VolandoBajo
New LVC Member
Got here searching for some tech info on Panther platform mods/repairs, etc. and joined in order to post about possibly acquiring some parts off a wrecked Lincoln.
I am a longtime gearhead, semi-retired but still active, living outside Philadelphia with my wife and son.
Just recently acquired a 97 Grand Marquis from the original owners. Looking to do a few fun mods on a budget.
Used to be a flatrate mechanic before having a career in software engineering.
Just a couple of random facts to help you get to know me a bit more. The following will be a long list of cars I have owned and/or enjoyed...not necessary to read, but you might find it amusing.
I speak and write fairly fluent Spanish. I'm old enough to be retired, but don't feel like it, most days. A younger, beautiful, intelligent wife helps, as does having a twenty year old son. My best friend, who I just reunited with last year, after decades, lives in SF CA half the year, and in Baja California the other half. He is also an anglo who is fluent in Spanish, having spent summers in Cuba with his grandparents when he was young.
When I was younger, I rode motorcycles...my best and most interesting was a Norton Dominator SS, 600cc club racer with dual open carbs. Brought over from the UK, not a Berliner import. Strong bike, and a sleeper, used to shut down Triumph Bonnevilles and Harleys all night long, and twice on Sundays.
Not for bragging, but more to show you how eclectic my mechanical interests have been, I will list some of the cars I have owned over the years. All of this is in addition to the fact that I grew up in a tourist town on the west coast of Florida, could heel and toe, double clutch and power slide by the time I was seventeen, and got to pilot a lot of nice iron that young women's daddies bought for them while they were in HS or college. Some of the cars I was invited to wring out by their owners (the young ladies, not the daddies, haha), included a GTO convertible, a TR3, an Austin Healey bugeye sprite, an A-H 3000-6, a Porsche 356 Supercarrera (the first year they dropped the C from the badge, leading to a funny story but too long), a 57 Chevy, at least a couple of MG-B's, and a bunch of other decent old school metal, both domestic and foreign. I didn't realize what a great youth I had, until after it was gone. I still feel guilty that I couldn't give the same thing to my son, although I am good father in just about every other way. Times change, and those days are gone forever...but my own wheels, another story.
A 1959 Plymouth, my first car. Too many original series 40hp VW's, even a 36hp. A 58 with a sunroof. Most had sway bars installed, various engine mods. Never got around to dropping a Porsche engine in, but a friend tried that one. Had a 66 Van. A 55 GMC 3/4 ton black panel truck. A 1961 Mk II 3.8L Jaguar in British racing green, wire spoke wheels with knockoff hubs, real wood and leather interior, got for a criminally low price used. Swapped three years later, when it needed new cam bearings, straight up for a rebuilt and repainted sunroof VW. A 1976 VW Rabbit, all stock parts, but a few select exhaust and intake mods that made it much faster than that generation of Beemers costing more than twice as much. Would corner in the mountains with Porsches and Saabs, once the sway bars went on. Met an untimely end under murky circumstances on a country road during Oktoberfest. Replaced by an 82 diesel VW Rabbit. Made lots of friends with diesel MB owners when I showed them how to keep their cars from freezing up in the winter. Bought a 1988 Thunderbird SuperCoupe new...only my third brand new car, after the two Rabbits. Metallic silver, midnight blue leather interior, aluminum billet wheels, 5.0L w/AOD tranny, moonroof...a real batmobile/midlife crisis car, although it was really just a midlife car to avert a midlife crisis. Met the love of my life while I owned that car, but it wouldn't have mattered if I had been driving a Citroen 2CV. Knew it was real love when I let her drive it whenever I was out of town on business, just shortly after I had met her. Still together today. (Us, not the car...it went when the tranny did at close to 300K miles, with our son just months old.)
Don't let anyone tell you that the 88 Thunderbird Turbo was faster than the SuperCoupe...it had more hp, at least nominally, but a much peakier power curve. The Supercoupe could and did walk every Turbo coupe that ever pulled up to a light next me and jazzed their throttle. And it (the SuperCoupe) could, stock, reach its advertised top speed of 143 mph. (Been there, done that, though I had to back off as the stock tires were only rated to 138 mph - haha! but true.) Out of all the cars I owned before the Grand Marquis, that is the one I miss the most, even more than the Mk II Jaguar, though that car was a work of beauty and a marvel of engineering way ahead of its time, though overshadowed by the E-Jag.
A Subaru Turbo XT for her, after I broke her of the hooptie single mom habit. An Isuzu Trooper for me. Then a second, this one with an auto trans, for her to strap our son into, when he got too big to easily go into and out of the back seat of the XT...it (the XT) was a great car, until it started leaking coolant into the crankcase. No one could figure out why, until a $2 rubber part under the intake manifold finally broke in the middle of a very cold night on a busines trip from NJ to Virginia. Then it was the car from hell. Over a thousand dollars, all in, with towing, and repair.
