Cant explain why your clutch self destructed but maybe the dark oil was caused by excessive clutch wear possibly due to the fact that you were running synthetic oil. Just a thought.
Glad to hear you got it straightened out... I had a little prob with "over-coat" on my swinger but I used this excellent stripper (Rock Miracle) that removes PC fast.
I'm sure millions of peole have Park Place, myself included. No sucker is gonna go 50/50 with you. Now if I had Park Place, I'd go and buy every game piece at McDonalds tonight.