Got 1997 Town Car home today

[fastrace01]

Hi Guys.

I got the 97 home. I bought it last October and it has been at a friends car lot in the barn.

My old 90 F-150 300ci auto did good. It handled the car's weight very good in terms of braking, stability, etc, but I know for sure now that I will have to get a stronger engine.

I kept the OD off, but I had to keep the gas pedal 1/2 down just to maintain 45 mph on flat ground.

Maybe a late 90's 7.3 Diesel will be in my future?

I did not drop the drive line on the Town Car and towed it about 20 miles. I pulled the trans dip stick out as soon as we got home and it was just warm to the touch.

The fluid is kind of milky, I'm assuming because it is 17 years old and the car only has 50,000 miles and it was never hardly driven more than 2 blocks at a time since new.


I pulled the dip stick out on the F-150 and it was fairly hot, but not hotter than normal use.

A 300 six auto will pull a small car fine, but is taxed very heavily by the weight of a lrg car, such as a Town Car.

The truck has 88,000 miles.


A. The 97 on the way home
B. 97 home
C. 97 front seat- smells new
D. Rear
E. Damage


A...........B.............C.............D......... .E

[fastrace01]

The original tire that came on the 97. Tire was popped from crash. Rim appears OK?

I had an old car dolly, but just got a new one for safety.

My old car dolly is just too big and heavy.

[fastrace01]

Old car dolly

I let someone borrow it and they bent the pivot bump stops down on one side, so it pivots too much now.

I just got a new one for $1313 including the widest width in the industry, all new, heavy easy to service bearings, straps, LED lighting, spare tire, etc.

Used ones on Craigslist are $1200.

[W.V. Kelly]

Congratulations; a job well and safely done. I'd say the six did itself proud.
W. V. Kelly

That's a pretty neat dolly.

[mark95man]

Originally Posted by fastrace01

Old car dolly

I let someone borrow it and they bent the pivot bump stops down on one side, so it pivots too much now................

One of the many reasons why I do NOT let others use my stuff. I got so tired of getting my great tools/things returned damaged. Now if they replaced what they damaged, it would be different but never happened.

[fastrace01]

Yes Mark95man,

Exactly.

They didn't even bring it back, I had to go and get it, in fact I had to call the police to get it back, because the ones that had borrowed it from me sold it to an innocent man.

We just saw it in a yard on the way to go get it.

Well my new car dolly will not be loaned out what so ever.

I have been burned by so many and especially my own family.

I did the math and have lost.about $50,000 in loans, unpaid vehicles, even land that I have sold and "trusted" to family/friends.

You live and learn.

Their are two kinds of people. Givers and takers. I was a stupid blind person until the past few years. Looking back now I can see how people actually manulipated me out of assets and cash$$$$.

O well, now I'm 36 and I do still help people out some, like no more than $100 occasionally---and I will take you and buy the diapers and formula and I keep the receipt----, now I know that $150 for formula and diapers was for cigarettes and alcohol.

They conned me out of $2500 for one of my cousins-- she needed a treatment. She was 5 and had cancer. They told me that she had no insurance, and I believed it because neither parent works, and needed medicine. I gave them the money.
My aunt told me years later that the kid had 100% of everything paid for by medicaid. See how stupid I was.

[Drake_tr7]

I just had a similar situation end this past weekend. Amazing to see how they act when you call em out on it

[TCPete]

People can suck.

Congrats on the 'new' car!

Pete

[mark95man]

Family? My Dad passed away in 1969 while I was overseas in the Army-got caught in a bad draft in 1967. When I arrived home, I found my sister took my mother's diamond ring as Mom didn't need it anymore as her husband was dead. My brother wanted Dad's car as Dad couldn't use it anymore. All took place in the HOSPITAL moments after my Father died. They also wanted two thirds of his Estate. That's what I walked into and STOPPED in a heart beat.

Families are fine until a death takes place, then the fighting for $$ is in full progress. My wife, son, daughter & I cared for my mother for over 20years. After her passing we relocated and I'll have nothing to do with what was once called my family. All of Mom's stuff was donated to charity. I used all of her $$$ + mine for her care. Money well SPENT!

AND many thanks for the cards, letters and packages you DIDN'T send me while I was overseas in the Army.

My venting is now completed--sorry for that!

[mark95man]

fastrace01 RE: "See how stupid I was" NO, you were not stupid just inexperienced with con-artists. You'll remember what took place and learned from it. Money is the route of all evil, they say. But you found a better way by purchasing what was needed and not giving money to fuel their desires.

For them, I say THANK YOU!

[fastrace01]

Yes Mark95man,

It seem from my experience from working in the funeral home and currently in a very busy ICU in a hospital, that typically one child(adult 50-60's) will usually just be doing the right thing for "Mother".

The other kids cleaned Mother out years ago and have not been active in caring, or helping to finance her care.

Of course those other kids suddenly show up and are acting overly emotional and concerned about Mother. Then when talk of raising the $8,500 for her funeral gets brought up, those other kids suddenly have a major emergency back home and are on a flight away to fix that busted water line that is flooding the house, per the emergency call from the neighbors.

Also medicaid/medicare will let Mother keep like $20.00? A month, up to a total cash of $2,000, once the other kids draw all that money out and take " Mother's" rings-they are gone.

I saw this all the time.

In the funeral home, say the father died in 1994 and then Mother went ahead and paid for both funerals, hers and his, then years later the one daughter became POA over Mother and came down to the funeral home and canceled the prefunded service and got the $8,200 out. They could legally do this if the contract wasn't irrevocable and 98% were not.

