Signing Off

I’m back! But unfortunately, only for this post. For the few of you who have bothered to visit this site, I want to officially sign off and give a conclusion rather than just disappearing. My absence here has been well over a year, and I do apologize. It’s pretty clear I’ve drifted away from blogging though my interest in cars is still strong as many changes have happened shown below. Ironically, the 2014 Lexus I was excited to share in my previous post has already been sold to make room for my new daily and a new restoration project. I’ve also since sold the Mazda 6 “S”. If you wish to still follow my adventures, I remain active on Instagram and I elaborate more on the additions to the garage @pawelasgarage.

I wish everyone the best, and from the bottom of my heart a very big thank you for stopping by, commenting, and contributing to some of my craziness here.

Cheers!

And for a few photos. As of December, 2021 my current collection is as follows:

• 1991 Ford F-250 XLT Lariat Diesel 5spd – Purchased in February, 2021 as a restoration project which is nearly complete. 151,000 original miles
• 1998 Ford SVT Contour – Still going strong @ 141,000 miles
• 2004 Mazda 6 i – Still going strong @ 206,100 miles
• 2021 Tesla Model 3 Long Range – 8,410 miles. Replaced 2014 Lexus IS350 and 2004 Mazda 6 “S”

Once again, thank you and see you around!

New Addition to the Garage: 2014 Lexus IS 350 RWD

Either I’m growing up or I’ve completely lost my marbles. Yes, you read that title correct: I’ve added another car to the fleet which will be slowly taking over the daily driving duties. Welcome to my 2014 Lexus IS 350 F-Sport RWD in Obsidian.

When it comes to cars, I tend to get caught up in my own little world and forget to tell friends and family what I’m up to. Showing up with this Lexus certainly caught a lot of people by surprise. More shocking, I’ve surrendered to the two-pedal lifestyle?! As Lexus no longer offers a manual transmission option on their IS, automatic was my only way to go. But why Lexus?

My search criteria for a replacement daily was simple: V6, premium, Japanese, that wasn’t Infiniti. That left Acura and Lexus. While I adored my Acura TL 6spd I briefly owned, the J37 V6 was a little too troublesome to get into again. It consumed oil almost as badly as my Mazda, and it had an insistent pinging issue which seems to plague many Acuras of this era if you live in a region with dry heat. I would love a TLX A-spec, but that is far from my budget. I then turned to the 2nd generation Lexus IS 250 6spd, the last generation a manual transmission was offered. One I was able to sample felt slower than any of my other cars and the transmission felt sloppy. No bueno. I did like everything else about it though. Long story short, I decided the 3rd generation IS 350 was the one to hunt for. I wanted one in Obsidian black, rear wheel drive, Mark Levinson sound, navigation and in budget. Months of casually searching the web within a 2,000 mile radius returned nothing. Despite being a fairly popular seller, I was surprised that these were quite hard to find compared to the more affordable IS 250.

With some patience though, one popped up in San Antonio, TX which fit the bill nicely. It was at an independent used car dealer which was very accommodating in performing the transaction over the phone.

To take delivery, I booked a Southwest one-way flight to San Antonio on Friday, August 23rd, 2019. Flying always gives me the heebee-geebees, but this turned out the be the most economical and efficient way of getting there to sign the papers. Here I am arriving at the airport at 4:30am. No lines!

Up and away!

Arrived in San Antonio in just over an hour. Driving would have been nearly 9hrs!

I took an Uber to the dealer where they were expecting me. Mike, the owner, pulled the Lexus out from the back for my inspection and also handed me the keys to take for a solo test drive.

This car was by no means perfect. Headlights were oxidized, paint was in need of correction and treatment, steering wheel leather torn, but the rest of the car was sound. Worked out for me since I didn’t want a pristine example where I’d be afraid to drive it. All of these little details are easily fixed and gave me haggling power. What I really liked was this was a one-owner example, always serviced by a Lexus dealer and the miles were mostly highway.

The rest of the exterior was clean.

Mileage was just under 100,000, but you couldn’t tell from the solidity and smoothness. I decided it was a keeper so I headed back to sign the final papers. Here’s the official key hand off.

Beginning mileage of my ownership:

My first order of business was calling up the nearby Lexus Dominion dealer to see if they could get me in for an oil change. I had no idea what kind of oil was in this thing, so I rather have peace of mind on the long drive home. Luckily, I was able to get an appointment. On my way, I had to snap a pic of the San Antonio’s postage stamp mural

Arriving at North Park Lexus at Dominion. The Dominion is a northwest suburb of San Antonio where this car had been serviced since day one.

Pulling into the service bay.

This dealer was pretty snazzy with a free Starbucks bar, special Lexus café and they even had a resident masseuse!

A loaner Lexus NX was offered to me while they performed their services, so I took the opportunity to grab lunch.

After getting fresh oil and a clean bill of health, I headed towards home on I-10.

I always enjoy the adventure of buying a car far from home and driving back while learning about the features and quirks. After spending 4+ years in early 2000-era cars, it was nice to have some modern amenities.

Bluetooth audio, navigation, smart key access were all missed from my TL. It was sure nice to have those again.

First fill up!

Some west Texas landscape. Lots of rain greeted me which in turn, got the Obsidian black paint nice and dirty.

The Lexus provided a graceful, yet firm ride and very comfortable seats. I’m already envisioning some enjoyable long road trips in this thing.

