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Originally Posted by goatless
Mike, welcome to PY! 
I'd be a little wary about driving that far for the maiden voyage just for that fact that it hasn't been driven much in a long time. |
Goatless,
Thanks for the link. I went to it and looked around a little, but will have to look at it more thoroughly later. Do they have a forum?
I watched your Ytube vid about 4 times. Always fun to see chariots that big and heavy pull away that fast. I hope you opened your hood after the race and let all them horses out to graze in the pasture after they won you your race.
I've been thinking about that drive. I'm mainly concerned about a partially blocked radiator that doesn't affect the system until the car's going up a grade. Is there anything else I should worry about assuming all the fluids check out okay? Frankly, I've never had to "de-mothball" a car before. I'd be driving with a truck towing a load, so we'd be sub-60 mph most all the way.
I don't know if the car has been garaged, but it has at least been car-ported. It's been in the desert of southeastern Washington, so it's been in a pretty good climate. I will frankly be surprised if I see ANY of that four-letter word that rhymes with "dust" on this car. John told me it was "mustard yellow," which doesn't sound too appealing (I guess I'm more of a Grey Poupon man myself). Does anyone have a car the color he is likely describing, or a link to the 73 Grand Ville chip set? As for the top, I seem to remember John saying it had a vinyl top, but I can't recall the color.
This car will be clean, and about as well-preserved as a car kept in the aforementioned conditions can be. John says the engine is strong and powerful, but he hasn't driven it very much. Simply based on the "once-a-month-to-town-and-back" driving, I'm concerned about the possibility of sludge buildup in the block. But I frankly have no clue how to check for that. The engine performs quite well on short drives, in any event.
John says he doesn't expect me to buy the car until I've seen it, but in my mind I've already bought it. I aint driving no thousand miles just to look at a car and then go back home!
I'd appreciate any advice on tips to prep this sleeping giant for such a long drive. I considered towing it, but that would mean renting a truck AND trailer, and that just seems a bit much. I'd rather take the car to a mechanic and have him do whatever needs to be done, than give it to U-Haul only to pay a mechanic once I get home. I mean, after all, this Grand Ville is a car, it's supposed to DRIVE!
I would definitely take it out for an Italian tune-up, i.e. a nice long drive on the freeway at good speed, to check her out before the trip. But - other than fluid checks - what else do y'all recommend?
Mike