Well, it was bound to happen sometime. At some point there would be a problem that would stop Roxy in her tracks. I thought I had guarded against most things, but there was one are that I blindly forgot. There weather turned cold here last night with temperatures down in the mid-twenties. Hey, I said cold for Charleston, not cold for Maine! Anyway, I checked the anti-freeze and oil and such, but totally overlooked the battery.
Roxy started up and ran fine this morning. Not a problem in the world. But, when I went out this evening to fight the traffic home from work things weren’t so good. I put the key in the ignition, turned it, the engine started to spin and then click. Nothing. Silence. No lights, no solenoid click, no horn, no nothing. I don’t think it is anything major, I think the battery just died due to the cold and age. I cleaned the terminals and cables and looked over everything, but all signs point to the battery being toast. I even put her on jumper cables to my wife’s Ford Escape for a while.
Silence. Darkness. Nothing.
So, I will try a few more things tomorrow when I can see more clearly and then I am sure I will be off to buy a battery. Funny thing is that this doesn’t upset me. I knew something would happen at some point. Hey, the car is nearly thirty-two years old! And I am no where near making it through checking all the systems. It is for that exact reason that my old car still graces the driveway. I am just glad Roxy is sleeping soundly at my office and not by the side of the road or in some shady section of town.
One other item to mention – oil. I was going to give her an oil change yesterday. I knew her drain plug was in bad shape so I had ordered a new one. So there I was with oil, filter, drain plug, and all tools all ready. And that is where I still am. Seems the spirit of owners past has reared its ugly head again. The drain plug is 100% seized. I worked on that thing for over half an hour with nearly every tool in my arsenal. It started off as nearly rounded off. It ended up totally round. Nothing would bite and it would not budge. Heating, clamping, pounding and cursing – nothing helped. So I am going to have some Serious Work to do on that. It is going to have to be soon too as I have no idea how long the current oil has been in there. As far as I can tell it looks like the ooze you would expect to see in a tar pit.
Such is the joy of classic car ownership. But as I said, for some perverse reason I enjoy this stuff. In hindsight at least.