Later, another Subaru for her, not a Turbo XT...a wagon. A 1995 Jeep Cherokee for me, got it at 95K miles, kept it alive to 275K, sold it when the rear seal went, rather than put more money into it. In the interim, she had to let the second Subaru go when it started needing a lot of work, and ended up with a real bargain 2002 Toyota Corolla S, with minor engine and suspension mods, for sale dirt cheap at the lot of a used car dealer going out of business and retiring after thirty years. Got it eleven years ago, and still runs strong, although it eats door handles and spits out paint. Got it for 2K below book, after stalling two weeks, when he only had three weeks left on his lease. Wish I could take credit for that one, but that was my lovely wife, with whom I am well acquanted, showing me she had been paying attention to my gearhead ways. When my Jeep went, I inherited a 2000 Corolla LE that my brother in law sold us when he got out of grad school.
Just a few months ago a stranger sideswiped the 2000 Corolla, but just before we had to decide if we would buy another car with me retired, or share the 2002 Corolla, my wife's best friend brokered the acquisition of a cherry 97 Grand Marquis dirt cheap, from a missionary couple who wanted to sell the wife's parents original owner vehicle, as one parent had died and the other was in her mid nineties.
Would like to add a Lincoln TC to the family, but either my son is going to have to get a decent job and decide he likes RWD V8's, or my wife will have to get over her aversion to larger RWD Detroit iron.
In the future, I will strive to be less wordy and more concise. But I thought this auto journey would at least give you an idea of the varied interests I have in vehicles, and especially how I like good cars that represent a lot of bang for the bucks, and that can be worked on.
I can also cook, though only certain basic things...campfire breakfasts, Mexican style dishes, the holiday turkey dinner with all the trimmings, etc.
Like to camp and go to the beach. Hope to spend more time in Latin America, especially Mexico and especially with my best friend, who is closer than a brother, while I am still young enough to enjoy it.
Hope to still be young for at least a couple more decades. And hope to get to know and be friends with some of you, and perhaps be able to help you with various auto issues, especially as they relate to the Panther platform.
Until then, hasta la vista, mis amigos.
Dan G., posting as VolandoBajo (FlyingLow in Spanish)
The photo is not my actual car, but is the same year, model, color, etc...only difference is I am still flogging the heavy duty steel wheels. May be a lot of unsprung weight but they DO help straighten out the NJ potholes. The other pic is a close resemblance to the 88 SuperCoupe I used to own, and raved about.
I am a longtime gearhead, semi-retired but still active, living outside Philadelphia with my wife and son.
Just recently acquired a 97 Grand Marquis from the original owners. Looking to do a few fun mods on a budget.
Used to be a flatrate mechanic before having a career in software engineering.
Just a couple of random facts to help you get to know me a bit more. The following will be a long list of cars I have owned and/or enjoyed...not necessary to read, but you might find it amusing.
I speak and write fairly fluent Spanish. I'm old enough to be retired, but don't feel like it, most days. A younger, beautiful, intelligent wife helps, as does having a twenty year old son. My best friend, who I just reunited with last year, after decades, lives in SF CA half the year, and in Baja California the other half. He is also an anglo who is fluent in Spanish, having spent summers in Cuba with his grandparents when he was young.
When I was younger, I rode motorcycles...my best and most interesting was a Norton Dominator SS, 600cc club racer with dual open carbs. Brought over from the UK, not a Berliner import. Strong bike, and a sleeper, used to shut down Triumph Bonnevilles and Harleys all night long, and twice on Sundays.
Not for bragging, but more to show you how eclectic my mechanical interests have been, I will list some of the cars I have owned over the years. All of this is in addition to the fact that I grew up in a tourist town on the west coast of Florida, could heel and toe, double clutch and power slide by the time I was seventeen, and got to pilot a lot of nice iron that young women's daddies bought for them while they were in HS or college. Some of the cars I was invited to wring out by their owners (the young ladies, not the daddies, haha), included a GTO convertible, a TR3, an Austin Healey bugeye sprite, an A-H 3000-6, a Porsche 356 Supercarrera (the first year they dropped the C from the badge, leading to a funny story but too long), a 57 Chevy, at least a couple of MG-B's, and a bunch of other decent old school metal, both domestic and foreign. I didn't realize what a great youth I had, until after it was gone. I still feel guilty that I couldn't give the same thing to my son, although I am good father in just about every other way. Times change, and those days are gone forever...but my own wheels, another story.