Arriving in New Mexico for the first time…at least in my hands.

I opted to not take the direct route home so I could test some back roads around Carlsbad and Roswell, NM.

I grabbed a Roswell hotel room for the night.

The next day, I took my time getting home by thoroughly enjoying central New Mexico landscape.

Arriving home!

I promptly took care of a few cosmetic details that were bugging me.

Some nasty swirls I’ll take care of in the future months with a good detail.

The biggest eyesore to me were these oxidized headlights. I went ahead and did a few passes of compound to get them more presentable.

I’m also not a fan of pin striping, so that had to go as well. This stuff was a challenge to get off as it was painted on rather than your typical vinyl application. A little wet sanding was needed in some areas, but eventually I got it all off.

Much cleaner.

While I had the Lexus in the garage, I took some time to sit and learn the features and infotainment interface that I couldn’t do while driving. I was surprised to find that this can play DVDs as long as you’re parked.

The next detail was to replace the worn steering wheel. Rather than attempting to repair it, I figured it was best to swap in a factory wheel in better condition.

I was able to purchase a clean one from a really cool YouTuber, Jason Nguyen.

Here’s the complete video of him upgrading to his carbon fiber wheel.

 

Following his process of removing the wheel was actually much easier than I thought…though still nerve-racking.

His original wheel installed and fully functional. Made a huge improvement to the interior!

Now, cleaning up those nasty exhaust tips which probably weren’t touched since the car was new. I had to bring out the sandpaper again to get the grime off.

Before

After

That completes the updates for now. Here’s to many new adventures in the Lexus!

New Metallic Epoxy Garage Floor

Big changes have been happening at the garage. This year, my goal was to transform the garage from top to bottom. While the recessed lights made a huge impact in the look and feel, there was (and still is) plenty to do.

Even replacing the exposed shelving with cabinets and adding the workbench didn’t do much to hide the worst part of the garage…the floor.

I hadn’t touched this floor since moving into the house back in 2014. The condition was awful. Lots of cracks,  delamination, chipping and 20+ years of oil stains were really apparent.

I have to admit, my cars have added to the mess. A lot of those dots of oil are from the gray 6.

How the floor looked even when swept and hosed down.

So, this summer I finally pulled the trigger and hired a local contractor to finish this last component of the showroom garage.

I hired Custom Concrete Coatings, LLC of Las Cruces to complete a 3-part metallic epoxy called, “Dolphin” with “titanium” mixed in. Then, everything was top coated with polyaspartic for added protection. The entire process took just over a week which included curing and drying times. Here’s the base/primer coat applied after a thorough grinding on the floor.

Here’s the second part with the metallic color.

And finally the top clear coat with polyaspartic.

When the floor was completed, cure times were 24-48hrs for the polyaspartic before I could drive on it. I chose to wait 48hrs to ensure the top coat hardened properly. Poor cars had to brave the sizzling summer sun for the week.

Before lugging the washer and dryer back in, I finished off the back wall with new baseboards.

All the junk back in. Note I also added a TV for those late night car detail jobs.

First car on the new floor!

A week later, I continued the baseboards throughout and added a little bling with some LED lights.

Baseboards installed.

Lights installed and tested! Amazon provided the LED rope lights and I covered them with a frosted lens to diffuse the light.

The space is starting to look a little more presentable now. I would do this flooring again, but I have a few notes to mention for those considering going this route:

• The floor gets VERY slippery when wet. The glossy surface may look great dry, but when wet, there’s nothing to provide traction for those sneakers.
• It readily shows dirt and shoe prints. I quickly learned that I had to care and clean for this flooring like the laminate inside the house.
• It’s not ding and scratch proof. If you drop a hammer, most likely it will leave a small chip or scuff.

Despite the few drawbacks, I have zero regrets.

To complete the moment, I cleaned up the existing displays and flags I have on the walls. I saved some space for future additions, though I’m not entirely sure what those will be yet.

That wraps up the garage transformation for now. Long term additions will be some sort of sound system and HVAC control.

Side Fence

I’ve had a few people ask me, “Where’s the gray 6 staying now?” Sadly, since the addition of the Contour, I had to move this to the side of the house that’s just barely wide enough to park a few cars in tandem. This is where it sits for now.

I’ve been meaning to add shade and privacy here. Though the sun’s intensity isn’t that bad on this north side of the house, I still would like some shelter. I’m almost finished with the first phase of this project…addressing the privacy issue by building a 6-ft horizontal cedar fence.

The next phase will be attaching a sun sail from the soffit of the house to this fence. Once that’s installed, I won’t be on pins and needles when we get those 1/4inch hail storm warnings.

That brings us to a conclusion for now. Thank you all for stopping by!

Zoom-to-200: 15 Years and 200,000 Miles

Let’s take a little trip back in time: It’s 2004 – Shrek 2 is making 919.8 million in the box office, Usher’s, “Yeah!” is the top song; and George W. Bush is re-elected president. I’m in my second year of college and grandma and grandpa want to buy a new car. A full detailed story of that is here. We purchased a new Mazda 6 “i” 5-speed in Pebble Ash Metallic on August 3, 2004. This was in Farmington, NM at Performance Mazda/Mitsubishi/Suzuki. Fast forward 15 years to this day (8/3/04 – 8/3/19), and I take this car back to the same dealer where I also roll 200,000 miles.

