When the insides are outside...

[Kittybell]

Great stories, Dan and Dennis!  But what do you mean, pretend?    I have never put gas in a car in my life. That's what nice men are for, at the gas station!

[Steve]

Thats about as nice of an original condition 202 I've seen. if it were mine, I would clean it and use it every day. nice to have one with the history and story behind it

[McHeath]

Again these are nice phones and it's good that they have a family tie to you, makes them more valuable to you.

As for the anti-freeze story, that's a great tale.  I have such a tale of my own, when I was about 6 my sister had a Honda 90 trail motorcycle, you all probably recall them.  She came home one hot summer day and parked it on the patio where I was drinking a nice red cherry Slurpie.  I asked her why she was home and she said the motorcycle was "thirsty" she needed to get some money to go give it a drink. 

Honest.  She really said that.

So once she goes in the house, I, being the good little boy who shared, figured I'd share my Slurpie with her Honda.  I lifted the seat, unscrewed the gas cap, and poured about half the red sugar ice in.  "That ought to make it happy" I thought.

She came out and rode off to the gas station, without me telling her about my sharing. 

My next memory is dad sitting on the same patio with the engine and carb dismantled, while he scrubbed parts in a bucket of something and muttered curses.

[Dennis Markham]

Great story Heath!  I got a good laugh out of that one.  At least he COULD fix it.  Today you'd probably have to push it over a cliff and buy a new one.

[Kittybell]

That's a great story, McHeath! Did your dad ever know what really happened?

[McHeath]

That's a great story, McHeath! Did your dad ever know what really happened?

Yeah, he knew, and so did my bottom.   

[Dan]

Funny the silly things we did as kids. Right after watching the Flintstones once, I asked my brother, who was 10 (I was seven) if car tires were solid rubber like Fred Flintstone's car tires , which were solid ROCK, but would "chip away" if he got a flat.

My brother, being the smart @ss that he was, said of course they are (he had took apart a few Scwinn stingrays and Orange Krate muscle bikes in his limited years and knew all about inner tubes). He even dared me to drive a few nails into the neighbors stationwagon tires and pull them out to prove they were solid.

Well, after about 30 minutes, I was over there with a handful of nails and a shiny 1970's AMC Ambassador stationwagon staring me in the face. I drove a nail in the first tire but couldn't pull it out. No big deal right, they were solid. I then did this to all four tires and asked my bigger, stronger brother to get the nails out. He turned white and drove his bike over to a friends house to play.

Dad got home and my neighbor greeted him with the hammer I left behind.

I had a good paddling that day and was grounded two weeks on top of that. I never turned in my brother for that, and I'm sure he appreciated that!

[Dan/Panther]

Just out of curiosity Dan, Did they model the T.V. show "Leave it To Beaver", after you and your brother ?
D/P

[HobieSport]

Enter the younger do-gooder brother.  Oops.

Older sister said the Honda 90 was thirsty.  So I gave what I thought was appropriate juice.

Older brother said to test the Flinstones tire theory.  So we did.  Oops.

For trying to do good I shamed myself and my family.  Sorry.

I didn't watch a lot of "Leave it To Beaver".  I started watching T.V. about 1966.  I watched "I love Lucy" a little.  I never thought about the telephones.

Until now...

[McHeath]

Gee you took the fall for your older brother inciting you to mischief with those nails in the tires, you are loyal.  That's a pretty funny story, of course I say that as it was not me who got nailed for it.   

[Dan]

The funny thing about this was my brother always ended up getting into trouble and not me. (dan/Panther-leave it to beaver came before us, we were more the Brady Bunch generation, but my kids have Beaver on DVD!)

I always used my brother as an example of what NOT to do, even though he had the hottest girls (he was quite the cassanova)

[Shovelhead]

That was a good move on your part.  PRETEND like you didn't know the difference.  Now you don't have to go out and change the oil and other vehicle maintenance when it needs to be done.  Smart idea!

I remember years ago when my older sister got her first car.  She was Miss Independent and when it needed some engine oil despite offers of help she said she'd do it herself.  A couple of days later I walked into the garage.  There she was under the hood with a funnel and a can of oil (it came in cans in those days) trying to add oil into the dipstick hole!  True story.

Your story reminded me of a lady that came into the car dealership I worked at in Livonia Michigan in '72.

She came into the parts department  asking how to remove car wax from a vinyl top. I went outside, expecting a LITTLE wax on a edge or two.
Brand new '72 Impala Custom, triple black, the vinyl top COMPLETELY covered with now dried wax, in a light greenish hue (probably Turtle Wax).

Seems her husband was out of town, she wanted to surprise him and wax his NEW Impala.

I kept from laughing, much to my own amazement, and sent her of to by a vegetable brush at the grocery store, telling her to go over the whole top until the wax was all gone.

At least, the top had a good shine when she finished...........................

[bingster]

You didn't send her home with some top dressing?  I swear, GM top dressing was (is?) the most brilliant stuff.  I used it on everything.  It's very similar to the old Johnson's Glo-Coat.