What I Saw Today

Last evening, this olelongrooffan decided he was finally going to install the carpet remnant, courtesy of the recarpeting of TheGoodAttorney's home, in the cab of the Indian.

You see, when the Indian came into my possession, there was a gaping hole in the floorboard on the driver's side and the vinyl covering and the padding beneath it was shot. Several weeks ago, this olelongrooffan tore out the remaining vinyl and padding in front of that bench seat, patched the hole, used a little liquid insulation to mask the patch work and sprayed the entire front floor with undercoating paint.

It looked okay, but I wanted to have a tad more quietness in the cab, for when this olelongrooffan gets the sound system operational. Plus thejeepjunkie was giving me a ration about having tin floors in my Jeep. I mentioned he had them in his and he promptly shut up!

Well, as you Counters probably deduce, the rust inside that cab was not contained to the floorboard but also affected the bolts holding that massive bench seat in place.

So today, this olelongrooffan spent the day at the "Busted Knuckle Garage".
Yeah, I had to use a pair of vice grips to remove the rear nut from the stationary bolt on the driver's side. The front nut? No worries, the entire lower end of the front seat bracket was so rusted that, after removing the two passenger side seat retaining nuts, when I lifted that seat up the bracket just broke loose from that bolt.

So anyway, today, the "Busted Knuckle Garage" was in the parking lot of the Taj Mahal on a pleasant Chamber of Commerce day here in the Birthplace of Speed.

One time, after reentering the Taj Mahal for some now forgotten reason, when I returned to the "Busted Knuckle Garage", across the way was this sweet Mercedes 190E with the desirable 2.8 litre engine.
There was also a never-before-seen by this olelongrooffan Tennessee badged Ford Explorer, a U-Haul truck and a young couple working a GPS inside that Explorer.

Now lest you Counters think that this olelongrooffan is a "Condo Commando", think again. I am merely observant. A "Commando" would have gone over to find out what was going on, after giving me a ration of sh*t for having the Indian's seat in the yard of the Taj Mahal.

Anyway, back to What I Saw Today. This is a pretty sweet old ride. The only flaw I noticed was the crack in the rear wing between the third taillight and the driver's side support bracket.
A little later, a guy around my age (I almost said "older"), who I presumed to be a Realtor, came out and as I was working on the Indian seen in the background, I commented that it is a nice 190. Thanks, he said. It is a 91.
As an aside, in the above image, you Counters can see What I Saw Today, my Indian, and the roof of my oleragtop.

Now I am sure you are wondering why I still have that oleragtop when I have previously mentioned that it was sold. Well, the buyer left his wallet on top of a gas pump awhile back and has spent the last few weeks getting that situation resolved. He contacted me yesterday that he wants to come down on Sunday and pick it up. Sounds great to me.

Except now I can't find the d*mn title! I am sure I put some place unique just so I would remember where it was!

And for the final image of What I Saw Today.
The interior is immaculate and not a cracked dash in sight. This car must be garaged to be nearly 20 years old, have 236,000 miles on the clock, have such a nice rumble and still be in such pristine condition.

And just because this olelongrooffan can, check out this link with just a few more 190's.

Know this Counters, this busted knuckle possessing olelongrooffan is sure happy to have gotten that new carpeting installed in the Indian, moving that oleragtop on down the road and seeing that sweet 190. Yeah, it really helps me to

Celebrate Life.

Glossary Of Tools

Thanks to that funny dude who lives in the home of origin of thejeepjunkie's favorite cold beverage, this olelongrooffan finally found out what all those tools are in thehorsefarmer's garage.

DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, splattering it against that freshly-stained heirloom piece you were drying.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned guitar calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, “Ouch….”

ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age.

PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to further round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub you want the bearing race out of.

WHITWORTH SOCKETS: Once used for working on older British cars and motorcycles, they are now used mainly for impersonating that 9/16 or 1/2 socket you’ve been searching for the last 15 minutes.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.

EIGHT-FOOT LONG DOUGLAS FIR 2X4: Used for levering an automobile upward off of a trapped hydraulic jack handle.

TWEEZERS: A tool for removing wood splinters and wire wheel wires.

E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool ten times harder than any known drill bit that snaps off in bolt holes you couldn’t use anyway.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the tensile strength on everything you forgot to disconnect.

CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 16-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A large prybar that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end opposite the handle.

AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw.

TROUBLE LIGHT: The home mechanic’s own tanning booth. Sometimes called a drop light, it is a good source of vitamin D, “the sunshine vitamin,” which is not otherwise found under cars at night. Health benefits aside, it’s main purpose is to consume 40-watt light bulbs at about the same rate that 105-mm howitzer shells might be used during, say, the first few hours of the Battle of the Bulge. More often dark than light, its name is somewhat misleading.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids and for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-burning power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that travels by hose to a Chicago Pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty bolts which were last over tightened 50 years ago by someone at Ford, and neatly rounds off their heads.

PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to cut hoses too short.

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts not far from the object we are trying to hit.

MECHANIC’S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.

DAMMIT TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling “DAMMIT” at the top of your lungs. It is also the next tool that you will need.

EXPLETIVE: A balm, also referred to as mechanic’s lube, usually applied verbally in hindsight, which somehow eases those pains and indignities following our every deficiency in foresight.