I realize cars achieve 200,000 miles everyday, and it doesn’t necessarily warrant a big fuss. But wait, this might catch your attention: Our Mazda 6 has achieved this milestone with the original motor, transmission, clutch and even the original brakes. Yes, those brake pads are the same ones that left the factory in 2004. There have been no unscheduled repairs and all the body panels are original…even the headlight lenses. Good proof here that anyone who doubts high mileage cars can do this with regular maintenance and care. Don’t be afraid. We are in a new era where planned obsolescence hasn’t fully reached cars yet. At least mainstream cars.

Let’s get on with the milestone. This event took careful planning. Trying to get to 200,000 miles on a specific day is harder than you’d think. Regardless, I was up for the challenge. I marketed this little event, #zoomto200.

I was able to have a few friends accompany me on this milestone, Tyson and James. With a little coordinating, we agreed to meet in Farmington, NM the weekend of August 3rd.

My route took an easy 6 hours. Tyson and James had a little more ground to cover coming from Phoenix, AZ.

Prior to my departure from Las Cruces, NM, I applied this product called, Track Armour which is essentially a temporary clear bra to protect the front end from bugs, stones and other debris. Since I had a good 400+ miles to cover and didn’t want to worry about washing, I thought this would be a good solution to ensure the 6 arrived somewhat clean.

On the road again!

Mileage at 199,519.

Knowing that I’d have a surplus of miles, I chose to go the long way via Highway 371. Stop of fuel, snacks, then proceeded onward.

Highway 371 is about as lonely as you can get in New Mexico.

I arrived later that evening in Farmington right at 199,900 miles. Oof! That isn’t going to cut it since the milestone was the next morning.

Doubt anyone with even a modicum of common sense would do this, but I turned around and headed in the opposite direction to burn miles. It was nearing 10 pm by this time. The blurry quality of this photo reflects my determination to get those miles close to what I needed.

Finally, I got to where I needed and came back to the hotel for the night where Tyson and James arrived shortly after.

I removed the Track Armour and was very pleased with the protection it provided even with a few rain showers.

The next morning after hitting the continental breakfast buffet, we headed straight to the dealership for the big event. The dealer stopped carrying Mazda and was renamed in 2010 to Hi Country Mitsubishi/Kia, but the building and lot remains the same as it was in 2004.

To keep the nostalgia going, I installed the temp tag from 2004.

And here we go…200,000 miles!

Next on the agenda was to recreate the ramp photo. Compare 2004 to 2019…

Very minor changes such as removal of the front plate bracket, OEM spoiler added as well as the chrome accessory wheels. Everything else remains the same on this car.

Here’s a vlog post of Tyson’s that sums up the experience.

Next, we headed back south on 371 to explore the “Bisti / De-Na-Zin” Wilderness, just 30 miles from Farmington. This rolling landscape of badlands features some desolate, very unusual scenery. Perfect for a little nature adventure.

In interest in preserving my 6, I parked it at the entrance and hitched a ride with James in his press Toyota Highlander as we attacked the rutted dirt roads leading into the badlands.

Tyson’s ILX in its other natural habitat.

Better plan to bring snacks and water, because there aren’t any facilities out here.

Group shot of James, me and Tyson.

Another successful road trip in the books. My garage floor update is coming up next!

2019 PNW Contour Group Annual Meet

I’m at it again…tossing my suitcase in the trunk and hitting the open road across the country in an old hooptie — with a AAA card handy.

This time though, things are a little different. I’m going to a car meet. I’ve been a member of many car clubs over the years (Bimmer Forums, ZHP Mafia, Club RSX, Drive Accord, Acurazine, Mazda6 Forums, NPORA-Nissan Pathfinder off-road Association…to name a few), but I’ve never attended any of their annual meets. Proximity, time and frankly, interest have gotten in the way of me making the jump.

Ever since the PNW Contour Group reached out to me earlier this year, I’ve been hooked and never met a nicer group of folks. This is one meet I’ll try out. It was going to be hosted in Portland, Oregon, and that was just the ticket I needed to get away from the summer heat.

So, I hopped in the creaky old Ford and set out on a 3,500 mile drive to the Pacific Northwest. Aside from taking delivery in Colorado earlier this year, I haven’t had the Contour on the road for such a long journey. This would be a good test of the 21 year old cooling system in addition to all the other parts I’m unaware of their originality. Some call it crazy, some adventurous. I’d leave it as living on the edge. My route was as follows:

Maintenance and repairs for the Contour have luckily been minimal thanks to the care it’s received in the past. I’ve only had to change out the transmission fluid, recharge the A/C system, alignment, tires, and resurface the brake rotors. All my other costs have been largely cosmetic. In anticipation of this annual meet, I made sure every inch of this car was as clean as it could get and what’s left of the original paint polished and sealed.

The rear bumper needed a little buffing as the clearcoat on my DIY job hadn’t retained the luster it had. I might have to have this professionally resprayed at some point. This should hold me over for now.

The interior, though a little warped and brittle from 21 years of sun exposure, cleaned up pretty nice.

And I managed to stow everything in the trunk leaving the backseat clean and clear. This stash even included two buckets full of detailing supplies and some random car parts I planned to give away at the meet.

I hit the road on a Wednesday afternoon and planned to return the following week around the same time. This meant a fairly tight schedule of only two days driving to Portland and two days back. That was an average of 800 miles/12hrs a day. You never realize how big our country is until attempting stuff like this. My stops along the way were minimal as I’ve been on this route many times in the past.

