pace car update

September 6, 2007

Today Pop had someone come over to crawl under the car to note all the spots that need work.

The news was good.

First, the frame had no rot. The guy I bought the car from originally said there was no rot, but now I have confirmation that none exists. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I heard that news.

Second, the engine is actually in fairly decent shape. Lots o’ miles, but work-able.

Third, a hole was discovered in the floorboards of the rear passenger section. Fortunately it was small. New metal placed in that spot should fix that up easily.

Fourth (which has nothing to do with my car,) there might actually be another ‘75 pace car less than 10 miles from Pop’s house. It’s not for sale, but the guy has it and never takes it out.

It’s the fourth part I’m going to speak of. :-)

I swear to God, pace cars love to hide. I have heard more than once from different people that they know of a guy.. who has the car.. and it’s sitting in a garage doing nothing.. with the owner stating he’ll “fix it up someday.”

Of course, that someday never happens.

Believe me when I say I totally understand the frustration of knowing that kind of information. A guy has the car, and it sits. And sits. And sits. And does nothing. The owner has it and refuses to part with it even though it’s never driven. It sits, rusts and serves to do nothing but be a 4000-lb. paperweight.

Aside from myself, I only know of a few people (that I can count on one hand by the way) that are actually fixing and/or restoring the car so it can be driven.

If you are fortunate enough to have a ‘75 Free Spirit car, FIX IT. In all honesty it is NOT that hard to do. It’s a standard “G” body GM vehicle from 1975, so it’s not impossible to find parts for her. I mean, c’mon.. if you can’t fix it, sell it to someone who will.  Is that too much to ask?

I got a name for guys who sit on cars like this and never do anything with them: Asshole.

Cars are built for one purpose: To be driven. A car is not like a mint condition Mickey Mantle baseball trading card whereas an item like that doesn’t do anything. A car is a machine. If you have one of these rare Buicks where all it does is sit in your garage doing nothing – you’re an asshole. Even the guys who have pristine condition Rivieras will take their cars out at least two or three times a year. That may not be much, but at least it’s driven. The asshole never takes his car out. It sits in the garage and does nothing. If it’s broke, it never gets fixed. That’s the asshole’s modus operandi. To assholes who do this – fuck you. Seriously. Fuck you.

Don’t be an asshole. Like I said, fix your car or sell it to someone who will.


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