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Roosty6 @B110

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Dreams Come True


No, nothing that exciting. For years I had occasional recurring dreams of driving a rusty old car from my youth. Not restored to showroom beauty, just driveable enough that when I pushed the starter button and stepped on the gas it would go. The 52 Mercury my dad drove through the 1960s. The Merc chose to retire in the fall of 69 just absolutely refusing to start in spite of all the usual tricks and remedies. It sat for a few years before my brother, the real mechanic in the family, removed and rebuilt the engine bringing the old car back to life for a while. It went back into retirement soon after and sat rusting away in "outdoor storage".
Last fall for some reason I was inspired to haul the old car out of the bush and start working on it to see if there was any hope of it moving under it's own power again.
Winter in Sask. is not conducive to working outdoors on an old vehicle so it literally took all winter before the day came that the old flathead engine fired up and ran, briefly and with much smoke. That was a giant step forward and inspired me to go further.
A few sheets of salvaged galvanized metal to patch the holes in the floor. Some new (used) tires to hold it up. Blow out the shredded interior with air compressor and leaf blower. Remove the raccoon destroyed rear seat and throw an old horse blanket over the driver seat for some reason made me think of this scene from one of my favourite movies, Pulp Fiction A major exterior clean up with rags, diesel fuel and steel wool had the surviving paint and chrome looking much improved and all at pretty near zero cost.
April 9 the ground was dry enough for a test run. Sunshine, blue sky and the sound of an unrestricted flathead engine running on all 8 (most of the time). Driving a car with no brakes is when you really appreciate that half mile long driveway.  It was literally a dream come true.
Who knows whats next?

4 comments:

  1. Proud of you, Ralph; that was no small task!

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    1. Thanks Gorges. I'll call it a labour of love as I do love working on the old iron.

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  2. Replies
    1. That is interesting. Would you also have a pair of front fenders and driver's door glass?

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