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When I was 15 a neighbor gave me his rusted out, turtle green, '46 Chevy coupe, birdnest on the dash included at no additional charge. It was such an eyesore, but it was MINE.
After washing, that old heap didn't look any better. I knew nothing of engines (or tools) but I saw that a tire was bald, so I set out to replace it. The lug nuts were rusted on, but I had managed to loosen all but one. I finally busted the last one free, but also slit a finger to the bone in the process. I went in the house to patch myself up, and my gf called. Of course, she wanted to see my new wheels so, forgetting about the loosened lugnuts, I jumped in the green monster and headed down the hill.
About two minutes into my ride I heard this horrible noise, then noticed a wheel passing me on the left and, in an amazing coincidence, it was painted the same color as my car. Go figure.
I was always pretty mechanically inclinded and had my 1st car, a 50 chevy deluxe coupe when is I was almost 14. A semi junker just to tinker with. Couldn't drive it except up and down the driveway or...late at night when my mother was away
Anyway my older brother's 1st car was a 54 pontiac..the last of the straight 8's. The first thing he did on the advice of another car buff in the neighborhood was to change the oil etc. Of course he being a lot older and therfore "smarter" he wouldn't take any advice from me. So he removed a drain plug and drained out all the fluid that would come out. I silently watched as about 8 or 9 quarts of 'stuff' came out. Then he replaced the plug and dumped 5 quarts of oil in the crankcase. After giving his first clunker a quick wash etc he asked if I wanted to go for a ride...sure I said.
We got in , the motor started right up,but the exhaust was a bit smokey. So he puts in in reverse and we moved about 3 feet and thats it. He put it in drive and we moved a foot forward maybe and that was it.
I got out of the car laughing and he asked if I knew what was wrong.
"Sure......you've got 10 quarts of semi dirty oil in the motor and you just dumped all your automatic transmition fluid down the storm drain.... Maybe you should reconsider this whose smarter thing...instead of telling me to shut up. "
When I was 18, I drove alone cross-country in a crappy 1969 VW Bug. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere Nebraska, the fuel pump went out (on a Sunday no less). I walked five miles to the nearest rat-hole little town, only to find that their sole auto parts store was closed on Sundays. The only place I could find open other than a grocery store was a welding business. They sold me a few feet of plastic hose and I walked back to my car. I emptied out a 2-liter soda bottle, and siphoned gasoline out of the tank of the car into it. Then I hung the bottle from the hand strap in the back seat, and ran the hose from it to the carburetor. I got the gas flowing by gravity, and I climbed into my car and drove it almost 200 miles that way (stopping several times siphon more gas into the soda bottle) before I found a town that had an auto parts store with my fuel pump in stock.
A few years ago my son hit a car with his bicycle, the owner came to my front door just livid pissed off. He wanted to know what I was going to do about the dent on the side of his truck, he as so mad he called the police. While waiting for the cops to show up I walked in the house grabbed the plunger out of the bathroom. As I walked down the drive way he started flipping out, he ran over to the police car that was pulling up for fear I was going to assult him. While the police calmed him, down I stuck the plunger to the side of his truck with a swift yank out popped the dent, no creases, no chipped paint thank god
Not exactly a repair either but today I was at Autozone and the guy in front of me told the gal clerk he needed a "muffler bearing". She asked him the kind of car/year and all that stuff. She told him she couldn't find one so he said he would call his buddy on his cell who sent him there for it. His "buddy" told him it was a joke. The guy was kind of embarrassed but we all had a good chuckle. He had to pick up other things so it wasn't a wasted trip anyway.
I've done the very same thing just to get people out of my hair I sent my buddy to the store for muffler bearing and piston return springs strangely he returned with a handfull of assorted bearings and springs. thinking he could return what ever I didn't need
When my X and his brother were teens, the windshield wipers stopped working in a downpour, so they tied their shoestrings to them, and pulled them back and forth while driving down the road.
Location: Georgia, on the Florida line, right above Tallahassee
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I had a buddy that used to drink...a lot. He drove a primered 74 Firebird.
I remember one night we went out ... he got sick and yakked on his car. The next day he washed it off with a hose, let it dry...and you guessed it....hit it with some primer.
Oh, LOL, but my Mother, years ago, hoping to sell one of the family cars -- and wanting to make it *shine* -- took the bottle of high-gloss Future floor polish, and spread it all over the vehicle.
Did it SHINE!
The car sold, but I wondered what the new owners thought of that finish when it had to start flaking-off in the heat and the sunshine.
As a kid -- maybe 8 or so -- my husband and his first cousin *stole* one of his father's work trucks to drive around one of the city parks. It had NO brakes, and they knew it had no brakes, so the one not behind the wheel was in the truck's bed, flinging cinder blocks tied to ropes to stop the vehicle when necessary.
Their joy ride came to an end when the truck didn't make it between two young pine trees, and the driver had to, first, break, and then climb out of the back window to get out of the cab.
I forget exactly how the rest of the story goes, but I seem to recall the parents taking the initiative of keeping the two boys apart. They were forever getting into some mischief together.
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piston return springs
Not to sell it, but the things kids do!
