Ah, finally – a chance to comment on fine wine appreciation here on Jalopnik ?!?

Just for fun I went to YouTube and searched for “delco bose amplifier”. I found a few videos and this link: http://ojas.net/nsx/bose which has a simplified schematic and recommended DigiKey replacement part numbers. It’s from 2002, though, and these days capacitors of the same capacitance and voltage are generally smal…

A “solid state” electrolytic is identical to a regular electrolytic in operation and construction, except that the electrolyte is a not an oil, but rather a polymer impregnated into the insulator.

an amplifier on at each speaker (so 4 amps). there are about 7 capacitors on each one that all go bad and spill their guts all over the board...So I’ll likely buy reproduction units that don’t have any capacitors in them.

speaker capacitors are all crapped out. Shitty Bose designs had amps on each speaker. Rebuild them yourself, mail them in for a rebuild, or buy reproduction solid state.

They check...general road worthyness (ie no rust in the wheel arches etc).

I’m a retired guy but the rest of the stereotypes are pure BS. The first time I saw the Tommy Bahama thing, I had to google it see what they looked like.

Producers get a tax credit of $7.30 for each ton burned.

We bought an off-lease ‘97 Pontiac “TranSport with Montana package”, then the top trim level of the 2nd-gen GM minivan. So many stupid things failed: Power window motors, doors locked/unlocked randomly while driving, $45 intake manifold gasket cost $600 in labor to change, et al. Upside: It didn’t turn me away…

My first car was a ‘64 Pontiac LeMans, 215 CID inline six which was a variant of the Chevy 194-230-250 Six series of the time. When I bought it in 1973, IIRC it had 60K-ish miles. At one point over the next four years commuting to Engineering School, I replaced the lifters because one or more was noisy. The…

Nice job, that’s the dream... that’s what keeps people hoarding, trying to land what you achieved.

I am tempted to suggest, “Third- or fourth-owner Camaro/Mustang/Challenger, newer Monte Carlo, or any pickup truck”? Does residence in a trailer park bestow bonus points? I am leery of feeding the stereotypes, yet I know ratty and poorly maintained 3rd/4th gen Corvettes have long been considered “redneck/trailer…

what kind of cars I remember seeing most commonly growing up...just cars that seemed like they were everywhere.

...the Firebird (and also the related Camaro) will forever strike me as a redneck car and therefore can never be cool.

Decades ago, two vehicles were given to me free by co-workers, because they had to get rid of them. One was a ‘76 Camaro, 305/3-speed stick. It had been sitting in his mother’s garage for six years and she wanted it gone. Once I got it running, I drove it occasionally for about a year and sold it for a few…

These cars were designed long before modern CAD allowed for detailed analysis during the design phase. The H-body unibody was so non-rigid that as it aged, my ‘78 Sunbird sagged/deformed so much I had to install a set of “offset bushings” in the upper control arms to allow the front end to be aligned as it got older.

Polycast was the commercial name for those glued on hubcaps.

The only people that seem to buy cheap new cars are people with money who are frugal and could easily buy something more expensive.

I’m forced to sit a lot closer to the floor than I want to which means that my legs are forced to stretch out lengthwise rather than sit at a nice comfortable 90 + degrees leg angle.

Oh, and I forgot...I also added a rear stabilizer bar with all factory parts on my ‘78 Sunbird (except for the bolts and nuts) back when that was optional at some higher trim level. I had done the same thing on my first car, a 1964 Pontiac LeMans where I added a rear bar originally spec’d on the 1965 Olds 442. This…