All cars imported into Austria have to pass a technical inspection to get a license. Its an inspection done by state inspectors where they are checking every car thoroughly.
The cars have to be safe and in very good condition. They check the brakes, all the suspension parts, rust, emmissions and everything else what is important. The regulations are very strict - so basically everything has to be in perfect order. We even have to change the lighting system. Its obligatory to have amber rear turning signals, which makes it impossible to keep the rear lighting system in original condition (at least for the time of the inspection...). Often there is no other way than to install additional amber turn signals somewhere on the rear bumper or trunklid. (!)

The 1967 Eldorado is now at the restoration shop - here it is on the side of a nice low mileage 1971 Lincoln Mark III.

As I finally want to be able to drive the Eldorado on our roads, today I delivered the Eldorado to my restoration job, where they will do some of the necessary conversions and repairs. They already helped me with my 67 Deville and the 58 Eldorado.
The Eldorado will now get a new radiator as the original one is leaking badly. Actually I will have the original one recored and repaired. The front disc brake will get an overhaul due to a partly sticking piston, together with all new brake hoses. The fuel line will be replaced as it started to leak as well. The lower ball joints and the idler arm will get exchanged along with some rubber bushings. Besides of this list of repairs the rear lights will be converted for the inspection.
After the Eldorado is back in perfectly working condition, the inspector will check the car and hopefully approve it... Unfortunately until all this will be done it will take some time, and the winter is just around the corner - so it will go right back in winter storage after this procedure.

The 1996 Buick Roadmaster - new rear wheel cylinders

As our 96 RMW did not pass the technical inspection 3 weeks ago I had to order some new rear wheel cylinders which were installed today as well. It then passed the annual inspection and can be driven for another year.

Tags:Eldorado, Restoration, Roadmaster, 1967

While my wife and I were on holidays in Vorarlberg, we shot this music video for the local band “MAGUAMS”.
We shot this „no budget“-production on a rainy sunday morning in a storage facility - the cars in the background were the perfect backdrop for the band. The musicians are a great bunch of guys and we had lots of fun during the shoot. Our Buick Roadmaster also served as a background props for the shooting - thats why I´m posting this video on my website.

the shooting location with our Roadmaster in the background


click on the image to watch the video

Tags:Video, Roadmaster

Today I started to change the oil on my cars. The 67 DeVille was first and now has some fresh oil in its engine. Next up was the Roadmaster. Unfortunately I did not have the correct oil for the Roadmaster at home but I eventually found out when I already had drained the old oil... The RMW its now stuck over the pit until I buy the correct 5W-30 for it... So the 67 Eldo and the 58 will have to wait for a couple of days. Stupid me - I should have checked which oil it needs before starting to drain it... BTW: The 1967 Cadillacs need 5 quarts of oil at an oil-change when you also replace the filter and only 4 quarts without a filter change. Considering the displacement of the engine this is not that much oil...

I had to drive one after each other over the pit...

somehow its always a mess to change the oil...

Tags:oilchange

The US-CAR-SHOW in Dornbirn is held every second year and is Austrias finest car show.
I always exhibited one of my Cadillacs at the indoor show in the past years, but this year I decided to take the Roadmaster for the trip and just take part as a regular visitor.
We met with some friends and drove there in a 7 car convoy. It took us a 7 hours to get there as we also stopped at a very cool diner along the route.

The show itself is a class of its own. You can find hundreds of Hotrods, Classics and Muscle Cars there which you do not see at any other shows in Austria. We really had a great time there and are looking forward to the next edition of the show in 2011.

You can find a huge selection of pictures of this trip in the image gallery. Most pictures were taken by my wife Afra as I did the filming part this time. The black and white one were shot on real "old fashioned" analog film with a medium format camera. Afra also shot two roll of slides which were scanned after development.
Enjoy! A very cool High Definition film will follow in a couple of weeks. So stay tuned.

a great 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz

Sepps Lincoln Zephyr - Aweseome and rare car. Click on the images to go to the gallery for more images like this.

Alex´s 1963 Riviera shot during the night cruising on Saturday

Tags:Dornbirn, Car Show, Roadmaster

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.

Tags:Roadmaster

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.

Tags:Restoration, Roadmaster

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...

Tags:Roadmaster, Restoration

I got my license plate for this season from the insurance company yesterday. First I fixed them onto the Roadmaster and we took it for a spin immediately. (See pictures)

Today weather was perfect and so it was time for the first cruise with the Cadillacs as well. First I took the 58 for a spin - it ran perfectly and it was a dream to drive it once again after almost 8 months in storage.
After the 58 it was time to move the 67 out. Unfortunately the 67s battery is dead after 12 years of reliable service, and the new one did not arrive yet. So I had to jump start it with jumper cables. This worked perfectly and so I headed off with the 67 as well. After a few miles it started to hesitate pretty badly. As I would not be able to restart the car with the dead battery along the road, I got pretty nervous in heavy traffic. Eventually I made it home safely and I immediately started investigating the issue. I was worried that something broke somewhere along the ignition or the fuel distribution. I found out that one ignition cable managed to slip off the spark plug. I have no idea how this could happen - but the problem was fixed easily and I took the car for another spin to the gas station....
Great to be able to drive all my cars again.

the 1958 Cadillac on the shores of the "Traunsee" in Traunkirchen


cruising with the 58 through the countryside


we took the Roadmaster for a spin...

my wife enjoying the "new" family car

Tags:Cruising

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...

Tags:detailing, Roadmaster

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...

Tags:Roadmaster