Well I stopped by Fastenal today, the one on Martin Luther King Jr. Bvld in Jacksonville and picked up the parts I needed to repair the jalopy. They had no grade three bolts but was told that I could get the bolt in grade 8 and that would be more than enough to get it done. For the bolt, washers and nut I paid a whopping $3.58. Now most people will NEVER have to worry about their alternator bolt breaking but you will most likely not be able to fix your car for a paltry $3.58 so driving the jalopy pays for itself again. I can’t imagine ever owning a new car, most of them you can’t even see the alternator, let alone the alternator bolt and if you did have to change it you would have to remove the hood, left fender, right rear tire and you can only perform that action during the autumnal equinox. And on top of that it would cost you about 32 billion to have it done and you would have to have it done because there would be at least 17 specialty tools that are only available to the dealership mechanics.
I love driving old cars, for lots of reasons but mostly because I can work on them, I have the tools and the knowhow. Not many specialty tools needed to work on a 58 ford. Before this one I had a 66 GMC truck, before that I had a 99 F150 Lariat that I custom ordered – why I am not sure. I could not even find the spark plugs on that truck and found that the tune-up cost damn near $1000 dollars. A thousand dollars, I can buy points, condenser, cap, rotor and spark plug wires for a long time for 1000 bucks. Seriously my tune-ups cost me about 19 bucks and that includes the wires which do not need to be changed every time. I perform that task about once a year, and if you do the math on that I could have paid for every tune up that has been performed over the 51 years my jalopy has been around. So is all the fancy gadgetry in the new cars really a cost effective solution to the problem, or better yet is there a problem that needs such an expensive solution. Oh well, my old car is fun to drive, fun to ride in, cheap to maintain and I like it and with no car payment or costly repair costs I REALLY like it!
I love driving old cars, for lots of reasons but mostly because I can work on them, I have the tools and the knowhow. Not many specialty tools needed to work on a 58 ford. Before this one I had a 66 GMC truck, before that I had a 99 F150 Lariat that I custom ordered – why I am not sure. I could not even find the spark plugs on that truck and found that the tune-up cost damn near $1000 dollars. A thousand dollars, I can buy points, condenser, cap, rotor and spark plug wires for a long time for 1000 bucks. Seriously my tune-ups cost me about 19 bucks and that includes the wires which do not need to be changed every time. I perform that task about once a year, and if you do the math on that I could have paid for every tune up that has been performed over the 51 years my jalopy has been around. So is all the fancy gadgetry in the new cars really a cost effective solution to the problem, or better yet is there a problem that needs such an expensive solution. Oh well, my old car is fun to drive, fun to ride in, cheap to maintain and I like it and with no car payment or costly repair costs I REALLY like it!
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Mr. Oatmeal, you speak great wisdom. There's nothing that you can't fix on that car. That's why I don't freak out when you tell me something's wrong
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