I decided to clean house a bit and deleted a bunch of accounts I didn’t need anymore. I was able to get rid of most of them, but there are a few that cannot be deleted.

AIM is a good example of this. Once you create an AIM screen name, it’s there for life (or until AIM goes away, if that ever happens). I tried to find out exactly why AIM won’t allow you to delete an account, but nobody really knows for sure.

What I deleted was just a bunch of stuff I registered for testing and/or fuggit-why-not purposes. I got rid of something in the neighborhood of 20 to 25 accounts. Crazy, eh?

Dot is healing

The laser procedure I had done for that dot on my forehead is healing well. What I will be left with eventually is a small dent – which is fine. A dent is better than a bump.

Price of cigs went up

The price of smokes in Florida went up by a buck. Because of this I’ve curbed my smoking dramatically (as if I haven’t enough already). I am in the process of quitting, but I would have rather had it on my schedule rather than being forced to because of tobacco taxes. Oh, well.

ICQ continues to amuse

Off an on I’ve been keeping my ICQ client open (my UIN is 103698) with “web aware” enabled just for fun. Some interesting developments concerning that service have happened as of late, namely I haven’t been getting as many random foreigners chatting me as usual. Then I found out why. ICQ blocked all unofficial clients in Russia and CIS countries. As a result, ICQ spam has decreased significantly. Makes one wonder if this will happen in the USA with any particular major IM service.

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This may be the beginning of deleting a lot of other accounts that I have just for the sake of having. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but there’s stuff I don’t know why I bother keeping. I mean, maybe if I did something with them that would be a different story, but I don’t.

Here’s just a smattering of a few I do absolutely nothing with:

• Flixster
• Friendster
• GMX (which doesn’t fucking work in Firefox 3.5 by the way)
• Hi5
• Identi.ca
• LinkedIn
• MetaCafe
• A bunch of Windows Live accounts
• A bunch of Gmail accounts
• Opera Link

Blah, blah, blah you get the idea. I’ve really got to start canning some of this crap.

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That was pretty much the biggest thing in there. :-)

Again, if you want it for over 30% off, get on the newsletter. If not, you’ll have to pay full price for it.

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If you have a MySpace account, it’s time to delete it. The time for that site has passed, it is old school, old hat, uncool, etc. Time to put it out to pasture.

During the month of July, DELETE your MySpace account. Tell your “friends” (who really aren’t friends, right?) to go to Facebook. It is well known that FB kicks the living crap out of MySpace and pretty much always has.

Everybody knows the vast majority of MySpace users are whores, strippers, crappy metal bands and skanks. Do you want to be labeled as one of those types? Of course not.

Delete your MySpace account. July 2009 is the month to do it. Get it over with and don’t look back.

If you like this page, tell a friend. Friends don’t let friends use MySpace. The short link to this page is http://www.menga.net/delete-myspace.

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This is a downloadable PDF, so when you get it you can instantly get the knowledge that will make you sound better.

What’s in the book? Everything you need to know to start sounding great cheap. You don’t need thousands of dollars of equipment. You don’t need a super-expensive guitar. You don’t even have to be a good player.

What the book teaches you will unravel the mystery on what you need to do to sound great.

Get your book now!

NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS GET OVER 30% OFF!

An announcement will be made in the next two newsletters on how to get the book for over 30% off. So if you want to get my book cheap, get on the newsletter.

The discount link will be made available June 28 and July 5 of 2009.

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The box has a silver front with white sides and has solid construction to it. The USB ports are placed mid-case, which I appreciate. Four in the front, four in the rear. Nice and convenient.

My only complaint is that when the tray is open for the DVD drive, the open/shut button is blocked so you have to manually press on the tray to shut it. Other than that, everything else is okay.

The 531 came preloaded with XP (by request) and to my surprise there really wasn’t that much junk loaded in the OS compared to years ago, so it was easy to clean up.

It took me about 4 hours to get this thing completely updated. Fortunately it already had Service Pack 3 on it, but had IE 6? It could have at least come with 7. No matter because I upgraded him to 8 anyway.

The provided keyboard was fine, but the mouse was absolutely terrible. The design of it is an ergonomic nightmare so we had to use his old one. In addition there was no way to configure the wheel click as a double-click. I tried the IntelliPoint software to see if I could get the option but had no luck there. Pop hated the new mouse anyway, so no big deal.

