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I drive my Reattas mostly for work and put on between 25-30,000 miles a year. Because I work off referrals and existing clients my closing rate is about 95% so every time I go out I'm making money, so I look at gas as not costing me money but helping me make money. I'm sure my attitude will change when I quit working but hopefully that day is still 10 years out. I'm only 65 and the work is mostly occasional [I sell Medicare products] so other then the fall I almost nothing to do. But I'll put on 10-12,000 miles between October to January and then two driving trips to Texas and a number of "staycations". Also seeing Bob [my retired machinist friend] is a 70 mile round trip. I don't like the increase in the gas prices, but for me it's just a part of what I deal with in my life.

My daughter fusses at me for not recycling plastid water bottles and cardboard. She says if my generation had done more to keep the environment clean it wouldn't be in such bad shape now., implying that my generation did nothing to stop pollution of the environment Later on I found the following and emailed it to her. She hasn't mentioned recycling to me since. The older people here will understand the moral of the story. --------------------------------------------------- This Green Thing Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment, The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days." The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." The older lady said that she was right our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain: Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then. We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day. Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then. We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the "green thing" back then. Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint. But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then? Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation.

Went over to Bob's today and we installed an after market muffler to replace the aftermarket one that had a split seem and was getting loud. The complete exhaust system was also aftermarket so it did get involved a bit. But we got it done and the car is much quieter and my wife is happier.

Have you explored removing the upper garnish molding to see if the bottom of the pin is visible? If so, perhaps the pin can be pushed/tapped out.

You don't think that the US population having doubled since I was born (Florida is more like 10X) has something to do with it ? BTW yes we have more appliances (when I was growing up AC was rare and used to take a shower & go to bed wet)} but suspect the power utilization by my house is less now than in 1985. Also when growing up water came in 5 gallon glass jugs from Deep Rock, not individual bottles. Bottom line, tell kids when making statements, make sure they have all the facts.

It's a beautiful car both inside and out, and I too am glad I still have it. But I did buy it to be a future "parts " car for the Red. But it still comes down to trust. I have to trust that when I leave in the morning and drive a good distance that I will get back. When I left on Thursday at 5:00 am and the car kept throwing code e047 and the engine was surging with poor gas mileage I really worried about getting home. I should have addressed it the night before but I didn't think it was going to run like it did. Every so often the ECM would correct itself, the code would not be current but history only so I knew it was the component and not the wiring. Also the reminder programing now works as it should, I no longer lose the presets, [radio, temperature, time/date]. I trust Buick's engineering, but the "silver boxes" are 34 years old now and can fail. Maybe I should start carrying an extra BCM and ECM just to be sure. I can swap either one out in less then 30 minutes and I always carry my junking tools. Something to think about.

I think I got my car back. Yesterday was a rough day where I put over 300 miles and got about 21 miles a gallon, so I went through a lot of fuel. So today I put back in the ECM that came with the car. You might remember I had an ignition/running issue that turned out to be a loose Crank sensor. I swapped numerous parts including the ECM trying to track it down, so when I started having e042 codes I really thought that it was I should swap back in. Glad I did as the car runs so much smoother. Tomorrow I swap out the muffler as I have a rather sizeable seam split. The one I'm replacing is an aftermarket one that the original owner installed. Then I should be done for awhile again...

How does $6.97 per gallon sound? California gas is so special that only the chosen few can afford it. Year in and year out the high gas price is attributed to special additives and the usual argument that the refineries can't produce enough gas. I just close my eyes when I fill up the car and think of the "green new deal" and everything will be just fine.