The Box in the Corner of the Garage...

...at my parents house is pretty much like a secret treasure chest to me.  Up to about a month ago, I had only seen what was inside this box once.  I don't remember a lot of the details of the contents, but I remember that I really enjoyed looking at everything inside.

It all started when we were up at my parent's house for dinner.  Dad and I started talking about cars (as we often do) and about an ad for a 1963 Chevrolet Corvair Monza Spyder convertible.  This led to us talking about his old Corvair and all the things that he had done.  This included rebuilding the engine, some body work, interior work, and gathering some trim parts at a junk yard.  After all these years (43 years by my calculations!), Dad has kept the blown cylinder that he replaced on his Crovair shortly after he bought it.  This Corvair cylinder was kept in the box in the corner of the garage and of course I asked to see it!

I have to admit I was very excited to see the Corvair cylinder, but I was also just as excited to see what else was in this box.  After about five minutes of moving boxes and other things around, Dad brought down the box.  It was vintage car part heaven!  Not only did he have the blown Corvair cylinder, but the box also had old car lighters, gaskets, tail light lenses, distributor caps, interior knobs, horn parts, mirrors, and other little nuts and bolts.  I was really a time warp for me looking at all these old car parts and listening to Dad tell stories about each part and where they might have came from or what they were for.

When we were done (and needed to get cleaned up for dinner) we slowly started packing everything back up into the box.  I encouraged and assisted him in wrapping some of the plastic lenses and other more fragile parts in newspaper.  Dad let me hang on to a couple parts that I took a random interest in.

The first part is an old horn.  This is an aftermarket "Beep Beep" horn that was most likely produced to mimic the Plymouth Road Runner which had a horn installed from the factory that sounded exactly like the Road Runner cartoon.  This horn is a "Jubilee No. 27 Beep-Beep Horn" and even had the original installation instructions with it!  From talking with Dad he is pretty sure he got this horn as a gift from his younger sister (my Aunt Nette) and probably had it installed on his 1965 Ford Mustang (which he owned from August 1968 to May 1969).  Best thing of all, we hooked it up to a 12 volt battery and it still works!

The second item doesn't quite have the same "coolness" as the horn, but is unique in the same. It is an old rear view mirror. My Dad wasn't quite sure why he has this mirror, or what the reason was in getting out of a junkyard in the first place. From what I can tell, it is a post mounted day/night rear view mirror. It is 2 1/2 inches tall by 7 inches wide. It has a chrome trim ring around it and the back is painted a light grey/brown color. On the back it says "MADE IN U.S.A." and on the day/night level it says "GLARE-PROOF GUIDE." The neatest part about this mirror is that I can not figure out what kind or kinds of car this came off of? If you have any ideas, leave me a comment!

Thanks Dad for sharing this neat box of car parts with me!  I was a wonderful time full of memories for you and stories for me!

Hey Sparky!

No, I am not going to be writing about Sparky the Fire Dog or my electrician friend Brian (first one on the left in the yellow shirt)  who we like to call Sparky on occasion.  This post actually has to do with the Suburban!

Almost two years ago I started noticing a little bit of a hesitation when driving the Suburban around.  It was hardly noticeable at first and would come and go.  Over the last year the hesitation has got worse and seems to be affected by humidity and moisture.  Due to the many things I have had going on, I never really addressed the hesitation issue.  In the last couple of months with us getting a ton of rain and the humidity being very high, the hesitation problem seemed to have been amplified.  The Suburban would sometime barley be able to get up to highway speeds!

Finally, this past weekend, I set a day aside to work on the Suburban.  Both Dad and I figured the problem was electrical since it was affected by moisture.  Dad thought that it might be a crack in the distributor cap.  The only problem with that theory, is the way the motor in the Suburban is put together, it takes about an hour of removing parts to get to the distributor cap!  We figured we would start with some of the basic and check the spark plugs.  This was a pretty simple task, but required some creative angles to get to each plug.

After we got all eight of the spark plugs out we noticed a couple issues.  One of the plugs (#4 cylinder) was completely carboned over.  A couple of the other plugs also had some carbon build up, but not as bad the #4 plug.  This spark plug being carboned over would seriously impact the performance of the motor.

We went ahead and replaced all eight spark plugs and I was very happy with the test drive!  The hesitation was gone!  It was no longer a "task" to drive the Suburban!  I wasn't going to be breaking any land-speed records having a 3/4 Ton Suburban with a 454 cubic inch motor and almost 200,000 miles, but I was still happy!

Summer Cabin Trip!

07/30/10 - 08/01/10

This is the second year we were invited to spend a weekend at my Uncle Bruce and Aunt Nette's cabin in Crosby, MN.  Maeve was super excited to go back again and we were excited to see how Will liked the lake.  The drive up was pretty quick and the kids did pretty good.  Between napping and watching movies, they stayed occupied the entire time.

