Fresh out of college, our Hero decides to buy a '76 maroon Fiat 128 as his
first
vehicle.
Why this car? Was the purchase was the result of thorough research and a razor
sharp
understanding of the used car market?
Yeah, sure pal.
To shorten a lengthening story, after driving this Fix It Again Tony around for
six
months, I began to notice a tapping noise coming from the motor. I possessed
just
enough dangerous knowledge to think, "Dang -- the car already needs a valve
adjustment."
Shortly thereafter, the noise got explosively worse one night while I was
buzzing
around the Capital beltway en route to meeting a girlfriend of the hour. Left
the car
on the side of the road, and the next day my older, wiser brother drove me out
to
inspect it.
He opened the hood, pulled out the dipstick, and said something pithy like,
"There's no oil in the car."
Yes, I had run the bucket o' bolts dry. The IDIOT light was burned out, and I
had
apparently had other things on my mind besides checking the oil once in a while.
On a vaguely positive note, this was how Our Hero learned to rebuild an engine.
Kept
the car another three years, but they were always mechanically adventurous
ones.
--
Martin Secrest
73 GT6
74 Spitfire
Arlington, VA
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