Sometimes you guys force me to make a comment. I just don't understand why.
that vid about Basil beating his car brought back memories of my first 4x4 pickup truck. It was a 55 or 56 Jeep. i believe it was still called a Willies Jeep. The old square nosed pickup that still looked like a military Jeep. I think it was possibly th very best truck in deep snow i ever had. Of course there was a learning curve to that as the very first job I did with the brand shiny new truck was to go to my friends farm and pick up a load of cow manure to bring home and spread over my mom's garden. i was always muddy in the spring and i had been forced to put down planks and push wheelbarrow loads out into the plot. This time, I would no longer need to use the wheelbarrow. Weelll, not necessarily so. As i got to the edge of the plot, the frost broke under the weight and i sunk into the mud tip the entire underside of the frame was 3 or 4 inches into the mud. Being quite resourceful and full of pee and vinegar in those days, i brought beams and jacks to the problem and after three or four hours, the truck was extracted but still smelling of s...
But that is not the story i set out to tell because you guys forced me into it.
That jeep's electrical system was 6 volt instead of the 12 V system of most new vehicles today. That Jeep turned out to be quite difficult starting when the temp dropped below 20ºF. Once started, it would go anywhere I asked (Except into a bottomless pit of mud [eek]). One morning I was running a little late for work. We had concrete coming and all hands were needed as there would be a lot of wheelbarrow "driving" involved. I have never been too fond of concrete accepting it as the necessary evil to the masonry trade. i always pitched in to do my share of the work. Sometimes even more than my share. i just wanted to get the concrete work out of the way so i could get on to putting my hands onto the brick and stone. Those were my forte.
this particular morning, my truck turned over and over. The battery getting lower and lower in charge. as the truck ground on and was getting quieter and quieter, this young man was getting louder and louder. I was also thinking of beating that SOAB truck. I finally got out and tried to raise the ood so i could bring my mom's battery out of her car and use that to jump start. We has had a bit of an ice storm the nite before and the clips on the side of the hood (bonnet to you guys on the other side of the pond) were covered with ice.
It was getting later by the . i was not known in those days as having been blessed with a great deal of patience. I basically blew up. i went to the back of the truck and grabbed my 16 pound sledgehammer nd started beating on the tires and "very patiently" :
started
Discussing the problem using every cuss word i could think of, including those i had learned while spending time in the orient. About that time, my dear mom came out from the far backside of the house to tell me i really did not have to get so violent and i certainly had no need to be using such language. "Oh yeah!" I shouted. "Well, just watch this!"
With that. I put the hammer back into the back of the truck, got into the cab and turned the key. "wrrrooooommm" It started instantly. And what is important, i never had any more problems starting that truck in cold weather. Sometimes, one just has to get a little excited.
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Tinker
