ogling the Bird

March 06, 2010, 01:23:42 AM

Last summer I got a 5-yr alignment from NTB. This week I took the car in to get things straightened up after the latest round of suspension work (front and rear).

Sadly, the guy that I wanted to do the work is no longer there. He's the one that did the alignment on other Bird. Not sure what happened, but he seems to be persona non grata now. Too bad, I told him what I wanted and he knew exactly what to do. When a mechanic perks up when you say certain words (like "autocross") that's usually a good sign.

Anyway, the current occupant of the alignment machine tried for a couple of hours, but couldn't get the back-end close to the specs I gave him, so he gave up. They referred me to another store with their "most experienced mechanic in the area".

Next day, the guy fiddled with it for a while and got pretty close. (I need to do some more work on the strut tower openings.) For some reason, he kept the brake pedal depressed the whole time it was on the machine .... which kept the brake lights on .... which drained the tiny lightweight battery in there.

Okay, I'm finally approaching the point.

We jumped the battery and got the car started. The mechanic pulled the car around to the front and left it running -as agreed- while I went into the office to wrap things up with them.

It took about five minutes to get everything sorted, and I kept an eye on the car the whole time. Just after the mechanic parked the car, some guy in work coveralls pulled in. He started walking to the front door, and then stopped and stepped back. He bent over a little and checked out the Bird's rear. Kinda twitched his head and started walking to the door. Then he stopped, turned around, and looked at something else. Started towards the door, stopped, and did a full walk-around. He started towards the front door and turned around again!

He was still looking at the car when I walked out. He asked a few questions before I drove off. What kind of motor? They had 4 cylinders? They had turbos? Stock?

Right now the car has a lot more bark than bite. The exhaust is loud. The motor lopes because I'm not spending any more effort on a motor that's getting pulled (soon, I hope). And it's not too pretty right now. That broken-nose street fighter look clues the right kind of person, but to most people it probably just looks like a 25 y.o. beater with new rims. I had things to do, places to go so didn't stay long, even though the look on his face was pretty entertaining.

So here's my question: has anyone respectable respected your car? Sure ordinary people can dig on an old car, but one old car is just as good as another in the eyes of the commoner. But when somebody really knowledgable appreciates yours, that's a different matter.

ogling the Bird

Reply #1 – March 06, 2010, 08:53:58 AM

when i first started working at the parts store the assistant manager gave my car a real hard once over and asked alot of questions about it. i was kinda surprised because i had always gone to this store to get parts myself before even working there, and i knew the guys in there. he has a 9sec, small block, pump gas, 75 camaro. he is all drag race all the time......on the outside.

as it turns out, on the inside, there is a little road racer just waiting to come out :hick:

ogling the Bird

Reply #2 – March 06, 2010, 10:20:15 AM

I don't know if this is the same but I had a guy come up to me a couple years ago at a car show and tell me he has a pic. of my car hanging in his work area at his job. I took that as a huge compliment!