Gone, But Not Forgotten
Well, I did finally sell my A-100, so
my adventure has come to an
end. It is one I won't repeat soon, unless I suddenly am blessed
with
adept mechanical skill, or become independently wealthy. It takes
either or both to take one of these trucks and make/keep it
roadworthy.
My A-100 was so beautiful when I first
saw it. It wasn't show
quality, sure, and my wife shuddered and whispered "let's
go -- it's
junk!" but I was in love! So I bought the baby. The seller
didn't
recommend driving it back over the Grapevine 110 miles in the
condition it was in, he advised that he didn't want to see her
"blow
up or something!" Timely words I ought to have noted.
Well, she arrived via trailer a couple
of days later, and I paid my
cash. The baby started, and I couldn't wait to drive her all around
and show off to all my friends! So I did. Some were impressed,
some
were amused, and some were merely polite. But I didn't care --
I was
so proud.
I put windshields on -- two! For $250.
I had the seats recovered...
that was another (small) wad of dough. I got her tagged --
fortunately she weighed only 3500 pounds... for trucks over 4000
lbs., when you bring them into Calif. from out-of-state, it costs
several hundred dollars. In this case I squeaked in for less than
a
hundred. I put in the requisite booming Alpine stereo and alarm,
complete with huge subwoofer... several hundred more dollars,
but
absolutely necessary, in my opinion. I got on estimate on the
paint
and body -- yikes! $3000. I decided to get a "scuff and squirt"
for
$400... but never did. The reason? My friend Dave took one look
inside the doghouse and said park her immediately -- she's leaking
gas out the carb and if it hits the manifold you're going to have
a
fire and that will be all she wrote!
So I took the A-100 around town only
to find the carb was old and
couldn't be repaired... it would have to be replaced -- at a cost
of
around $300. Gulp. I'd just spent most of my money on the truck
itself, plus getting her legal, and whoops, that stereo. I found
a
mechanic who would work cheaper -- a friend of a friend, but it
was
still going to be $250. He also said park the truck until it's
fixed.
So I did -- for two months. It took that long to save up for the
carb.
Finally I had the money, and the guy
went through my truck and put
the carb on. While messing around, he discovered that one motor
mount
was entirely missing... geez, that could have been messy. He fixed
that. Finally, my truck was running again, fun! I drove around
in the
hot July sun, only to discover the never-ending battle with
overheating suffered by those of us who attempt to drive mid-engine
2-
seat sports vehicles with V-8s in doghouses in 100-degree weather.
I also discovered, while exiting Hwy.
58 one morning, that my brakes
no longer worked. Boy, what a panicky feeling, when that pedal
goes
to the floor and you don't stop! Fortunately there was nothing
in the
way as I careened onto S. H St... I limped home using low gear
and
the emergency brake. I limped to Tire Man but his brake guy wouldn't
touch it... so I limped to my mechanic friend and he advised that
I
needed brakes all the way around, master cylinder and all... it
would
be $900 at least in a shop. But he'd do it cheaper, so not to
worry.
Boy was my wife hot when she found out
I had to spend several hundred
MORE dollars to make the truck drivable. But I didn't care --
I had
an A-100! The coolest truck around! Only 2 of them here in town,
don't you know!
The brake parts were available in stock,
actually, which is a good
thing concerning these old Dodges. A couple weeks later I was
back on
the road, tooling around happily, overheating, sure, but at night
--
bliss!
Then the electrical problems started.
I had been admonished by
members of this online group that I was being ripped off by my
mechanic friend -- so I decided to tackle these myself. I did
have to
have a regulator put on -- but after that cost 90 bucks I decided
to
get a little check light and wiring schematic and run down the
rest
of my problems myself. I spent all of the fall and most of the
winter
checking wires, changing fuses, and variously troubleshooting
a
myriad of electrical nightmares, some of which prevented the truck
from running at all. Friends came over and tried to help. They
mainly
got in the way -- being even more inept than I. Speaking of inept
--
I relocated my battery myself, from the bed of the truck to behind
the seat. You'll see where the ineptitude applies in a moment.
Finally, by January, I actually had the
baby running, and working,
really really well. But there was still a short, and the 90 dollar
battery I bought would drain out completely if I didn't start
her
every couple of days. And it's cold in Bakersfield -- not like
the
midwest, but still, getting up at 4:30 a.m. and trying to drive
this
thing to work was no picnic, and became more trouble than it was
worth, especially with a nice warm fuel-injected late model in
the
garage. You may look cool driving an A-100, but like a Jeep or
a
convertible, looking cool does not equal being comfortable! So
the
truck sat -- a lot. And I had to have the battery charged a lot.
