Random Thoughts

I Have New Daily Driver: 2016 Buick Enclave

I want to introduce you to a new member of our family. I just picked up a 2016 Buick Enclave. Her name is “Betty” named after Betty White who recently passed away. She is replacing the 2003 Buick Rendezvous which I picked up to bring stuff across the country as we moved to Arizona. I put almost 200k miles on “Annabelle” and she was starting to require more maintenance than I was prepared to spend. In the last few months she got new tires, new thermostat and hoses, and new brakes. She is almost new at this point. I just can’t trust her anymore to get me safely across the country. She is going to become my nephews first car.

2016 Buick enclave

I bought Betty at Cactus auto in Tucson, the same place I bought Annabelle from years ago. While I am still a Cadillac guy they are just not building the car I need for a daily driver. I need storage and the ability to tow something. Yes I hear ou that I could get an Escalade but I find it too big and too much to spend for gas.

I have already driven Betty from Tucson to NYC. Now I am preparing to drive her back in a few weeks along with whatever we have left and our pets. I may tow a small cargo trailer if it is needed but now I am doubting it. I made some videos for Betty’s new YouTube channel of the drive. I hope you subscribe and watch a few videos so Youtube sees that people like the channel and show it to more people.

Finally Bought A Used Car For Myself

By Vinny O'Hare 6 Comments

I know it has been a while since you have heard from me. With the Holidays and all it has been total confusion around here. We had to move out of the house in Phoenix after the owner decided he wanted to sell it. We scrambled for a place and we settled on an area in Tucson. I spent the month of December driving back and forth moving stuff.

I did finally pick up a SUV to help with the move (Because renting a truck would have been easier). After looking at 10 or so Cadillac SRX’s I couldn’t find one that didn’t have issues. I was only looking for 2004 and 2005 models since they are larger and I like the look of them.

I saw a dealership that had one in Tucson and went there to test drive it but it had been sold the day before. While I was there I test drove a Tahoe and it was not the best ride ever. It had something wrong with the steering and had too much play. It reminded me of driving my neighbors old cabin cruiser. I then looked over and a gold car caught my eye.

It is a 2003 Buick Rendezvous CXL. It has 119,000 miles on it and I paid 4800. As soon as I drove it I knew it was mine. It drives smooth like a 1980 Cadillac. It is large enough to move anything I want. It was a one owner car. I am planning on driving to NYC sometime this week with it. The never ending paperwork never seems to stop with the flood insurance. I have to have the NY house empty by Jan 31st so the Govt can come in and raise it.

Since it is only me and Deb I have removed the second row of seats and will be removing the 3rd row as soon as I go to the store for a 1/2 inch deep socket. If we need to move people around we will use her car instead. I took it to my mechanic and they looked it over and said I got a good deal.

My plan for driving to NY is to take I-10 to I-20 To I-30 To I-40 and then 81 up through the east coast states. Since the car is empty I have a blow up bed and sleeping bag for the back so if I get tired I can take a nap. It is 36 hours and 2500 miles.

Fill up the cooler and get some snacks and I should be good to go. I get about 400 miles to a tank of gas so I am thinking I empty 2 tanks a day for about 800 miles. We will see how that goes. I am open to any tips you may have.

Cross Country Trip is Complete

By Vinny O'Hare Leave a Comment

It took us almost 9 days but our trip from NYC to Phoenix is complete and now I can get back to working on our site a bit more. We drove to NYC to do some paperwork from the flood and to empty our attic since that needed to be done before they can raise the house. We rented a small uHaul trailer and towed it back with Debbie’s Hyundai Santa Fe since I haven’t bought an SRX or an Escalade yet. (I am still looking) If you have an older model of either for sale let me know.

This was taken in Texas near the New Mexico border at one of the many gas stations we stopped at. 90% of the time we stopped at a Love’s truck stop since we could easily drive the car around with the trailer and they have good clean bathrooms. It felt very strange getting an oil change in Phoenix before we left and then get one in NY a week or so later and then get another one when we got back. The route we took was a little longer since we went across Texas instead of going the less distance through Northern New Mexico and Oklahoma. We didn’t want to chance getting caught in a snow storm so we drove the extra 100 or so miles. 2663 miles each way, to say my arms are tired would be an understatement.

As soon as I pulled up to the house my iPad rang and I jumped on to the weekly Caddyinfo.com chat you can see the video below.

