[rescue] Workers of the World, Unite!

[Kris Kirby]

On Sun, 21 Jul 2002, Joshua D Boyd wrote:
> > It's a 1985 car with 92,000 miles on it -- original miles, no odometer
> > flip. Sure, it looks like hell, but it never gives up...
>
> 92k mi?  That's nothing.  My '87 car has over 225k mi before the
> odometer broke.  My sisters (an '88) is rapidly approaching 250k mi.

Well, it did sit in one place for better than five years. When we got it
(for $300), it had just shy of 60k on the odo. I used to have a very short
commute to work, and only worked on the weekends so that kept the mileage
down for two years.

Eventually (soon, I hope) I will have the engine properly rebuilt (two of
my relatives are going to Nashville Auto Diesel College). The engine was
rebuilt at 20k miles as well for some unknown reason. I've probably
destroyed my valve seats from doing 70-75 everywhere (4.2K-5KRPM). The car
is in need of work because it's the only car we have that has continued to
run without fail or question. My mother's LTD has been through an engine
and a transmission, our Tempo has been through all manner of diagnostic
and still does just whatever it feels like. My mother's '85 Chrysler New
Yorker has had the entire front end rebuild and still has issues.

Considering the other vehicles, mileage and whatnot, I'd say it's doing
pretty good, but the time is coming that something big will have to be
done to it.

And I'm still reeling from the fact that the only other car I've seen in
it's vintage and make is over 500K miles, and owned by a mechanic. I
wonder if I will still be driving this car at 500K miles...

We also recently learned that my car *is* the high option model -- it has
a tilt wheel (grab handle, pull down, steering wheel falls to lowest
position, not one of those fancy-schmancy spring loaded jobbies that these
`American' cars have ;-), digital clock, fancy Clarion (1984 Clarion, Made
in Japan)  stereo, rear-window defroster, and until we replaced the column
unit, intermittent wipers. Oh, not to mention remote trunk and fuel door
release -- and a locking fuel door (which has a locking gas cap behind it,
strangely enough).

I think it's kinda neat to see a cheap, piece-of-shit car with all these
widgets. Now I've got to figure out where I'm putting my ham rig, since
the under-dash isn't very thick. Not too many places to hide anything, and
the rig is a Yaese FT2500M, so it's a big black brick -- bricks don't like
sunshine.

Oh, and just *try* to get under the dash to work. I was borderline
considering trying to hire a `little person'[1] just to get into the space
between the driver's seat and the pedals. Kept wacking my head on the gas
and brake pedals. Then I found out (only after reading the manual
afterwards, thus leaving my manhood/manliness intact) that I didn't really
need to be under the dash to take the radio out.

> I think I'm on a second alternator, but as a non-original owner, who
> really knows.

Not trying to brag, but if my car has had another one, it was probably in
warranty. The one we took off was manufactured by Hitachi. It died because
the alternator got hit with water.

> > oh, and it did it's first jump start (as in it started another car) the
> > other day. Didn't even flinch.
>
> I thought that was to be expected of any car.

Well... I was a little worried since jump-starting tends to have strange
effects on a car's computer. My car has an over-sized battery; with the
alternator and the battery, we probably could have just sat there a minute
or two and she could have cranked her car on it's own battery, without the
assistance. My jumper cables are an anemic 10 or 8 GA; just putting her
battery on to mine pulled my engine RPM down to about 750-800 from about
1K.

And no, we used to have a 1984 K-Car (Dodge Aries) that would nearly kill
any engine when starting. My mother got a jump off of the guy next door
who was (and still does) driving a little Dodge pickup not much larger
than my car. He tach'ed up, and when she hit the switch, it nearly killed
his engine. That car was hard to start.

Course, those were my father's 0 gauge jumper cables from his '64 Buick
Wildcat [401] days...

[1]: Or whatever the policially correct term for them is, since I'm not
     trying to slander them at the moment[2].
[2]: Yeah, just looking at the commercial for `Goldmember' makes me
     realize that Vern Troyer is both the most respected and most
     disgusted man in those circles[3].
[3]: I thought he did a very good performance in Bubble-Boy[4].
[4]: This footnote is for jdb, who likes nested footnotes.

--
Kris Kirby, KE4AHR  <kris at nospam.catonic.net>  TGIFreeBSD IM: 'KrisBSD'
                    "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!"
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