You know you drive a junker/jalopy when...

[jcp123]

Ha! I always feel obligated to tell the techs that I have manual steering when I go in for annual inspection.

I don’t have anything funny, I obviously drive kind of a junker...typical Honda paint fade, a headliner which looks like it was used by Wolverine for claw practice, an alternator which doesn’t charge over 3400rpm, and just 5 days ago, the power wire to the AC clutch rubbed through. Go figure, it was 95 and I was carrying some chocolate my wife wanted on the way home from Dallas. She never wants sweets, so it was a facepalm moment. Beaters look good with stickers, though, so I have a plethora of them plastered on its fragile paint. All cars go to heaven, and I’m gonna ride this one until it’s time.

My Echo was the true nightmare junker though. It was a hot mess in a lot of ways, though I was able to baby it about 5 years past where most people would have given up; I quit when the radiator busted, because $100 and 8ish hours of labor was too much to bother with, so I took the $200 ca$h from a recycler and moved on.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by jcp123

I always feel obligated to tell the techs that I have manual steering when I go in for annual inspection.

What's wrong with those techs?

Beaters look good with stickers, though, so I have a plethora of them plastered on its fragile paint.

Besides hiding the paint fade, stickers are often a makeshift resource to hide rust spots when they're not messing the structural intergrity yet.

[Xist]

Eight hours to replace a radiator? It is two bolts and two hoses in my Hondas!

If only I replaced the one in the Civic when it cracked almost three years ago, not after the head gasket blew!

[JSH]

... when you have to strategically place your foot over the holes in the floor to keep from getting sprayed when it rains.

[jcp123]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

What's wrong with those techs?




Besides hiding the paint fade, stickers are often a makeshift resource to hide rust spots when they're not messing the structural intergrity yet.

There’s nothing wrong with the techs. I just don’t know who’s acquainted with manual steering these days.

I can see how that would be a rust cover-up, but I’ve never lived in a rust state. California and Texas, that’s all. I still like the look of an old car with a bunch of stickers, though.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by jcp123

There’s nothing wrong with the techs. I just don’t know who’s acquainted with manual steering these days.

Considering the Civic has a much lower status in the United States and Canada than it has in Brazil, it does surprise me the techs would overlook some manual steering. Well, even here in Brazil power steering is more widespread than ever, despite being still a premium feature for most econoboxes until a few years ago.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by JSH

... when you have to strategically place your foot over the holes in the floor to keep from getting sprayed when it rains.

Isn't that why you have floormats?

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Xist

Isn't that why you have floormats?

I'd much rather try either epoxy resin or those aluminium-sided asphalt foils

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by jcp123

an alternator which doesn’t charge over 3400rpm, and just 5 days ago, the power wire to the AC clutch rubbed through.

It's not a bug; its a feature. The car is self-ecomodding!


But now I want to see a pic of the be-stickered car.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

Isn't that why you have floormats?

When I took the carpet out of my 1961 Buick I found the holes. I never got around to replacing the carpet or fixing the floor. Too much rust and no money at the time.

In hindsight I should have purchased the 1982 Oldsmobile 98 the guy had for sale at the same price. I didn't because the 61 Buick was way cooler and I though I wanted an old car with no electronics that was simple to work on. It was simple but had to be worked on all the time. I also wanted the aluminum 3.5L V8 for my Porsche 914 project

I didn't do enough research to know that a 61 Buick Skylark was a unibody car.

The Buick in front of the Franken Ranger made from 3 trucks