WARNING: This turned out to be really really long, so feel free to skip over it. I just needed to vent a bit after a long week. I didn't mean to write 1500 words.


When you need a jump-start to get your car out of a police impound lot, you know it's been a rough day. Here's how the week stacked up against the brick.

SATURDAY.
Supposed to be going to the scrapyard to get parts, but couldn't get out of working. I stayed at my friend Michael's house for the night so we could get out to the scrapyard early sunday morning.

SUNDAY.
Got out to the yard an hour later than I'd hoped. I spotted a white flathood with near perfect OEM white spraywork to replace the poorly painted mess bolted to my car. Only took us 10 minutes to remove it from the car and I carried it out of the yard on my head while Mike was pulling a "new" back seat for his '86 falcon. Problem, I didn't have roof racks fitted. If you've ever tried to put a 2 series bonnet into the back of a 245 you'll understand my dillema. Mike came out of the yard to find me trapped under my new purchase, trying to rotate it into place without shredding my headliner. Eventually we managed it, but only after re-locating the spare tire and putting some new scratches on my new bonnet.

I managed to get to work that afternoon, then drove back to work on the car at Mike's place that night. As I drove the 20 minutes or so to his place, I noticed familiar symptoms of charging system failure, headlights dim, no dashlights and gauges reading low. Fortunately I had only purchased a new battery 3 days earlier, and somehow made it.

We tightened up the loose alt belts hoping that was the only problem. With the assistance of an apprentice panel beater, it wasn't too hard to fit the new bonnet. Until we closed it that is.

At 2AM we managed to jam the hood shut. This is what happens at the end of a long day and you start to get sloppy. I know to align the hood with the latch removed, I just got careless. We spend 2 more hours trying to break into the car before we went to bed.

Monday.
I was supposed to be back at college 500kms away by monday morning, but with work still do do on the car this didn't seem to be an option. Neither of us had slept more than four hours when I drove Mike into the garage for his 8AM start. I drove the Falcon down to the carpark where we'd been working on my car. An hour's work in daylight with a spanner and I managed to undo the bolts securing the hood latch. I had a functional and better looking bonnet by 11AM.

I pulled Mike's car up alongside mine and attempted to jumpstart it, at which point my scrapyard starter tore itself to pieces internally. Lovely.

My starter still had a good three months warranty left on it, so I went back to Mike's place, and had lunch with his mum while I attempted to contact my wreaker. After two hours I got sick of listening to his answering machine and called every auto electrician and wreaker in the phone book till I found someone who had a pre-86 Bosch starter. By the time I was back at Mike's house with a new starter it was nearly dinner time. It's nice having mates who'll let you move into their house and use their car whenever you need it.

Monday night was really rainy, which isn't at all pleasant when you're trying to swap in a new starter. It took me till about 1AM till we had the car all ready to go (needed exhaust work as well). When I got the old starter out I discovered that the teeth had simply parted company with the shaft and now spun freely on their own.

Because we'd been working with the hood up in the rain, the car didn't want to know about starting. Even with aerostart sprayed down it's throat and WD40 on all it's contacts, there was no getting it moving. At 2:05 (the time would be important later) we called it a night and I slept another night at Mike's

Tuesday
4AM, mobile ringing. It's dad telling me that Eastwood police want to talk to me about my car. He didn't know why. Still only half concious I managed to contact Eastwood cops who informed me that the car had been broken into.

We got back to the carpark to find a squad car and two police wagons in attendance. The drivers side window had been smashed and they'd found my tools in the back, inluding a bottle of Kerosine which they were apparently going to torch the car with when they were done. One of the offenders was already in the back of the van, and two more were run down by police dogs while the cops were going over my brick. I hope those German Shepheards really hurt.

The three arrested were regular offenders who the cops were very keen to send to jail this time. I saw three 200lb+ officers bang on the side of the van and taunt the prisoner. Mike recognised one of the names as the guy who assaulted his brother a few years back, so we're keen to see jail terms handed out. If they'd just stolen my radio I could forgive, but they tried to torch my brick, so I'm happy for them to get what's coming to them.

I was at Eastwood Police station till 6AM giving my statement. I went back to Mike's and went to sleep. My car was towed to the police fingerprint lab (like I said, they were keen to get these guys)

10AM, eastwood police contacted me to say I could have the brick back. I went back to sleep.

2PM, I Finally hauled my ass out of bed and went to sign my car out of impound. It wouldn't start. I called the NRMA (boy are they regretting letting me have unlimited roadside assistance) and the roadside mechanic jump started me, although he had to add extra fuel (I have no intank pump so I can't run the tank past halfway, and with no fuel gauge either this gets tricky). I also had him test my electrical system, and we diagnosed it at 11.6 volts with the engine running. I drove it to Mike's work, a few blocks from the police station with my fingers crossed and had them check out my charging system. I figured if it needed a new alt, it would only be an hour's labour to have it fitted, and they could source a reco alternator cheaper than I could.

Wendesday.
Still no car, it might only be an hour's labour to fit, but that's assuming they actually had time for the job. I would have done it myself, but it seemed impolite to break down in a garage's driveway then not pay them to fix it. By this stage I'd been living at Mike's so long I'd been included in the chores roster. The only bonus to not having a car was that I got to drive Mike's Falcon around during the day, and that is the nicest $100 car I've ever driven.

I also rang my insurance company, but was unable to convince them that I actually had a policy.

Thursday.
Finally got my car back at 10AM. To give the mech his due, this was more or less when he said he could do it by. This is one reason I do my own work on the brick, my toolbox is available 24/7 (although a passion for engines and plain lack of funds are the more relevant reasons)

I finally managed to convince the NRMA to process my claim, and with charges being pressed against those responsible there is no reason why I should have to pay any kind of excess. This was all too late to have my car fixed before leaving, so I left at 6PM and drove 500kms at night with no driver's side window wearing ski gloves. The mountains are cold on a winters night, even when you're not driving at 85mph. I also haven't fixed my heater since I bypassed it a few months back. I drove the whole 7 hours cursing the people who hurt my brick.

Friday. 2PM
Finally decided to get out of bed and go and see if I'm still enrolled at University. I didn't really look at the tires before I drove off, but I'd only driven a quarter mile at most when I felt the familar flat tire vibration from the left rear. When I pulled over, the tire was torn through the steel belting.

In the space of a week, I've managed to destroy an alternator, a starter a Michelin XZX with 50% tread remaining and had someone try to torch the car. I figure that with a relatioship this rocky, we're meant to be together. At least I've got a shiny bonnet now.
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Drive it like you hate it