Possibly the best thing about the box is how quiet it is. You can barely hear the fans and the hard drive is absolutely silent.

Hopefully this one will last as long as the previous Dimension 4400 did, which was almost 10 years. :-)

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This is the third time I’ve ever actually bought a copy of Windows.

The first time was Windows 95 Upgrade, which ironically I bought for about the same price as the Win 7 Upgrade.

I never bought Windows 98. It came installed with the crappy Compaq Preasrio I was using at the time.

I never bought Windows XP Home Edition. That came installed on the Dell box I bought after the Compaq, and ran it for several years.

I did buy Windows XP Professional Edition. That cost me $149. In fact the exact date I bought it was March 12, 2007. I know this because I have the email receipt from Microsoft archived from the date of purchase.

I’m really glad Microsoft had this sale because it saves me $150. And that’s a lot of cash saved at this point in time. I am running Windows 7 RC right now on the big box PC and have been since its release. It beats the ever-lovin’ shit out of XP. My laptop still uses XP. Every time I use XP I can’t stand it now. Yes, Win 7 is just that good.

The ones I skipped

There are not one but two versions of Windows I completely skipped. The first was Windows Me, the second being Windows Vista.

I used Windows Me years ago on a then-friend’s PC and that version was truly a complete piece of shit. Microsoft should have never released this and it boggles the mind why they did in the first place. It barely lasted over a year. Windows Me was released September 2000. Windows XP on the shelves October 2001.

Windows Me was so bad that it is in PC World’s top 5 of the 25 worst tech products of all time. ‘Nuff said.

Vista literally scared me. If I had dared run that OS in pre-SP1 days, life would have seriously sucked. I never had any intention of buying it at all, much less using it.

I’ll be looking forward to getting my boxed version of 7 in October.

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I am not the Grand Poobah concerning the value of a 1975 Buick Free Spirit Century, nor have I ever been. Still I do get asked, routinely, by both buyers and sellers how much one of these cars is worth.

The last time I even uttered what I thought the value of one was in public, I got raked over the coals for it, so never will you hear me say, “It’s worth x dollars.”

However I will give somewhat of an answer based on common knowledge concerning this particular car, in simple question/answer format.

Does public awareness of a car matter concerning its value?

Absolutely. Before my web site, you couldn’t find a ‘75 Free Spirit at all. But now they’re popping up periodically on eBay whereas they almost never did prior. And trust me, I know this because I was scouring eBay for years, repeat, years before I ever put up BuickFreeSpirit.com.

That site automatically bumped the value in the upward direction simply because it increased people’s awareness that it exists. Fans of this car know that most people completely forgot about it. But that’s certainly not the case now.

People have seen BuickFreeSpirit.com and now think, “Wow, this car is worth something!” whereas they didn’t before.

Bear in mind this can apply to any car.

Take this 25-year-old car for example. the ‘84 Chevrolet Cavalier convertible:

I did a nationwide search on Autotrader for this particular car, particularly looking for the convertible model of that year.

Want to know how many I found?

NONE.

What does this mean? It’s rare. Otherwise I would have found some for sale.

If someone were to put up a web site specifically about the ‘84 Cavalier convertible (like I did with the ‘75 Buick), it would get hits and lots of them just by existing, therefore the value of the car would increase. Public awareness of this car would make it more desirable, therefore worth more.

Heck, the fact I even mention it here just made it more valuable. It’s not because I know anything about Cavaliers. It’s not because the car is notable in any way. It’s because before right now, you weren’t even thinking about it, and now you are.

Some of you may see the cute little red car above and will say:

“Yeah, I want one of those.”

OR..

“Hey, I know where I can find one of these. I could restore it and make some big bucks!”

Does the difficulty of the restoration affect the value?

Yes. The ‘75 Buick is not an easy car to restore. Not by a long shot. The restoration process does scare some off, and for good reason.

I have seen more than my fair share of ‘75 Free Spirit Centurys where the seller is getting rid of it because he said, “Screw this. This car is way too hard/expensive to fix.”

