The trip began Thursday, the 19th, 2018 at 6:00 AM at the Dunkin Donuts in Mystic.
4 cars included Tom link and Jim Varas in the 1948 Plymouth, Don Oster and Dave Peterson in the 1937 Ford, Sonny Goodness in his 1952 Chevy and Dave Calabrese in the 1960 Buick.
We drove to the show via route 2 to the Mass Turnpike, continuing to the NY Thruway.  At the first rest stop we met Skippy Madden from Massachusetts in his late model Camaro.  He was going to room with Sonny, but prefers the 75 MPH speed over our 55 to 65 MPH, so we met him later at the host hotel.
We arrived at the host Hotel around 1 PM, picked up our tickets to the show, and had lunch at the outside grill set up by Right Coast, the show sponsors. 
We proceeded to our hotel, the Ramada Inn at Carrier Circle.
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After checking in we set up our chairs along the roadway to the hotels beyond us, and spent the rest of the day watching the show cars drive up and down the street.  We stopped to have dinner at Grimaldi’s Luna Park.  Very Good Italian.
On Friday Morning we had breakfast at 6:00 AM and on the road to the New York State Fair Grounds by 6:30.  Tom’s good friend Tom Rooney saved us a spot near our usual area and we parked, set up the tent, and prepared for a day of walking to look at the 8000 odd cars that would attend throughout the weekend.
Don has a bunch of photos of the show and of the group sitting on the side of the road during the 3 days.  My photos are only of a custom built 1953 Chevrolet Nomad Wagon (never built by Chevrolet) and a mid-engine Chevrolet pickup.
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We returned to our roadside observatory by 3:30 PM and again had dinner at Grimaldi’s.
Saturday AM we left at the same time to assure our parking area was still available.  Tom Rooney again was there really early and saved our spot.
We spent most of this day looking at the flea market and the Rat Rods along with the rest of the show cars.  Tom Link is always amazed at the creativity of the custom and Rat Rod builders.  I believe we all feel the same. 
After another long day, we were back at the roadside by 4:00 PM.  We had Pizza delivered from Nicks Pizza and enjoyed it by the roadside.  Skippy opted for 3 Burger King burgers and French fries.​
Sunday we checked out at around 6:30 AM and headed south to our next stop, The Northeast Classic Car Museum in Norwich NY.  We had a very scenic drive over local state roads and arrived at the museum around 9:30 AM. We spent the next few hours looking through the Staley collection, Pre-war Collection, Auburns, Packards, Cords, Duesenberg and the Franklin Exhibit, along with about 40 plus motorcycles.  We took a break for lunch at Nina’s in town, and had a really fabulous and filling lunch.
After lunch we returned to the museum and went through 2 more buildings including the Post War Collection, Muscle Cars, and cars made in New York.  Another building brought us to Trucks at work, including 20’s thru 40’s trucks, followed by a room of WWI and WWII airplane engines, some project vehicles found in barns, and a tribute to Bennet-Ireland Manufacturers.
We finally left the museum around 4:00 PM.  We had looked at over 170 cars plus the other exhibits.  It was a thoroughly rewarding day, all for $9.00 each.  Of note is that each vehicle had a description and pertinent history, which have been provided in the photos.
I have provided quite a few photos of the cars that interested me, including a tag along camper, made in NY that my wife Pat told me her family had when she was young.

We arrived at Fred’s Inn and Motel around 5:00 PM, checked in and crashed on the front porch of the motel.  Dinner ranged from a few light meals at the inn, to ice cream and a left over half sandwich from lunch.  We dodged rain all day, and even as we sat on the porch.  Everyone in bed by 9:00 PM
On Monday, we got back on the road by 6:30 AM.  Our first stop was at Hoppies in Oxford for a most entertaining Breakfast.  Our waitress Theresa was most entertaining as were all the regular customers.  We sang Happy Birthday to one lady and met a donor of the museum.  The coffee was cold because she forgot to turn on the coffee maker.  But she made up with plenty of hot once she got it going, and the food was excellent.
Next stop was for gas about 5 miles down the road.  Our first car related issue occurred here.  Sonny’s belt was squealing and further investigation showed the alternator bracket had come loose.  A short trip to NAPA for a bolt, and Tom Link at the helm, and we were back on the road in less than a half hour for only $1.43. 
We followed Route 12, south and picked up route 17 down to I-84 east.  Then we went through Waterbury to I-691 to Route 9 and I-95 home.  The rest of the trip went flawlessly. 
I am sure the trip was enjoyed by all and it looks like a repeat for next year.  Applications will be taken to participate and we do review each applicant thoroughly. So there are no guarantees of an invitation. We just have too much fun.
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I have trouble starting a new project. The problem is that whenever I start something new there are already 4 or 5 other projects left behind in an unfinished state. I have a tendency to begin things and then move on. I always intend to come back to complete a job but it just takes so long to return. Something that should take 2 weeks ends up stretching out to 2 years before it is finished.
 
