My Wagon is MAGIC!

A little history... when I bought my wagon... sight unseen, I just hopped in, fired it up and drive it home 3 hours from Tuscon - no issues. I had brought tools.. 'just in case' but basically, after sitting for 10 years, I just fired it up and drove it home on the owner telling me 'she'll make it'... even on dry rotted mismatched tires that barely held air.

Now, I know this this car needs 'stuff' done to it... belts, hoses, suspension, brakes etc... you get the idea.

But today, I am driving it to my tire store to get one of the new tires I just bought swapped out (it had bad lettering). I am on the freeway and I hear a loud 'BAM' followed by squeeling and billowing white smoke...and the smell of burning rubber. Immediately I knew it was a belt.

So I pull over and see that the AC belt and Alternator belt are in shreds. (been meaning to replace ALL the belts, but have been lazy)

I decide since the tire store is only 5 miles away...to just keep going and have it replaced when I get there for the tire...thinking to myself, wow, lucked out there...fan belt is still there - so at least no overheating to worry about.

So I get to the tire place and find out the AC compressor locked up - causing the belts to snap. And of course, there is no bypassing the AC compressor even though they had a belt. So.. I'll be on the hunt for a compressor.

Now for the Magic part... I decide that I am just going to chance it and drive home (about 25 minutes/20 miles) without the belt. Now, even I know that the battery shouldnt last long at all without a charge. But something just told me 'she'll make it'. The tire place even offered me a battery and tools (since I know someone there) just in case I needed them... I just said.. naw.. I think she'll make it... we (the car and I) seem to have an understanding.

So, anyway... as you may have figured out by now... she made it ALL THE WAY home like nothing ever was wrong... heck the battery guage never even indicated discharge. I was shocked. Just for giggles, once I got home I shut it off and let it set for a bit and then went to fire it up again just to see if it would... and? Yep.. it did. Wow.

So.. I now believe... my wagon is Magic!
Im curious now how long it would have gone (LOL).

 

Don't you sometimes just feel like that wagon's a friend? That's how mine's always been too. These beasts sure seem to love those who try to do our best to preserve them!

 

Wow great story....

My old wagon has been really good to me also...I think she appreciates what I have done since I brought her back from potential derby duty...she was missing her vitals (motor, tranny, exhaust etc) and was quite the forlorne beast when I stepped up to give her a new lease on life.

 

I DO! its weird, but it really seems like it is a mutual understanding thing... scratch my back and I will scratch yours... its amazing and really cool.

 

I know the feeling all to well. I had a mustard yellow 1979 Volvo 245 DL in 1999 & 2000, that I paid $200 for. She was a bit ratty but I was a Volvo tech and she was Swdens finest. Whats strange, she only would start for me. I had other 30 year techs of Volvo pop in and try to start it.....i looked at everything from the computer, ignition switch, and I couldt find a thing wrong.

My '77 LTD Counrty Squire was werid too, I had bought the barge for $150 not running and sitting under a tree. Slowly restored her and again, she was great with me, however, other ppl she was pissy with......

And yes Caprice Estate, these wagons are like having a friend....I have had 7 wagons from the 70s and 80s, not ONE has let me down, and they have all gotton me home safe (ice/snow storms, college years, hitting a deer...ect)

Jonny

 

I had mine at my buddy's apartment last nite, she just wouldn't start, for the life of me. My buddy, all dressed up for his date, was out there with the gummout down the carb. Nothing was working. I just told her I would get her home and take good care of her and BOOM, fired right up.

 

My wife doesn't believe old cars have a personality...but we know better...

 

My wife has a few favourite and traditional Mexican cooking pans and kitchen gadgets. If I want her to understand that the car has a personality, I just compare her gadgets with it. You'd never take her "tortilla comal" from her in 2 lifetimes! Luckily, she loves the car as much as I do, so the car gets all the TLC it needs.

 

On the way home from work last night i was making a turn and noticed my low oil light pop on for a brief second and then back off, i wasnt far from the house so i kept goin and no more then afew seconds later i start hearin the engine ticking...that scarin the crap out of my had me making a u-turn to go back to the local autozone but crazy thing is after i made the turn and headed back the tickin stopped and nvr ticked again...i put acpl quarts of oil in and off we went no tickin she ran jus fine....im tryin to make her hold on for afew more days b4 i can change the spark plugs and oil and anything else but jus thought id share that lil incedent that happened last nite...lol

 

Funny you mention that, I just had the impulse to check my oil the other day, only to find she was empty, and had been running like that. I mean, i'm sure there was oil in the pan and the filter, but it's the old wagon magic telling me to check the oil I think.

 

Another story for ya. My buddy's Mazda Protege' just got back from the shop. As we were driving it all the lights started dimming, radio killed and the car wouldn't get up past 5mph. I told my buddy it was the Alternator (which he just had replaced) (he doesn't know cars). We limped it the mile and a half to the mechanic where he gets his work done. The thing was about to die any second the entire ride there. It hung in there and didn't die until we got in the parking lot at the auto shop, then she finally killed.

 

Im telling ya.. these wagons love us as much as we love them!

 

Self-survival?

Its true though, the more I take care of her, the more she returns the favour.

 

Yeah, and I'm very guilty of talking to my car too. Sometimes when I'm driving, I'll just start talking to my car about how great she is and how good she is to me and that I appreciate it. I think I'm officially insane.

 

Your not the only one, I think most of us car guys do that at one point or another. I mean, think about it, what most of us do with our cars, its become almost like a family member to us. We are "car people", its not just a mode of transport but its become part of who we are. So talking to our cars.....as off as it sounds, its sorta natural.