Me and my new old car

I seem to have gotten a long way through my list of things that need fixing around the house. I suppose that is to be expected, I have been working on stuff for more than two weeks. Perhaps that is what I foresaw and hence bought an old new car to ensure that I would have plenty to fix in the future! I am well excited about this new vehicle but it will only be delivered to Cape Town sometime next week. I am not sure I can wait that long....

I have wanted an old pickup for many years, but that was more a romantic notion that seemed right and at the back of my mind there is this harebrained scheme to use it to do good. Added to that, new cars cost stacks! And then they just lose their value. Most of the old cars that are left have serious style and class and can be bought for a fraction of the cost of a new car. Sure they do not have all of the optional extras and modern life simplificators. They also require constant tinkering. Then again you can start out with a cheap classic and end up with an appreciating asset that is fun to drive in a very different way!

I have a problem in that I have now picked up a car that is 80% complete. It does not go, yet! That’s right, the engine is there but nothing is connected. The prop shaft is in the load box, together with a number of other essential components, although I cannot yet identify any of them. There are no dials or gauges and no accelerator, which I know is going to be a problem. Now, I have many skills but my experience of servicing my Ford XR3 as a student is probably not going to do the trick here.

I could always send the car away and let the professionals just fix it, but then I would always be in the dark as to what goes on under the hood. That tinkering I wrote about would also always be a mystery to me. Instead I have negotiated with the local extreme car shop that I come in and do the work on the car myself under their supervision. I must admit that I never noticed we had such a shop in the area until I needed it! Hopefully I will get to learn all about muscle cars and end up with my own superbly crafted machine at a reasonable price.

I am a little excited – a little kid with a big toy. More like a kid that knows what he is getting for Christmas but has to wait till the big day, agony....