Rapping with Fred

I had a car service appointment this morning and didn’t let a few inches of snow deter me. I’m guessing a number of people did because it was just me and one other gentleman in the waiting area, and he seemed eager to converse. My good luck.

I estimated his age at about 70. But, as his story unfolded, the math put him at 89. I should look that good at his age. Heck, I should look that good at my age.

Fred grew up on a farm outside of Flint, Michigan. He tied that to our visit by relating that you had to know how to fix everything then and there, which he doesn’t find as possible with today’s cars. He did allow that nothing’s ever gone wrong with the car he had in for a recall today. That wasn’t always the case with what he had been used to.

When he was 16, the local Chrysler dealer proffered an offer. The dealer had a lemon that had been returned three times. He also had an associate in Los Angeles who would take it off his hands. He would pay Fred to drive it out there.

Fred talked a friend into going along and they headed west. It would be quite an education for the rural Michigan farm boys.

They made the trip and the exchange. For the return journey, they pooled their funds and bought a Model T Ford from the dealer for $15. Dawdling around LA for a bit, they were running low on money. They finally loaded the Ford with five-gallon cans of gas and one big jug of motor oil before heading home on the fabled Route 66. More great experiences.

He was surprised and grateful to realize that the Ford was a California model. That is, it had been fitted with a second transmission to gear down for the mountains. That came in handy for the Rockies.

There were some long stretches between gas stations, then. Hence, the extra gas cans. A couple times, they ran low on fuel in the mountains, which created a situation I wouldn’t have thought of.

The Model T was gravity-fed. That is, there was no fuel pump. So, when you were going up a steep grade with less than a near-full tank, the engine starved. They solved this by going up those mountains in reverse. That would be a little hairy, given the state of the twisty mountain roads, then.

The car had several problems, but its simplicity and Fred’s skills got them through. The reverse gear of the extra transmission burned up as they were halfway through the Rockies. He crawled under and noticed that one of the two forward gears looked a lot like the reverse and switched them. It worked.

The engine was sounding “loose” as they approached St. Louis. A simple wrench job for him. He dropped the oil pan and torqued the bolts on the connection rods. Unfortunately, they weren’t up to today’s standards and two broke off. No problem. He found what he needed at a hardware store.

When they blew a tire, that couldn’t be jury rigged, so they had to buy a new one. When they reached Michigan, that helped solve the problem of liquidating their joint investment. Fred’s friend got the car and he got the new tire. Fred had a Model A at home he could use it on.

He had more stories than the transcontinental adventure, and they were all laced with the lessons he had learned along the way. Sometimes you strike an unexpected vein of wisdom in the most unlikely place.