"Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact." - George Eliot

My son's Facebook post today.

The Amaryllis grows 2" a day now and the bud shows signs of turning into a flower. Two of the five Paperwhite bulbs have blossomed. It's been years since I did this and I don't remember the blossoms being this delicate. I was afraid both flowers would blossom while we're in Seattle but I think the Paperwhites will be done by then and the Amaryllis will have bloomed.

What a day!
It's just about dinner time and I've been up since 1 a.m.
It's a Sun City thing.

But I've decided to embrace my insomnia, accept it as the new normal, and relax. No point getting upset about being awake, so I just relax and enjoy the quiet until Mike & Mike comes on at 4:00. I can't really do anything around the house because our home is small enough that it would wake Pam. And it's dark outside (for those of you who haven't ever seen that time of day). So I read, play games on the computer, and think.

(OK, stick with me here. What looks like a car repair story is going someplace.)
This morning that thinking revolved around the Rambler's gas tank which I had come to realize is full of 45+ years of crud - crud that clogged up the fuel filter in a matter of minutes and wreaked havoc in the carb. Why this problem now? I think because the new electric fuel pump generates more pressure than the original mechanical pump and pushes sediment along the line that had been laying there peacefully for decades.


By 5:00 Pam was still sleeping and I was HUNGRY, so I stretched my culinary skills to-the-max and made some instant oatmeal in the microwave. I actually mixed some raisins in!
By 7:00 she was up, had fixed me some toast with jam (above my skill level) and I was out in the garage working. It took me three hours to get that stupid tank out, largely because the first part of every step was discovery; "how does this work?" (The official manual is almost worthless. "Remove  the support strap and then tank.") Also, I had no idea how heavy the tank would be and I did NOT want it to crash to the garage floor and break. I must have repositioned the floor jack a hundred times, but by 10:30 it was out and laying in the driveway.

I emptied about four gallons of gas out of the tank into an orange Home Depot bucket, and from there into a plastic gas can that I took to an oil change place for disposal. After seeing what sat in the bottom of that bucket I knew the gas had to go.

The next step: pour a gallon of kerosene into the tank, add gravel from the back yard, and shake, shake, shake - shake, shake, shake - shake your booty. Shake your booty.

Empty that disgusting black soup, get the gravel out, rinse with water, and set aside overnight to dry. Oh, and now that I know the problem was not vapor lock I took out the electric fuel pump and hooked everything back up through the original mechanical pump.

OK, here's the kicker. Half way through all of that, just after I got the tank out from underneath the car, my cell phone rang.
"Is the Rambler still for sale?"

Last week I put it on Craig's List just to see what would happen. We originally got it to pull the teardrop but I came to realize it wasn't a good car for that purpose. (I'll spare you the technical reasons.) The VW is nearing completion - assuming I can get four fenders back from the painter - and I can't justify having two "fun" cars. Should I keep the Rambler and sell the VW when it's finished or sell the Rambler? So I put it on Craig's List to test the market. Got one call the next day from a guy who didn't call back like he said he would. Then last night, five days after posting, I got a call from a guy in Sacramento specifically looking for a Rambler. We talked for about 30 minutes, I told him everything, he seemed interested, and he said he'd give it some thought. Then today in the middle of this work a guy who lives right here in Sun City called and was here 15 minutes later.
He's owned old Chevy's but they've gotten too pricey so he's moving to "orphans," the term used to describe car brands no longer made, like Ramblers, Studebakers, and the like. I told him everything I've done and why, and the issues that remain (all very minor if it's just going to be a driver). We easily agreed on a price, and I'll call him back tomorrow when the tank is back in. He agrees with my diagnosis and treatment and is also confident all will be in good order when I'm done.

I made a small profit, about 12% after the parts I had to buy. I don't mind the work; I enjoy wrenching. I always learn stuff, too. I didn't get it to sell it. I also didn't think it would require nearly this much work to get into good running order. If I had it to do over again...I don't know. I guess we'll know if/when I do this again.
(stay tuned)
Say goodbye to Louise.