Da' further adventures of da' trusty billy-goat wagon!

[elagache]

Dear fans of adventurous 1965 Buick longroofs, . . . . . .

I think I've got this new year's resolutions stuff licked.  I'll just have my wagon make new year's resolutions instead of me! 

This year, my trusty 1965 Buick Special wagon made two resolutions:

• Get out and exercise more.
• Get herself more "educated." . . . . .

Since she was running for only about 6 weeks of 2015, she won't have any problem keeping her first resolution.  Moreover, when you have an engine like this:



You certainly don't want it to get "flabby" because of inactivity!

The second resolution isn't so far fetched either.  She has an EZ-EFI self-tuning electronic fuel injection system.  Between the weather and crowds, I haven't managed to get her out on some extended drives.  As a result, the self-tuning isn't as good when the engine is hot as it is when cold or warming up.  So I'm hoping to get the EZ-EFI to complete the self-tuning process with some longer drives.

Striking the iron when it is hot!  My wagon (named Biquette) headed out early on the first (to avoid the crazy drivers who were sleeping off new years eve!  )  Since the weather was nice, I brought along my camera for a few shots.  Here is a nice front driver's side view:



As you can see from the background, the hills are still plenty brown from the drought even if we got a goodly amount of rain in December.

Here is a view of the driver's side and peek at the dash through the open door:



As long as I'm teasing, here is how the dash turned out:



Here is the instrument cluster viewed from the passenger side:



Even the back seat looks nice after the upholstery was redone:



Here is one more picture with Biquette posing under a seasonally denuded winter tree:



After all this, Biquette's engine was better behaved when hot:



However, she will need some more exercise before she is as smooth when hot as she is now when warming up.

I hope this gives you all some inspiration to continue work on your Buicks and a little comfort while you wait for the weather to improve so that you can drive your Buicks!

Cheers, Edouard 

P.S. In case you feel a little envious, Biquette's romp won't be repeated for a while.  We are expecting rain starting today and lasting at least a full week.  Can't complain though - we need it!

[dsags]

Thanks Edouard. Lovely pictures and car (of course).

Dan

[Loren At 65GS]

X2 on that Edouard.

With luck, some day I may get an opportunity to meet Biquette, oh and you also.

  Thanks for the post,

  Loren

[cwmcobra]

She's a beauty, Edouard!  With my car in pieces, it is getting worked on.  In fact, I was sanding the body this afternoon.  And I have a chassis to rebuild.  And I have an engine to rebuild.  And......oh well, you get the picture.  I won't be driving any of my classic cars for a long time.  Enjoy, I'm envious!

 

Chuck

[elagache]

Dear Dan, Loren, Chuck, and 1965 Buick fans,

Thanks guys!  Glad the photos gave you a little pick-me-up! 

California certainly has its pluses.  Biquette's survival is certainly in large part because she is a California girl.

On the other hand a mild climate does have its gotchas . . . . Yesterday, I had to put out some poisoned bait for a gopher in the lawn!    With weather like this, yard work basically continues year around.  At least you guys don't have to deal with stuff like this!

Cheers, Edouard 

[Loren At 65GS]

Dear Dan, Loren, Chuck, and 1965 Buick fans,

Thanks guys!  Glad the photos gave you a little pick-me-up! 

California certainly has its pluses.  Biquette's survival is certainly in large part because she is a California girl.

On the other hand a mild climate does have its gotchas . . . . Yesterday, I had to put out some poisoned bait for a gopher in the lawn!    With weather like this, yard work basically continues year around.  At least you guys don't have to deal with stuff like this!

Cheers, Edouard 

 
As some of us are clearing the snow drifts away, you may hear a little disagreement.  LOL
I've been fortunate this season, so far, and only had to plow the drive once.

 Loren

[dsags]

On the other hand a mild climate does have its gotchas . . . . Yesterday, I had to put out some poisoned bait for a gopher in the lawn!    With weather like this, yard work basically continues year around.  At least you guys don't have to deal with stuff like this!

I'll try to remember that next time I'm blowing another 13" of snow out of my driveway.  Ah, winter in Wisconsin.

Dan

[elagache]

Dear Loren, Dan, and mid-60s Buick caregivers from the land of great white snowdrifts . . . . .

 
As some of us are clearing the snow drifts away, you may hear a little disagreement.  LOL
I've been fortunate this season, so far, and only had to plow the drive once.

So what does El Niño mean for your winter?  The local National Weather Service has this to say about San Francisco weather for this coming week:

Storms thus far this winter have been fairly  typical... cold and more from the Northwest. For the upcoming week the bay area may finally start seeing a more El Niño type storm track from the west- southwest with a good sub-tropical jet.

