Clean Cars

Sunday, after church, I launched into cleaning Heidi. I think it’s the cleanest this car’s been since I repainted it. Once I was done washing both inside and out, I Armoralled the top and the vinyl and repaired the crack in the dash pad. I then drove her onto the front lawn and took some photos which I’ve posted on Flickr.

Next, I installed Glinda’s new speedometer cable and thoroughly washed her inside and out followed by a generous application of Armorall and a thorough cleaning of the windows. I ended the day by reinstalling the stainless trim around her windshield and backlight. Once we have good weather again, I’ll take photos.

Last night I noticed, as Ariel was pulling up in front of the house, that Ringo’s right rear brakelight was out. Fortunately, I discovered the not-quite-connected connector before I tore into the light housing. Love those easy fixes that, sadly, are few and far between. Next, I got out the adhesive caulk and tried to affix the bottom corners of Glinda’s backlight stainless trim. The clips aren’t close enough and those corners just flap in the breeze. After putting copious amounts of caulk in the joint, I strategically placed bricks on top of rags on top of the trim to hold it down while the caulk cures. I’ll check out whether I was successful or not tonight.

I’ve had a few responses to Heidi’s Craigslist ad, but they’ve been the typical kind (i.e. someone calls and sets up an appointment and then cancels 2 hours before, someone calls and sets up an appointment and then never shows, someone calls and you quickly find they don’t have a clue and this is not the car for them). Waste of time.

Oh Yeah

With all the For Sale excitement, I forgot that I spent an hour or so working on Corvairs yesterday. In preparation for Ariel taking over the reins of Ringo again, I tightened up the steering box, adjusted the brake pedal height, tightened the sunvisor retaining screw, tried getting the heater control to fully shut off the warm air (failed), checked the fluid levels and fanbelt tension.

Then, I fired up Heidi and let her idle and warm up in the driveway before checking the transmission fluid level (still above Add).

Finally, I unburied Luna with the hopes of starting her up. I checked for fuel in the tank by sticking a hose through the filler tube. When that came up dry it was time to call it an evening.

Big Changes Afoot

I’ve had enough! The herd must be thinned! All non-essential Corvairs are to be sold! Headline it as you want, the bottom line is I’m selling at least two Corvairs.

I just got the word from Brianna that she doesn’t foresee a scenario where she and Nich will live close enough to us that they’d be comfortable using Heidi as a daily-driver. It was a hard and sad decision for her, but she texted me, “it’s time for me to sell her to someone who will appreciate her.” So, Heidi gets a good cleaning this evening and a For Sale sign put in her window and she’ll be my daily-driver until she’s sold.

Then, I just dropped Lucy’s asking price on Craigslist to $2950 in hopes of generating some interest.

Then, I got the green light from Victoria to sell Glinda.

Then, Ariel is about to set off on the adventure of buying her first car. Once it’s purchased, I’ll be asking her if it’s okay if I sell Ringo. I won’t be pressuring her, but my thought is she’ll never drive him once she’s enjoyed the comforts, both physical and mental, of driving a modern, reliable vehicle.

If they actually all sell, that would leave a dramatically smaller fleet of two - Luna and TwoTone. What am I going to drive if they all sell? I’ve got a really nice Silverado. What about track days? They’d be over for the foreseeable future. Would that make me sad? Sure, but I’ve got higher priorities in my life right now.

I’ve Been Remiss

My apologies for not doing a better job of updating the current status of the fleet. Let’s go down the list alphabetically.

Glinda: When last I posted on her, she’d just been given a replacement speedometer cable and I pronounced the project to be, “Job done.” Well, I blogged too soon. My first drive after the install showed I hadn’t fixed the problem. Last night I pulled the driven end of the cable from behind the right front wheel and discovered it was missing the squared off termination that mates snugly with the receptacle inside the grease cup. Oh well, it was a freebie. This morning I ordered a GNP from Clark’s.

Heidi: She’s at the ready and with some eighty degree days in this week’s forecast, she will become a daily-driver once again.

Lucy: I drove her a couple times last week, and noticed a faint fuel smell. I tightened the fittings around the fuel pump and drove her yesterday. There’s still some fluid around the fuel pump, but I’m now thinking it’s a slow leak in the oil pressure switch. Irrr. I’ve still got a few improvements I’d like to make to her including installing the three-speed shifter housing. Oh well, just takes time.

Luna: Victoria is telling her clients she will not be working weekends, so, hopefully, this will allow her to spend some time on her convertible. The new top is just lying on top of the frame patiently waiting for us to staple it in place – if only it was that easy. There are also plenty of other issues she needs attending to (see sidebar).

Ringo: I’ve been putting the miles on the only male-named vehicle in the fleet while Ariel does her long-distance commuting in a reliable rental car. So far, he’s performed flawlessly. TYL. Ariel is supposed to turn the rental in tomorrow, so I’d like to tighten the steering and the fanbelt before giving his key back to her. This evening should provide an opportunity.

TwoTone: Yesterday was a busy day for the newest member of our fleet. After Mikhaila tirelessly helped me clean the floor of the garage, we pushed her (the car, not Mikhaila) into place under the lights in preparation for actually starting to do some work. I’m figuring that with the nicer weather, I can deal with the day-to-day maintenance of daily-drivers out in the driveway while TwoTone sits on jackstands in the garage. Hopefully a rainy spring doesn’t dampen my plans (pun intended). I was finally able to synch up with TwoTone’s previous owner and get the front clip that we’ll use to replace TwoTone’s smushed nose. Not sure where I’m going to store the front eigth of an EM, but I’ll find somewhere safe.