When driving home from our holiday we found the best diner I ever saw before.
The owner took care of every little detail, like a working V8 at the bar, lots of old cars on the outside, a pickup truck as salad bar and much, much more.

I have added a gallery with some pictures - check it out!

Check it out if you are near Innsbruck in Tirol/Austria!

You can also find a link to its website in the Links category.

The “Oilers69” in Tirol - click to go to the gallery!

We took the Roadmaster to go on holiday this year. On our last attempt in May the transmission failed and it had to be towed home.
We drove it over some high alpine passes this time and suddenly the “Service Engine Soon” light came on once again. The car still drove nicely and eventually the light went off again.
After some more highway driving it came back on and went off again.
When we returned I had the error code read out which was “P0137” which indicates a faulty oxygen sensor. I will replace all four soon.

The RMW at the Arlberg Pass.

During our last holiday trip we had bad luck with the transmission of our Buick Roadmaster. (See entry below)

Finally, after 2 1/2 months in the shop we got the Buick back yesterday. The shop had problems locating all the parts for the rebuild. As I lost patience and they still could not find the parts, eventually I found the parts myself without a problem. Anyways, the car now is back home in the garage and drives beautifully again. The transmission was completely rebuilt, including all internal parts.

we could follow the repair on the webcam of the car dealer - this is a screenshot of the final day.

My wife and I were on the way into our holidays. Of course we took our Roadmaster for the roadtrip. Suddenly the "Service Engine Soon" lamp came on while driving on the highway.
We stopped on the next rest area, but I could not find anything wrong with the car. So we continued our journey and stopped at the next specialized dealer to have the error code read out. Code "P1886" showed up - which is transmission related. The 2-3 upshift solenoid seemed to be defective. So we decided not to drive any farther, as it turned out that the car only ran on second and third gear. Finally the car was delivered to the next national automobile club service station of the "ÖAMTC" to be towed to the dealer I bought the car from. I still have 6 months guarantee left, so he has to repair the transmission at his costs. Worst thing was that we just could not continue to enjoy our trip with the Roadmaster and had to borrow a Suzuki Jeep from my wifes mom instead...

UPDATE: In the meantime a transmission specialist took over my car and is completely rebuilding the transmission now... At least I´ll have a like new transmission now!

suddenly this lamp showed up...

delivering the car at the national automobile club "ÖAMTC"

checking the Buick´s digital shop manual we had with us...

Our beloved cat "Max" passed away today at only 9 years of age. He suffered from an aggressive tumor.
He was the cutest and nicest cat one could have. We will miss him very, very much! :-(
Rest in Peace!

one of the last pictures we took of Max

As we had springlike temperatures today in the middle of winter, I decided to wake my cars from hibernation and drive them around the block. I put the batteries in only to find out that the one from the 67 was quite empty and the car would not start. I wanted to charge it with a battery charger but it also quit working... So I had to use jumper cables and eventually I could start the 67. The 58 also had problems starting up as the fuel pump needs to be replaced. I already have a new one lying around which I will install soon. After some cranking the 58 came back to life and ran beautifully. I took all the cars for a quick spin around the block and after they were fully warmed up they went back into storage for about 6-8 more weeks. Can´t wait for spring to come!
I also installed a new hood emblem on our 96 Roadmaster as a wrong one was on the car when we bought it.
It was great to work on the cars again.

the cars in front of the garage

the Buick´s brand new hood ornament

the Buick´s new hood ornament

As my buddy Tayfun was in town for a new years party, we decided to start detailing our new Buick Roadmaster. The temperatures were way below freezing outside and only slightly warmer inside my old garage, so we really had to work hard to feel comfortably.
The paint on this 1996 Buick Roadmaster was pretty much neglected and a lot of cleaning, buffing, polishing and waxing was necessary to bring it up to like new condition.
It took us 2 days to just do the paint properly. We worked more than 20 hours in reviving the paint job and the exterior chrome.
We´ll do some more detailing work on the car later - it is now in winter storage anyways.
The car looks spectacular now - the white paintjob is now very bright. I have the impression that the shade actually changed...
Next up: Interior, engine and engine bay, rims and everything else...

My buddy Tayfun with the buffing machine...

more polishing....

and more...

Today my wife and I bought a new daily driver car for the spring, summer and fall months. As we have very strict laws here in Austria and could no longer import the desired car from the USA we had to find one locally.
Here it is:
Its a 1996 Buick Roadmaster Wagon!
We finally bought it from a dealer in Vienna and brought it home today. The car is in nice condition and drives like a dream. So far we are very satisfied with it.
Attached are the first pictures.

at the dealer lot

first tank of gas...

Today the 58 got a brand new fuel pump. It was a really quick and easy exchange and it now works flawlessly. It was the first time I had to do a repair like this. Luckily the pump is very easy accessible on the 58.
Later we also did some more repairs on my friend Tayfuns 81 Eldorado. After that we had a nice cruising evening with some friends where we did some professional filming for our next video.

While my friend Tayfun was on visit - we also worked on his new website.
The old one was way outdated - so we did a new one.
Check it out:

My friend Tayfun was on visit once again for a couple of days which we spent in the garage.
We finally managed to fix the problem with the ECM and sorted out most other issues. Another big point was the total rebuild of his rear brakes which worked out fine as well.
Over the last 6 month we could fix 35 points on the repair checklist.
Now there are only 11 points left which need some attention - but no more severe repairs - only a couple of details.
Tayfun is happy that after owning the car for over 11 years he finally fixed the electronic issues.
His Eldorado will be like new soon!

My friend Tayfun visited me once again to try to have his 1981 Eldorado back in working order. He was trying to fix an electronic problem that plagued him for years and nobody could find a solution so far.
All ECM´s he installed went up in smoke. (See picture on the left)
Finally with the help of Martin - a guy who is the owner of a custom autosound store - we could find a defective solenoid which was causing all the trouble.
Finally his car is back in working order!

Martin at work

we worked till late in the night

This evening I met some friends and we had a photo session on the parkdeck of the local shopping mall.
All the pictures can be found here.

My buddy Tayfun was on visit for a couple of days and we were trying to repair his 1981 Pimperado. The car has a problem with its ECM which is constantly burning through. As the new garage was not finished yet we had to work in the old garage. Unfortunately we did not find the cause for this issue yet, but the search will go on.

As weather was really fine today - I woke up both of my cars and took them for a spin after the long winter hibernation. Both cars started right up after 8 months of being in storage and ran beautifully. It was great to drive such land-yachts once again.

Just picked up the plates from the insurance. I could now drive my Cadillacs again after the long winter break. Of course its raining...