That means the tropical moisture "fire hose" is about to be pointed directly at us.  Does that moisture translate into a lot of snow when it gets to the middle of the country?

I'll try to remember that next time I'm blowing another 13" of snow out of my driveway.  Ah, winter in Wisconsin.

Well, at least you don't have to do any pruning . . . . I'm still pruning, fertilizing, picking up the leaves and so on.  What it lacks in severity, it makes up with monotony.  I'm sure looking forward to an extended period of rain!

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear fans of mid-60s Buick "assertive" wagons,

For the past few years now, I've tried to take some pictures of my trusty wagon with spring flowering trees and autumn colorful foliage.  Well, believe it or not, spring is well under way in California and the best of the spring flowering trees has already passed.  Unfortunately, because of the fussing with the EZ-EFI 1.0 system, it is self-tuning once more, and as a result, Biquette is ornery and difficult to control.  So I'm trying to get her out as little as possible until the new electronic fuel injection parts finally arrive.

Nonetheless, I try to get her out at least every other week and it was time to give her some exercise.  There was a need to pick up the monthly supply of bird seed, perfect wagon work!  On my way out I stopped by some blooming plum trees that still had some blossoms and I took these pictures:



Here is a view of more of the side:



Finally here is a view of the station wagon end of things:



Not the greatest trees, my wagon does need a wash, and the sunlight wasn't the strongest, but that's the only pictures I'm going to get this year.

So, if you are daydreaming about spring, perhaps this will help a little!

One more quick story.  On my way home I found myself at stop light that leads to a short section were two cars must merge into a single lane.  On my right was a "prissy" (Toyota Prius.)  Now that darn driver actually tried to get head of my Buick with her 445 cid V-8.  Biquette is in a bad mood with her cranky fuel injection system, but no "prissy" was going to beat her to that single lane!

I left that "prissy" in the dust and it stayed behind Biquette a respectful distance the rest of the way home! 

Something to smile about!

Cheers, Edouard 

[cwmcobra]

Dream of Spring?  Of course....we have another snowstorm forecast for tonight and tomorrow.  Thanks for the great pictures to remind many of us what we have to look forward to!

 

Chuck

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick longroof fans,

Today, my wagon needed a "bubble bath." I usually drive her a few miles before washing so the engine is nice and warm.  It turned out that a local home improvement store 3 miles away from me was having a one day sale on wood bark chips.  Well, that's work for a station wagon if there ever was any!  So I rushed over and came back with . . . . . .




The sale was definitely only today, but the shipment of bark won't arrive until next week!  So all I came back with was a rain-check.  As I said, my wagon had to warm up anyway, but I felt a little silly putting in her heavy-duty carrying pad just to bring home . . . . a rain-check!

Cheers, Edouard 

P.S. Worst still, I have a rain-check and it isn't even raining!  California is starting to fall behind again . . . . 

[elagache]

Dear fans of adventurous 1965 Buick longroofs, . . . . . .

Yeah I know, in da' good ol' days - tuning was simply turning those screws on the carburetor and listening very carefully!

With the latest software-controlled electronic fuel injection - tuning a car takes a committee!!

This morning I collected some log data on how my trusty wagon started when cold - because it was a little rough!  By this afternoon, I had a new program to try, but since I had to get my wagon "out of bed" and I washed her last week, I decided to take her out for an impromptu photo shoot:



Here is the passenger side:



What's the big deal about green hillsides?  Well here in California, green is rare and brown is the rule.  If you have green car, better photograph her against those green hillsides . . . . while you can!

Cheers, Edouard

[elagache]

Dear fans of adventurous 1965 Buick longroofs, . . . . . .

I'm still tickering with the fuel injection system on my trusty wagon.  I managed to collect some data to look over, but my wagon was supposed to head over to the home improvement store and finally haul those bark nuggets that I got a rain check for a while back.  When I got there, she wasn't the only classic pressed into service for a home improvement chore:



It isn't often that my wagon isn't the oldest vehicle in a parking lot, but here is a 1954 Chevy pickup truck!  Okay it took me a while but eventually the spot next the truck opened up and I couldn't resist parking my wagon right next to the truck!  Don't they seem to be talking up about old times?

Nonetheless, my wagon is a part of the family so she did her duty!



Take a wild guess about what I'll be doing this weekend . . . . .

Cheers, Edouard 

[Mister T]

Dear fans of adventurous 1965 Buick longroofs, . . . . . .




Take a wild guess about what I'll be doing this weekend . . . . .

Cheers, Edouard 

Looks like you'll be gluing all those bark bits onto some lucky trees.   

[elagache]

Dear Tom and mid-60s Buick owners with a funny-bone! 

Looks like you'll be gluing all those bark bits onto some lucky trees.   

Touché! . . . .

Cheers, Edouard