One Hundred Fifty Bucks A Mile

In my last blog post this olelongrooffan explained how a couple days spent with Manuel Labor netted me a pre rusted 92 Toyota Corolla from my neighbor, Bert.

Well, I was internally debating whether to replace that broken CV axle prior to putting this olerustbucket up on Craigslist. Last evening at Happy Hour this olelongrooffan proposed that very same question to thejeepjunkie, TheGoodAttorney and theracedude. It was unanimous to replace it. I asked thejeepjunkie if he thought this olelongrooffan could perform that repair at his shop. Yeah, he commented, I got some building maintenance you can do in exchange for bay rental time.

Hot D*mn. Anyone who has done under car work knows it is a h*ll of a lot easier on a lift.

So last evening, around 6:30, this olelongrooffan logged onto Craigslist via Firefox (just so you know, when you are one the real Craigslist, there is a Peace Symbol in the URL, if you, well at least it happens to me, when I log on through IE it is not a secure site, just saying) anyway, logged on and put up a listing for Bert's Car with a sales price of $750.

This is the content of that ad:

Up for sale is Bert's 1992 Toyota Corolla. I received this car as payment for a bath remodel job for my 88 year old neighbor. He bought it new and has been the only driver of it. It has 188,000 miles, near new brakes, near new tires, a timing belt and water pump was installed less than 30,000 miles ago. It is rusty, has manual windows and an automatic transmission. A new driver's side CV axle will be installed prior to sale. Not pretty to look at but good dependable transportation. The oil stains on the concrete in the images are from my black convertible. This car has no leaks. I have priced it at about what the remodel job was worth and I think it is a fair price. This car runs strong, was babied its entire life and whatever needed repairing was repaired. Give me a call to set up a look/see time. Cash on the barrel. John 386-868-xxxx.

Within two hours, the massive communications system in the Taj Mahal lights up and it is a sweet young lady inquiring about Bert's car. The absolute first thing out of my mouth was that Bert's car was thoroughly rusted out. She said that she understood but was interested in seeing the car anyway.

I asked where she lived and she was located just across International Speedway Boulevard from the Daytona International Speedway. I told her to meet me at thejeepjunkie's shop around 11 am on Saturday and she could check it out.

She agreed and all was well.

So this beautiful Saturday morning down here in The Birthplace of Speed, this olelongrooffan loads a mess of tools and supplies into Bert's car and head down to thejeepjunkie's shop to get done whatever he needed done in exchange for that free bay rental.
After I had finished loading some stuff in the backseat, I shut the door and parts of rusted metal dropped to the parking lot below!

When we picked that car up on Wednesday evening, thejeepjunkie had driven it back to Taj Mahal. So this morning was the first time this olelongrooffan drove Bert's car. And that knock-knock-knock happened during the entire 4 mile trip to that shop.

I arrived and commenced to getting my share of that free bay rental portion of the transaction completed.

Meanwhile, today, thejeepjunkie was handling the sales portion of the shop while his boss, Mr. Happy, was handling the service end of operations.

Mr. Happy and this olelongrooffan get along pretty well and he always gives me a ration for wearing oxford shirts. But I don't mind. If he didn't like me he wouldn't give me that ration.

So anyway, thejeepjunkie has this olelongrooffan pull Bert's car into the esteemed place of honor which is Bay One, directly in front of the service desk, today occupied by Mr. Happy. We get it lifted in the air and I remove the driver's side front tire to inspect what there is to be seen.

I then head over to TomP's (RIP) tool box that is now thejeepjunkie's and gather up what is needed for wrenching on Bert's car. When I returned to that broken CV axle bearing machine, Mr. Happy steps around that service desk and observes this olelongrooffan in action.

After watching me for a few minutes, he grabbed the tools from my hands and had that CV axle out in two shakes of a bunny's tail. And it was put together in almost as quickly a fashion. I commented thanks a bunch Steve. His response was that this olelongrooffan had hung those paper towel holders in his bathrooms in about the same time so all was even!

So, I put that front tire back on and dropped Bert's car to the ground.

I then headed up front to that water cooler to get a cold cup of water. On the way across that showroom, a young lady walked in and asked for thejeepjunkie, as I had told her to do. I asked if she was Mary and she replied in the affirmative. Come on back.

So we went out to Bay One, this olelongrooffan showed her the car and handed her the key to take it out for a spin.

When she returned, I noticed that knock-knock-knock was still present. I asked her if it had done that the whole time. Again, her response was in the affirmative.

Hey JeepJunkie!

He comes over, assesses the situation and drags that olerustbucket back into Bay One and lifts it up. He and thePatdude rotate a couple tires, same problem. thePatdude then gets under Bert's car with a flashlight and it is determined the wheel is rubbing on the brake caliper.

thejeepjunkie pulls that wheel off, instructs thePatdude to get him the biggest hammer from Tom's tool box and, after receiving said hammer, commenced to beating on that wheel with all his might.

It seems one of the welds on that wheel had rusted and that is what was causing that knock-knock-knock the whole time.

Meanwhile this olelongrooffan headed out to tell Sweet Mary what was up. I asked her why she was interested in Bert's car. Well, the timing belt went out of my 91 Escort wagon and screwed up the valves and it is out of commission. The history of this car is excellent and it feels as if it has good karma!

thejeepjunkie has now reattached that wheel and backs Bert's car out of Bay One. Mary gets in and takes it for another test drive.

Meanwhile, thejeepjunkie is all apologies for the misdiagnosis. I tell him that the CV axle was broken and all is good.

She returns a short time later and it was relayed that all is well.

Mary, you want this car?

Yes.

What are you willing to pay for it.

Would you take $600.

Sold.

And she heads to that bank next door, returns and gives this olelongrooffan a handful of Jacksons, give me a firm handshake and a thumbs up and
heads to points west.

Yeah, that's the explanation of the title for this post for you Counters. I had driven Bert's car 4 miles and sold it for 600 bucks. One Hundred Fifty Bucks A Mile.

And that let's this olelongrooffan really

Celebrate Life.


Wait, you Counters think that's it?

H*ll it's not even time for a Japanese dental appointment, yeah, you know 2:30.

thejeepjunkie gives this olelongrooffan a ride, in his new ride, back to the Taj Mahal and unloaded all my tools from the bed of his new ride into the bed of my new ride. He grabs a cold pop and heads home to paint a couple sides of the outside of thesungoddess's abode.

Meanwhile, this olelongrooffan secures a whole bunch of those Jackson's while retaining a few and head out to compensate some wireless companies for yet another month.

Since my wireless internet provider is out there beyond the Daytona International Speedway, this olelongrooffan decided to stop in and check out the progress of the repaving of the track.
Today, it was pretty cool as they were working on the installation of pavement on Turn 4, almost directly in front of the Oldfield Tower which provides free observation of the work being performed.
Not alot of commentary here except to note this machinery is huge. The tires on that crane down there on the entrance to pit road are nearly six feet tall!
And that tracked machine is driving on the road this olelongrooffan saw being constructed here. That arm off the side of it is supporting the actual paving machine on those 33 degree banks.
In the image above, they are disconnecting that dozer from the paver and the paver, at a glacial pace, followed the crane below around to turn 3.
It was about this time this olelongrooffan decided to head back to the Taj Mahal, grill up a brat and Celebrate Life.

Unfortunately, before I was able to do that, I spotted today's version of a Biker Babe out on A1A.
But all was well, that vision was washed from my eyes as I spotted my neighbor flying this around the neighborhood. (Language in that link is NSFW.)
Now that really allowed this olelongrooffan to

Celebrate Life.