Charles is a part of our family too…

just as any other human or animal might be. Yes, it’s a vehicle but I miss driving him. A vehicle is like a pet, a dog even. Some people only buy breeds of dogs that are registered, while others love anything and while others love the runts, stragglers, etc. That’s like us with Charles. We love the stragglers. We aren’t ones to put out the money to get an expensive breed with a great breeding background. We want tried and true. Some people give us a hard time about Charles. They like to make fun of him…or us for that matter. It’s no different than someone telling someone else they have an ugly dog and ridicule them for taking care of it. We are the proud owner of Charles and he’ll be back guzzling gas (a lot of gas) before you know it.

However, we can say no matter we’ve paid outright AND in expenses we have paid less than those of you who choose to laugh at our little runt. hehe Ok, he’s not so little. It gets us from point A to point B. So what, he breaks every so often. Boo hoo. What standard vehicle doesn’t need a new clutch every once and a while (this is the first one we’ve *had* to replace). Yes, that is all that is wrong with Charles. Well, other than he was “raped” and pillaged about 14 months ago. He was broken, torn, and dismantled.

Planning a wedding took precedence over fixing him last year. The money was allocated elsewhere. However, now he’s the goal. We got him towed out on the weekend and back on to the driveway. He know has a clean interior and exterior. The master cylinder is almost back on. We replaced the vent window that was broken by those d#$m thieves. The battery is charged and waiting.

The next weekend John and I are in Moncton (we haven’t decided which weekend we will be where) our goal is to take steel brush to the surface rust that is building on the rocker panels off and re-treat them…same for the pushbar. We hope to get the tranny completely removed or propped up at least so we can turn the engine over and make sure everything else is in tip-top shape. Once it runs (and I know it will) off comes the tranny. On goes the new clutch. Back on with the tranny and Charles is back on the road once again…just like he never left. 😉

So watch out Moncton. I’m soon going to have *my* summer wheels back (well minus the loud stereo we used to have). 🙁

I’ll try to keep you updated on the escapades of this backyard mechanic that is known as my husband (& I).