Long term member (joined back in 2005) returning after a while away.

[Jamie]

Well, I'm back, with my first GM vehicle in a long time, though my home garage also has a Dodge, a Chrysler, 3 Volvos, a Jaguar, and a Land Rover (not all of them run, and 4 are project vehicles, and one is a rusted out basket case I'm trying to sell the engine out of).

The solitary GM vehicle that I just added is a 50 year old running project vehicle.

When I joined C&G, I was living in Australia. I moved to Canada in 2008, and have been living in rural Nova Scotia with my Canadian wife of 17 years, for 11 years.

I'm a few months away from turning 70, and indulging in items from my bucket list. My latest GM acquisition has been on my bucket list for over 40 yeasrs.

There's other personal stuff from my bucket list I am in the process of doing, that I may talk about in the future.

[Drew Dowdell]

Great to see you back @JamesB. Naturally, I fully support a Toronado-powered motorhome!

[Jamie]

Been lots of changes in my personal life.

Two years ago, after half a century of deep, almost suicidal depression, I finally saw a therapist, and she quickly figured things out, and I've been following her advice ever since.

The depression is gone, and people that knew me as little as 2 years ago would find me unrecognizable now.

[Drew Dowdell]

56 minutes ago, JamesB said:

Been lots of changes in my personal life.

Two years ago, after half a century of deep, almost suicidal depression, I finally saw a therapist, and she quickly figured things out, and I've been following her advice ever since.

The depression is gone, and people that knew me as little as 2 years ago would find me unrecognizable now.

I have been there multiple times. Glad you found the way out.

 

[Jamie]

45 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I have been there multiple times. Glad you found the way out.

 

For me, the way out was rather drastic, and part of that involved changing my name from James to Jamie, back to what my conservative parents called me at 16, before they did their best to destroy me mentally for having dangerous thoughts and not thinking in an approved manner.

I'm now following the path I would have followed at 16 (in 1970) if my parents had let me follow the path I knew I needed to follow. The path that was rudely and abruptly stopped and diverted onto the path that they thought best. They did their best to wipe my thoughts of my path from my mind.

I've got all the paperwork done to officially change my name from James to Jamie. It just needs to be submitted and I have to wait until the wheels of government agree to it.

[oldshurst442]

3 hours ago, JamesB said:

I was living in Australia.

Australia.  Guten Tag, mate! 

I ALWAYS wanted to visit Vienna! 

 

 

3 hours ago, JamesB said:

I moved to Canada in 2008, and have been living in rural Nova Scotia with my Canadian wife of 17 years, for 11 years.

Im in Montreal!  

Welcome back!!!    

 

 

[Jamie]

On 9/5/2023 at 9:08 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

Naturally, I fully support a Toronado-powered motorhome!

Look familiar? You realize how big this thing is when you see how tiny the 455 looks through the engine access hole between the front seats. Previous owner fitted ceramic coated headers.

Edited September 13, 2023 by Jamie

[oldshurst442]

Purrs like a kitten at idle. 

Bet she roars like a lion at full throttle despite it being in an RV. 

[Jamie]

1 hour ago, oldshurst442 said:

Purrs like a kitten at idle. 

Bet she roars like a lion at full throttle despite it being in an RV. 

You know when she's running hard. Had no issues cruising at 120km/hr on the highways in New Brunswick when I was bringing her home, though the front end was a little harsh as the previous owner had over inflated the tires for storage..

It needs better tires. That's a task for the future as it'll need a minimum of USD$1500 for new wheels (hubcentric 16" Ions if I can't find a set of hub centric 16" Alcoas at the right price). The current 16.5" steel wheels are really set up for cross plys, though it is running LT radials.

[oldshurst442]

On 9/13/2023 at 8:59 PM, Jamie said:

You know when she's running hard. Had no issues cruising at 120km/hr on the highways in New Brunswick when I was bringing her home, though the front end was a little harsh as the previous owner had over inflated the tires for storage..

It needs better tires. That's a task for the future as it'll need a minimum of USD$1500 for new wheels (hubcentric 16" Ions if I can't find a set of hub centric 16" Alcoas at the right price). The current 16.5" steel wheels are really set up for cross plys, though it is running LT radials.

Post some pics again when you get the right rims.  

[Jamie]

That won't be for a while. At the moment it looks like we are about to spend all our spare cash (and a lot we have to convince a bank to loan us) on a building.

[Jamie]

Other than collecting parts for future work, very little has been done to the GMC since I bought it.

The building we were pouring all our extra cash into went through a lot of changes, as building afterbuilding fell by the wayside (mostly due to sellers that didn't seem to be interested in selling). Last Friday (May 31) we took delivery of the keys to a 3 unit apartment (converted duplex house with two of 3 bedroom apartments and a single 1 bedroom apartment). It won't make us rich but the amount we invested and the tiny mortgage we had to take out to fill the gap means that at least it is returning an income, and it is a safe place to stash some cash from an inheritance.