A working class dog in a rich man's house

(Or - Parts is parts. . .if you can find them)

Allow me to preface this post with a bit of personal history; I was always one of those "car guys". From the age of about 14 up until I hit my early 30's, I was always "tinkering" under the hood or perusing J.C.Whitney catalogs for the latest "cool as shit thing that I absolutely did NOT need but had to have" for my current transport or the one in the garage that I was "gonna finish restoring someday".

Sometime during the mid 90's this all changed. It was sudden, yet under my radar. Example? In 1992 I tore down the big-block 400 from my '67 Catalina ragtop and attempted to rebuild it (10.5-1 compression and 340 hp from the factory, bubba!) - By 1995, I was paying for oil changes. I'm still not sure what happened, although I know I used the excuse that "I can't even find the dipstick under the hood of these new cars" excuse. I think I just got lazy or busy with a career, lost my mechanical passions, or could afford to pay somebody to for things for me.

Up until a few short years ago, I still had my Cat in my garage at home as well as my Mom's '64 Sedan DeVille, and a a "spare for parts" for both in storage. The '67 Executive was sitting in Mom's back yard up in Warsaw, and the '64 Caddy was in a rented garage in the same block where my buddy Robert, of Left of Centrist, resides. My Mom died in 2001, after a life-long battle with various cancers, and I just didn't seem to care so much about the car stored at her place or the her old Caddy in my garage and it's "parts zombie".

My priorities had changed from "car guy" to "family guy" and I was overcome with a huge sense of "GET RID OF ALL OF YOUR SHIT AND MAKE A NEW START" syndrome. So I let go of all my cars, with the exception of my Cat. She was a ride that my Mom always referred to as "MY car", as we had bought her on Mom's birthday back in 1982. "Where are you going in MY car" she would always jokingly ask me.

Okay. . .I've been seriously digressing here! I still have my old ragtop, in storage, and I seldom even think about her. . .poor old girl. My original point of this post was to highlight just how difficult it is for one to do repair your own vehicle out here in "God's country", AKA Aboite. The lack of auto parts stores here in the "land of the have and have more" was not missed by me, yet it didn't really sink in until I found myself in need of parts just recently. With the exception of ONE Hire's Auto Parts store that's barely within the township, there are NO options for DIY'ers who live out here!

See, we know that alot of the chain outfits are out to milk us for as much as they can get, and have learned to look for alternatives. Just last year my wife needed brake service for her Montana; the local Midas outfit quoted her at over $500! Tires Express, another local outfit, went through the Midas estimate line for line and showed what was REALLY needed vs what Midas wanted to hose us for. They repaired her van for under $200.

Now, while I give these dudes credit for that encounter, they quoted us $325 to repair her rear brakes two weeks ago. I consulted my friend, Mark (brother of co-blog-author Stan) who is an ASE-certified mechanic, and he quoted me at $200 or less. I trust Mark, and would gladly pay him for his professional repairs (have done so in the past), but he was called out of town for a family emergency. So, faced with that news, I decided to put on my mechanic's hat once more, and replace the rear brake shoes and wheel cylinders on my wife's vehicle.

I spent less than $40, the repairs were successful, and apparently I still have a clue as to how to maintain a vehicle. Now. . .can Auto-Zone or one of the other national auto-parts suppliers establish shop out here so I can make my own repairs w/o driving to Waynedale?