any excuse to post a "remembered" story.
Last year of college for my beloved and me, back n 1958... For her, Sargent College in Harvard Square, Boston, and me at Bowdoin, in Maine. It was in April, and we were scheduled to graduate in June, and to marry in July. Her dad had provided a 1952 Nash Rambler for her last year of school, and she was driving up from Massachusetts to visit me for a party weekend.. The red temperature light came on, and she kept driving until the car stopped.
We partied and then called my dad, who was a textile worker, but also had some mechanic skills. He and his friend drove the 160 miles up to the Maine Turnpike (new, then), tied a chain to the car and towed it back to Rhode Island, where we lived.
Now, we didn't have a lot of money, so dad ad I decided to do an engine job, to free the frozen engine. Like ... this was a little bit different that what most engine jobs were... We did the entire job without taking the engine out of the car, or even taking the head off the engine.
We put the car up on blocks and did the entire job from underneath the car. Can't remember all the details, but, we removed the crankshaft, then the pistons and rods, then forced new rings on, and then pounded the pistons back into the block. Somewhere along the way, yours truly managed to mix up the crankshaft bearings, so the reconstruction was a little bit hit or miss.
For the cost of rings and a few gaskets, finished the entire job in a day, in time to get back to school.
It wasn't exactly easy to get the car running again. We had six kids from the neighborhood push the car around the block about 10 times, before the engine loosened up enough to fire, and it ran a little rough for the first 20 miles, but the operation was a success... and we kept the car for three more years... marriage... honeymoon, and two kids later.
One of the early adventures in frugality... rings, gaskets and some small parts. Probably under $75.
Yeah, not what the thread was supposed to be about, but that blue Nash Rambler was good to us.