Another chapter

Back around 1993 I bought a little truck. It was a 1970 Chevy Luv. At the time I just wanted something American. After owning a Voltswagon Rabbit and a Mazda RX-7, and because they were both foreign and parts and labor cost so much, I wanted something that was a little less expensive to maintain. Little did I know that Chevrolet had
nothing to do with Chevy Luvs.

Anyway, I bought the truck for $900.00. It was a cute little thing. It had a real nice paint job and a roll bar and I thought I was getting a pretty good deal. But about a week later it lost compression and I was lucky if I could get it to go fast enough to shift into third gear. That's when I found out that it was an Isuzu and Chevrolet had nothing to do with it.

I remember a friend of mine and I were driving that truck across town one day and we were passed up by a moped because it wouldn't go fast enough to get out of second gear. It was embarrassing to say the least. So I parked it and there it sat.

About two weeks later I was giving someone a ride to their friends apartment and when I pulled up to drop them off the guy said "just drop me off by that 280z".

We pulled up behind a black car that had a rear spoiler. He said it was his friends and it needed a new engine. When I got close enough I noticed it wasn't a 280z, but an RX-7. I asked him if his friend would be interested in swapping titles straight across for my truck. Like I said, that truck had a nice paint job and I knew it was appealing, especially to a guy.

I went and got the truck that same night. It took awhile to get it to his complex because it wouldn't go over 25 mph. But when the guy saw it, it was a done deal.

When I first talked to the guy about the car he told me it needed new 'rings'. Since RX's have 'seals'

rather then rings I thought, well more like hoped, that he was wrong. But, though he was wrong about the rings, he was right about it needing a new engine. When the seals go on an RX, it smokes. And let me tell you, this car smoked...bad. I had to tow that car every time I moved, and I moved a lot. Though it ran it couldn't be driven because it would leave a cloud of smoke so thick you couldn't see behind you.

After a while it became more of a hassle then it seemed to be worth so I decided to check out one of those "We buy cars, running or not" ads I saw in the paper. I talked to a guy who said he wouldn't be able to
give me what it was worth but said he had a friend who specialized in Mazda's and rotary engines.

I called the guy and within two weeks I had my car...

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I lived out of my car, on and off, for a few years. I would go to different
friends houses to take showers and such. Though I, eventually, had the engine rebuilt, everything else would take it's turn needing replacement. I new a few people at a junk yard so I spent a lot of time out there.

One particular time it was the starter. I took the starter out, and because there wasn't another one available at the time, I drove it  without one, which meant I had to make sure I parked on a hill

or in an area with room enough to push start it.