Postcards From Myself

I can never be without a toy for long. And by toy I really mean a car. Without something to tinker with, I am just not happy. And ever since the age of about 19 that toy has really had to be British. Once you get British cars in your blood, they never come out. Kind of like stains. Maybe it comes from inhaling a combination of Castrol oil and brake fluid along with rust. Don’t know, but I have the sickness bad. And, beyond just being British, I am addicted to MGs. Yes, I have MG hats, shirts, belts, key rings, posters, book, glasses, toys, and much more. Even an official MG dart board. (Me making my wife take time out from our English vacation to visit Abingdon, the birthplace of MGS, and the Heritage Motor Museum is an entirely different story.)

Anyway, back to the task at hand. Because of this addiction and because no one had the foresight to ban me from searching Craigslist, I am now the owner of a 1973 MG Midget that is in need of a wee bit of restoration. Although according to my friend Pat Stuckart, “saying this car needs a bit of work is like saying the Titanic needed a bit of buoyancy.” Some friend he is!

I have posted one picture of the car here, but if you click on that picture you can go to the full site I have about the car. Yes, another odd addiction of mine is making websites for anything that I get my hands on. If you would like to see it directly, just go to my MG Midget Page.

So, now you know what I will be doing in my rare “off moments” for the next few months. Or maybe years. I am still convinced that it is not as bad as it looks. Which in and of itself is a really good thing! But also, while my wife and her friends adopt stray dogs and protect them from pounds and being put down, I do the same thing for ailing British cars. I just can’t stand to see a car with any chance of life be parted out, sent to the junkyard, or worse yet set to the crusher. It just kills me a bit somewhere inside. Of course, again, that could be the chemicals and rust having their way with me.

The big three automakers are in trouble and it is there own fault. Interestingly I have talked to friends both liberal and conservative, Democrat and Republican. We all agree that the government should not bail out GM, Chrysler or Ford because they got in the bind they are in by their own self-centered mismanagement. They all thought they could do whatever they liked and that the customers would follow them. Sorry, your customers aren’t sheep and to think they are is just conceited stupidity.

There used to be an old saying that “what is good for GM is good for the country.” That tells you exactly where the problem lies. As anyone who is in tune with the marketplace can tell you, it should have been “what is good for the country is good for GM.” Basically, if you concentrate on your customer your business will succeed.

If you do what is right for your customers you will succeed on two fronts. First, even in the unlikely event that you do fail financially, you will have done some good for the world. And secondly, if you are doing right by your customers they will support you and stand behind you. They will want you to succeed. And that alone is more than half the battle.

Truthfully, I am not sure if it is too late for the big auto makers. I am sure it is already too late for their executives though. The guys at the top are too selfish to do what is right by their customers, their companies, or their countries. They have proven that by their attitudes and action. The best thing they could do is step down, and if they won’t step down they should be removed.

The only way the big three can be fixed is if they, and the labor unions who work for them, quit focusing on themselves and turn their attention to giving the customers what is wanted. How in the world does flying a corporate jet aid the customer? It doesn’t. How does haggling at the dealership until utter frustration sets in help the customer? It doesn’t. How does making too large gas guzzling old technology help the customer? It doesn’t. See how simple the test is? Just cut out all the junk that isn’t good for the customer out. Focus on your customer and you can’t lose.

I have a real crisis of action and conscience on my hands. This will affect not only how I appear, but how I am perceived by other people. The question is this – how long do I leave the Obama bumper sticker on my car? Don’t laugh! This is serious. We have all seen the people with bumper stickers from an election two or three presidents ago, and it just makes those cars look ridiculous. Is the problem that the sticker won’t come off? Is the driver thinking there might be a recount? Was that the last time the car was washed? Or is the owner just living in either euphoria or denial?

I want to leave the Obama sticker on my car long enough for people to know who I supported for President and that I am happy that he won. But I don’t want to gloat either. That would be bad form and not at all in line with the bridge building we need to do. And the election is over – for the most part. Maybe I should leave the sticker on the bumper until the Electoral College does its thing. That would be the surest end, right? Or maybe I should just wait until the inauguration in January. That way during the end of the current administration my car would point to the next administration.

