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Penny the 2003 SLE
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Author:  VIN_H_For_Hotness [ Wed May 23, 2018 11:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
nos4blood70 wrote:
You're not wrong! Penny has been hit all over multiple times. Can't do much about it in populated zones. I don't think there's a single clean panel on this car.... Lol

She's just not as much of a looker as she used to be, and it's starting to get to the point where certain clients are like... He drives that?! But they're not there to buy the car so I tend to ignore them. Haha!


Indeed.

I can speak to that (given our cars were basically twins leaving Hamtramck assembly). This sounds absolutely bonkers - but believe it or not there’s people who’ve never heard of the Bonneville. Ever.

My company hired some younger staff recently. The subject of cars came about and I of course mentioned what I drive. Theyd never heard of Pontiac- even the Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am was a mystery to them. Considering the Bonnevile stopped production 13 years ago (and my own example will be old enough to vote in two years) ,it’s not far fetched some of the comments you get are people who’ve never heard of the brand. I still get compliments around here about my own car (usually from people with grayer hair then mine), even though it too is rough around the edges .
Author:  nos4blood70 [ Wed May 23, 2018 2:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
I get compliments occasionally, most on how comfortable the thing is. But some people are really snarky, and when I'm showing them apartments downtown whose monthly rent is worth more than the car... They tend to look at me weird. But who cares!
Author:  VIN_H_For_Hotness [ Wed May 23, 2018 3:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
nos4blood70 wrote:
I get compliments occasionally, most on how comfortable the thing is. But some people are really snarky, and when I'm showing them apartments downtown whose monthly rent is worth more than the car... They tend to look at me weird. But who cares!


Given Chicago real estate, finding places worth more then an attainable car isn’t hard regardless of the brand. Besides , I’ve noticed (now that I’ve been away for a while) that Chicago has a funny obsession with late model cars. Much like how in LA driving a 70s BMW is cool and a 2018 Caddy isn’t, in Chicago if your car is older then two years it’s basically dirt.

Brand new Lexus? You’re a cool guy. Two year old Lamborghini? Jeez what a beater.....

Where I live if your car was made in the US, no one cares how old it is. It’s refreshing.
Author:  nos4blood70 [ Fri Jul 27, 2018 8:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
She's officially over 175k miles these days... Although I failed to capture a picture. Haha
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Bad valve stem was plaguing me for a bit, luckily I am able to use some of the machines at work!
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The two silver sisters. I've put about 5k miles on the S since getting it. Finally getting pretty good at driving it!
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The whole silver stable. The GX is over 80k miles now. Doesn't get driven a whole lot!
Quite the variety. RWD, FWD, 4WD... 4 cylinders, 6 cylinders, 8 cylinders. 150 lb ft, 230 lb ft, 330 lb ft. LOL
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Author:  CMNTMXR57 [ Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
175k and still going strong.
Author:  nos4blood70 [ Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
Other than a few noises here and there, she feels real solid and still returns like 22 mpg in my mixed driving. My favorite car to cover distance in.
Author:  VIN_H_For_Hotness [ Sun Jul 29, 2018 4:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
Nice work.

Honestly , after seeing the condition of “restored” old school cars at local cars and coffees I value the ones with some real world marks and wear to them. The showpiece 67’ Mustangs have their place , but the vintage 66’ Mercury Courgar with some bumper marks and clean paint is a much more charming car. It actually “lived” and drove places besides a trailer, and I value that way more then “cleanliness”.


Now to randomly change topics, heres a totally unnecessary pic of Penny’s “sister car” after todays road trip!

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Author:  nos4blood70 [ Tue Jul 31, 2018 10:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
Nice! Here are a few from my recent stint through Wisconsin. Camped in a few spots with the GF. As usual, the car did admirably. Comfy, with a peak MPG of 29. Love that you can just leave your phone, speaker, or flashlight plugged in and it'll charge it all night if needed!

