2jakes
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 9,680
- Location
- Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
I reckon my Sears BB gun warranty is moot at this point....
Yep, did that a few times. And I loved that I could jump start it even on flat ground.Modern engines are great. Modern bodies, at least here in salt country, are crap. I've had to junk three cars in the last fifteen years, all of which had engines that ran flawlessly well over 175,000 and had bodies that had the physical integrity of a stale graham cracker.
As for VWs, I'll never forget the best thing about mine -- whenever I skidded off the road in the slush, I could always push it out of the ditch by myself.
Yep, did that so many times. I had a '69 VW van with a rusted starter. Depending on where the starter motor stopped it often would not turn over so I would crawl underneath and short out the coil with needle nose plyers to spin the coil. Most of the time that worked but if not a jump start was the plan B. I ran it like for that for 2 years and to this day cannot fathom why I did not just change out the starter. But I just became used to the routine and I am a man of habit.....good and not so....I never fretted much about a dead battery or a shot starter in my old VWs, seeing how I could compression start 'em all by myself. Just turn on the ignition switch, trot alongside the car with the driver's door open, jump in, depress clutch pedal, shift into second, let foot of clutch and putt-putt-putt you go.
I had a '65 Beetle that same colourI miss my Frankenstein beetle.
View attachment 140558
'50 body, '57 fenders, with a ’63 chassis but that engine
would start in all kinds of weather.
I used "Ford's dawn grey" to match theI had a '65 Beetle that same colour
Yep, did that so many times. I had a '69 VW van with a rusted starter. Depending on where the starter motor stopped it often would not turn over so I would crawl underneath and short out the coil with needle nose plyers to spin the coil. Most of the time that worked but if not a jump start was the plan B. I ran it like for that for 2 years and to this day cannot fathom why I did not just change out the starter. But I just became used to the routine and I am a man of habit.....good and not so....
... I ran it like for that for 2 years and to this day cannot fathom why I did not just change out the starter. But I just became used to the routine and I am a man of habit.....good and not so....
They probably stood the loss of that sale OK. I remember when you could order auto parts out of the catalog. They not only sold stock replacements, but also speed equipment probably into the 1980s. Truly the Amazon of their time. Too bad they shot it all up against the wall.I did not purchase the parts at Sears though. I hope that didn't contribute to their demise...
View attachment 140587
Sears was still selling off-the-shelf parts for Model T and Model A Fords well into the 70s. I used to read the catalog on rainy days, drawing moustaches on all the faces, and was fascinated by the old, obsolete stuff they were still selling.
Something Amazon hasn’t done yet that I know of.
View attachment 140809
View attachment 140810
Ricard Nixon Birthplace House Entrance, Yorba Linda, California.
His father built this small house from a Sears kit model.
It was a modest home where he grew up and learned to play several instruments, such as piano, saxophone, flute and maybe more.
He loved music and thought of having music in his future.
He chose politics and the rest is history.
I remember doing that quite a bit with my buddies’ VWs. They were decently popular cars during my high school days as they were cheap and easy to work on. A lot more room than people would think as well.I never fretted much about a dead battery or a shot starter in my old VWs, seeing how I could compression start 'em all by myself. Just turn on the ignition switch, trot alongside the car with the driver's door open, jump in, depress clutch pedal, shift into second, let foot of clutch and putt-putt-putt you go.
I am showing that tomorrow in one of my classes.Buster Keaton, of course, had his way with the whole "mail order house" concept in "One Week."