Post by scottydl on Jun 5, 2008 12:45:24 GMT -6
Time for another 2nd-gen, and what better choice than Tony (i.e. AuroraRancher) and his 100% unique 2001 IRL Pace Car!
Check out additional photos and information in this thread... Final IRL Pace Car - 2001 ...and then come back here to post any additional comments.
Tony has a history of Aurora ownership prior to obtaining the '01, which he has shared below...
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I have no pictures of the first 3 Auroras we had owned. But here are the shortened stories of those in our history.
The 1st one we owned was a '97 (Champaign/Tan, with Sun Roof) which my soon to be bride traded her Red '97 Camaro RS in on. That was in 1999. It had a little over 27,000 miles on it when we drove it off the lot. My future wife had never known what driving a luxury car was like. Well she has never looked back.
The 2nd (owned while we owned the 1st), was a Black/Gray '96 (that I bought when on a job out in NJ in Sep '04 (it had 156,000 miles when I bought it for $1900) what a car (badly taken care of with quarter fender dings/Dents, Interior electrical problems and very dirty inside, but mech sound). I put another 20,000 miles on it before I got it back home to IL. I then gave it to my oldest sons friend for $500. He took it to the track and turned a 16 flat in the quarter mile just goofing around with it at the Rt 66 Dragway. My son was building up a 13 sec Camaro at the time. We then traded our 1st Aurora & our old tired GMC suburban in on a new GMC Suburban (we have 5 children - 3 boys 2 girls, almost the Brady bunch) we were without an Aurora for about a year.
Here comes #3, In early 2005, to replace my '88 GMC PU (I had owned it since '92) and with no need for a PU any more, I bought a Burgundy/Tan '99 (69,000 mi, Bose, Moon roof, gold pkg, rear spoiler) beautiful car with a bad head gasket. Found out later than sooner that this was not the typical Aurora head gasket problem. We postulated that some one had a hose leak (as there was a new lower radiator hose on it) and some how ran the car out of coolant. When we pulled the rear head, the reason for the leak, now, was the block had been drilled and heli-coiled and the heli-coil was now stripped, too. Yes an engine transplant was needed. So much for the quick fix. It took us 3 engines from the refuse yards to find a good one. Transplant complete. '88 GMC sold. Now for the rest of the story, I was on my second job in NJ, at the Salem Nuclear Plant, summer of '06. The '99 with 105,000 miles on it now, meets its demise. Does any one recall the floods of Late June '06 around Baltimore, Washington,DC and lower New Jersey? Well my '99 was sitting in the parking lot minding its own business when this water started rising & rising (Mickey Mouse Fantasia Nightmare). The '99 was drowned along with over 200 more cars that afternoon in the Parking lot of the Salem/Hope Creek Nuclear Facility on the bank of the Delaware River. Funny site to look out and see only the pillars of a classic 72 Corvette convertible (top down, of course) above water. Well we dried it out, it did start and drive but the Insurance man bought it, as they always total cars that have flood damage. That was a good thing, as I kept smelling something burning while I was driving it, coming from under the drivers seat. (Drove it for 2 more weeks, waiting to see what the Ins Co conclusion would be.)
Now on to #4, the IRL Pace Car. Back to the Labor Day weekend of '05, That is when an ebay auction, made me the happiest I had been since I married my Bride (Nov 11 '00). I was able to out bid a very persistent ebay foe (now a friend), and win the 2001 IRL Pace Car that you are now able to read about on these and other ACNA pages.
It is getting late, If you could, the rest of this story I have already posted. Thanks for nominating me for this special award.
Tony Vowels
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Check out additional photos and information in this thread... Final IRL Pace Car - 2001 ...and then come back here to post any additional comments.
Tony has a history of Aurora ownership prior to obtaining the '01, which he has shared below...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have no pictures of the first 3 Auroras we had owned. But here are the shortened stories of those in our history.
The 1st one we owned was a '97 (Champaign/Tan, with Sun Roof) which my soon to be bride traded her Red '97 Camaro RS in on. That was in 1999. It had a little over 27,000 miles on it when we drove it off the lot. My future wife had never known what driving a luxury car was like. Well she has never looked back.
The 2nd (owned while we owned the 1st), was a Black/Gray '96 (that I bought when on a job out in NJ in Sep '04 (it had 156,000 miles when I bought it for $1900) what a car (badly taken care of with quarter fender dings/Dents, Interior electrical problems and very dirty inside, but mech sound). I put another 20,000 miles on it before I got it back home to IL. I then gave it to my oldest sons friend for $500. He took it to the track and turned a 16 flat in the quarter mile just goofing around with it at the Rt 66 Dragway. My son was building up a 13 sec Camaro at the time. We then traded our 1st Aurora & our old tired GMC suburban in on a new GMC Suburban (we have 5 children - 3 boys 2 girls, almost the Brady bunch) we were without an Aurora for about a year.
Here comes #3, In early 2005, to replace my '88 GMC PU (I had owned it since '92) and with no need for a PU any more, I bought a Burgundy/Tan '99 (69,000 mi, Bose, Moon roof, gold pkg, rear spoiler) beautiful car with a bad head gasket. Found out later than sooner that this was not the typical Aurora head gasket problem. We postulated that some one had a hose leak (as there was a new lower radiator hose on it) and some how ran the car out of coolant. When we pulled the rear head, the reason for the leak, now, was the block had been drilled and heli-coiled and the heli-coil was now stripped, too. Yes an engine transplant was needed. So much for the quick fix. It took us 3 engines from the refuse yards to find a good one. Transplant complete. '88 GMC sold. Now for the rest of the story, I was on my second job in NJ, at the Salem Nuclear Plant, summer of '06. The '99 with 105,000 miles on it now, meets its demise. Does any one recall the floods of Late June '06 around Baltimore, Washington,DC and lower New Jersey? Well my '99 was sitting in the parking lot minding its own business when this water started rising & rising (Mickey Mouse Fantasia Nightmare). The '99 was drowned along with over 200 more cars that afternoon in the Parking lot of the Salem/Hope Creek Nuclear Facility on the bank of the Delaware River. Funny site to look out and see only the pillars of a classic 72 Corvette convertible (top down, of course) above water. Well we dried it out, it did start and drive but the Insurance man bought it, as they always total cars that have flood damage. That was a good thing, as I kept smelling something burning while I was driving it, coming from under the drivers seat. (Drove it for 2 more weeks, waiting to see what the Ins Co conclusion would be.)
Now on to #4, the IRL Pace Car. Back to the Labor Day weekend of '05, That is when an ebay auction, made me the happiest I had been since I married my Bride (Nov 11 '00). I was able to out bid a very persistent ebay foe (now a friend), and win the 2001 IRL Pace Car that you are now able to read about on these and other ACNA pages.
It is getting late, If you could, the rest of this story I have already posted. Thanks for nominating me for this special award.
Tony Vowels
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Yay! Congrats Tony! 
