Funny story (sort of). When I bought the Barracuda, it was basically rust free and running/driving. The transport company I was working with said it would take two weeks to move it to Seattle. I arranged for pick up the day before I was having surgery for a sports injury, thinking I'd be fine to meet the driver and drive it home two weeks later.
Fast forward three days and, in an opiate haze, I get a call from the driver to meet him and pick up my car. After a good pep talk, I convince my wife she can drive a 50 year old car with manual brakes across Seattle. So, we meet the driver and the Barracuda is the only car on the carrier, parked all the way on top, above the cab. I don't know how many cars this thing could hold, but it must be a lot. The driver climbs up there, fires the car up, warms it up for a minute, puts it in reverse and it immediately dies. He repeats this about a dozen times, and now the car won't start at all. He thinks it's out of gas. My wife and I walk half a mile and drag back gas cans and the car still won't start. Apparently he hauls new cars almost exclusively and doesn't drive old cars.
I'm in no condition to climb up there, so my wife reluctantly climbs up 20 feet into this car, and shooting me homicidal looks, works the brakes while he pulls it down manually with straps. I've never seen such a thing in my life. Crazy. She leaves me with the car and the driver and I go get tacos while waiting for AAA. We get it home and, of course, it fires up instantly.
Apparently, the car encountered monsoon-like rain all across Montana and Idaho, and the spare tire well was completely filled with water. My six-year-old could have gone swimming in there. The wiper seals are probably shot and the carpet on the inside was soaked and had been so for days. It looks like it leaked around the rear window so now the inside is covered in surface rust behind the interior trim.
I got to spend my first days with my new car ripping the carpets out and scraping surface rust instead of driving, but at least I got an interesting story out of it. And it's cool to have a project again.View attachment 1715345803 View attachment 1715345804 View attachment 1715345805 View attachment 1715345806
