Funny Photo: Park at Own Risk

Coil Pack For Mom's Town Car

Mom's '99 Town Car blew a coil pack today.  About 82,000 miles on the car. 

Chelmsford MA Cruiser

UPDATE: 12th Anniversary!

April 7th marked my 12th year with Vic.  It has about 128,990 miles on it.  I was hoping to make it a round number, but I was off a few miles! 

Yesterday, I had one of those "what made you do THAT??" moments.  I parked to go into a convenience store, and each space had this big upside down horseshoe thing made of steel and concrete.  For some unknown reason, I put the car in drive instead of reverse, and... CRUNCH!!!  I was so mad and embarrassed, knowing the guy at the counter of the Domino's I was in front of probably saw me... I went across the street, got gas, then got out to see what damage there was...

... there was NONE!  Just a slight smudge next to the license plate.  I was so sure I had ruined something.  If I was in a newer car, no doubt the grille or headlights would have been ruined.

I still don't know why I did it...

SPOTTED: New MA State Police Ford Interceptor!

This morning I caught a very quick glimpse of a marked Massachusetts State Police cruiser on a flatbed... a brand spankin' new Ford Interceptor.  It was on a flatbed headed in the direction of Devens MA.  There is a state police barracks there, along with an EVOC training facility.   I tried to find the car later in the day, but it was most likely deep inside state property by that time...

Crazy Off Roading Crown Vic Video!!

UPDATE: Making Connections...

Yesterday it was 70 degrees outside, so I decided to do something constructive.  One of Vic’s battery cable connectors was acting up.  Every once in a while, I’d try to start it, and you’d get a quick connection, then nothing.  If I opened the hood and just tapped the cable, it would connect again.  Since that connector had already been replaced a while back with a lead one, I figured I’d buy a new, non-lead connector and fix this little issue.

Old connectors... original 14 yr old one at left

It was pretty simple removing the offending lead connector.  The hard part was trying to crimp the new connector to the copper cable.  I tried using pliers, but couldn’t get much bend out of them.  So I just made sure all the copper was inside the new end, and taped the begeebers out of the junction.

Then I looked at the other cable.  That one had the original, 14 year old connector, but half of it had disappeared and was only about the width of a wedding ring.  I decided that it would be too hard to try and replace it, but while I was reinstalling it to the battery, SNAP!!  The thing finally fell apart.  That meant I HAD to replace it.

I cut off the factory insulation, and found out my low budget crimping technique was just that.  The correct way to crimp the non-lead ends was far better than what I could do with pliers… and very difficult to remove.  Long story short, I had to use a small saw I found in the cellar to hack the connector off.  Then I removed a little insulation from the cables, shoved them into the new connector, and taped it all up. 



Then came cleanup, which included putting a zillion sockets away.  Finally, I started the car.  Fired right up, but the car’s clocks were showing different times!  The stereo said it was 1:07, the factory dash clock said 12:07!  It was actually about 1:35PM…

I sure hope my repairs hold up.  Time will tell…

New cable ends... will they work???