Maybe he found out the Hurst Hatches assembly wasn’t easy to work on whatsoever. Maybe he found out the cost of applying the stripes and it sent him into sticker shock. Summed up, what seemed like a relatively simply restoration job turned into something he simply could not afford, or could afford but could not sell it afterward to make a profit, if any.

If the car were relatively easy to restore, they would sell better as project cars today. But that’s not the case.

I knew from day one this car was going to be a challenge to restore. We’re talking about a car that existed for one model year, had a prohibitively expensive placard scheme, a removable hatch setup nobody makes anymore, and a super-low production number.

Anybody (yours truly included) insane enough to attempt restoration of this car is a few sandwiches short of a picnic. I say that in kind, obviously. Those who restore cars full well understand it’s a ridiculously expensive hobby.

The difficulty of the restore does decrease its value. But then again it makes it so much more worth it for those that actually complete it, given the difficulty.

Owning this car is not about making a buck. I want to make that very clear. You are very unlikely to get back what you put into this Buick. It’s all about pride of ownership, not how much cash you can make.

Put another way: That Cavalier I mentioned above? Way easier to fix. Way easier to make quick cash from. Not as notable, true, but if cash is what you want, the ‘75 Buick Free Spirit is not what you want.

Does the mechanical nature of the car affect its value?

Yes. I’ve always said the Buick is a cruiser and not a racer.

People expect this car to be fast. It isn’t. It’s a luke-warm application at best. Potential buyers don’t like that especially considering she looks like she can race when she can’t.

The reaction to this by those that drive her are, “Looks great, but.. I dunno. I’ve got nothing under my right foot here..”

Maybe if Buick offered the 455 block as a factory option on purchase back in ‘75 it would have fared out much better. But that was not to be. Instead the Buick Dauntless 350 was the engine given to consumers as the only option. Great engine, but weak setup, especially with the THM350 transmission.

I knew all this before buying the car, but many don’t. They see the stripes and the racy look and think, “Wow! That thing must melt pavement wherever it goes!” Um… how should I say this… no. :-)

In the car’s defense, the Dauntless 350 is one of the best small blocks ever to come from Buick. This was at a time when Buick was still the primary engine research division for GM, so of course they put the best versions of those blocks in their cars. It’s also the reason the Buick 3800 V6 (originally called the Fireball) is one of the best GM 6’s.. save for the mid-70s 231cid, but we don’t talk about that one. :-)

Does the age of the car affect its value?

Somewhat.

Here’s a general rule of thumb:

Any, and I mean any, car over 25 years old is in spotless near-mint or mint condition with less than 35,000 miles on the clock is worth at least $7,500.

Why?

Because it’s an over-25 car with less than 35k on the clock in mint condition, that’s why. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Granada, Pacer, Aries or whatever it is, if it’s in mint shape with under 35k original (important) miles on the odometer with original (also important) equipment, she’s worth at least 7.5k, period. If she’s a special edition, she’s worth more depending on how special she is. If she had a limited run, value is increased again. You get the idea.

However, an over-25 car that needs work and has high miles (as most ‘75 Centurys are) simply don’t carry the value of lower-mileage cars in better condition of the same age. And the name and importance alone are simply not enough to rake in the high dollars. If there were any point that I’m solid on 100%, that’s the one.

The problem most ‘75 Century sellers face is the fact their cars are nowhere near being in mint condition, and they do get pissed off that they think their cars are worth more when they’re not. To those sellers or potential sellers, may I remind you that those who know this car are very aware of the massive effort it takes to restore one, so don’t gouge your price. You don’t have a turnkey car. Buyers aren’t blind to this.

Not the age of the car nor its significance in the Buick lineup will increase the value of the car at all if it needs too much. But then again that can be said for any car, significant or not.

In conclusion..

I hope that answers the questions fans of this car have about its value. Again, I will say to please not ask me what I think it’s worth. Yes, I know a ton about this car, but I’m simply not qualified to say what you should buy or sell one for.

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YouTube Book Info

There will be special pricing on the new YouTube book for recording audio. Info was given on a special discount for newsletter subscribers only. This will be mentioned once more in the next newsletter, so if you’re not on it, you’ll have to pay full price.

Pidgin problems

Having issues connecting to Yahoo via Pidgin? I explained why it’s happening.

Get on the newsletter so you don’t miss out on any more info.

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