Car Talk

So beautiful, yet so broken

Special thanks today to Marian from California, the ONLY person who responded to my plea for a golf cart costume. For her suggestion that I should be a box of popcorn, Marian will soon receive a noisy, long-haired wiener dog with a small bladder.
All plans for Halloween costumes have been set aside while we deal with a pricey prognosis on my broken truck. After removing and installing the EGR valve 6 times, I took it to a mechanic who said all it needs is $1000.
What is it with auto mechanics, that they can only deal in 4 digit numbers? I'll bet it's because they usually only handle engines with at least four cylinders! 
I drove a 3-cylinder car for a couple of months once. It was supposed to be four, but one of the spark plug cables was dangling next to the engine. The gas mileage was terrible.
My first car was a 1951 Cadillac, sold to me by my parents. That's them in the photo. I'm in the driver's seat. We had a really big garage with curtains.

One day I noticed I was putting a lot of gas in the car. My dad took it to a mechanic and he said there was a hole in the gas tank and it would be $300 to fix it. My dad decided that was too much to spend on10-year-old car. Good call, Pops! My beloved car went to the scrap yard, and I was soon driving another of my dad's gems, a 1956 Olds with portholes in the fenders. I had hated that car since I had used it when I turned 16 to take my driver's test. It was so powerful I peeled out of the parking lot as the examiner grabbed the visor with both hands. I immediately failed.

Maybe I'll decorate the golf cart as a 1951 Cadillac.