Colorado state line

Utah state line

Things started greening up near Price Canyon, UT.

Welcome to Idaho!

I’ve seen this road many times in the past, but never tire of the lovely grassy hills of southern Idaho.

First night’s stop in Twin Falls, ID. All my work on detailing the exterior went out the door due to rain showers outside of Price, UT. No biggie, that’s where those detailing supplies will eventually be handy.

Next day, a short stop to view the Snake River Canyon.

This is the I.B. Perrine Bridge which hangs over the Snake River. At 486 feet above the canyon floor, it’s a popular location or adrenaline junkies to jump off with parachutes.

View of the Snake River from under the bridge.

Several hours later, I finally arrived in Oregon!

I was impressed by the determination of this little Contour. Not one issue so far. I was getting a solid 27 MPG on premium fuel even with steady 80 MPH speeds and the A/C constantly blowing.

Driving along the Columbia River with Mt. Hood in the distance.

Arrived in Portland. The meet was going to take place here at the Hilton Garden Inn near the airport.

As I arrived a day early, first order of business was cleaning off the grime I accumulated over the last two days. The plan was to complete some photo ops prior to attending the actual meet on Sunday. A quick Google search for a credit card friendly, self-serve car wash led me to one about seven miles over the river to Vancouver, WA. Check out that insect homicide scene!

This is where bringing my own detail supplies came into play. I only utilized the high pressure water.

Dinner at Shari’s where I gorged in breakfast for dinner…a chicken fried steak with eggs.

The following day was going to be mine to explore. The boys had an autocross event 90 miles away, but since I have neither the reaction time or any desire to put that kind of stress on the Contour, I chose to head west and enjoy the PNW in all its glory. Here’s a photo one of the members sent me. I have to admit, I did feel like I was missing out!

However, I did have the beach and rain forests calling my name, so I proceeded with the plan.

I caught highway 26 leading out of Portland to Seaside.

Entering rain forest territory. This is what makes this desert boy happy.

Short hike on the Four County Point Trail.

Then, I drove until I ran out of land. This is Sunset beach outside of Seaside, OR where I’ve taken my Accord and Mazda6 for similar photo shoots. Now, it was the Contour’s turn.

Of course, who could resist a few little innocent donuts in the sand?

Lunch was in Seaside at Ruby’s Roadside Grill. I tried their albacore tuna fillet melt which was out of this world!

After my day of clowning around the beach and trails, I headed back to Portland where the gang was starting to trickle in for the night. We had a roped off parking area behind the hotel. This was my first time meeting everyone in person, and I couldn’t have asked for a more warm welcoming.

A look from my hotel window as I was winding down for the evening.

The morning of the official meet. Many of us were out at the crack of dawn vacuuming, polishing, dusting, and staging our cars. I live for this kind of stuff.

Some minty seats I bought off a fellow member to eventually replace a few of mine that are pretty well weathered.

This silver beauty next to me belongs to JD out of Phoenix, AZ. What are the chances we share the same vanity plates?!

Alex (in blue) had his car featured in The Smoking Tire SVT Contour review

All polished up and ready. See that gent in the cowboy hat? That’s Greg from California. He’s a proud owner of 11 Contours! Much respect.

Some of the interiors were pretty wild. This SVT had the dash and console swapped from a Mercury Mystique to add a touch of luxury.

Fully decked out here with red pipping, carbon fiber, and Momo steering wheel just to name a few…

Next item on the itinerary, we headed indoors to our reserved conference room.

A lot of action in here. This is where t-shirts were distributed, member story presentations given, raffles, awards, behind-the-scenes of the club and a game of Jeopardy!

T-shirts.

Chicken fajita buffet for lunch.

Back outside for voting.

Hoods up if you want consideration for best engine bay award. I left mine down.

Rearranging the cars for a group photo.

Photo credit here: Alexander Davis

Totally unexpected, but I managed to bring home two awards, Best Exterior and Farthest Traveled.

Going Home:

The meet was over around 3:30 pm which provided ample time to gain some ground for that night’s scheduled stop in Baker City, OR. I then continued on the same route where I’d spend the last night in Green River, UT.

Quick stop for lunch with my buddy Josh in Bosie, ID.

Views near Moab, UT

I tried something different for my last night on the road in Green River. I swapped the comfy hotel accommodations for a more primitive, yet charming KOA cabin.

Good thing I brought my own blankets and pillow! Luckily, KOAs and most other camp grounds have wifi these days. My sanity was preserved.

Back in New Mexico!

Continental Divide at 7,275 feet above sea level.

Last leg of the journey.

Home safe and sound! Aside from having to add a little oil, the Contour was very well behaved on the trip. It didn’t skip a beat even with some 100+ degree heat, heavy cross winds, rain, bumper-to-bumper traffic in Salt Lake City, or steep inclines I encountered. Thank you for coming along for the ride. Notice a little garage preview here of what’s to come in the next post. Stay tuned!

Breaking Bad, Ford Roundup and Garage Lighting

I’m back at it finding old Breaking Bad filming locations. This particular location is the first “cook” site in Season 1 and the many action-packed scenes in Season 5. Finding this location is a bit tricky as it sits on Indian reservation land in a remote area only accessible by dirt roads. After some digging around the internet, I found the approximate area northwest from Tohajiilee, NM (about 46 miles west of Albuquerque). So, I set about scouting in the freshly detailed Mazda 6.