We'd, as funeral directors would hint at what are the plans for "Mother" now, and that daughter, with a grin ear to ear and a check for $8,200 made out to her in her left hand, would say, "just let the County pay to burn the old Bit*h when she dies".

Then the day the POA daughter wiped out all the other assets, the Daughter dumps Mother off in the drive way of one of the kids like you, Mark95man.

If it wasn't for kids like you, Mark95man, lots of elderly would simply be shouved in a medicaid nursing home bed and basically starve to death, or die from bed sore infections gone septic.

As long as at least one child maintains a presence at the nursing home, the staff will attempt to take better care of "Mother".

Total feeders, residents who can't hold a fork and feed themselves, will starve to death in a few months.

The skeleton crew CNA's have 40 residents to feed each and only 1 hour to do it before baths start.

It typically isn't the CNA's fault, but greedy for profit management/ownership of the facility. Of course 98% of family members will always blame the CNA, or in a restaurant setting, they blame the waiter's, they don't notice that she is waiting on 30 busy tables. I'd still tip, but complain to the manager who just sent 3 waiters home 1 hour ago because, "it was slow at the time " and doesn't want to call them back in because then they'd have to pay them call back pay.

Thank you Mark95man for your care of your Mother and for your service to our Country.

[Newave Dave]

I find it great how the threads on this site can wander. LOVE of money is the root of ALL KINDS of evil. I would still rather not be the person in the above examples that is doing the taking. Good character is a very valuable asset in today's world. Usually takers don't prosper much.

[fastrace01]

Yes these threads are no different than meeting someone at Wal Mart and talking. We might start off talking and looking at his amazing pristine Dk Blue 79 Collectors Series, them he might tell me that it was his wife's car and she died in 1982 of cancer.

Next we are talking about his 4 grand kids and his daughter that is on hospice from cancer.

Of course at this point of the conversation it is apparently very clear that the old man is very lonely and fearful of loosing his daughter.

Maybe he drove the 79 just to capture attention in a parking lot to just talk to a refreshing stranger?

Next thing we are talking about corn gas and how bad it is on the older cars that are not driven but a few times per year?

This 79 Collectors encounter really happened to me a few years ago.

I enjoy a "living" thread.

Of course if I'm seeking help on a very specific technical topic, of course I really may only have time to read the more technical info post and might skim over the friendly conversation post.
We are all wonderful humans on this site.

I really enjoy everyone, especially the regulars.

The only way we get to know each other somewhat is not by the instructions on changing a blend door, but it is the little things that we add over the years into the post.

I wish we could all have a meet in like Las Vagus every three years.

It would be so neat.

Enjoy your day everyone.

[mark95man]

Yes, some of us do stray from the topic. But we do end up writing about cars.

Now for my unasked question:

What are the plans for this 97 TC?

Will it be a parts car or rebuilt with a replacement front clip? Your wrecked 97 TC looks like the interior is great. I'll assume the front frame has some minor damage. Just too nice as I hope there are rebuilding plans.

[fastrace01]

I wish we could rebuild it, it really isn't damaged as bad as it looks and with only 50,000 one owner elderly miles stored in climate controlled basement since new.

That explanes the original intake still looking brand new.

Even the transmission pan looks brand new as with the underside of the engine.

The interior smells brand new.

No we have to scrap it.

The title is "parts only", so we will/are going to part it out starting not this weekend, but next weekend.

It is an early 97, so its rear light bar does light up.

It even came with two peanut remotes that both still work.

I hate to scrap it, but I have no choice.

The wife is about 70 pounds. Big heavy husband died as soon as they bought it, so the interior has virtually zero wear.

Rear differential cover looks brand new.

BTW the wife, owner of this Town Car, got a slightly used GMQ ultimate, but was only going to drive for a few more months, till she hit her 95th birthday and she didn't renew her driver's license, so now a mint 2011 GMQ Ultimate sits where this Town Car once lived.

Maybe someday I will buy her GMQ. It is beautiful and has the top half of the steering wheel is wooden.

I know her son very good and the family did own the biggest funeral home in my area until 1998 when they boys sold it when the dad died.

Also this blue 97 Town Car had the chrome wheels, of course I put them on my 95 last October. Of course it came with a full size chrome spare tire and it is on my 95.

[Michael VII LSC/SE]

So what percentage of a titled car would you have to swap into the 97 to put it back on the road?

Otherwise that interior would sure look nice in a Police interceptor with Monochromatic paint treatment.

[AC75]

Originally Posted by fastrace01

I wish we could rebuild it, it really isn't damaged as bad as it looks and with only 50,000 one owner elderly miles stored in climate controlled basement since new.

That explanes the original intake still looking brand new.

Even the transmission pan looks brand new as with the underside of the engine.

The interior smells brand new.

No we have to scrap it.

The title is "parts only", so we will/are going to part it out starting not this weekend, but next weekend.

It is an early 97, so its rear light bar does light up.

It even came with two peanut remotes that both still work.

I hate to scrap it, but I have no choice.

The wife is about 70 pounds. Big heavy husband died as soon as they bought it, so the interior has virtually zero wear.

Rear differential cover looks brand new.

BTW the wife, owner of this Town Car, got a slightly used GMQ ultimate, but was only going to drive for a few more months, till she hit her 95th birthday and she didn't renew her driver's license, so now a mint 2011 GMQ Ultimate sits where this Town Car once lived.

Maybe someday I will buy her GMQ. It is beautiful and has the top half of the steering wheel is wooden.

I know her son very good and the family did own the biggest funeral home in my area until 1998 when they boys sold it when the dad died.

Also this blue 97 Town Car had the chrome wheels, of course I put them on my 95 last October. Of course it came with a full size chrome spare tire and it is on my 95.

Don't forget I'm looking for a cheap EATC!