Though they're disapproving, keep them doggies moving....

Mr. Curly and I have an extreme love/hate relationship with our 1966 Mercury Parklane. We bought the car as a sort of 3rd anniversary gift for ourselves with the thought that we would have it running in a year.

Ha.


The poor Parklane (dubbed Lois by my dad) had fried wiring (which we knew about) and sat through at least 2 floods before we bought it. We scooped out so much red Oklahoma dirt, and still, to this day, if you slam the door hard enough more dirt will fall out from some place we missed.

Before we got the engine - a 410 Marauder - rebuilt, our uncle had to pull it to high ground to keep it from another flood.


BUT, it drove itself to SD when we moved. And then, well...


All cars have personalities, at least, all old cars. We're pretty sure this car has demons as well. As Mr. Curly says, she goes through starters like skittles. We have to replace the starter about every 3 months. Mr. Curly can replace the starter (which thankfully has an unlimited replacement lifetime warranty) in about an hour.


Last Friday, when trying to get the rest of our things away from SD, the starter went out on the car. The starter we had replaced in December and had only started the car with once before.

We really should've expected it.


So Tuesday we went back, pulled the starter, got a replacement (thankfully they had one in stock) and Mr. Curly put the new one in, with some help.



We were slightly afraid to shut it off to put gas in it, but we had to check the oil as well, so Mr. Curly told the car this "Listen, we're trying to get you out of here. In about a month, you'll be up to your engine in mud and slush and melted snow and we both know you don't want that. So you're going to start again so we can take you south, park you on a nice hill, and keep you dry."


She started with no hesitation. And is now parked in our driveway in Iowa.


Oh, and we also learned on this trip that our trailer has some serious wiring issues. We have no taillights, but brake lights. The left blinker also makes the right reverse light blink, and when you turn on the right blinker, the left blinker blinks every 3rd time the right blinker does. So people may have no idea what direction we're going, but they know we're going!


Post title from "Rawhide!"