From The Mailbag

This week I got an email from John who is rebuilding a 1950. Below is his question. If you can help hit reply or leave a comment.

Where is the fuse block for the 1950 Cadillac Series 62 located? I’ve looked on the firewall, behind kickpads, and up under the dash. If it is under the dash then could it be behind a panel?

Classic Car Shows

If you are in the Sacramento California Area this is the show for you.

SACRAMENTO CLASSIC CAR AND PARTS SWAP MEET
Saturday, April 16th, 2016
6am- 4pm
Admission $10
Free Parking
Sleep Train Arena
1 Sports Parkway
Sacramento, CA 95834
www.sacramentoswapmeet.com

Even though we are spread out all over the world I would like to list some car shows that you are planning to attend. Email me and let me know your car show details and I will list them here. Charity shows have first priority of course.

Website Updates

I have hired a programmer and he fixed our forum. Big shoutout to Dan who you will see because he is also a Cadillac owner and now a admin on the forum. Lately what was happening is the post are being made but when someone clicks on the post they are getting an error message. This has been happening on and off since we updated the web hosting. If you have not registered at the forum (which is different than signing up for the newsletter) You can do so here. Cadillac Country Club Forum No pressure to join you can just browse but to comment and post you will have to join.

Cadillac Racing

I have been watching the races lately and I am sure there are others that also follow it. This week there is a pretty cool interview with Michael Cooper.

Join the Our Club Newsletter

New York Auto Show Week

By Vinny O'Hare Leave a Comment

It has been a while since I last posted. Life kind of got in the way. Actually, still dealing with most of the flood stuff. We drove back from Phoenix a few weeks ago to get some stuff from the NY house as they are suppose to raise it. It has been a 3 year struggle of paperwork. Someday I will write a book about it.

While I am in NY I get to go to the NY Auto Show on Wednesday and Thursday. Our club will have some high quality pictures of the latest from Cadillac. I may do some video interviews also. I will be doing some facebook live post from the show. If you are on Facebook go and like our page https://www.facebook.com/CadillacClub/ I will be doing live video a few times during the show.

I was a guest on Caddyinfo.com weekly chat where I talk about what I am up to lately. I love being on with Bruce and the gang.

We are scheduled to drive back to Phoenix Tuesday or Wednesday the following week. Should be fun towing a trailer that distance. When I get back I am planning on tearing apart the website and redesigning it so it looks better on ipads etc. Kind of a big task but it needs to be done. The forum also needs to be upgraded but I need to get a programmer to look at it.

The new site will have a dedicated store for trusted services, parts, mechanics, etc. I am looking forward to building it. Moving all the info is another story.

Speaking of driving! I am loving the Waze app on my phone. While I am driving you can see accidents and gas prices nearby. They also report where the police are. Give it a try and it is free. If you dont want to put the app on your phone you can use their live map from your computer and see if there is any accidents before leaving the house. Try it at Waze.com https://www.waze.com/

Don’t Ever Try To Keep Up With A Cadillac

By Vinny O'Hare 7 Comments

A few weeks ago on my way home from Vegas at night. I am cruising doing the speed limit when a black Cadillac SRX passes me about 25 mph faster than I am going. I say to myself cool let him be the rabbit. I can up my speed a little bit.

I am driving on a 2 lane highway in the middle of the desert with no turn offs so I press the gas a little bit. About 3 miles later I couldn’t even see the srx as he slowly pulled away from me.

I come off a huge sweeping hill and before I can even look to see what speed I was going I see a trooper. I yell a few curses words and its wakes Debbie up. (Gotta love a girl that can sleep at high speed) Very cleverly hiding in a spot where I am sure he has got people before.

Lights go on, I see him coming. It took me a while to slow down safely and pull over. My first time ever being pulled over. I was calm as he approached the passenger side and asked for license and registration etc.

He asked me how fast I was going. I told him I think about 80. And he told me what the radar gun told him. At first I was surprised and then realized I was coming off the big hill.

There was no way of talking the cop out of the ticket and I knew it. I was very respectful and even thanked the officer because I didn’t realize I was going that fast.

I am thinking the SRX was going so fast he opted not to even bother chasing him.

My option is go to court, Pay the $380 fine and have it go on license, insurance etc, or go to traffic school for $185.

Tomorrow at 4pm I will be in traffic school.