New Parts For Old Cars

Or Link Hell, you choose the title of this blog. And So On With It....

I don't know if I have mentioned that my parents, Mary Lou and Bob, brought ten kids into this world. And, if you have been Counting Along With Me, you will remember that, along with the longrooffan, my brothers, the Bus, thehorsefarmer, and thejeepjunkie, like The Gentleman Farmer before us, all own old cars. Well, technically they aren't cars but you get the gist of it. My oldest brother, BBB, doesn't have any old cars or a blog, but he does have this, and enjoys the hell out of entertaining the neighborhood kids, or as he calls them, kid1, kid2, girl1 and girl2.

Yeah, in order of birth, the Bus has a 46 or so, Willys Jeep CJ2A as well as an old bus and stake truck-both dating from the 50's, even his son, The Not So Lil Jim and the Lil Mom have an old, well to him anyway, 76 Dodge M880 military power wagon, as shown in the picture with the bus and the stake truck. thehorsefarmer, appropriately enough, has a 66 Bronco-his wife, thebarngoddess-has a later model Bronco as well, and thejeepjunkie, also appropriately enough, has another 46 or so Willys Jeep CJ2A while his son, the Kid has a mid 60's CJ5.

I have, in addition to my 1988 BMW 325ic, this sweet beast, affectionately referred to as the olestationbus.

Now those of us who own old cars know they will break down and require more maintenance than newer models. Remember this post? That is part of the reason we own them. Cheaper than hanging out a the local tavern, weeeellllll, yeah, I'll stick with that.


Anyway, a week or so ago, the Kid and I attended the Roar before the 24 and I acquired a couple of the ball caps at a sale the Grand Am was having in The Fan Zone out at the Daytona International Speedway.

Well, I certainly didn't need two of these, Okay you ask, "Why buy two?" Well, one cap was $10, two were $14. Yeap, it was a sale. As the Kid and thejeepjunkie have more da*n ball caps than they can ever wear, I dropped my extra in the mail to thehorsefarmer, just so his family can enjoy part of the Rolex 24 experience without having to go to Ruby Tuesdays.

Okay, I hear ya yelling, "What the h*ll does this have to do with New Parts For Old Cars?"

Well, my olestationbus is bone ass stock, all there, and running great. Heck, earlier this week thejeepjunkie and I took it out for a tour of John's Auto Parts, just north of here. Yeah, I know, that blog is way overdue. But as a result, I am not in a major search of parts for this old Falcon. Yes, it is a 1963 Ford Falcon Station Bus, identical to the 1961-67 Ford Econoline Vans, with the exception of the badging on it. Therefore, whenever I have mentioned to parts suppliers, I have what I have, and they never find the part, I tell them to look for an Econoline and they always find it.

So anyway, I was on ebay, having sold a couple things there and have more listed now, search amateurmodeler as the seller, that's me. Anyway there are a couple things I do need and as you can see in the following photos,

they are the brake and clutch pedal pads.

I guess those cowboy boots out in San Antonio, Texas are pretty rough on these here things.

Anyway, I was on ebay and found this so, I email thehorsefarmer to measure the pedals on his

lilmule and let me know if they are the same size as the pedals on my olestationbus.

A short time later, thehorsefarmer calls me, as he has free long distance and loves to flaunt it, and mentions I should go to dennis-carpenter.com and go to page 103, then he says, "H*ll, I can do it quicker than I can tell you about it." Asks me for my physical address and we sign off.

And that Big Brown Truck arrives and delivers these cool pieces of rubber for my olestationbus.

Thanks horsefarmer. I emailed him and asked what I owed him. He responds to just keep on blogging and he is set. Dang, that is easy parts money!!

Now something that is really interesting to me. Remember here, old Uncle Tom, down at thejeepjunkie's shop, commented about the reason for the installation of an electric fuel pump on the olestationbus. Well, these pads were labeled, "Made in India". UAW take note!

So, today, after a rare, boring trip to the Daytona International Speedway and this, the Kid looked on as I took those old rubber pads off the olestation bus and

installed these new ones, which,

I am confident will hold up much better under the longrooffan's flip flops than they did under those old cowboy boots out in West Texas.

And the really cool thing?

With these new clutch and brake pedal pads, I can really

Celebrate Life.