Heya folks! Sorry, haven't had a chance to update till now.
The clutch job was a bit of a bummer, but as I said, I expected to do one within a year anyway, so now I'm just glad it's out of the way (and paid for). In a way, I was lucky to deal with it Montreal mid-trip... a lot more options there for shops, and it got done FAST.
The trip: The guy I bought the car from (Robert/occb2) was very kind and took the day off to get my dad and I at the airport, took us to the car, went to supper with us and then guided us into Manhatten. It was pretty cool, my first drive in the car was driving into NYC.
Dad and I had a GREAT time in NYC... walked around, wen to different restaurants, went to a broadway play, did some typical touristy stuff (Statten Island ferry, bus tours etc).
Some pics: (poor quality from my BB, sorry)