Gold On The Inside

That's how things are going around here. Helen and I are both working a lot, which is great. It keeps us busy, and gets us all riled up for our trip. I promised her we would take Ol' Gurl. For those of you who do not know who Ol' Gurl is, she is our 67 Chevelle Malibu. She got us out here, and we think there is something awfully special about road tripping in an old car. She needs a little attention/TLC before we go on the trip. Her front two tires are balding, so today she got three new tires delivered to my front porch. I am going to take the back two, which are perfect, and put them on the front. And, put the new ones on the back. The third tire is for the rim that my spare tire SHOULD be on, but isn't. Tomorrow, I have to go get those mounted. I also got some parts coming from JEGS. She needed a nice free flowing air cleaner, so I got her an old timey one. The next order of business, is to swap out my points in the distributor. I searched forever for conversions online, and finally decided it needed a new distributor. That was going to be a tough install that would probably require the expert oversight of my neighbor, Juan. So, I understood that was going to be a little difficult. Replacing it would have been fine, I am actually getting quite good with her. I was just wondering about the timing. How in the hell to do it, and how hard it was going to be. Well, all that can be avoided now, thanks to my friend Todd. Todd has a beautiful Mustang, and he told me about a very effective and inexpensive conversion with a simple installation. Needless to say, I checked it out, and it should arrive here on Wednesday. Replacing the points will help her run stronger, and get better mileage. After I pull that conversion off, I gotta swap out her spark plugs. Then she gets an oil change, a transmission service, and a good cleaning. Then she will be ready to go. Oh yeah, I also need to renew my AAA membership.
My dad warned me not to get old girl. I remember the phone call as I was heading south on Damen in Chicago. He was warning me about reliability, and other problems that come with the territory of having an old car. I was stubborn, and didn't budge. The argument continued and he finally gave up I bought her, and man was she ugly. My dad really did a lot on that car. He worked on it daily while I was still in Chicago. That was his send off to me, that is how he took care of me, even at 28 years old. And I couldn't have done it with out my brother-in-law Marks help as well. I like to think I was a great help to him as we worked on it. I just watched and learned, hoping to get a Come to think about it, she had a lot of good people around her, bringing her back to life. Maybe that's why I smile DAILY when I drive her, thinking about all of the love that went it to her, and the love Helen and I found when we traipsed out into the unknown and over almost 1,500 miles. I know my dad was only concerned about me when he advised me not to get it, but he should have known better. I was just trying to be like him. He finally got it, I think.