As I’ve seen the Breaking Bad series quite a few times, it was easy to spot the landmarks. Found it!

Those of you who’ve watched the show know this is a very popular scene.

Here’s my try.

I was a little off lining up this one.

Walter White’s Chrysler vs. the Mazda 6

Road leading to the “cook” site.

Never hurts to flex the suspension a bit. Luckily I didn’t get stuck in sand. No cell reception or other vehicles for miles could have been bad.

Ford Roundup

Back in April (2019), I participated in my first ever local car show, the 16th Annual Ford Roundup. This was hosted by the Alamogordo Mustang Club and all American made cars were welcome to attend. Aside from a newer Buick Regal GS hatchback, I probably had the smallest displacement of the bunch. Lots of fun overall and quite a few spectators were amused by the Contour. I had two different groups: those who said they hadn’t seen an SVT Contour in person, and those who didn’t have any idea what it was. More photos can be found here.

I spent an entire day prepping for this show. Cleaning, Hoovering, dusting and polishing to try and get the Contour decent looking. By request of some readers, here’s some interior shots.

Forgot to mention earlier, I had the roof resprayed.

Here she is in the show with my homemade display sign.

Other photos from the show…

These folks next to me won the prize for best 1990-2000 in the show. Well deserved as their ’99 GT with 30,000 original miles was concours-ready despite traveling from Amarillo, TX.

In other Contour news, I took it in for its first oil change since it’s been in my possession. “Where did you find this?!!” from the service advisor. I also had them recharge the A/C and do a through inspection. All should be good now for Portland in July!

Also got the wheels refinished as the factory clear coat was pretty much all worn off.

Now, I can say the exterior is about as good as it’s going to get within budget.

Garage Updates

One major garage upgrade that was long overdue is lighting. This photo that was taken shortly after I moved into the house shows how much of a joke the single light fixture was. I can’t believe the builders considered this sufficient. I’ve gotten by over the years with plug-in halogen shop lights and headlamps for working on the cars or detailing. This year though, enough was enough. I needed to fix this.

Lots of research went into what type of lighting I should use. The first consideration was my overall intension for the garage. Am I going to make this into a mini-showroom or workshop? Two completely different lighting needs there. As I often do, I made things more difficult for myself and decided the goal was to have a mixture of the two. Track lighting would provide some dramatic effects, but not so useful in detailing or working on cars. Fluorescent fixtures seemed to be the best choice overall, but wouldn’t give the premium feel I was after. Final choice, 6″ recessed LED lighting.

Many hours of research went into how one does this retrofit himself. The process ended up being pretty simple, just time consuming and frustrating working with what little light I had available.

The efforts paid off in the end. Let there be light!

Next, the back wall needed a facelift.

I added some wood planks to an accent wall to give some warmth and visual interest.

Then I swapped the shelves with cabinets to avoid a cluttered look.

Lastly (at least for this post), I made a small workbench and added a pegboard.

This is how it looks today. I already made an appointment for an epoxy floor coating in June and later down the line I may add some sort of sound system with speakers in the wall. Stay tuned!

Pacific Northwest 2019 Planning

If any of you follow this blog somewhat closely, you’ll find that I’m a big fan of the Pacific Northwest. The plethora of thick, green rain forests and majestic coastline are pure bliss to me. I haven’t been here since 2016 when I was on my way back from Alaska. I’m overdue a trip. This year, I had a little push to go as a result of joining a great group of Contour enthusiasts, the Pacific Northwest (PNW) Contour Group.

The admin, Satya, reached out to me shortly after my YouTube video posted and since then, I’ve connected with some really great guys. Thanks to these connections, I’ve been able to source some rare and discontinued parts for the Contour as well as gain some very useful technical knowledge. This group hosts annual meets/drives and this year will be their 5th anniversary meet in Portland. When I was invited, there was no hesitancy in planning for the 4,000 mile drive to attend. Here are a few photos from their past events.

I am amazed of the cult following these Contours (and twin Mercury Mystique’s) have. A lot of the internet forums have become a bit stale, however social media groups are still very much alive and have members ranging from ages 16 to 60. The PNW Contour group is one of the newest groups and they include owners from all over the west side of the country. I definitely like the culture.

You may find it surprising that despite my interest in cars and connecting with  enthusiasts, I’ve never participated in a car meet or show. Ever. This should be fun. So in July, I will be taking the old Contour to Portland for its first ever long journey to meet the guys and get my “fix” for some PNW scenery.

Restoration Updates:

I’m getting the Contour cleaned up little by little and this July drive is going to push things along a bit. I recently booked an appointment to get the roof resprayed and the PDR (paintless dent removal) to remove the hail damage has been completed. For that job, I took it to Eric Truster of Dent Specialties of El Paso, TX. As old and brittle as the interior trim pieces are, he managed to disassemble everything and pull down the headliner to gain access to the roof without one scratch or broken tab. That’s why I call him the “wizard.”

The 21 year old paint is quite fragile, so Eric used his special techniques to heat the surface up to get the paint pliable enough for all the pushing and pulling of the sheet metal.

The entire job took a little over a week and now all the body panels are free of dents as they should be!

Next update is my rear bumper DIY work. No signs of cracking or bubbling, so we might be good to go for a while. I wet-sanded the new clear coat a tad, then compounded to level it all out to match the factory finish. So much better than before.