Or maybe I should just do it now. Get that sticker off the bumper, give the car a good wash, and move on with my life and my work. What do you thing? How long until you get tired of seeing all the election paraphernalia?

Actually, as odd as it sounds, I really do enjoy fixing cars. Maybe it is the fact that I get to hit things with hammers. Maybe it is that working on a car, at least the old ones, is so different from the computer, database, and web work I normally do. Hey, I get the chance to get really filthy dirty! In fact, at the moment, what I am really looking to find is a 1971 to 1974 MGBGT. I love them, had one as my first car, and am anxious to get another one. So, if you know where one is close to Charleston, SC, please let me know!

The only thing I don’t like about automotive work is paying for car parts! How do all my hobbies somehow involve spending money? Yes, I am always looking for discount car parts. Oh, you can find cheap parts – you know the ones that may last you until you get to the end of the driveway, but what I really want is good sources for quality parts. And the right ones too! If you are looking for Toyota parts, you don’t want to have to “just alter it a bit.” I was told this numerous times when working on my old BMW 2002. It was even worse when I was trying to find some parts for a 1986 BMW 325e! People would say, “Oh, this part will work fine if you just reroute this wire and shave a bit of metal off here with a grinder.” Pardon me? That wasn’t the way the part or the car were designed.

Recently I have been looking for a few odds and ends for the 2001 Ford Escape that I drive. It has just reached that age, meaning out of warranty and paid off, when small things start to break. First it was the solenoid for the tailgate release. Then the heater knob. Now a vacuum connection. None of them are very large parts, but they can be hard to find and at times expensive. Other than scrounging through junk yards – which is actually great fun and I do a good bit – I find myself prowling the web for parts.

While doing that web prowling, I came across a site called Go-Part.com. They have all kinds of discount parts for everything from the aforementioned Toyota to my Ford Escape. And for those wild children who care, yes they even have Jeep parts. Now they don’t have everything but they have the most commonly needed parts, and they carry good quality brands like DEPO, Koyo, and Modine. They also carry accessories and have and toll free number to help you if you can’t figure out or find what you’re looking for.

So, give them a try, let me know if you find my elusive MGB GT, and also let me know if you find any good salvage yards that have that elusive heater knob for my Escape.

One of the Mirriam-Webster dictionary’s definition for “fetish” is an object of irrational reverence or obsessive devotion. For me, that fetish is unusual cars. Nope, can’t be some normal super car or muscle car. It can’t be the any of the standard star cars or status symbols. To most everyone’s amusement, I like unusual cars.

I have fallen in love with MG 1100s, with Triumph TR250s, and BMW 2002s. (Not the year silly, the model!) And, at the moment I am searching for a late model MG B GT. I will find the one I want, but in the meantime something else has caught hold of my attention. For some odd reason the venerable VW bus is creeping into my consciousness.

Now I know they are not glamorous and I know they have their problems. And I really don’t need that much space, and I am used to driving much smaller cars. But man, they are just plain cool. I would love to tool around town in a VW camper or transporter and be able to just hang out in it when I get somewhere. I could set up a little desk or something and have a totally portable office. Or maybe take it camping. You know, I have never been camping in my entire life – i fled from Boy Scouts before ever having to brave the outdoors.

The air-cooled engines in the “real” buses is a thing to behold. Noisy, underpowered, and finicky in the South Carolina heat, it would be one of those proverbial labors of love. Although, with the correct add-on parts and tuning, they can be made to pack a bit of a punch. Would take a bit of work to get one of them to really hold up to the way I like to go around corners though – even my MINI used to look at me we suspicious eyes for rounding up a bit too aggressively.

But when you come to think about it, I never have owned a VW product. That is an awfully big hole in my automotive resume, isn’t it? Not sure I can let such a travesty continue for too much longer.