I was struck by the number of conversations I had with people who
knew little about their cars. For example, the A-H 3000 owner
staying at the same campground as us said it had been (in his own
words) twenty years since he'd put a wrench to a car. He didn't even
know where the fuel pump was. He had trailered it from somewhere in
NY, but he said it was a driver and indeed it showed one small stone
chip. He did drive it the 15 miles between the campground and the
site. It looked great too. But he was definitely an owner/driver,
not an owner/driver/mechanic/tinker.
I spoke with another gent what owned a Mk2 Sprite, asked us if we
thought eBay was a good way to unload some wire wheels. (Beats me;
I'm not a big fan of eBay anyway.) I tried to point him to the SOL
website and the various email lists. Anyway, he described how he'd
picked up these wheels and discovered that they rubbed on the brake
calipers. (Huh?) Apparently they were meant for some other car. Or
needed spacers, or something. Then he described how he'd bought a
hardtop (not the one on display with the car) and discovered that it
was for a Mk1 (which must have meant a bugeye, right?) and wouldn't
fit the Mk2, which surprised him. He was learning as he went, which
is what we all do, I suppose. But his learning curve hadn't yet
reached the level of evolution that his car itself had achieved.
To me, half the fun is knowing how they work, half is making them
work right and putting wrenches to them to do so, half is driving
them, and half is BS'ing and talking tales and swapping truths with
other owners. Okay, so maybe I got the proportions wrong, but you
get the idea. It's gotta' be fun, and fun is a humnan activity, not
an own'n'show activity. If I was just an owner/driver I'd get bored
with it, I think.
Jim Muller
jimmuller@rcn.com
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