First, the good news: I got 23 years out of my original, Volvo battery. Almost all of its life, the car has been parked outdoors in Chicago. I never did a thing to maintain the battery, although in recent years it appreciated a charge here and there. The car was actually our "go to" when we needed to jump-start friends' cars. This is the kind of miracle that the Vatican should know about.

Now, the bad news: Because the car (a 1994 945 Turbo) has not been driven much in recent months, the battery has finally stopped accepting a charge and is kaput.

So is the battery hold-down, which is the kind with the threaded rod that goes down to the battery bracket facing the front of the car. It was totally rusted and no amount of PBlaster was going to keep it from snapping right off when I turned it. Snap!

I'd love to somehow free this battery. I don't have a flex head Dremel or other fancy tool to cut the stubbed hold-down rod at the bracket; is there some other way that you could recommend? I'd try to chip off the battery's "foot" with a pry bar but would hate to split the case open!

Thanks for any advice.

Greg