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| New Canadien guy eh http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/forum/introductions-for-new-members/topic51385.html |
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| Author: | Detailpro116 [ Sun Jan 21, 2018 2:30 pm ] |
| Post subject: | New Canadien guy eh |
Greetings eh. My name is Mike, and I hail from lovely windy southern Alberta. I have recently become the enthusiastic new owner of a couple of 1996 Bonnevilles. After losing my business last year and having my 2015 Kia Optima EX Luxury voluntarily repossessed, I picked up a 2002 Buick Lesabre Custom in excellent condition for very cheap. I drove that around for a few months and although I loved the way it drove and how comfy it was, the beige on beige retirement home colour factor just couldn't make this a cool car in any way. I have had a couple Regals in the past, including a '98 GS supercharged and a '98 LS, but I wanted something a little different this time. Maybe a Park Avenue Ultra, maybe a Grand Prix GTP or something. So I sold the LeSabre and came across this very very clean 1 owner '96 Bonneville SSEi locally. I immediately went to view it and fell in love. White on teal leather. Non smoker. I mean, this thing is like a brand new car inside. Just the slightest colour wear on the driver bolster but no rips! Immaculate. I was in love with the Bose stereo system and the HUD and digital compass and driver info centre. Such a cool looking dash lay out and the most comfortable seats. Not a spot of rust on this car, but there was an unfortunate dent around the rear door handle that will be repaired and a small dent on the front fender and scrape on the bumper. But the rest of the body is very clean and straight for a 96 with 200k on it. Luckily, being a 2nd year autobody apprentice, I can tackle the minor body repairs needed and make it pristine again. I purchased the car in early December and immediately got to work on it. The dreaded blend door actuator was cracked, so the first major job was pulling the dash to replace it, followed by a coolant flush. I think there is a leak in one of the vacuum lines, as it takes forever for the air direction to change, if it even decides to, but the heat and AC work perfectly. I've got a ZZP Stage 1 kit for it which will all be getting installed over the next week. I'd like to build this car up to be a comfortable usable fun car with around 300hp and be in excellent shape. I paid $1000 for the car and I'm already more than double that into it with the mods and maintenance I've done and will continue to do. It will be my project toy and will not be daily driven, although it defiently will be capable of that, but $80 fill ups with premium fuel are hurting the wallet with the horrendous fuel consumption. So, a couple weeks ago I stumbled across another '96 for sale. This time just an SE, which was perfect. L36, much better on fuel, maintence etc. For $600, it's a little rough around the edges with dents and some quarter rust patches and the interior smelled like death and wet dog and throw up. I completely shampooed the entire interior, enzyme bombed the ventilation system and upholstery and it is much more pleasant inside. But the best part is that everything works from the power seats to the windows and cruise and it drives like an absolute dream. I stole the gold cross lace wheels from it and put them on the SSEi and I plan to use it as a daily driver and rolling parts car. On Friday when I left work, the driver side sway bar link sheared off the control arm, so my first repair on the car only cost me $10 and 20 minutes lol. I'd like to swap out a couple small items here and there and since these cars are hard to find, I thought it would be smart to have 2 of the same car to mix and match parts from if needed. No mods planned for this car, other than the K&N filter which came with my ZZP kit and the Sony HU I stuck in it to replace the old Alpine one that was in there. It is just drive it and maintain it. So I sold the LeSabre for $2000 and for $1600 I ended up with 2 Bonnevilles lol. I really love the style of these cars and love the interiors. They're neat cars because around here you never see any. That and the fact the SSEi is a total sleeper, while the SE is an excellent daily. But I plan to have some fun building the SSEi into something more unique and a little faster. The most interesting part about both these cars is I ran the VINs on the GM VIN decoder and it turns out they were both built in April 1996, 9 days apart! What are the odds of that?! See you guys around the boards. |
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| Author: | J Wikoff [ Sun Jan 21, 2018 4:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: New Canadien guy eh |
Welcome to the club! |
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| Author: | ddalder [ Sun Jan 21, 2018 7:57 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: New Canadien guy eh |
Welcome! You must be a little further south than I am, unless you're referring to our infamous Chinook winds! |
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| Author: | Detailpro116 [ Sun Jan 21, 2018 9:43 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: New Canadien guy eh |
Well, Lethbridge is where I call home. Where we don't have have to shovel the wind. |
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| Author: | nos4blood70 [ Sun Jan 21, 2018 11:00 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: New Canadien guy eh |
Welcome to the forums! |
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