That’s the way it has always been with the Buick. A lot has been accomplished; but, most of it is unseen improvements. Brakes, pumps, suspension, fuel delivery; they have all been improved or upgraded. Now I am looking at gauges that don’t work and wiring that is in such bad shape that on a couple of occasions I have experienced shorts and burnt wires. I have decided to upgrade the wiring, dashboard appearance, and whatever else crops up.

What’s needed here? Working gauges, new instrument panels, floor insulation and mats, steering wheel restoration, new door and kick panels, and restoration of the woodgrain.
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I began a couple years ago by replacing the glove box door with a much nicer one that I bought many years ago. That replacement door came along with an instrument panel that was also much nicer than the one in my car. I never installed it. The reason of course is the difficulty of removing the old panel. It is held on by 5 long studs and nuts. The instruments are attached to the gauge panel by an additional 8 nuts, speedometer cable, oil pressure sensor tubing, and temperature sensor cable. Then there are all the wires going to the gauges; wires that often have their original cloth insulation frayed or missing entirely.
 
I finally decided to begin the project because so many things were going wrong. The ammeter does not work. A close inspection reveals that the plastic panel it is mounted to is warped to the point that it prevents needle movement. The water temperature gauge does nothing and so I have no chance of being warned of an overheating problem. The sensor is broken off at the block and part of it remains in the block. The speedometer works OK up to about 55 mph. Then it begins to bounce all over the place. According to my speedometer I have cruised down route 95 at over 100 mph (not so). Likewise the odometer has been stuck on 80,241 miles since I bought the car 16 years ago and the trip odometer has also been stuck and does nothing.
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Step one was removing the front seat. Otherwise there is no way to contort my old body so I can fit under the dash and still walk away
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The radio and an ashtray came out first. The radio went to my shop bench to await restoration. It works, but poorly. I then removed the starter switch, which was in my way. Buicks don’t have a starter switch. Mine does because someone bypassed the vacuum switch on the carburetor. I have since put in a new carburetor with a good throttle/vacuum switch. I will have to connect it now. The handle that operates the fresh air vent was not in my way but now I could clearly see the linkage that I need to remove in order to install a new gasket under the vent. I was only able to do that job after consulting the AACA pre-war Buick forum and asking for help. I also had to remove the knurled knob that controlled the trip odometer. It would not come off even after I removed its center screw and hex nut. Back to the AACA board where I got advice to hold the shaft tight with pliers and pull real hard. That did it. Not only did the knob pop off but now the trip odometer worked! I promptly reset it to 000000 miles.
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Finally on to the studs that hold the instrument panel on. They are long so I had to invest in some nut drivers that had hollow shafts that would allow them to get to the nut. There is almost no room under that dash to get at the studs, especially from straight on. It took me days to free it. I used a combination of open and closed wrenches, nut drivers, and socket wrench with and without swivel end. Sometimes I just used the socket by hand since there was no room for a wrench. Each removed nut was then attached to the corresponding stud on a spare instrument panel so I could keep track of my progress. When I hit the number five I attempted to pry away the panel. It would not budge! Finally I looked under the dash again and noticed that there was one more nut where I had supposedly already removed one. How did that get there? Well, I removed that last nut and then pried away the panel using screwdrivers and a specialized seam opening tool that I used to use on Macintosh computers. Meanwhile I replaced the fresh air vent gasket (remember that). I’m not too happy with that result. I don’t get along well with adhesives.
 
Finally the instruments were all revealed! Now it is on to stage II, replacing the faulty gauges, sensors, and speedometer cable. If I get carried away I will probably buy a new wiring harness and install that. I also plan to practice wood graining, steering wheel restoration, and other stuff. One thing leads to another.  I think I see a visit from the Gaslight Boys in my future.
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