Old Cars, Old Car Issues

Have I told you Counters out there how much I enjoy my olestationbus lately?

I sure do. I cannot drive it anywhere that someone doesn't give me a thumbs up or stops to ask me questions about it.

Well, this olelongrooffan loves to tell the story of flying out to San Antonio, Texas and driving it home. And I always conclude my story with the sentence, "H*ll, anyone can go out to Gary Yeoman's Ford and buy a 2010 Ford Van." And it always elicits a hearty chuckle from everyone involved.

Yeah, I love the olestationbus whether I am cruisin'

the beach for chicks,

or whether I am getting prepared

for a hurricane;

even if I am

broke down on Ormond Parkway.

And it is especially fun to

pair up with the Kid whether fishing or

hanging

at the Belaire Plaza during Turkey Run.

Well, recently, due to a rather dubious chain of events, thejeepjunkie was able to get my olestationbus a shiny new coat. I rattled canned the interior and I just about have all the bits and pieces back.


I tried to get thejeepjunkie to let me paint it in this color scheme

but that was firmly vetoed.

A few posts back, I posted the following image of my "Getting To The Man" down on my beach. the Bus mentioned in the comment section that the fuel gauge in the upper left reads "Empty".

That Fuel gauge has not worked since I bought this olestationbus 15 months ago. In fact, the previous owner had written down odometer readings on the dashboard to let him know when he needed to fill up that ole beauty.

Well, as the title of this post suggests, I have been having some old car issues with the olestationbus.

The last month or so, it has been running really hot and fuel rich.

The heater box, located on the floor, near the firewall if you will, between the seats

sprung a leak and I figured this might be part of the problem. Further, I replaced the thermostat a while back and the general Happy Hour consensus was to remove it altogether.

Finally, I was reading an article on CarDomain about an old truck this guy bought and it was running rich due to a spark plug issue.

So today, I by passed the heater core, removed that thermostat and replaced the gasket, and cleaned a ton of built up carbon from three of that 170 cubic inch motor's spark plugs (the other three were fine).

I topped off the bodily fluids in that 47 year old means of transportation for both this olelongroof and the Florida Highway Patrol and then I set off to road test that olestationbus as it will be needed later this week to meet up with Manuel Labor.

Well, Counters, that my olestationbus ran like it was new.

Until I ran out of gas.

Yeap....you got it....Ran Out Of Gas...

Hot Footed it the less that fifteen minute walk back to the Taj Mahal, grabbed the oleragtop, swung by the Kid's garage for a gas can and got that olestationbus some preciously needed fuel.

I got in the olestationbus and it fired right up, running on all 6 cylinders!! Yes!!

I drove it back to the Taj Mahal and walked back and picked up the oleragtop.

Got it back to the Taj Mahal, fired up the olestationbus and took it over the big bridge to a place where "You can trust your car to the Man who wears the star" and got some cheaper than on the beachside fuel and, Man!!, that olestationbus runs fantastic.

Well at least today it does.

But knowing I can finally work on one of my olecars without thejeepjunkie's direct supervision allows me, and him, to

Celebrate Life.