Flabbergasted

[Banditlead]

I am utterly astounded by this car sometimes.
I'm not complaining, I knew that when I bought this car, it was going to be a basket case by virtue of its age (And previous owner), and I bought it knowing full well I am not a good mechanic. (I bought intending to learn, I hate having to rely on other people to fix my car)
So today, I am replacing the intake manifold... go to close the hood when I am done...
and the HOOD LATCH HANDLE, the piece behind the grill in front of the Radiator, somehow broke.
So, I am shaking my head, just wondering how in the hell that happened. This car never stops amazing me. Does that happen to anyone else? They go to fix one thing, and some random other unrelated part just breaks?

 

[65stanger]

yup.

 

[StangDreamin']

I want to someday build up but don't yet have a Stang (hence the screen name); but I've had and loved a few old cars and trucks. My current Generic Chevy Truck was the first vehicle I'd ever driven off the new car lot; but that was 14 years and a lot of very hard miles ago, and I'm starting to feel your pain on a regular basis - which really sucks.

Your problem is that you anthropomorphised your Stang - big word (I almost had to look up it's spelling, and I only think I got it right) which means you've given your car "human" traits and weaknesses. You simply cannot consider a car that you "love" to be a living breathing organism.

Because it's not.

It's a collection of living, breathing organisms; and when you massage one of those organisms, the others get jealous and so they start acting up! Worse, this will be an ongoing occurrance; until you've finally built up a "brand new" 30-odd-year-old car. Of course by then, that water pump which was the first thing you replaced will have worn out and will break (again) right after you've hung the new rear bumper; which was the very last thing you had to replace to make the car "brand new". And you get to start all over again

It's like "The Lion King" produced by an auto parts baron - you can almost hear Elton John singing "The Circle of Parts" while wearing a NAPA jacket

 

[rbohm]

I want to someday build up but don't yet have a Stang (hence the screen name); but I've had and loved a few old cars and trucks. My current Generic Chevy Truck was the first vehicle I'd ever driven off the new car lot; but that was 14 years and a lot of very hard miles ago, and I'm starting to feel your pain on a regular basis - which really sucks.

Your problem is that you anthropomorphised your Stang - big word (I almost had to look up it's spelling, and I only think I got it right) which means you've given your car "human" traits and weaknesses. You simply cannot consider a car that you "love" to be a living breathing organism.

Because it's not.

It's a collection of living, breathing organisms; and when you massage one of those organisms, the others get jealous and so they start acting up! Worse, this will be an ongoing occurrance; until you've finally built up a "brand new" 30-odd-year-old car. Of course by then, that water pump which was the first thing you replaced will have worn out and will break (again) right after you've hung the new rear bumper; which was the very last thing you had to replace to make the car "brand new". And you get to start all over again

It's like "The Lion King" produced by an auto parts baron - you can almost hear Elton John singing "The Circle of Parts" while wearing a NAPA jacket

soo true that!!

 

[bnickel]

I want to someday build up but don't yet have a Stang (hence the screen name); but I've had and loved a few old cars and trucks. My current Generic Chevy Truck was the first vehicle I'd ever driven off the new car lot; but that was 14 years and a lot of very hard miles ago, and I'm starting to feel your pain on a regular basis - which really sucks.

Your problem is that you anthropomorphised your Stang - big word (I almost had to look up it's spelling, and I only think I got it right) which means you've given your car "human" traits and weaknesses. You simply cannot consider a car that you "love" to be a living breathing organism.

Because it's not.

It's a collection of living, breathing organisms; and when you massage one of those organisms, the others get jealous and so they start acting up! Worse, this will be an ongoing occurrance; until you've finally built up a "brand new" 30-odd-year-old car. Of course by then, that water pump which was the first thing you replaced will have worn out and will break (again) right after you've hung the new rear bumper; which was the very last thing you had to replace to make the car "brand new". And you get to start all over again

It's like "The Lion King" produced by an auto parts baron - you can almost hear Elton John singing "The Circle of Parts" while wearing a NAPA jacket

by the time mine rolls out of the driveway for the first time in almost 8 years it will have every single living breathing organism replaced by a new, except most of the body, well actually only the shell, every other body parts has been replaced at least once, many twice and some three times . but i refuse to drive it until it is a brand new car again, just the way i would have ordered it in 1969. if only i had been born in 1953 i could have had a 69 mustang for my first car. wait it was my first car only in 1984 instead of 69. BTW i was born in 69 and my car is only a few weeks younger than me.

 

[jes72mustang]

OK first of all that crack about Elton John in the NAPA jacket singing "Circle of parts" almost caused me to expell coffee though my nose from laughter.

Also I think all of us classic owners are in the same boat. I know it seems to be that way for me as well. My classic is a '72, which is the same year I was born too, it is a couple of months older than I am.

Gotta love the therapy of working on these cars, or is it the thereapy we receive as a result of working on these cars?

 

[65stanger]

I want to someday build up but don't yet have a Stang (hence the screen name); but I've had and loved a few old cars and trucks. My current Generic Chevy Truck was the first vehicle I'd ever driven off the new car lot; but that was 14 years and a lot of very hard miles ago, and I'm starting to feel your pain on a regular basis - which really sucks.

