Baldo by Hector D. Cantú and Carlos Castellanos for May 03, 2024

Yeah, have someone check the engine for you. It no doubt needs rings, oil pan gasket, piston cleaning, and on and on. But I’m sure that the spark plugs are fine!

At least the flibity gibbet is ok

My first driving car was a hand-me-down 1972 Impala from my parents. It was wrecked when some yahoo brought out a gun in a movie theater parking lot and pretended to shoot people. I was astonished, but my insurance agency was apparently satisfied, when the judge called it 50-50. Is this what justice will call on Trump? Then I got another hand-me-down Impala. That one was my fault: I didn’t change the oil and threw a rod. The next car was a classic 1960’s Impala that was cheap as dirt because the paint was peeling. I still didn’t know how to take care of it. Finally I got a Cavalier which lasted me for 15 years before I got a 2001 Honda Accord V6 which serves me to this day.

Baldo, you were supposed to say, “not really, could you possibly help me out with that?” The car community is known for it’s helpful nature, especially with beginners!

but at least you have an air freshener for it

I had to look it up – Ranfla is a low-rider, a car with lowered suspension.

My first car was a 1954 DeSoto 4-door sedan. It had belonged to a rural mail carrier, so it had over 86,000 miles on it. That was back in the day when 100,000 was truly remarkable!

I ran a muffler shop in the 70s. A member of a lowrider club brought a very rusty, beat up car in for exhaust, but he had a very specific design in mind, which we did. I asked that he bring it back when it was done, and when he did I couldn’t believe it was the same car. In 1978, decent 1965 Impalas were cheap, he started with a rust bucket, now it was gorgeous. He told me being in the club required all the members to offer whatever skills they had to any member. And he sent members to the shop for exhaust, no other shops were willing to run the pipes the way they wanted.

Wouldn’t it be easier in the long run to buy a car that had all those parts in functioning order already?

A/C in a convertible? Isn’t that redundant?

Now there is an optimist!

That’s not far from the truth. Some of the car shows I watch, especially ones from states that salt their roads in the Winter, the stuff they find from the 1950s is so rusty, yet they see it as in incredible shape if the entire floor isn’t rotted out.

I have noted this before~I don’t expect the car ever to fully repaired but wish some progress might be made resurrecting that auto.

I had a friend whose hobby was restoring cars in need of deep TLC.

…just jack up the radiator cap and slip another car under it.