The 1970 AMC Ambassador Wagon. Avacado green with the fake wood grain panels.
I was in an accident that totaled my car. The GF's father had this beast and signed it over to me.
I couldn't complain, the price was right. Free.
The car was however very much a dog. I hope all the dogs of the world will forgive me for the disparage.
This was the routine for any time you drove.
Get in the car, close the door and pray it will start. If and when it DOES start, refrain from being in a hurry and placing the thing in gear.
(edit) It mattered not the time of year, spring, summer at 113 degrees or winter at minus 25 degrees. Let it "warm up" for 5 minutes before putting it in gear.
If you didn't do that, the car would stall. Starting it again was a lesson in hopelessness. Don't try to restart it without waiting a full 30 minutes.
The car had vacuum driven wipers and they always ran slow, unless you romped the gas real quick, again, praying that it doesn't stall!
I was still in AP school so I removed the wiper motor, stripped it down to the basic parts and made all new seals and gaskets from thin leather. This helped quite a bit. For a short time.
After the GF and I were married we still had the same crappy car.
Living in Boise where the lack of hills was non existent, I was privileged to be on the receiving end of a quick push by Boise PD to get me off the roads numerous times.
One trip into Nampa to pick Mrs up from work we were half way home when we heard a big BANG!!! Everything seemed to work OK, so on to home to explore the issue.
Opened the hood, and find many parts of the battery spread all over the engine.
This was the last straw. I did not care what I had to do, I was dumping this car!
I took it to the scrap yard where the big sign our front told me they "PAID CASH FOR CARS!!!"
They should have had an asterisk on the end of that statement.
They informed me they did not want it. I explained that the tires were pretty new and had less than 5000 miles on them. "Give me $35 and it's yours."
"What part of we DON"T WANT IT DO. YOU. NOT. UNDERSTAND?"
OK, I am thinking how do I dump this piece of scrap metal.
"How much will you give me for the scrap metal price?" I ask
The guy looks at me , exasperated and states. "Give me $35 and I'll take it."
I gave him $35 and took the bus home.
Not my car, but this is the same example of it.
I was in an accident that totaled my car. The GF's father had this beast and signed it over to me.
I couldn't complain, the price was right. Free.
The car was however very much a dog. I hope all the dogs of the world will forgive me for the disparage.
This was the routine for any time you drove.
Get in the car, close the door and pray it will start. If and when it DOES start, refrain from being in a hurry and placing the thing in gear.
(edit) It mattered not the time of year, spring, summer at 113 degrees or winter at minus 25 degrees. Let it "warm up" for 5 minutes before putting it in gear.
If you didn't do that, the car would stall. Starting it again was a lesson in hopelessness. Don't try to restart it without waiting a full 30 minutes.
The car had vacuum driven wipers and they always ran slow, unless you romped the gas real quick, again, praying that it doesn't stall!
I was still in AP school so I removed the wiper motor, stripped it down to the basic parts and made all new seals and gaskets from thin leather. This helped quite a bit. For a short time.
After the GF and I were married we still had the same crappy car.
Living in Boise where the lack of hills was non existent, I was privileged to be on the receiving end of a quick push by Boise PD to get me off the roads numerous times.
One trip into Nampa to pick Mrs up from work we were half way home when we heard a big BANG!!! Everything seemed to work OK, so on to home to explore the issue.
Opened the hood, and find many parts of the battery spread all over the engine.
This was the last straw. I did not care what I had to do, I was dumping this car!
I took it to the scrap yard where the big sign our front told me they "PAID CASH FOR CARS!!!"
They should have had an asterisk on the end of that statement.
They informed me they did not want it. I explained that the tires were pretty new and had less than 5000 miles on them. "Give me $35 and it's yours."
"What part of we DON"T WANT IT DO. YOU. NOT. UNDERSTAND?"
OK, I am thinking how do I dump this piece of scrap metal.
"How much will you give me for the scrap metal price?" I ask
The guy looks at me , exasperated and states. "Give me $35 and I'll take it."
I gave him $35 and took the bus home.
Not my car, but this is the same example of it.
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