"Smokey" -- 1987

>> Click here for Smokey's burnout pictures!  << 

I bought Smokey in early September 1999, looking for a "winter beater", so I wouldn't have to drive my Cutlass
in the ice and snow and salt. I can already see that I'm not going to want to drive this Regal in the winter either.

It's got almost 130,000 miles on the original (as far as I can tell) drivetrain. Engine is the Oldsmobile 307 V8 and it's
backed by a TH-200-4R automatic overdrive transmission and a fairly rare gearset in the axle -- 3.08:1. This makes
for a peppy daily driver...peppier than my Cutlass with a 2.29:1 rear axle!

The motor has some sort of tap/click to it. I'm not sure yet whether or not it's a collapsed lifter or a loose rocker
arm, but everyone that hears the car says that it's a minor problem and shouldn't really be a reliability issue. The other
offending noise was a bad doughnut gasket in the exhaust system. It doesn't even look like it *had* a doughnut gasket
from the factory, although I'm positive it should have. Either way, the exhaust leak there was bad enough for it to fail
VA's safety inspection. A new doughnut gasket and a new catalytic converter was installed with a buddy's air tools
(thanks Greg P.!) and now she's quiet as a kitten! That old (original) converter was quite plugged, so the car runs a lot
better now, to boot!

As for the appearance, it...well...needs work. The paint is as bad as I've ever seen on the hood. There aren't slight paint
cracks, there are ~severe~ paint CANYONS! This stuff was obvisouly patched up in a cheap manner after a wreck
or something and it appears that it was heated up...a lot. There is a large black "stain" on the hood -- it looks like soot,
like from a fire, but it doesn't really come off and it might just be black primer paint. Either way, the hood needs paint BAD
and the rest of the car could use it, too.

In other areas of the exterior, I've put some different wheels/tires on it and they make the car look 10 times better than
when I originally got it. Three of the old tires were 215/70R14 Regul Sport Challenger tires and the other one was a
205/70R14 Douglas Peformance 700 tire. The car drove straight and true on the road, even though one of the front tires
was a different size from the rest! I now have 245/60R14 Kelly Chargers mounted on gray Oldsmobile SSIII wheels -- I
scored the set of 4 (wheels and tires) for a measly 50 bucks from a good friend of mine in Ironto, VA (thanks Mike!).
I've shined up the stainless trim rings and inserts and Oldsmobile center caps and the car looks *great* with the new
rolling gear. The Chargers probably only have another few thousand miles on them, and I'll probably get a new set
of 245/60s for it this winter, either Kelly Chargers or BFG Radial T/As.

I bought the car with no door locks and no radio. The radio had been stolen with wire cutters (dumb thieves didn't think
of the future owner <g>) and the lock cylinders didn't match because the passenger door isn't original. I installed new lock
cylinders with the help of Jake Craig (thanks man!) and I then felt safe to put a radio in it! I went to a local parts yard and
picked up a genuine GM-Delco ETR AM/FM radio with harness ends for 20 bucks! I installed that in the car (after Derek's
help straightening out all the hacked-up wiring) and discovered that both rear speakers were blown. A quick test courtesy
of my Cutlass' rear Pioneers revealed that the wiring was still good and this non-cassette Delco radio sounds GREAT! There's
much more kick with the Delco radio than with my Kenwood CD player (of which I'm definitely *NOT* a fan).

In all, I'm quite happy with my $525 purchase. Smokey runs great, rides very comfortably (even with the F41 suspension)
and is quiet and safe. What more could you ask for for 500 bucks? Good, safe, American transportation!

Tips/Tricks/Rants/Raves/Questions/Comments/Flames? Please e-mail me at [email protected]. Thanks!