Next, I repaired and tightened up the bolts on the the rocker panels as best I could. I also sourced some used jack point covers that I had to paint. Unfortunately, the color isn’t an exact match, but it should hold me over until I can find some factory painted Toreador Red ones.

Before (pardon the filth):

After:

Now on to a little detail which I’m very pleased with. When I first drove this car home, I noticed some sticker remnants on the windshield’s passenger side. It was clearly old and looked bad and it bugged me. However, as this windshield is original to the car, it must have been something somewhat significant, so I held back on cleaning it off until I found out what it was. A bit of research online revealed it used to be the assembly plant sticker Ford would include on all their new vehicles. After finding this particular model came from the Kansas City assembly plant, I sent off a letter to Ford requesting a replacement if that could be done. A few weeks later, one came in the mail!

I’m glad I didn’t clean off the old one as it served as a template.

As of now, I’m doing repairs on the sunroof motor to try and get that working as well as source a replacement driver’s visor. I’m going to have to look into the A/C soon too as it doesn’t seem to be working.

Interview with the 1st Owner:

Around the same time I sent the letter to Ford, I also sent a note to the original owner of the Contour in hopes I could hear his story. I had the address and phone number on old service records. The phone number ended up being a dead end, so sending a letter was going to be my last try. I introduced myself, included some recent photos of the car and asked if he’d be willing to contact me. To my surprise, I got a call! I was thrilled and even though the conversation lasted less than ten minutes, I got all the info I was looking for and quickly realized that this car had been well cared for. Here are some notes from the conversation:

• Bought new in 1997 for $24k
• Had engine rebuilt around 100,000 miles from a rod bearing going bad (common issue)
• Original alternator
• Original transmission
• Original power steering
• Original radiator
• Clutch replaced with performance unit while engine was out…not needed but replaced anyway
• Replaced fuel pump
• Had no idea when the hail damage happened
• Garage kept, but in the sun during week days at work
• Majority of miles were local to Ft. Collins and Denver
• Wife daily drove it from new (very conservatively)
• Exhaust, headers and intake were upgraded around the time of the engine rebuild
• Sold because he had 6 vehicles
• Spent roughly $7,000 in maintenance, repairs and upgrades

I can’t imagine keeping one car for over 20 years, but I salute him for his dedication. That’s a wrap for now. Stay tuned as I’ll report back with some new announcements and festivities coming up. Drive on!

 

 

Bringing the Contour’s Paint Back to Life

Time to strap on the latex gloves and bring out the detailing gear on the Contour! As I pointed out in the last post, much of the car is in decent condition, and only needs a little superficial TLC to make it pop. That’s where I spent my energy these past few weeks. It’s been a long process, and I’m no where near finished. A few hours here and there after work is all I’ve been able to devote to this project. However, I’m seeing some good results.

First off, let’s talk about that flag you’ll be seeing in the background. Since there’s a Ford in the garage now, I found it fitting to get something for it.

Personalized plate arrived too!

Okay, now on to the paint. I first tackled the rear bumper. Aside from the roof, which I’ll get to in March or April, this is the biggest eye sore. I used my Porter Cable buffer with a yellow cutting pad and Meguiar’s Ultimate Cutting Compound followed by a black pad and polish. The paint here looked to be original with very heavy oxidation and bad clear coat failure at the very top. My plan of attack:

• Compound the entire bumper to take as much oxidation off as possible
• Level/sand down the blistered clear coat areas
• Spray paint the bad areas using a two-step process of base and top coats
• Compound again to blend and level it all out
• Finalize with Wolfgang polish and carnauba wax

The original plan was for a body shop take care of this while also doing the roof. However, the bumper is a little warped in some areas and there’s a small corner broken off that bugs me. I’m unsure if I’ll keep it or seek a replacement. So for now, I’m just doing a cheap fix. The above steps should hold me over for a year or so.

Even at the highest RPM on my buffer, this took some time to see decent results. Here’s a 50/50 shot.

I also attacked some of the quarter panels. These weren’t quite as intense. Still plenty of scratches to be removed.

Check out that shine and metallic flake! This is why I love Ford’s Toreador Red Metallic.

I also went down the driver’s side.

Though I plan to replace the current exhaust setup, I couldn’t let it go without a good cleaning too.

Examining the bumper in sunlight. You can see a tremendous improvement, though the failed clear coat is still apparent. Time to address that…

This is my first time doing a cheap rattle-can paint job, so the whole thing has been a learning experience. I first dry sanded the rough areas to ensure a smooth finish and good adhesion.

I then removed the bumper to see if I could improve the alignment and tighten the panel gaps. Doing this prior to painting would prevent the new paint from blistering from all the flexing and bending.

Back on the car with minimal improvements to the fitment. I emptied an entire 8oz can of Dupli-Color BFM0344 base coat and topped with another 8oz of Dupli-Color EBCL01257 clear. This is cheap stuff, but went on effortlessly.

The results as of this posting. There’s plenty of orange peel, but the color match is pretty spot on. I’m waiting for the appropriate cure time before hitting the whole thing with compound again. I’ll report back with the results.

You may notice that I extended the paint down pretty low to cover up the compounding job I just finished. That was to help with blending.

On another topic, I’ve been revamping my car record binders. Adding the Contour made me realize that a fresh, consistent look was needed. The gray 6’s binder was getting so full that I had to create a Volume II. With over 264,000 miles, those records really add up.

