 Spreading the gospel of cars around the world. That’s what I’ve been up to this last month. It’s been something of an "international" month for me. I have been corresponding with a friend in Australia who is an avid Mustanger down under. He and his wife have decided to take their winter holiday and join us in Reno in June for the Mustangs and More national gathering and Reno Mustang show. It ought to make for a fun trip as well as some serious partying. He has something of a "reputation" at home for enjoying his Monty Python a little too much. Thankfully, American beer isn’t quite as potent as the Aussie stuff. Last night, my friend Catalin (like Catalina, without the "a") came over. Cat is from Romania and has been in this country just since November. Over there, owning a car is almost unheard of for a middle class person and he had never held a driver’s license until January of this year. I found him a nice, inexpensive Nissan Sentra that needed a motor, put one in with all new belts, hoses and ignition parts and told him that, if he took care of it, it should last him until he was ready to upgrade. For having never owned a car and for having no mechanical experience whatsoever, Cat has taken to the concept very well. During an exceptional cold snap in January, it was necessary to put a new battery in the little car. He wanted to do it himself, so I supervised while he did the work. It was his first time working with tools and he did very well. Last week he informed me that 3,000 miles had gone by and it was time for his first ever oil change as I had instructed.. We decided that he would do the work himself and he and his friend Christian came over last night. I showed him the wonder of a hydraulic floor jack and jackstands. He got to see how rapidly four quarts of oil could drain out onto my garage floor when the pan isn’t properly positioned. He learned the value of a funnel and plenty of shop rags. He had never seen a "creeper" before and was quite intrigued with it. He was so proud of his car and himself for working on it that we had to take pictures of the process for him to send home to his parents and friends. I predict that he will own a Mustang before next summer. Catalin’s friend Christian is from Hamburg, Germany and is visiting here for two weeks. Chris is an archtypical German man: six foot four, 210 pounds with close-cropped blonde hair, fair skin and an accent like Arnold Schwartzenegger. He spent most of the evening hanging out and watching Cat work, took some pictures and drank a Rolling Rock beer. When we finished the job on the car, I pulled it out of garage and came back in. There was Chris with his nose pressed up against the doorglass of my convertible, peering inside. "How about we drop the top and take a spin around the neighborhood?" I asked. "Really? Ya sure!" was the response. So, at 9:00 at night with the temperature near 40 degrees, we all piled into the car and I fired it up. With the first sound out of the pipes, Chris’s eyes lit up. "Ooooooo," said he. I moseyed through the neighborhood, goosed it a couple of time just enough to get a little wheelspin and then stopped at a local park. "You wanna try it?" I asked. "What? REALLY?!" he asked. "YA!" and with that, he was standing outside the driver’s door before I even had my seatbelt off. He buckled in and away we went. I really don’t think Christian ever got the car over 30 mph, but the grin never left his face either. When the Mustang was safely tucked back in the garage and he had cracked another beverage, he said "Das auto ist schoen!" which, I think, translates roughly to "What a cool car!" He had a "permagrin" for the rest of the night. Do what you can to spread the gospel of Mustangs. There’s a whole world out there that doesn’t know what they’re missing. Dave  View Previous "2¢" Articles Copyright © 2003 Island Classic Mustang Club. Last modified Wednesday, 04-Apr-2001 16:34:57 PDT. |
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