I would like to rant and rave a little, mostly against people who would
not be caught dead associating with this list.
I speak of modern-car manufacturers. The '86 Ford Ranger that I
currently drive has been a worthy pack animal, despite its four-cylinder
engine. But right now, it's sucking fuel and losing power, and I can't
do a darn thing to fix it.
That's where my lbc content comes in. We've hashed this all out before.
No matter how badly your MGB (or whatever) breaks down, you can still fix it.
Oh, how I long for the days when you could drive a car away from the
dealer, knowing that you needn't bother him again until the engine blew
up at a million miles.
Some of you may recall that I lost my '77 B after it spun off
the road. What I never mentioned was that, last year I found it again at
a crusty foreign-car shop. It had been aesthetically fixed up.
The garage guy wanted to trade straight across, the B for the truck, on
the grounds that I knew more about the car's history than he did, and I
would give it a good home.
I said no thanks, thinking the truck more economical to maintain. Within
a month, the engine blew. That's when I recalled that the MGB, my MGB,
had had its engine rebuilt completely.
The moral of the story is, listen to those little voices, especially when
they tell you to buy, trade, or otherwise procure a car you can fix
yourself. I didn't, and I haven't survived the aftermath.
Keep 'em running. Your happiness may depend on it.
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* Patrick M Clawson *
* 1986 Ford Ranger *
* 1977 B memories *
* pclawson@mail.orion.org *
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