Dear Barb, Jim, Dan, Chuck, Glenn, Kevin, and mid-60s Buick caregivers,
Great news, Dusty is home
Congratulations! Glad to hear that Dusty is feeling so much better!
Sadly Biquette is back in the shop with some suspicious wear in the valve-train components. I'm waiting nervously for a diagnosis.
100% improved on his electrical. The whole electrical system got redone. LED lights front and back, the horn challenge was a kink on the steering column. I'm super static about it.
Do you know which LEDs were used? I have some Phillips LEDs for the tail-lights and backup lights. I've never had a chance to even see if they fit. I've been waiting for somebody to come up with some quality amber LED parking light LEDs. Supposedly Phillips had some LEDs in the pipeline, but I haven't seen them on the market yet.
Now I'm thinking I do not want to mess with the paint job.
Well, yes you don't want to jump into any paint work. Biquette got in accident the day before Thanksgiving 2010 and she didn't get out of the body shop until July 2011!!
Body shops have to turn around insurance claims quickly so that classic car work is always delayed. Definitely don't send Dusty to a body shop until you have carefully researched the outfit!
At the same time you might want to see if there is a local body shop that has a good reputation with classic cars. Biquette was painted at a shop I liked very much but they went out of business. Fortunately, a friend of mine with several classic cars has found another shop that he is happy with. You would be better off to find a shop with that sort of recommendation. When you finally decided to have some body work done be prepared to be . . . . .
Cheers, Edouard