Here’s the Contour’s documentation and promotional material, some of which I’ve added. Not pictured here (from being hidden somewhere in storage) I have a VHS tape of the SVT Contour debut. That will be fun to find again though I won’t be able to play it. Anyone still have an old VHS player to loan?

I was able to find that video on Youtube (Warning: hardcore 90s content here). At 0:58, you can hear how aggressive it sounded even in stock form.

The first owner must have been an enthusiast as there were plenty of SVT news printouts. I’m also lucky enough to have the original sales contract.

Given my new branding of, “Pawela’s Garage”, it was time to give the old garage a little love too.

New artwork and displays on the east wall. Next on the list will be performing lighting upgrades.

And included with those displays, I added window stickers for each car. Both the Mazda’s needed to be recreated which I painstakingly did in Adobe Illustrator.

Though the attention as been mostly on the Contour, the Mazda’s aren’t forgotten.

Sunset shot of the daily…

And the “i” got a bath to clear away the dust. I’ve only driven this 200 miles within the past 3 months.

That does it for now. Until next time!

New Purchase: 1998 Ford SVT Contour

I never thought I’d be saying “I bought” and “Ford” in the same sentence. Though I really like the Fords of the 80s and early 90s, I lost interest as they approached the late 90s and brought some atrocious examples of the Taurus, Escort, and F-series pickup. The ZX2, what the heck was that?! The only cars that didn’t offend that much were the Mustang and Contour. Yes, the Contour followed the oval trend, but it worked. At least in my mind. I’ve always admired the Contour since its debut in 1995 and told myself that I need to own a V6 with a 5-speed someday.

So, for several years I’ve kept a secret casually searching for a decent Contour. Specifically, a limited production SVT Contour. The like for the Contour turned into love when Ford introduced that SVT version. My admiration for this car began when I received this 1997 March issue of Car and Driver where a ’98 Toreador Red SVT Contour occupied the cover. I was only 11 years old at the time and yes, I still have this magazine.

My search for one was on and off. At times I’d religiously scour AutoTrader listings, Craigslist and nothing would pop up. Motivation would be lost and several months would go by before looking again. After I acquired my 2004 Honda Accord coupe, a really nice one showed up at my local Ford dealer, but it sold before I was even able to pick up the phone to ask about it.

To make my search more difficult, I was dead set on a 1998 model year in that sparkly Toreador Red Metallic—the same model Car and Driver tested. Very few of these are left and many have been beaten into the ground or modified beyond recognition. My search started up again after Thanksgiving (2018) and using a new-to-me site, AutoTempest, I found only two in the country. One had already sold in San Diego and the other was this in Loveland, CO.

Though it was a little rough around the edges, the bones of the car looked to be good and original aside from an upgraded exhaust and cold air intake. Carfax showed it had been in northern Colorado since day one. (That 3rd owner is me)

The car had 131,000 miles and had been with the seller, Zeke, for four months before posting to Craigslist. The first owner only drove an average of 6,200 miles a year, so we have a fairly low mileage example here. No accidents, no rust, clean title, I contacted the seller pronto before it got away. Fast forward a few days, and we had a gentleman’s agreement on a price, and a plan to meet in Pueblo, Colorado to take delivery.

SVT Background:

So, what’s the big deal on the SVT (Special Vehicle Team) Contour you might ask? This car seems to have two different groups of fans…those who love it and those who hate it. The love comes from being a limited production, small sport sedan with the European derived chassis. The hate comes from those who think it was pointless and not worthy of wearing an SVT badge.

Indeed, the SVT Contour was a bit of an odd one. Introduced in 1998 when the Contour received a mid-cycle refresh, it was aimed directly against European sport sedans, but had the appeal of a much lower price tag. However, it was still too expensive for many to justify buying a sporty midsized Ford. The cramped interior accommodations didn’t help either. At a little under $24,000 (~$37,000 in today’s dollars), it didn’t make sense. Ford ended production in 2000 and a total of 11,445 were made in the three year life span. SVT is to Ford back then what the “M” division is to BMW. The Team gave the regular, mundane Contour a revised version of the 2.5L V6 to push out 195hp and 165lbs ft of torque mated to a mandatory 5-speed manual. Other exclusive SVT goodies consisted of unique front, and rear fascias, special leather, white faced gauges, premium sound (yeah, right), more aggressive intake and exhaust, 16 inch alloy wheels, and a more aggressive suspension setup.

Taking Delivery:

So, here’s how I took delivery. I grabbed a one-way Hertz rental in Las Cruces and set off 500 miles to Pueblo, CO in the midst of a nasty winter storm covering most of New Mexico. What sane person wouldn’t buy a 21 year old Ford sight unseen and drive back in these conditions?

Luckily, most of the roadway was clear.

But was dang cold. -6˚F!!

Views from I-25 heading north out of Santa Fe, NM. Ice packed most of the way, but the Malibu rental handled it beautifully.

The route took me exclusively on I-25. Good thing since I’d have a better chance of getting rescued if anything were to happen. My confidence was there, but I didn’t want to be stupid either. My luggage was one large suitcase, but it wasn’t filled with what you’d expect. I stuffed a tool kit, first aid, blankets, extra cell phone battery packs, jackets, flash light, water and even duct tape and a hammer. Hey, you never know. I even shelled out the extra bucks for the rental insurance in case I banged up a fender sliding into a guardrail or something. You could say I was a little too paranoid or even expecting trouble, but I don’t have time for delays or…dying. Fortunately, I never had to open the suitcase.