After we got up there and got the car unloaded, we went right to the lake.  It was a little overcast, but still plenty warm and Maeve didn't waste any time getting wet!  After playing in the lake for a little bit and taking a short pontoon ride, we had a great BBQ, then started a camp fire and made smores.  Once the sun went down and it was dark, we had a couple drinks and hit the sack.

The next day, Saturday, we woke up and it was a bright sunny day.  We spent most of the time either in or on the lake.  Both Maeve and Will loved being in the water and playing on the beach.  We took many paddle boat rides and could not keep Maeve off of the jet ski!  I nicknamed her "full throttle" because once we cleared the dock she hammered on the throttle and would not let off!  After playing in the lake and taking boat rides, we had another wonderful BBQ, dessert, and then it was off to bed.

The kids were pretty much exhausted the entire weekend.  We had no problems getting them to take naps or go to be at night.  On Sunday morning we woke up and got the cabin cleaned up and helped get things picked up around the beach and boats.  We said our goodbyes and thank yous and were back on the road again.  I think we got back a little after noon and didn't have any issues with the ride home.

I would like to thank by Uncle Bruce and Aunt Nette for their hospitality again this year.  We absolutely love spending time with you at your cabin.  The kids always have an amazing time and Maeve still can not stop talking about it!  Thanks again!

Maeve's 3rd Birthday!

07/24/10


This year marks Maeve turning three years old and we wanted to give her a birthday party that she could invite friends to. So since her birthday fell on a Saturday this year, we figured we would have the party on that day! We ordered a "bounce house," ordered a couple Subway party platters, and stocked up on juice boxes.  I spent the day before getting the back yard mowed and picked up.  The day of her party, we (Dad, Mom, Will, Maeve, and I) got the back yard set up with chairs and tables.  Then the "bounce house" was delivered and needed to be tested!

The party was a huge hit!  All the kids had fun, the adults had fun watching their kids get tired, and we had plenty of food for everyone!  Maeve received nice gifts from everyone and was very appreciative.  I can't wait to have another little kid party next year!  (and yes, adult were allowed in the bounce house too!)

For Maeve's big gift this year we (Me, Shannon, Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma Irma, Papi, Papa, Uncle Mike, and Aunt Jess) got Maeve a swing set.  She absolutely loves the swing sets at the park and we figured it would be a great addition to the back yard.  The swing set actually ended up coming a couple days after her birthday.  Dad and I spent about 7 hours over two days getting the swing set assembled.  Maeve helped with almost every step of assembly.

Maeve LOVES her swing set.  She has been on it everyday that it has been up.  We are very happy with the quality of the swing set too.  The assembly went well and all the parts were all there and undamaged.  The swing set is technically called the "Pathfinder," is made manufactured by Adventure Play Sets, and sold by Walmart.  It can be seen HERE.

6th Annual Mt. Olivet Motorheads Car Show

07/20/10
Mileage: 88,163

This was the second and probably last car show that I will be entering the Trans Am in this year.  If you remember last year, we had quite a scare with the severe weather that came when all the cars were on display!  This year the weather was totally the opposite, it was hot, sunny, and not a cloud in the sky!  My bad luck with bad weather at car shows is finally over! 

Michael and Jess would be joining me at this car show with their 1969 Pontiac GTO.  Michael and Dad met at my house and headed to the church in Victoira, MN.  Dad rode with me on the way out there and we were going to be met by Shannon, my Mom, Maeve, Will, and Jess later on.  Since it was so nice out, I decided to ride out there with the T-Tops off.  It was very nice having the extra wind and sun!  Believe it or not, it was the first time Dad had ever rode in a car with the T-Tops off!  It was quite an honor to provide him with this experience!  When we got out there, we got the cars parked (next to each other of course!) and started to look around.

I had a really nice time watching people check over the Trans Am.  I left the T-Tops off so people could look inside and I also posted the duplicate window sticker on the windshield, so people could see how much the car cost in 1980 and what options cost to have on it!  I loved hearing other people talk about their Trans Am tales and about what a nice car I have!  I was pretty proud considering it was parked next to a GTO and a Jaguar!

This year we noticed a few of the same cars from last year, but also some we have never seen before!  I missed a couple pictures that I wanted to take but I snapped a few of my favorites!  (BONUS:  I have something "real nice" to the first person that can name the year, make, and model (12 points total) of all the below vehicles! )

One of the reason I like this car show so much is that it is set up as a family event.  The had a huge BBQ, a bounce house, and door prizes!  We all ate very well and attended a short church service, then checked our numbers for door prizes.  Maeve ended up coming out on top with a big tin of popcorn (Thanks Grandpa)!

Overall, I had a really nice time at the show.  It was great being able to share this experience with my entire family.  I know the kids had a blast and I don't think it will take much convincing to get them to come back next year!