In It For the Long Haul

[Alex V.]

Got a call from my BIL's girlfriend yesterday morning, sitting on the side of the road just East of St. Louis (headed from KC to central KY) in her Focus with a big puddle of antifreeze under the car. She'd seen the gauge way too high, but before it pegged out and the light came on, pulled over and called the family/resident car guy, yours truly. She got a tow off the interstate to a nearby mall from AAA and I threw my tools in the 1-ton, poured in 1.5 qts. of transmission fluid (pump seal has been leaking and initial engagement of the forward gears has been progressively more questionable for quite a while now, but it was my only option) and a little bit greater quantity of gas, rented a U-haul trailer and hit the road. By golly, just like the old girl always does, the truck took the beating that is I-65, booked it across I-64 spinning 3 grand all the way, and the ATF level held steady the whole trip. Plodded along with the Focus at 55-60 on the return trip and got somewhere between 9 and 10 MPG driving into a side/head wind most of the way. A while back I loosened up the secondaries a little but I think it was too much because mileage could be a tad better. But never the less, 33 years and 129K don't mean she can't do what she was made for.

[zach_carver]

Yes sir!! That’s what I like to see. I drive my trucks all the time, and love meeting others on the road. Nice man!

[andyh1956]

Picture of Focus, naw... Girlfriend? Yes!
Did she REALLY cut the engine off before it overheated? She's a keeper!

[Alex V.]

I just like to post up the content for others' enjoyment and to give some visual, current evidence to the doubters that these bone-stock trucks will still kick butt.

Ha! I'll keep the pics on topic but she is a keeper. She saw the gauge almost pegged but no light yet, pulled over, shut it down, and video-called me. I asked her to start it and see if it had cooled off any so she could get it to the next exit - it was running rough so she shut it back off, and afterward she said that was the only time the light came on. Turned out to just be the lower rad. hose clamp that had rusted in half, but the engine's fine. Too bad my in-laws didn't instill as much sense into him as her parents did to her. I did the VC gasket on the Focus while I had it and you coulda ate off the valve train at 193K... and his car has been sitting at my shop for 3 months 'cuz he ran the PS pump dry.