Last Ride For Sparky The PimpSled
Sic Transit Gloria Caddii
The old Cadillac may finally be leaving the driveway. It's been a cat-perch and workbench for the past 5 months.
The contractor that's redoing Casa de Capitan seems to think that the '89 Fleetwood would make the perfect project car to lure his son in from out of town. He's eager to have the son join his business, but needs something to sweeten the pot. He's willing to trade some labor for the Cad, so I'll get the house exterior painted and the shower retiled out of the deal. Oh, yeah, and $500, just in time for Xmas.
Beats the hell out of me what young Hispanic males see in 4800lb/12mpg sedans, but I'm assured that huge Cads and Lincolns are the Next Big Thing.
So, I had to go fire up the beast last night and see if I could blow the cobwebs out of the tailpipe. Bear in mind I haven't driven the thing or even turned over the engine since June. The battery was completely flat. Wouldn't even power the automatic trunk lock. I had to use a brick to keep the trunk lid down. I'm thinking the constant parade of cats kept tripping the auto-leveling feature, and it eventually ran the battery down. So, off to the AutoZone for a quick charge-up.
Fired up on the 3rd attempt at twisting the key! The old girl may not have any brakes or A/C, but the engine's still rock-solid. I'm so glad this has fuel injection, otherwise I'd have been out there all night with a can of quick-start trying to burn all the varnished gasoline out of the carb.
You find the most amazing things when you clean out the old car. In the glove box was the 2" mirrorball and mini-spotlights I was gonna rig up back in the PimpSled incarnation. My jacket and umbrella were still in the back seat, which made me rue all the wet rainy afternoons I'd splashed through, wondering where the hell they were.
And in the trunk?? Oh, my. Two bottles of vodka, two bottles of butterscotch schnapps, a big-ass bottle of Rose's Lime Juice and 300 plastic shot glasses, remnants of the Texas Blogfest, where'd I'd planned to serve my Key Lime Pie shooters, before the Cadillac so rudely burst into flames and scotched my little scheme.
Heh. And what did I find in the very bottom of the trunk??
Remember how I had a burning Caddy and no way to extinguish it? I ended up pouring a travel mug of ice water over an engine fire, which is a big no-no??
Yup, tucked away nice and neatly against the side of the fender wall...
A fire extinguisher. I'd completely forgotten it was in there.
The old Cadillac may finally be leaving the driveway. It's been a cat-perch and workbench for the past 5 months.
The contractor that's redoing Casa de Capitan seems to think that the '89 Fleetwood would make the perfect project car to lure his son in from out of town. He's eager to have the son join his business, but needs something to sweeten the pot. He's willing to trade some labor for the Cad, so I'll get the house exterior painted and the shower retiled out of the deal. Oh, yeah, and $500, just in time for Xmas.
Beats the hell out of me what young Hispanic males see in 4800lb/12mpg sedans, but I'm assured that huge Cads and Lincolns are the Next Big Thing.
So, I had to go fire up the beast last night and see if I could blow the cobwebs out of the tailpipe. Bear in mind I haven't driven the thing or even turned over the engine since June. The battery was completely flat. Wouldn't even power the automatic trunk lock. I had to use a brick to keep the trunk lid down. I'm thinking the constant parade of cats kept tripping the auto-leveling feature, and it eventually ran the battery down. So, off to the AutoZone for a quick charge-up.
Fired up on the 3rd attempt at twisting the key! The old girl may not have any brakes or A/C, but the engine's still rock-solid. I'm so glad this has fuel injection, otherwise I'd have been out there all night with a can of quick-start trying to burn all the varnished gasoline out of the carb.
You find the most amazing things when you clean out the old car. In the glove box was the 2" mirrorball and mini-spotlights I was gonna rig up back in the PimpSled incarnation. My jacket and umbrella were still in the back seat, which made me rue all the wet rainy afternoons I'd splashed through, wondering where the hell they were.
And in the trunk?? Oh, my. Two bottles of vodka, two bottles of butterscotch schnapps, a big-ass bottle of Rose's Lime Juice and 300 plastic shot glasses, remnants of the Texas Blogfest, where'd I'd planned to serve my Key Lime Pie shooters, before the Cadillac so rudely burst into flames and scotched my little scheme.
Heh. And what did I find in the very bottom of the trunk??
Remember how I had a burning Caddy and no way to extinguish it? I ended up pouring a travel mug of ice water over an engine fire, which is a big no-no??
Yup, tucked away nice and neatly against the side of the fender wall...
A fire extinguisher. I'd completely forgotten it was in there.
posted by El Capitan | 3:25 PM
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