Our meeting point was at Enterprise where Zeke would drive a rental back to Loveland about 180 miles away. Big thanks to him for taking the time and having trust to meet an idiot (me) who buys old cars sight unseen. Here we are signing the papers.

And the official key hand off!

I got me a Ford!

A quick examination around the car before heading back on the freeway revealed that this was a really clean example aside from some failed clearcoat on the roof and rear bumper cover. The interior was much better than I expected.

The official delivery mileage of 131,954

Off to New Mexico! The ride was stable, no wobble in the steering, clutch was smooth and the 2.5L had some good pep to it. I was feeling good about the purchase.

New Mexico state line.

By the time I was in Las Vegas, NM, it was time to fill up with 91 octane fuel. I started to make this Loves Travel Center my usual pit stop along the northern New Mexico I-25 corridor. 20 or so miles after refueling, I started to sense the car felt peppier. Just a gentle touch of the throttle gave instant results compared to when I first took delivery. Could it have been better fuel or the slight change in elevation? Or both? Who knows. I was pleased either way.

As darkness began to fall, it was time to switch on the headlights and see how they were. Not surprisingly, they were crap and I ended up having to use the high beams to see anything beyond five yards. The fog lights looked to be out, so that will go on the “fix it” list.

Tired, hungry and cold, I stopped at my grandpa’s place in Grants, NM for the night before continuing on home. The next morning was a frosty -3˚F, but the Contour cold started without issue. Grandpa and I ran a few errands and I let him take the wheel. A Ford man at heart, he loved the experience. At 94 years old, he can still drive a manual so smooth, you’d swear it was an automatic!

Setting off for home. You can see those massive after market exhaust tips.

I took my time and arrived in Las Cruces just after dark. The Contour meets its stablemates.

Here are some stats and minor issues that will need sorting in the coming months:

• 2 previous owners, both residing in Loveland/Ft. Collins, CO area
• Carfax showed the majority of the maintenance was from two Ford dealers.
• Tires and battery are new
• The 2.5L V6 had been completely rebuilt in 2010 at around 100,000 miles and a new clutch was installed at the same time
• Driver’s side visor is broken
• Will need to respray the sun damaged panels
• PDR on light hail damage
• Fix fog lights
• The transmission gear engagement is a little sloppy
• Obtain replacement jack point covers on the rocker panels
• Replace the aftermarket exhaust with a factory OEM unit
• Replace cold air intake with OEM airbox
• Restore headlights and replace low beam bulbs
• Restore/condition leather
• Paint correction and overall detail

Here are some detailed photos before giving it its first wash in my possession.

Check out the original Colorado plate from the first owner. After 20+ years of being on the car, the screws are seized and I may have to drill them out! Zeke had to use binder clips to hold on his plate when he owned it.

Clearcoat failure on the roof.

Exhaust and the rear bumper oxidation.

Some goofy fitment of the rear bumper to be sorted out.

Minor rocker panel damage and missing jack point covers.

Minor scrapes and scratches to be touched up.

As soon as I got a semi-warm day, I took off the front license plate, and pressure washed to remove as much salt and grime as I could. I didn’t want any of that on my driveway.

I then gave it a thorough two-bucket wash back at the house.

Gave the headlights some TLC.

Results as of today. I’m on the hunt for those missing jack point covers and I plan to get the hail damage fixed soon. Repainting the roof and rear bumper will come in the spring.

Tucked away in her new home along with the other garage queen…the 6 i.

For a car this old, the to-do list is not that bad at all. A huge plus for me was having a lot  of maintenance records and original documentation including the dealer window sticker!

Here’s my first attempt at vlogging, a compilation of the above events:

So, what are my plans for this car now that I have it in my possession? I will slowly restore it back to the factory, original condition and only bring it out of the garage for special shows and occasions. In fact, I told my insurance agent that I don’t plan to exceed 5,000 miles per year in this.

Sadly, the grey 6 s had to be relocated from the garage to the side of the house. It still serves daily duties. I treated it to a few new coil packs and a new OEM mass air sensor to keep things in tip top shape.

That about does it for now. Stay tuned for future restoration coverage on the Contour. Thanks for stopping by!

A New Year and a New Name

Happy New Year! Things have been happening around here and I found it was time for new branding on social media as well as this blog. When I first started here, I didn’t give much thought on the name. “Driven for Drives” just came to me on a whim and I rolled with it. Several years later, I’ve come to despise it. So, for 2019 I’m going with a new brand called, “Pawela’s Garage” (Pawela being my last name). The logo is still in the prototype stages, but will look something like this:

Does the car in the logo look familiar? I know it’s quite cliché for any car guy to put “garage” at the end of their name, but as I’ve focused a lot on the cars themselves and don’t follow a particular brand, why not? No worries though, I’m still going to cover my travel adventures.

I’m also going to try my hand at Youtube. No, I’m not trying to be an aspiring Doug Demuro, Tavarish or Hoovie’s Garage, but I’m planning on the videos being inspired by those guys. You can soon expect to see a channel, Pawela’s Garage.

I hope you all are looking forward to the new year as much as I am. Cheers!
PS: I bought a Ford…more on that soon.