Gear Whine in second.

Conditions: wet and rainy
Currently Listening to: Kashmir, Led Zepplin.

The test drive.

I found a car on the internet I wanted to buy last week. It's being sold by a garage in town. I scoped it out, and got access to it today in order to drive it to a trusted mechanic. It's a very old car, sporting and British in nature. It's a blast to drive, exactly how I hoped it would feel and sound like. The mechanics felt great, gearbox, engine, clutch, even the brakes weren't too bad. The car had an overdrive switch so you could cruise along at speed, and a sunroof, for the sun. So I picked it up this morning, intending to drive it across town to the trusted mechanic. The weather's taken a turn but I don't mind. So I hop in and fire it up, and I'm accelerating onto the motorway when I see the fuel gauge is pegged at empty. Crap.

Not only do I not know where the car is, I don't know what fuel it takes either. So I cruise into the nearest Shell station, pull up at the pump and get out. Man this thing is low to the ground. The ignition key won't fit into the gas cap, and it's the only key on the chain. Not good. I go inside and get some cash for the payphone. No I do not have a cellphone. Shut up. So I call the good folks up and they ..don't have any answers for me. The key should work. So I cross my fingers, get back in (man this thing is low) and drive back. The owner is home sick, and his two deputies take turns messing around with the cap. They even ring the owner up, still no help. Finally after looking through the interior (which would need a lot of work) we find the key and I'm back in, and back onto the motorway. Man this thing is low.

A quick ten buck splash of fuel (half the tank!) and I'm only running about 40 minutes late. So now I get to cruise through midday rush hour traffic, in intermittent rain, in a totally new (to me) English sporting-oriented car. It's a blast. The heater works, and the windscreen wipers have two speeds! There's a switch down low behind the gearstick that doesn't do anything. Mystery switches! Everything feels great, clutch, gearbox, heavy steering wheel and crackly growl from the exhaust every time you nudge the throttle. Man this thing is low. Finally get to the Mechanic, let's call him Rod, and he puts it up on a lift. Funny how different a car looks when it's 8 feet in the air.

So, we've found a fun, cheap, sporting type classic. It runs great, and is totally available. Can you guess what happens now? That's right, turns out it's a rust heap. There's rust here, there's rust there, there's even some rust over there. And there's big places where the rust was, isn't no more, but the repair has to be undone and done again. Crap. So Rod has a real good look at the car, and it's a mess. It's going to cost about 7 grand or so just to repair the rust, and that's ignoring all the other bits and pieces that would need to be done. I can't afford that, well, I don't want to afford that. I don't want a restoration project, I want something I can run right now and maintain every now and then, like the car I already have.

So she comes down off the lift, I sincerely thank Rod for his help, and he won't accept any payment for his advice. The man is a saint. So I get back in (man this thing is low), turn it around and with heavy heart (and heavier right foot) head back across town to give it back. Gosh it's a lot of fun to drive. As I said, the boss isn't there, so I park it where I found it, thank the guys for their help, and mutter something about calling tomorrow. I'm not sure if I'll call tomorrow.

Man that thing was low.