Car Trouble...Part V

We drove about a mile up the road before hair guy pulled off to the side of the road. There, he put his foot on the brake and revved up the engine with the car in drive. Errrrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkkk! That's the sound my new tires made as he listened to the noises that the engine was making. "There ain't nothin' wrong with your transmission; it's the engine. Hear that? That sputtering? It's missing. When's the last time you had a tuneup?" he asked. "I've never had a tuneup," I replied. "All you need is some new spark plugs and wires, I'll clean out the fuel filter. It still could be the coil package (What's that?). I got this computer (he does) that will run all of the diagnostics and help narrow it down. It's gonna be a couple hours though, we got a lot of irons in the fire right now. You can wait in the office, but watch those stools, they lean a little...big girl like you might not be to comfortable." Relieved once again that it wasn't the transmission I let the comment about the "big girl" slide. I didn't want to piss this man off. I needed him to fix my car. Over the next few hours I watched and listened to the happenings in this place that was totally foreign to me. There were several men hanging around getting their vehicles worked on and they liked to talk. In fact, hair guy liked to talk too! I don't know how they got any work done, but between muffled guffaws and spits of chewing tobacco those vehicles being repaired were flying out of the place. Hair guy had walked into the office one time and told me how things were going. Noticing all of the pictures and trophies of the old cars I asked him if he had ever been up to the Cruise in that Mom and I had went to a few weeks ago. Of course, I told him all the details and especially that these cars cruise up and down the road, not just set in a parking lot with the hoods up. "I might have to check it out," he said. "Write down the information for me." A while later he came back in and told me that I was ready to go. My engine had in fact been missing. (Mom was right) He had installed new plugs and wires, cleaned the fuel throttle and replaced the air filter. He told me at first that it was going to be $275 but since I had tipped him off about the Cruise in up in Kentucky he would only charge me $250. (Worked for me.) As I was getting ready to leave we started chit chatting about old cars. "What kind of car do you have?" I asked. "I gotta '57 Chevy," he said. "You wanna see it?" "Sure!" "Follow me," he said. We walked back through the service area and through a door that I hadn't previously seen. In the room was car parts of all kinds and in the back corner, under a tarp, sat the Chevy. As he reached to pull off the cover he paused slightly, "I know what you're gonna say. What color is that? I don't want to offend you or anything but its got an unusual name." Somehow, I already knew what the color of that car was going to be. Yep, it was titty pink!

Car Trouble...Part II

I got up early the next morning and headed on over to the service station. Slim, the tall, skinny guy sauntered over to me and asked what the problem was? I told him what it was doing and he asked to take it for a ride. I didn't mind and watched in slight disbelief as he got a wheel tearing out of the station parking lot. (I had just got new tires.) I stood and waited for a few tense moments until he came roaring back into the station. "Sounds like the transmission," he said. (Uh, oh) "I'm just learning about Fords, I'm not a Ford man yet. Let me get Curly over here to take a look at her. He worked over at the Ford place until he got fired. Hey Curly! Come on over here and take a look at this." Slim proceeded to inform Curly of everything that I had told him and what he had just experienced while driving my car. Curly turned his head to the side, stroked his beard and said, "Yep, sounds like the transmission to me. When was the last time you checked the transmission fluid?" he asked. "Never," I said. "I thought you guys do that when you change the oil; you know, topping off the fluids and such." He ignored my statement and told Slim to check the level of the transmission fluid. Slim pulled out the stick and pushed it back in then withdrew it one more time. I became a little concerned as Slim had to squint closer and closer to the dipstick, shook his head and showed it to Curly who also had to squint to see if there was any moisture on the stick. "Looks like you ain't got no fluid in there at all," Curly said. "That's your problem right there." Slim put in a quart of transmission fluid, slammed the hood down and tore out of the parking lot one more time. He pulled back into the station and with a nod of his head told me I was ready to go. We walked into the office to settle up the bill and he said it would be 4 bucks just for the transmission fluid. Shoot, I was so ecstatic that it wasn't the transmission that I gave him a twenty and told him to keep the change. His face lit up and with a big grin told me to have a good one. I climbed back into the Mustang and started heading west; I had an undercover assignment about 30 miles away...

Car Trouble...Part I

I like to think that I know a little something about cars. …I like to think that anyway. Mom and I were out loaferin’ (riding around) in the Mustang the other night when my engine started shuddering as I was going up a hill. Uh, oh! Crap! Shit! Is there anything worse than car trouble? “Sounds like it’s missing,” Mom said. It did sound like that, but it only seemed to shimmy and shake when it was going into or coming out of overdrive. “I hope it’s not the transmission,” I replied. My friend had just had her transmission replaced at a cost of 4500 bucks and there was no way in the world that I wanted to spend that kind of money. And these days, who has that kind of money anyway. I hate car problems. I know I already said this, but is there anything worse than car trouble? I dropped Mom off and headed back home hoping that the Mustang would make it home. “Want me to follow you home?” she asked. “Nah, I’ll be okay. She’s never left me stranded yet.” I was going to go to the local service station early in the morning; it’s where I usually get my oil changed. They don’t do extensive repairs but are pretty good at trouble shooting and would be able to point me in the right direction if major repairs are needed…