I have a girl that is learning all about these cars too. My daughter, I want her
to have a car that she enjoys riding in, her friends think is cool (that is VERY
important) and that won't put me broke having a trained mechanic (shut up ED!)
working on it alot.
But!! The engine freshening (won't dare call it a rebuild after the latest
thread <sorry Jay> on the subject ) is only being done with her in attendance
and greasy film on her hands. When we first got the car, I moved the motor into
the garage and she pulled the head. She then helped me load it and the block,
take them to the machinist, unload, get the block looked at (looks pretty good)
and left the head for re-work. What put the grin on my face was the fact that
her bf was there and she wouldn't let him help me, SHE had to do it. I am not
looking for an Ellen DeGenerate motorhead daughter here when I am done. I am
hoping to instill in my daughter the idea that working on these little guys is
difficult, but rewarding when you take the finished car out and about and the
questions about "who fixes this old car for you?" are answered with "me". I
also am hoping against hope that the labor she puts into her own vehicle will
give her a jaded eye to all the friends that want to drive it "just once"
because it will NOT get fixed while she is out running around with friends, she
will be under the hood herself. I have to many to do them all without help. Yeah
Frank, I know this is a pie in the sky dream, but I can try, can't I??? We are
close enough to her school that she walks, driving would just be cooler. So if
it breaks, get on the old walking shoes.................
The Social Scrutinizer recommends that all listers offended by non-LBC content
stop reading at this point.
Stupid first car story..........
I had a 68 SS 396 Chevelle convertible as my first car, at 15!! It was a fast
car, and as was mentioned earlier, it was a wonder we all lived through our
teenage years. I would line my buddies up on the trunk lid with their feet on
the rear seat cushion and we would make a run to Grandbury on the back roads at
around 100 mph. They sold alcohol there................... The guys in the back
were 18 and old enough to help me out. Well, as we were prone to do at that age,
I let a variety of friends drive the car. After alot of abusive driving
techniques and what not, the timing chain was starting to rattle. I sent the car
to another school with a "friend" who was gonna replace the chain in shop class
for his grade. I came home a week later to find the car in the driveway, and the
motor wouldn't turn. I pulled the heads (heavy F'n beasts) and noticed that #8
cylinder was 3/4 of the way ventilated. I lost a car I dearly enjoyed to an
irresponsible decision, BUT I gained my love for convertibles from it. I have a
68 GTO hardtop in the garage that is only in need of paint and interior and it
is feeling like a step child because of the Spridgets...........
Toby Atwater wrote:
> This is very true. I had an amazing time with a girl in high school who was
> interested with what was under the hood. "what's the plastic thing with the
> yellow and black wire coming out." ... "that's the distributor"... "what
> does it do?" etc... She was just starting to understand the basics... then
> we graduated and she went off to college on the east coast :(. Had to start
> all over with current girl friend. She is starting to get the concept of cam
> shafts. But no amount of explaining will compare with actually getting
> greasy, that's how I learned.
>
> Toby
> 69 Sprite, resto in progress (on hold)
> 71 Land Cruiser, (disc conversion in progress)
>
> I have had several girlfriends say they wish they had a guy to teach them
> about cars. There's a lot more of us out there with an interest than you
> probably think. (And sorry fellas those particular girls are either spoken
> for right now, or people I've lost touch with) But the point is, if you're
> willing to wait for that kind of girl don't blow her off when she shows an
> interest (it's a hard think for us to go out and learn on our own), but then
> again don't talk her ear off, or watch Speedvision 24hrs a day ;) We are
> out there! And we like our hair, but we look cute in baseball caps too!
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Steven Fooshee <sfooshee@home.com>
> Cc: Spridget List <spridgets@autox.team.net>
> Sent: 16 February, 2001 9:39 PM
> Subject: Re: Selling the Sprite...
>
> > Doug Ingram wrote:
> > >
> > > However, the truth is that these issues are critical in determining the
> > > value of the relationship. I know I wouldn't want to have a partner who
> > > couldn't as the very minimum tolerate my interests.
> > >
> >
> > That's probably the wisest thing I've seen on this list. I dated a girl
> for
> > about a year (she got to be known as the PSR, an acronym I won't explain
> in
> > public :), and she complained about her hair every time I drove up in the
> > Sprite. After showing her the way out I vowed not to bother with anyone
> who
> > doesn't "get it."
> >
> > --
> > ~
> > '90 GS-500E: $5 premium = 150 miles.
> > MCMLXIX Sprite: $10 premium = 150 miles.
> > '87 RX-7 TII: $25 premium = 150 miles. F^3, though! :)
> > '87 RX-7 TII: Getting voted off the island.
> > People who like math frighten me.
> >
> > ~
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