Ugly Ugly → Pretty Ugly

Yesterday morning my neighbor Greg knocked on my door. "Are you going anywhere today?" he asked. "No? Well then, bring your car over under my deck and we'll see about those headlights of yours." Well, fixing the wiring in the headlights led to checking the running lights, the turn signals, and the break and reverse lights. They all work now, except for the reverse lights. It seems the previous owner (or somebody) got tired of trying to fix things and simply chopped off the wire running to the reverse lights! So until we can figure out what that wire should be attached to, my reverse lights will be restricted to the realm of imagination.

When all the lights were in working order, Greg decided to go around my car with a drill and a screwdriver to secure all the little bits that were threatening to fall off (bumper, weather stripping, etc). By this time I had cleaned out the inside of the car of most of the junk that's been waiting for my attention. Greg moved into the engine to see if he could tune it to a leaner setting so as to improve my gas mileage. While he fiddled with the carburator, I busied myself wiping down the inside with a rag and disinfectant. The grime that came off the inside of the windows was frightening!

After a few runs around the block to test the fine tuning, I came kachunk-chunking back to a shuddering halt to stall unceremoniously in the driveway. Oh no! Definitely misfiring, it sounded like a lawnmower about to explode! Besides this, the brakes seemed to become hard as stone, even when the engine was running (or trying to). Since it was at least a minor possibility this was because the engine was overwarm (it tends to overheat when idling too long) we decided to let it cool down before tinkering some more. So while we waited, I vacuumed all the rugs and floor, and then we washed the beast.

It turned out that a busted hose was the cause of the sudden problems... a good thing it decided to finish rotting then and there rather than in the middle of the highway! After replacing that hose, Greg tuned the engine again, and sent me for another few circles around the block. Now it purrs like it should, has a little more oomph on the get go, and doesn't have the hickups in first gear anymore!

It's funny, while we were out there (all day, really) one of the other residents in the building came to chat (she dearly loves to talk)... "Oh you've got Greg fixing your care have you? I wonder how you did that, he says he won't touch mine with a 100 mile pole!" I had to smile at her evident envy, but I must admit I also wondered why he'd come volunteer to spend the whole day on a crap car like mine. His wife made it simple: "How would we feel if we knew a neighbor's car was unsafe and we let her get into trouble? That's not right!" Greg laughed and said "No, Kellie, I can think of a few people in this building whose cars I know need work and whom I will not offer to help!" The difference being that I never asked for help, and I am very appreciative of their offer. What would I do otherwise? I don't have the know-how, and certainly can't afford to take the beast to a shop when I am not paid over the summer.....

Good neighbors are a blessing indeed!