Thanks for the replies!

dieseldiehard, the car has a manual tranny (sorry I left out that otherwise related detail) And indeed, this problem is a bit frustrating! Having a car that runs quite perfectly but not being able to start it in one click...

wilton, the starter was just rebuilt so I *eliminated* that part of the equation. Funny, I remember doing that in one of the cars my ex used to own (do I hear 'The Way We Were' playin in the background...).:p

kerry, I will try to do that and hopefully that will do the trick. The difficulty here is that once I've cleaned (and by visual inspection, it appears to be clean; no crud, rust, or oil stains) the battery and starter connections, I do not know where else to look!

And so my screwdriver startin day continues... will try to fix it though. I'll keep you guys posted.

Thanks!