A 1959 Plymouth, my first car. Too many original series 40hp VW's, even a 36hp. A 58 with a sunroof. Most had sway bars installed, various engine mods. Never got around to dropping a Porsche engine in, but a friend tried that one. Had a 66 Van. A 55 GMC 3/4 ton black panel truck. A 1961 Mk II 3.8L Jaguar in British racing green, wire spoke wheels with knockoff hubs, real wood and leather interior, got for a criminally low price used. Swapped three years later, when it needed new cam bearings, straight up for a rebuilt and repainted sunroof VW. A 1976 VW Rabbit, all stock parts, but a few select exhaust and intake mods that made it much faster than that generation of Beemers costing more than twice as much. Would corner in the mountains with Porsches and Saabs, once the sway bars went on. Met an untimely end under murky circumstances on a country road during Oktoberfest. Replaced by an 82 diesel VW Rabbit. Made lots of friends with diesel MB owners when I showed them how to keep their cars from freezing up in the winter. Bought a 1988 Thunderbird SuperCoupe new...only my third brand new car, after the two Rabbits. Metallic silver, midnight blue leather interior, aluminum billet wheels, 5.0L w/AOD tranny, moonroof...a real batmobile/midlife crisis car, although it was really just a midlife car to avert a midlife crisis. Met the love of my life while I owned that car, but it wouldn't have mattered if I had been driving a Citroen 2CV. Knew it was real love when I let her drive it whenever I was out of town on business, just shortly after I had met her. Still together today. (Us, not the car...it went when the tranny did at close to 300K miles, with our son just months old.)
Don't let anyone tell you that the 88 Thunderbird Turbo was faster than the SuperCoupe...it had more hp, at least nominally, but a much peakier power curve. The Supercoupe could and did walk every Turbo coupe that ever pulled up to a light next me and jazzed their throttle. And it (the SuperCoupe) could, stock, reach its advertised top speed of 143 mph. (Been there, done that, though I had to back off as the stock tires were only rated to 138 mph - haha! but true.) Out of all the cars I owned before the Grand Marquis, that is the one I miss the most, even more than the Mk II Jaguar, though that car was a work of beauty and a marvel of engineering way ahead of its time, though overshadowed by the E-Jag.
A Subaru Turbo XT for her, after I broke her of the hooptie single mom habit. An Isuzu Trooper for me. Then a second, this one with an auto trans, for her to strap our son into, when he got too big to easily go into and out of the back seat of the XT...it (the XT) was a great car, until it started leaking coolant into the crankcase. No one could figure out why, until a $2 rubber part under the intake manifold finally broke in the middle of a very cold night on a busines trip from NJ to Virginia. Then it was the car from hell. Over a thousand dollars, all in, with towing, and repair.
Later, another Subaru for her, not a Turbo XT...a wagon. A 1995 Jeep Cherokee for me, got it at 95K miles, kept it alive to 275K, sold it when the rear seal went, rather than put more money into it. In the interim, she had to let the second Subaru go when it started needing a lot of work, and ended up with a real bargain 2002 Toyota Corolla S, with minor engine and suspension mods, for sale dirt cheap at the lot of a used car dealer going out of business and retiring after thirty years. Got it eleven years ago, and still runs strong, although it eats door handles and spits out paint. Got it for 2K below book, after stalling two weeks, when he only had three weeks left on his lease. Wish I could take credit for that one, but that was my lovely wife, with whom I am well acquanted, showing me she had been paying attention to my gearhead ways. When my Jeep went, I inherited a 2000 Corolla LE that my brother in law sold us when he got out of grad school.
Just a few months ago a stranger sideswiped the 2000 Corolla, but just before we had to decide if we would buy another car with me retired, or share the 2002 Corolla, my wife's best friend brokered the acquisition of a cherry 97 Grand Marquis dirt cheap, from a missionary couple who wanted to sell the wife's parents original owner vehicle, as one parent had died and the other was in her mid nineties.
Would like to add a Lincoln TC to the family, but either my son is going to have to get a decent job and decide he likes RWD V8's, or my wife will have to get over her aversion to larger RWD Detroit iron.
In the future, I will strive to be less wordy and more concise. But I thought this auto journey would at least give you an idea of the varied interests I have in vehicles, and especially how I like good cars that represent a lot of bang for the bucks, and that can be worked on.
I can also cook, though only certain basic things...campfire breakfasts, Mexican style dishes, the holiday turkey dinner with all the trimmings, etc.
Like to camp and go to the beach. Hope to spend more time in Latin America, especially Mexico and especially with my best friend, who is closer than a brother, while I am still young enough to enjoy it.
Hope to still be young for at least a couple more decades. And hope to get to know and be friends with some of you, and perhaps be able to help you with various auto issues, especially as they relate to the Panther platform.
Until then, hasta la vista, mis amigos.
Dan G., posting as VolandoBajo (FlyingLow in Spanish)
The photo is not my actual car, but is the same year, model, color, etc...only difference is I am still flogging the heavy duty steel wheels. May be a lot of unsprung weight but they DO help straighten out the NJ potholes. The other pic is a close resemblance to the 88 SuperCoupe I used to own, and raved about.