New wheels!

Spring, spring, spring.  I am SO ready.  There are times in the winter that I just feel like Spring is SO far away.  However, today, I was looking at my grass.  It's getting nearer to the days where I get to mow the lawn, water the flowers, and watch the sun come up.  There is blue sky above me, and things are greening up.  But it's still only about 40 degrees, and I think last night, I saw a few snowflakes. 

One of the main reasons I cannot wait for the warmer weather to get here is that after much debate, deliberation, begging, pleading, and more, my Dad decided I was worthy of recieving his 1955 Ford Customline 2-door BEAUTY!  Dad bought this car (named "Helen" after Mrs. Helen Litz, Dad's 2nd grade teacher from whom he purchased the car) around 1980. 

All of 3 years old, I can still remember that day.  We drove it home that day, and parked it in our garage.  We would get it out of the garage occasionally for parades, for a Sunday afternoon cruise, we'd drive it to church, and when we were in high school, it'd occasionally come out for Prom, or things like that.  Mainly, it was a family heirloom that we all cherished and babied tremendously.

Helen has been garaged every day of her life, with the exception of a few months when Mom and Dad moved to their current home, and didn't have the shop built to store it in yet.  The last time she had license plates was back in January of 2000.  Needless to say, we all got really busy, Dad got another older car, and she just got put on the back burner. 

Not in MY mind, though.  As I said before, I remember the day we bought Helen.  Dad stood there and told her he promised he'd take care of her.  Well, you know how it is.  You park it in the shop, you park your other vehicles in behind it, and before long, it's been YEARS since she's been on the road.

Well, fast forward to last week.  Dad tells me about a month ago that I should just come out and get her.  She's mine.  The sun finally shone enough to melt all the snow and dry up the driveway so I could at least get a trailer up to the shop door and load her up.  We backed the trailer up to the shop, and very carefully, loaded Helen up.  Once she was properly chained down to the trailer, I hopped in the drivers' seat of the pickup, and Jason and I hauled her to her new home.  I cried ALL THE WAY TO TOWN!  I was SO proud to have been given the opportunity to care for this family heirloom, which contained years and years of memories of when our family was younger.

It had been literally years since she'd had a bath, and I remember waxing her once when we still lived in McCook (we moved from there when I was 8!).  Needless to say, she was LONG overdue.

We unloaded the trailer, parking Helen in front of the garage.  I unrolled the garden hose and got out the gentlest car soap we had in the shop.  We very carefully washed away years and years of dust, spiderwebs, and more.  We dried her off, and began to wax her.  Two coats of wax and buffing later, she resembles the diamond she was the day we drove her home for the first time.

The next issue was that Dad hadn't driven her in years, either.  In all likelihood, the rings around the pistons inside the engine were probably rusted into their location inside the cylinders.  A sad few moments of research showed the likelihood was true.  :(

With our experience in automotive, we were able to concoct a mixture of chemicals which we placed inside the spark plug holes, and down the carburetor.  We let the mixture soak for a while, and tried to pull the car while it was in gear, in hopes that it would break loose.  After many attempts the first day, there was no movement.  In some ways, it felt like a person on a doctor's table with no heartbeat!  We held out hope, though, even though the lookout was bleak.  We went ahead and placed more of the mixture in the engine, and let it soak through that night and all the next day. 

I'd gone to the parts house that day and picked up some tune up parts; new spark plugs, a new distributor cap and rotor, new plug wires, points and condenser, a fuel filter, etc.  We wouldn't put any of the new parts on this engine until we knew for sure we'd get it broke loose.  So I stared at the bag of goodies and hoped I'd not have to replace the engine; that I'd be able to put these parts on THIS engine; the original engine the car was given, just like the original paint and interior.  All original.

So.  Many prayers, lots of hope, and a few more prayers later, Jason came home from work and we began to work on Helen again.  We'd hoped that the chemical concoction we'd mixed up and put in the engine had some time to soak in, and loosen things up.  We hooked up the chain to the four wheeler, and gently tugged on her, in gear, and watched for even the smallest sign that the wheels would turn, a sure sign that the engine was ok. 

A few moments later, I saw the tires roll just the slightest bit; maybe a couple inches.  My eyes must've been a mile wide!  I asked Jason if he saw the same thing I'd seen.  He was all smiles, and said "Yes!"  In fact, it was loosened up, and we were SO relieved.  So EXCITED.  I screamed and danced, probably making my neighbors think I was totally nuts (as if there was any doubt before this....!). 

So we pulled the front wheels off, worked on the brakes, and made a plan to get everything else on the list done.

Our plan is to have Helen back on the road by next weekend!