The Days Are Long, But The Years Are Short

     Gotta love technology. It’s become an integrated part of our lives and at minimum, is all around us. Even so, with all the modern advances that we see, occasional glitches do appear on the menu. We had some with this blog - but they’ve been ironed out (at least until the next one comes along) and we’re able to power-shift decently. So onward!

     As I write this, numerous things come to mind that have surfaced over the past week. First off, my youngest daughter just turned 25 years old. It just seemed like yesterday, that she got her drivers license as well as her first car - a 1983 Chevy Monte Carlo. It wasn’t a performance car by any stretch of the imagination, but hey, it was damn cool. Everyone in her high school knew it was her car.

     She sold it about a year later to purchase a 1970 Chevy Nova. She could easily digest the fact that it was a 4-door. Remember, this was only 8 years ago - and any 2 door Nova was WAY out of her high school budget (and mine… my oldest daughter was in college at the time and this

daughter was right behind her). Her Nova was in great shape, however, with only 48,000 original miles on the clock. She could even handle the gold color - inside and out! One of the coolest aspects of the car that I liked about it (as did she after a while) was that it was a base model. Bench seat, no power steering or brakes, no radio (the factory radio delete plate was still there), dog dish hubcaps - the works! It didn’t even have carpeting, just rubber floor mats. The only options this car had was the Turbo-Hydromatic 350 and mandatory 10-bolt rear end that went with it.

     We had plans to swap in a small V-8 that I had purchased & pulled from an old Chevy Caprice, but like many things in life, it just didn’t happen. She drove the Nova through college and then sold it to help pay for things when married life & kids came along. Sound familiar?

     Even though she now drives a minivan, some good things did come out of owning “older” vehicles. One, it gave her a simple basic starting point to learn about cars so she won’t get screwed when bringing her present vehicle to be repaired. While the systems on today’s vehicles may have become more technical and complicated, the premise is still the same and in some cases have not changed all that much.

Second, it’s also given me a chance to share one of my passions with her - something that she still carries to this day. She’s a Mom with a degree in graphic design and has a job that has nothing to do with cars. But that doesn’t matter - she still has an appreciation for them. Especially muscle cars, hot rods and old-school VW Bugs.

     My wife and I also shared with her (as well as our other daughter) our love of art, music, writing, and numerous other things that are a big part of this world. Both are daughters are very diverse. And that’s the bottom line people - strength is in diversity. Dare to be different. Share things with your kids; your hobbies, your likes, your appreciations. Get out of the house, away from the television, and for Pete’s sake, lose the iPhone for at least an hour or two. You might be surprised at the difference it makes when we engage with one another.

     Speaking of engaging, as of this writing, I am in the process of tearing down at least half the engine in the Mustang. When it was time to wake it up from it’s long winters nap, I realized it had not only a leaking valve cover gasket on the passenger side, but also a blown head gasket.

D-oh!! I’m unsure if it was due to the expansion rate differences between the aluminum heads and cast iron block, the cold temperatures this winter (unheated storage) or if in fact, it was time for a freshening up. The motor was rebuilt 10 years ago (very well I might add), but has hundreds of 12 second drag strip passes under it’s belt as well as regular street driving time. Also, head gasket technology has leapt by leaps & bounds over the past decade, especially with the incredible popularity of turbo charging. As I said earlier - onward! We’ll keep you posted as to how things are going. The guy I’m working with (who has tons of race engine experience) thinks the heads are fine. Fingers crossed!!

     Until next time - peace out.
     Dave