My pleasure, John. Actually, I enjoy helping people. But the online technical advisor days are long gone because I just don’t feel like engaging. Even so, I do make exceptions. Just like these cars being someone’s fad, online technical advising was a fad.

Speaking about the old days, for old time’s sake, I like to park the garage queen outside in non-stop, torrential rain for a couple of days. After sitting for a couple of days in the rain and with spectators around, I like to pop the trunk and say, “See how dry it is? Not a single drop of water.” (In addition to having an extremely rust-free car, being a former professional GM chassis man helps out in the no-water leak department.)

I took the car to the OC cruise; of course, torrential rain is mandatory. I drove it some during the pouring down rain. The problem isn’t driving the car in the rain. It’s water tight, and until 2k, I have been driving it in the rain all of my life. The problem is that it isn’t any fun, and driving the car in the rain was always done as a means to an end, not something for fun. I got there Wednesday about 9 am, allowing me a chance to lay a few slabs and asswalk a few second-gears on dry road, so it wasn’t a total washout.

During the rain, I was sitting under the porch by my car. (The people at the motel in the end unit “reserved” that spot for me because they said that the ‘car needed to be parked there.’) And an endless stream of passing cars stopped and took pictures of the car, so I thought what the hell and took a shot.

One of these days, I’m going to run the car to its home dealership, Musser Motors, Terrell, TX. It would really enhance my collection of personal car trivia to have photos of it sitting on its home dealership. And the grandson of the guy who sold the car wants it on the lot for a photo shoot because he had never seen one of his grandfather’s sold cars, especially since it’s a Firebird.

Of course I would drive it. Why the hell would I want to trailer it? I also might take it to Galveston and drive it around on the beach, like I use to do so many decades ago, making the Mesquite-Galveston run as common as going to the grocery store.

Not if but when I make the run, I’ll give you a heads up, we’ll let the cars socialize, and I’ll take you up on the steak dinner. I like mine crunchy, covered with a thick layer of charcoal! No steak sauce or spice, just a dash of salt and pepper.