Max,
You have NO idea! Nate's deaf as a post (actually, that may be mean to posts) so he can cruise along with window's wide open and the roar of the wind (that he can't hear) trying to burst ear drums. Since I still consult, occasionally, on music mixes and sound tracks, I'm not so cool with that.
Of course, in the 1/2 century this truck has been working, no one thought about replacing the worn out window channels. So the windows rattle like snare drums even when rolled up. And this particular design was never equipped with any sound deadening on the broad expanses of sheet metal. So instead of sitting in an environment like a 126 or 123, it's like sitting inside a drum.
Nate won't buy any vehicle unless he first has convinced himself that it has a good variety of obscure mechanical, electrical and other issues to confound him for a few months. So this one, which is an automatic, converted from originally being a manual, had an f-'d up column. Watching him struggle to get it into or out of gear was a pretty good reminder of the truism "white men can't dance." (Of course, once we got it home, he just disassembled the steering column, replaced the various broken bits, and made it work like new.)
It wouldn't be a real vehicle for a long trip if the instruments worked, or even the instrument lighting. So we spent plenty of time in the evening with Nate squinting at the dash, trying to figure out what was going on (like, 'can we get to the next gas station (100 miles ahead) on the indicated 1/16 tank left?') Or, 'is that wisp of smoke curling up out of the dash really a bad thing or just something that smells bad?
Actually, now that I reminisce about the trip, I have to admit that the passenger's side of the cab might have been a little quieter than the driver's side, because the leaves packed into the fresh air inlet, vent, HVAC system, etc. were so dense that they had to have some damping effect on the various panels of sheet metal (It really doesn't have an "HVAC" system, just a heater, with broken controls.)
But it was a good trip. Especially things like getting stopped by the gate guards at the White Sands Missle range in N.M. and seeing that the construction of a lot of the '60s vintage missles in their museum area had about the same build quality as a GM truck of that period. Amazing that we ever won the Cold War.
The mileage will improve when Nate gets the silly after market 15" wheels off of it and puts some real wheels and tires on it.
This past weekend, we found the same truck in a junkyard and recovered the heater controls, so maybe it will not be an icebox during the upcoming winter. And the proper door latch shims, so the doors will close without damaging their latches (this is the kind of little stuff that Nate obsesses on, that most people ignore - which is why Nate's rides last so long).
Tom
In a message dated 11/29/2011 3:35:15 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, jasperezra@gmail.com writes:
50 degrees, cold?. Ho Ho, you guys crack me up. You must of had a great drive back from Texas. Gad, 13 mpg. My 460 Ford gets so bad all it does is plow snow and haul firewood. Have no even licensed it for 10 years or so.Max
--- In diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com, "Nate" <vwnate1@...> wrote:
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> Recently Tom and I went to Dallas TEXAS where I bought an old 1969 Chevy C/10 pickup truck and drove it back to L.A. , having fun ever since tinkering with it , repairing the many DPO & DPM bodges & deferred maintenance items , driving it instead of my trusty 1984 300CD Sports Coupe .
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