looks like I may have a deal on the engine and transmission afterall! I did get Art to agree to load it on his pickup and deliver it to my house, and I also got him to include the original driveshaft, which will have to be cut down, but does save me a little bit of money in not having to buy a brand new one. For another $100, he is tossing in his engine hoist. Saves me from having to spend $180plus for a new one at Sam's. Unfortunately for me, he had sold the shifter for the transmission with the interior stuff he was selling.

Assuming our deal goes through, probably by late this upcoming week, I will still need to acquire some things to make it all work. An engine wiring harness, a computer to control things, a shifter, speedometer cabling, perhaps some things to eliminate the PS, A/C, etc. But I have plenty of wiggle room on my original $3300 budget for this stuff, and should not have to think about touching the contingency budget.