Your problem is that you anthropomorphised your Stang - big word (I almost had to look up it's spelling, and I only think I got it right) which means you've given your car "human" traits and weaknesses. You simply cannot consider a car that you "love" to be a living breathing organism.

Because it's not.

It's a collection of living, breathing organisms; and when you massage one of those organisms, the others get jealous and so they start acting up! Worse, this will be an ongoing occurrance; until you've finally built up a "brand new" 30-odd-year-old car. Of course by then, that water pump which was the first thing you replaced will have worn out and will break (again) right after you've hung the new rear bumper; which was the very last thing you had to replace to make the car "brand new". And you get to start all over again

It's like "The Lion King" produced by an auto parts baron - you can almost hear Elton John singing "The Circle of Parts" while wearing a NAPA jacket

Man, you've been in the jacuzzi waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long, you're parboiled, stick-a-fork-in-it done! roasted.

 

[69 Capecod]

Heres one for ya
I had to get my cell phone fixed so I could hear it ring in my car the exaust is just to loud. I fixed the phone and the tranny went on the car. I open the hood call the tow truck and wait. they show up and I close the hood to the car and it wont close wierd I thought I push harder I open the hood to see whats wrong and find that I smashed my phone under the hood. Bad day huh I go get another phone and my wife calls and says her car wont go into drive Broke two phones and two tranys in one week. How DOes That Happen.

 

[65stanger]

Another GBM Virus OUTBREAK???

Damn, just when we thought it was safe to work on our cars again! Sounds like we have another outbreak of the GBM virus on our hands!

 

[Banditlead]

Gotta love the therapy of working on these cars, or is it the thereapy we receive as a result of working on these cars?

The only therapy I got for working on the car came in a nice big mug at the bar that night.
Though, complaining aside, the intake does look good in there.
But imagine my surprise when I figured out that Ford used its own length for the bolts on the intake, and I can't just pick them up from the store....

 

[StangDreamin']

OK first of all that crack about Elton John in the NAPA jacket singing "Circle of parts" almost caused me to expell coffee though my nose from laughter.

Glad you liked it. I wasn't sure anybody would get the reference; unless (like me) they had bought multiple copies of that tape for their kids. 1/2NK and her sister literally burnt the mag media off the first two VHS's we bought of that movie. Bought a DVD of the movie when we bought our DVD player; Matt watched it once, he was done with it I still cringe when I hear that song on the "Easy Listening" radio in some office.

Anyhow, I was a little luckier than you; my first "Classic" ('73 Gran Torino) wasn't considered a classic when I got it - it was just an 8-yr-old car. The biggest pain was finding replacement seat foam. Lot's of Clevelands were floating around in junkyards those days; and parts were still plenitful in hot rod shops. So, it wasn't too rough; although both Checker Auto and Manny, Moe and Schmuck somehow had a real hard time believing that there was a 2 barrel Cleveland in '73 Torino's - beats the heck outta me why that was. After getting Windsor parts and/or gaskets every time I told them it was a 2bbl car; I finally gave in a and started telling them it was a 4 barrel 351. Hey, that was true by then; just Ford didn't put Performers and Holley 650's on their '73s

My second was a '72 F100 (11 years old)that ended up needing a rebuild on its 360 ci truck block. It "got a little out of hand" with '68 Thunderbird 345-horse 390 heads, a 427 crank, 30-over 390 slugs on the original 360 rods and the aluminum dual-plane intake that came with the T-bird heads. Rebuilt the 'Bird's C6 because mine was chock-full of metal shavings that came from too many parts to economically replace; and then I had to hunt around for a longer front-half of the two piece driveline to match the shorter tranny tailshaft. The hardest thing to find was a replacement airbox for the factory underdash A/C.

Like I said, they weren't considered "Classics" when I got them, so it was a lot easier for me (at least when I could afford parts)

 

[65stanger]

Like I said, they weren't considered "Classics" when I got them, so it was a lot easier for me (at least when I could afford parts)

Yup.....and you weren't considered an "Antique" when you were born either...and replacement parts can still be pricey!

 

[StangDreamin']

Yup.....and you weren't considered an "Antique" when you were born either...and replacement parts can still be pricey!

Hey, now! I'll have you know that I may be three years older than the first production Mustang (but still younger than you!); but I haven't needed "replacement parts" since 1979 (gold crowns replaced a couple of bad molars). Since then, I've gotten by on all the original equipmnet!

Man, you've been in the jacuzzi waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long, you're parboiled, stick-a-fork-in-it done! roasted.

Yeah, well, I typed that up when I got home after sending the kid from our Scout meeting in an ambulance. BTW, he ended up with a dislocated hip. Jeeze I don't understand it..... I was a skinny little fart back when I played the same game that took him out

Maybe that means that the '62 model was a little more "bullet-proof" than the '93?

 

[65stanger]

Maybe that means that the '62 model was a little more "bullet-proof" than the '93?

I dunno.......... Shall we stand you both up in front of a .44 and see which fares better?

And don't even consider testing me.....I'm allergic to lead!