Save Yourself Some Headaches - Stranded!

Bussy is a 1979 model bus and I am the 3rd owner. He "grew up" in the dry
easter part of Washington but has lived on the "wet side" (except this
year!) since I bought him back in '91. Any way you cut it, the bus is over
25 years old. Anything can and does go wrong from time to time. I have a
pretty good working knowledge and can usually figure a solution to almost
any problem that comes up. Almost is a key word here.

Towing and road service insurance is the other key word. If you don't know
how everything works and how to either make it work or figure some sort of
'work-around' to get yourself either back home or at least to a safer or
better place to fix it, you'd best have a good towing insurance. Be sure to
read and understand the ins & outs of the policy, too. You may not be very
happy if all they'll do is tow it to the closest building with a "service
bay" and a guy who wears coveralls and has a big red toolbox!

The other best insurance if you love your car but don't know a darn thing
about it is to take a night course at a local community college in
automotive mechanics. A lot of colleges offer courses designed to provide
the car owner the basic working knowledge to keep the car running and to
recognize trouble when it's starting. Typically you'll come out of the class
with enough knowledge to do simple diagnostic procedures and basic
maintenance. Contact the instructor before signing up and see if the course
will be beneficial to your particular needs.

What hammers this home to me now is the 1973 Duster I am selling. I'm asking
$500 for it. The car is probably worth $500, but in this marketplace, that
is unreasonable. A neighbor offered $250 for it. I explained to him that
although the car has been dependable for me, if a person expects to use it
they need to know how to drive it, for starters. It has one of those
carburetors from the era when they were trying to get more gas mileage and
they tried all sorts of ways to squeeze more mpg while sacrificing
simplicity and actual workability (pre F.I.) It has 4-wheel drum brakes
that the previous owner never repaired properly (changed shoes but never
turned the drums!) If you get the darn thing to get you down the road to
the first intersection, it will likely swerve when you brake to stop - never
the same way twice in a row - and the engine will die as you step on the
throttle to pull away! Everything on the car is worn - if not worn-out!
Anything could fail at any time. An enthusiast who collects 'old' cars has
offered me $200. I will take that offer because I know that HE knows what
he's getting and has no unreasonable expectations about using the car as a
commute vehicle in Seattle traffic or some such lunacy! (Without spending a
hundred hours and a couple thousand $$ to get it back to as safe as it can
be - still not a modern car!)

Meanwhile, I make sure my cell phone is charged up and my AAA card is in my
wallet! -BaH

That reminds me that I need to look into such a course again. The last
time I checked, the local Tech school offered no such courses; I'm
hoping that perhaps the schedule is seasonal. Thanks for the reminder.

In article >,
"Busahaulic" > wrote:

....
> The other best insurance if you love your car but don't know a darn thing
> about it is to take a night course at a local community college in
> automotive mechanics. A lot of colleges offer courses designed to provide
> the car owner the basic working knowledge to keep the car running and to
> recognize trouble when it's starting. Typically you'll come out of the class
> with enough knowledge to do simple diagnostic procedures and basic
> maintenance. Contact the instructor before signing up and see if the course
> will be beneficial to your particular needs.
....

Be sure to upgrade to AAA plus. Seems to me it's about $25
more per year. Gives you towing up to 100 miles, they have to
tow anything you are towing (I might be towing my bug), feed
and put you up (hotel) if they can't get you home in so many
hours.

--
I don't speak for Intel
Michael Kelly (the one in Folsom)
"and nobody is fooled except the usual fools."
--Jonah Goldberg