With An Old Car It's Always Something

 

Like our beloved Jax, our Corvette is happiest sitting around doing nothing.

 

I read an interesting column recently about how one of the things that makes for a great automobile mechanic is their ability to diagnose what's wrong with an automobile. An overstatement of the obvious? Not if you've ever spent any time attempting to figure what's causing a problem with a car; antique, new or otherwise. On today's cars, diagnostics is a fairly straight process since, in theory at least, all "they" have to do is plug a car into a computer and the "read out" tells them almost exactly what's wrong. Sometimes it only gives you what's wrong but not what's causing something to go wrong. That aside, most of the time with the root of the problem in hand the only thing left to do is the work to fix it.

 

 

Last year at prom time before I realized the rear brake lines were shot and the steering rack needed an overhaul.

 

This past weekend I spent most of Saturday attempting to diagnose why the passenger side window wouldn't go down in our 1977 Corvette. I deduced it was a bad motor and removed the motor with the idea that I would replace it this winter; we can pull the window up and down on the regulator manually until then. After spending Sunday morning putting the car back together I went to take the car for for a T-tops out power drive in lovely and rarely sunny Cleveland only to find the car had no power. At first I thought I had run the battery down but I was wrong; after testing it, I found the battery had a full charge. Sometimes a good battery is not good news.

 

Despite its many flaws, our car is absolutely gorgeous at any angle.

When you come to know a car as intimately as I've come to know this car, you know when there's a larger problem at hand and this problem, whatever it was, appeared to be seismic and I was greatly concerned. Thing was I hadn't a clue what was wrong. I knew the symptom but for what was causing it? No idea. I first thought that I must have blown out the fusible links, but again, just like the "good" battery, no such luck. I found it to be fine after having it tested at Autozone and Advanced Auto Parts. Second opinions and all. Good battery and a good fuses? What could possibly be wrong? 

 

 

I caution anyone who's not mechanically inclined or wealthy to stay away from buying any antique car.

 

Freaking out about how much this was going to cost me to have it fixed professionally and damning the day we bought this car, I'm embarrased to say I got pretty creative with my combination of curse words and my wife, bless her heart, heard a soliloquy, or should I say  a symphony of cussing out of my mouth the likes of which she's never heard before. Good thing she heard me since it did get me to stop shoving obscenities into the atmosphere and get to the task at hand.

 

 

Although they actually don't like driving it, our boys are quite fond of this car.

 

Heartbroken and infuriated, I reinstalled the battery and the fusible links. And wouldn't you know it, the car started right up. Laughing hysterically at the absurdity of the car turning over after it seemed all was lost, I grew instantly concerned that there was something intermittently wrong. However, I've come to grips with the fact that what was most likely happening was that the battery was not connected properly; what with all the work it gets being turned on and off with the cut off switch I have on it. At least I think that's what happened.

 

Something that happens all too infrequently; the car is running and out on the road. Eastbound 90 about 15 minutes west of downtown Cleveland.

 

Relieved, that night my wife and I went out on that T-tops out power drive and I found out that brakes to be quite spongy. With an old car it's always something.