What an interesting day!

Just because you've come to expect a fun pic. 

I worked this morning with unusually good focus on my preaching/teaching calendar for the next several months. I'm already good through April, but this takes me the rest of the way to fall. 

I left about 10 for a 12-mile bike ride, but at the 3-mile mark I heard a loud burst, a very short psst, and quickly realized I'd blown a tire. I've had plenty of flats but this is my first blowout. Rear tire, of course. I changed the tube and headed right home, knowing what was likely to happen. Sure enough, one mile back the same thing. POP, psst, flat. See, when changing it the first time I could see a slit in the tire itself, so the tube wasn't supported at that point. 

Walking two miles home in bike shoes is not a whole lot of fun. 

Pam called at noon from work to say she was back from her trip to the eye dr. (I can't spell opthamol...) and she has a detached retina. Apparently they don't like those to wait. I'll take her in first thing tomorrow morning for a 3 hour procedure to fix it. Super glue? 4/0 silk? Duct tape? I don't know, but I'm hoping she comes out with a black eye patch. How sexy would that be?! 

I' pretty sure they're going to tell her she shouldn't cook for three weeks. 

At 2:00 a truck pulled up across the street. A BIG truck! Ray and his wife Joanne are from Kalamazoo, MI and are owners-drivers of this rig. 

Inside was what we've been eagerly awaiting:

 Meet our newest addition, a 1966 Rambler American 440.

I found it online and purchased it for a very reasonable price. It belonged to a physics prof at a Benedictine college in Lansing, Kansas. He bought it for his bride just before they got married 40 years ago. He now owns 12 classic Nash/Rambler cars, some of which are very collectable, including a '44 monster. His wife fell in love with a '64 red convertible and he agreed to buy it for her IF she'd agree to sell this one. It took some talking to get her to part with her marriage car. In fact, in one of our phone conversations he had to whisper because it upset her too much to hear him discuss selling it. I basically went through an interview process. He wanted to know how much I'd drive it, how much the teardrop weighs, if I could take adequate care of it....

Not only has he run out of room but this is the car he hasn't kept in running trim. It needs some work, and I'll probably discover issues as I go through it. I know the brakes need attention and it tends to overheat. But it doesn't leak any fluids so it's probably as simple as a thermostat. The carb leaks some gas - no big deal - and the choke needs adjusting. 

The truck driver said the tranny doesn't slip, but it pops out of, and then right back into gear. Could be fluid levels or a torque converter that needs adjustment. The valve cover gasket leaks oil, so the engine compartment will need to be degreased after that's replaced. I'll detail it as much as possible.

I have ALL the paperwork from the last 40 years, and the purchase agreement from the original owner. And extra wheels with snow tires (what's on the back now). The originals are in the trunk. 

The engine was rebuilt 30k ago and aside from the choke issue it purrs. No smoke, even after sitting in the truck for days. He hadn't driven it since a brief start-up last December until he got it out of storage for the shippers. 

The goal is to have it all ship-shape in time to pull the teardrop on our trip in July. It has factory AC, so it will be a daily driver, and a fun one at that. 

I realize most people see cars as means for getting from point A to point B, but a '66 Rambler American is almost a piece of Americana. And this is a fine specimen. I'll spare you more info...for now. But before she left for work this morning we talked about how we feel about cars, and what we'd prefer to drive. This fits both of our preferences very well!