Nuts to You

fair waring, lots of car stuff follows with a pithy segue back to trans issues.

I was up early yesterday to drive to the industrial city of Hamilton to get a front end alignment done on the Electra. The old alignment shop I had used to patronize had to my chagrin closed , the owner retired…I guess it had been a while since I had been there…six or seven years as it turns out.

The new shop was near the harbour in the heart of the steel mills. It was a beautiful morning and even this part of the city looked bright and new in the spring sunshine. I made good time as I was running against traffic and flew over the Skyway bridge at 80 plus mph.

The Electra had developed a pronounced pull to the left at speed making driving rather unpleasant. I had a sneaking feeling that the tires, of indeterminate age, might be to blame.

A quick inspection at the shop revealed the front end to be tight and the mechanic

pronounced the Electra in excellent shape underneath (thanks original owner) and that the culprit was my first guess a bad right side tire.

I decided to drive home on the lakeshore road instead of the highway. Later that day I jacked the car and removed the offending tire. Once off the car a very bad bulge could be seen in the tread area. I am lucky I did not have a blow out at speed or my road to womanhood would have been in a hearse.

Getting the wheel off was a bit of a problem as the car had cheap replacement chrome lug nuts, I am sure GM never used these as original equipment. One of the nuts would only spin when a tire iron was applied.

Turns out that the shiny part was just a stainless steel shell over a standard open nut. Years of on and off again had distorted the shell making it spin around the steel nut and making the wheel impossible to remove. I managed to split the shell and pry it off with a scream driver so I could then get a ratchet on the nut .

I will invest in a new set of tires and nuts but to keep the Electra mobile I fitted a spare tire and Buick mag rim I just had stashed away in the garden shed. Sometimes it does pay to be an automotive pack rat. The tire and wheel was the spare from my dearly departed 1970 Riviera GS and the rim itself I believe dated back to my first car, a 1971 Buick Centurion convertible.

I even had a good used mag wheel centre cap to replace the original faded one. It had for the last few months served as a paper weight on my desk. A test drive showed the Buick to now drive and brake in a straight line.

How long had that wheel cap waited in a box in the garage then as a paper weight, now part of a functional automobile again after all these many years. Perhaps like that part those of us transitioning will have the benefit of a second act in our lives.

I know the role I am auditioning for.

Super tired today as 'J" and I were up talking very late, subjects both deep and trivial, like old times.

Like attracts like. Picture with the Allante is from Mother's day, both examples of GM luxury all be it from different decades in the appropriate setting of a country club parking lot.

Summer is almost upon us so lets have some Beach Boys.

Hugs,

April