I drove and drove the truck as the weather
warmed. When the weather
really warmed -- to 110 degrees as always in Bakersfield, I had
to
stop and put water in the radiator every 10 miles or so as I
nervously watched the temp gauge hover at the top. I kept my own
jug
with me all the time. I also learned to carry gas -- the 11 mpg
I got
sometimes didn't get me to the next gas station! Never did learn
where exactly "empty" was on that gas gauge!
Soon it got really really hot in my truck
-- mainly in the cab as the
battery chose to one day out of the blue burst into flame. The
tranny
fluid I had stored behind the driver's seat made for an even more
intense fire. With no cover on my battery box, that truck was
fixing
to blaze away. And with no insurance.
I pulled the driver's seat out, and got
some blankets and towels I
had in the bed and tried to smother the flames. Curious and concerned
good samaritans drove up and asked did I need the FD? Nah -- I
got
it, I sputtered, as I staggered and coughed, completely overcome
by
the fumes. Plus that battery was ready to explode. Well, they
called
the Firemen anyway, and they came pretty quick, and saved my truck.
They sprayed water back on the battery and put it out. I was worried
about the water wrecking my stereo and stuff, but they did a great
job and the only damage was some blistered paint, and of course
the
battery and cables were a total loss.
I was convinced the stereo was the reason
-- some tweaker had
installed it and I thought for sure he's crossed some wires. Why,
this was probably the reason for the short that kept on draining
the
battery, too! So after the truck was towed home, I pulled that
sucker
out and smashed it on the driveway. Stupid thing almost fried
my
truck. Damn Alpine. Besides, it wouldn't give me back my Pere
Ubu CD
which was trapped inside. (The CD came out after I smashed the
stereo, unfortunately, like the stereo, it was in several pieces.)
Boy was I embarrassed when I had the
truck towed to my mechanic
friend and found out what was REALLY stupid -- mainly who, and
the
who was, you guessed it, me. You see, when I'd ran my new cable
to
the relocated battery, I'd failed to put them through the required
little hoops and loops under there, and they'd burnt through on
the
hot headers, and poof! I was lucky to save the truck, and lucky
the
battery didn't explode with me leaning over it trying to smother
the
flames.
I'd also fried a brake line with my ineptitude
-- total cost of
repairs ran, once again, several hundred dollars, and my wife
now
insisted I sell the truck. I drove her over the Grapevine and
tried
at the Chrysler show -- only to discover a total lack of demand
for
an old rusted A that needed that much body work. I lowered the
price,
lowered the price, and lowered the price, to below what I'd
originally paid, and all I got was an offer to trade for a junk
Jeep
Wrangler -- I checked KBB.com when I got home and found out even
in
good condition that Jeep would be worth less than $2000. Pretty
depressing.
Now my truck knew I was going to sell
it, and I swear it was my love
that had kept it running at all, when it did. I didn't love it
anymore, and the baby knew it. She stopped running. I'd get the
battery charged, and she still wouldn't start. This was a first.
I
blamed the battery my mechanic friend had sold me -- it wasn't
the
deluxe $90 I was used to. Reluctantly, and with my wife screaming
bloody murder, I limped the truck back his way (with my car's
battery
doing the starting) and told him I was selling the truck -- and
no
way was I putting hundreds of dollars more into her.
He put in another alternator for $100.
It had the wrong one on there
all the time, and the belt was loose -- that was the whole reason
for
all the charging problems. Now the baby was back to driving real
good. Well, actually, it was the first time it drove real good,
although I never did get the throttle cable to where it would
open
the secondaries on that $250 carb. I didn't care -- I was selling
her.
I lowered the price, and lowered the
price, finally to $1000 less
than I paid originally, and was relieved when the original owner
e-
mailed that he's buy her back. And she drove over the Grapevine
on
her own accord. No trailer this time. To get up the 6% grade,
I
opened the doghouse and manually "floored" the throttle,
yup -- 70
mph all the way up the hill. This trick also worked when dealing
with
the dodgy dicey L.A. traffic which needed to be quickly maneuvered
around.
Yes, I sold my truck, and no, I won't
own another one. Yes, they are
fun, and yes, they are neat looking, but yes, they also need a
lot of
work and are not for the mechanically-challenged such as I.
And yes, they are dangerous. I would
highly recommend the upgrade to
modern brakes and seatbelts to the newly initiated. And put a
fire
extinguisher in the cab if you're an inept do-it-yourselfer such
as I!
Eddie in Bakersfield
former owner of the '66 A-100 pickup