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I drove the car through some of these dirt roads, which was quite fun... But she did rub her belly on the dirt a few times. lol A guy in a Jeep gave me a weird look but it was worth it.
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Author:  nos4blood70 [ Mon Nov 05, 2018 1:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
Another quick trip to MI this weekend for a friend's birthday. Fall views abound. Penny is officially at 180,000 miles now. New subframe bushings coming this Thursday as it is starting to get quite creaking and the steering wheel transfers all sorts of pops and noises. Can't wait to get her feeling solid again. Planning a 3 week road trip to California next Summer so just wanting to get Penny in tip top shape.

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Author:  nos4blood70 [ Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
The road continues for Penny. 183k miles now. New front subframe bushings, rear motor mount, and alignment. Truly unbelievable how much of a difference that made in how the car drives. No more highway shake at any speed. No vibrations under braking. Steering feels way less dead and sloppy. Not a bad job either, all bolts came loose easily.

Today, I changed the valve cover gaskets as they started to get pretty gross. Glad that we have winter that is so mild, I am fortunate that she is seeing less salt this year.

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Author:  nos4blood70 [ Wed Jan 23, 2019 2:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
First trip of the year off to a good start. 600 mile round trip a low key cabin with the GF.

I have never driven through conditions like I experienced this past weekend. Driving down unplowed snow drifted roads, car felt like a boat on a wavy sea. There were semi trucks spun out, cars abandoned on the side of the road, it felt like a movie set!

Combined with all of the snow and below zero degrees Fahrenheit temps, I continue to be impressed by this car's sheer clout and reliability. All of the wheel wells and springs filled up with snow and then froze solid. Lots of noises were heard and I'm sure all of the cars plastic and metal bit underneath got a nice sand blasting. Getting to 185k now and still soldiering on.

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Author:  SSEiMan01 [ Wed Jan 23, 2019 3:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
Looks awesome! We like finding low key vacation spots like that, you don't really feel too much like a tourist. Lol. Glad to see Penny is still doing well! I feel old, I remember when your odometer looked like 5x,xxx. :lol:
Author:  95naSTA [ Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
Always cool to see this putting work in.
Author:  nos4blood70 [ Tue Apr 02, 2019 3:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
Few more updates here...
She got broken into, which was sad. Had to replace the window and was daily driving the S2000 for about 8 days. That was the longest time Penny has been in a garage... LOL! Was certainly fun but I missed the couch like demeanor of Penny for sure.
Thanks go out to Andrew for hooking it up with a window quickly. Now I need to get it tinted to match the others!
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Other than that, I changed her front brakes and used a Tech2 to bleed the ABS and change some other stuff around, too. She's soldiering on well. Will need new strut mounts and some other odds and ends before summer hits.
Author:  ddalder [ Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
Very nice car!

There's probably a forum policy about using the words I have to describe people like this. I know how you feel. Several years ago someone put a 7-inch diameter boulder through my back window to steal some work uniforms. After all that, they ditched them in the yard of a house a block away. I was incredibly lucky because there was a wrecker in town with glass and I had it the same day. Back then (and even now), it was virtually unheard of for a Bonneville to be in a yard anywhere near here.

Good to hear she'll be back on the road again soon :)
Author:  nos4blood70 [ Wed Apr 03, 2019 8:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
She's already driving! It's so weird having one un-tinted window. Haha.

They ended up taking my backpack which had some random stuff in it. Ultimately a waste of their time though as there was nothing that valuable in there. I had checked yards in a 100 mile radius for glass for a Bonne, but not a single one even had a 2000+!
Author:  CMNTMXR57 [ Wed Apr 03, 2019 11:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
Chicago gonna Chicago. :)

A few cars in my neighborhood at the other house have been broken in to recently. And I noticed that my motion light on the garage had it's range set to "min". So I am going to be installing cameras at some point in time in the near future.
Author:  nos4blood70 [ Thu Apr 04, 2019 3:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
This was actually in downtown Chicago annoyingly.
Author:  95naSTA [ Thu Apr 04, 2019 11:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
Yeah, for this reason I do not leave a single thing visible in my car. No coins, pens, bottles, trash, not even a toll transponder. I also try to do the same with the trunk and won't open it where I park if theres something important in there.
Author:  nos4blood70 [ Mon May 27, 2019 4:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Penny the 2003 SLE
In June of 2010 I rolled 40k, today I rolled 190k. 150k miles in 9 years. My most recent camping trip helped add the miles.
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