Oh yeah I forgot to mention the seats.  The front buckets are getting rave reviews from anyone who's seen them and, not to mention, my butt likes them a lot too!  Love that Stan!  As for the back, thats another thing I've got to get done on my layoff between shifts this time. Nobody really appreciates the recline passenger seat though as everybody these days  kind of takes them for granted.

Gonna be cool once I get the back set up.  Need a nice warm day though.

It's always nice to see these old gals still earning their keep. As far as radio stations go, if you could find a factory AM/FM radio you could get yourself an XM radio with a FM transmitter.

66 Grande guy wrote:

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I thought you guys might be interested in my use of my 66 as my main work car this summer while I'm with the airtankers.  A bit of background on the job. I've been posted to Fort Mcmurray so far this summer and the fire season has been a bit slow but there have been a few moments of thrills.  I work with a Turboprop  Rockwell Aero commander bird dog plane as my (very) mobile office as I direct the air operation over a wildfire and a Lockheed Electra is attached to my  group. However over a fire we can have multiple helicopters and multiple types and numbers of bombers at any given time.  in Alberta we use Convair 580s, Electras, CL 215Ts,  Conair Firebosses and Airtractor 802s which can either haul retardent (Airtractors, Electras, Convair 580's) or skim water off a nearly by lake (CL 215T's or Fire Bosses.)

I'll post a couple of pics of the Electra here so you sort of get the idea.

As for the Pontiac I've been towing the old 1951 Flying Cloud up Highway 881 and back as my shift dictates. So far I've put about 2500 miles on it as my daily commute to the tanker base from the campground  and back is about 70 miles plus the basing distance.  It still works out cheaper than a Fort Mac hotel though.  Fairly trouble free so far except for a really rough idle that may involve taking the Quadrajet out for the fourth of fifth time to maybe play with the primary fuel rods this time.  Runs great at cruise though.(like 120 to 160 km on the divided part of highway 63) It also has started not to shift completely into park (not quite engaging the palls) which I think may be a linkage issue.

The only other glitch is a kind of stiffness when you turn left sharply so I'll have to jack it up and see what is binding. Otherwise it runs great and the 700r4 tranny seems to handle the weight of the trailer quite well without an extra cooler. It seems to run at about 170 to 190 F at about 100 kms per.  The engine runs just a bit hotter and the diff is about the same.  (I had one of those laser temp guns which was real handy to check stuff as i was towing for the first time.

I also checked the mileage while towing and amazingly I actually got 14 miles per imperial gallon towing the trailer at 100 Kms! 

So far I've had a bunch of offers to buy it from the folks up there and one or two older ladies want to go for a ride.  Curses! I guess the problem with a old car is you attract old people.  I was surrounded by tuner cars in a parking lot one night though and they were puzzled but polite.

Any way its been fun so far.  Now if I could just get the cruise setup working (not while towing though)  and actually pick up a radio station worth listening to I really have an easy time.  Heres a couple of pics of the old working unit.  The trailer harness might look weird but it was an NOS one I got a while back.  It just unplugs the original taillights and inserts inself into the system, except for the trailer brakes which you have to wire in yourself and join in the harness.  It is actually made to go over the truck lid like that with a specially flat part of the harness. I guess the idea was that when you didn't pull the trailer you just stuck it back in the trunk. 

 

 

WOW   thats impressive   great job you have   

...Now that would make a neat summer time cover feature here, a classic trailer behind a fantastic 66 big block. It's not just a picture, it is a unit that is being used and on the road alot. I love the chrome trailer. Nice to see you enjoying it all 66 Grande guy.

Well, thanks guys, I always thought that if you have to work you might as well try to enjoy it.  I must confess when it comes to that job I still have moments where I  can't believe I'm getting paid for doing it, but, on the other hand, it is sort of dangerous and specialized and it took me about 25 years to get to do it.

By the way the second shot of the airplane heading for a drop was of a Convair 580 not an Electra.  We had both on that fire which was southeast of High Level.  We ended using the CL 215T's as well as it was a fire in logging slash which is a bugger to quell.

As for the speed, heck I'm just barely keeping up with the traffic here.  The burst of 100 mph was just to see how quick it got up there.  There was still quite a bit of space under the gas pedal so one of these days I'll have to see what it will actually do....

 The old Airstream needs a polish to really shine so maybe I'll take that on later.  It is really putting the miles on as my wife grabbed it and went to the Yukon towing it with a Ford Flex with a group of Scouts as soon as i got back. Made it there ok so fingers crossed that it gets back in one piece.  (oh yeah her too)

-- Edited by 66 Grande guy on Wednesday 2nd of July 2014 11:41:55 AM

B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U..L.

Thanks for posting the pictures! Nice plane.

It is so great when you show up the new stuff!  (And you don't have to dig to find the battery either.)

Leo2+2 wrote:

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I wish I would have taken a photo when I was boosting a 2000 something Honda Accord. When the person asked me for help and I said "OK, let me get my car" you should have seen the facial expression when I showed up with the Parisienne ... and it did the job! I didn't think of it then but I should have taken a picture.

 Ha, I did the same thing with the old Beaumont when the wifes mini van wouldn't start. The neighbours were all laughing.  

Thanks for sharing to great pics of the car and trailer....Awesome!

Got to hand it to you guys that fly the water bombers. That's some challenging and dangerous flying. I met a guy from Flin Flon Manitoba on one of our winter vacations to Hawaii. He flew them out of Winnipeg. Really interesting stories over cocktails. The re-fill is just as exhilarating as the drop.

Your GP and Airstream must turn a lot of heads. That is a combo one will seldom see!!