Maiden Voyage: Gremlins, Gear Oil & Good Times

There's something special about driving an old Chevy down the highway before the sun comes up. The rumble of the engine, the cool morning air coming through the windows, and that little voice in the back of your head wondering what might fall off before you get where you're going.

I'd owned my '54 Chevy for all of two weeks, and we were about to find out what she was made of.

She'd already been to one car show, but that trip was on a trailer. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but I didn't buy this Chevy just to look pretty sitting still. I bought her to drive.

The past couple of weeks had been spent chasing one problem after another. A little adjusting here, a little wrenching there, and more than a few moments wondering what on earth the previous owners were thinking. But we'd made some progress, and it was time to see if all that work had paid off.

At 5 a.m. Saturday morning, I fired her up and headed out to meet the gang at the gas station. We had a car show about an hour away, a few more friends to pick up along the way, and a beautiful morning for a cruise.

The Chevy was running fine, the road was open, and with every passing mile, I was feeling a little more confident. Maybe we'd finally gotten ahead of the problems.

She had a few more things to show me.

Our first indication that everything wasn't quite perfect came when we pulled into the next gas station to meet some friends. Somebody happened to notice that the car following me had a fresh coat of oil covering its entire front end.

Now, that's peculiar.

A quick inspection revealed that my Chevy had been sharing her rear-end gear oil with the rest of the group. Seems we had a leak at the axle tube, and the fellow behind me had received a complimentary undercoating somewhere along the highway.

Oops.

We looked things over, decided it wasn't anything that needed to spoil the day, and headed back out. After all, we had a show to get to.

A few miles farther down the road, my newly installed passenger-side peep mirror apparently decided it had seen enough!

It rattled loose from its arm, took flight, and sailed straight through the open passenger window!

Now, here's the remarkable part. It didn't hit the paint, didn't crack the glass, didn't damage a thing. It simply landed inside the car, safe and sound, as though it had decided to come along for the ride.

Couldn't believe my eyes. There was my new mirror, riding inside the car like it belonged there.

I figured I'd better count my blessings and keep moving before something else came loose.

By the time we reached the show, a long line of customs, hot rods, and classics was already winding its way toward the entrance. Now, this was what we'd come for!

We joined the procession and began inching our way forward. A few feet at a time, stop, wait, and creep ahead again.

That's when I noticed the temperature gauge.

Up she went.

Oh, come on, girl. We're almost there!

Apparently, the Chevy wasn't quite finished adding to my list of things to fix. I'd already picked up an axle leak and a loose mirror. Why not a cooling problem to round things out?

Eventually, we made it through the gate and found our parking spot. I shut off the engine, climbed out, and took a good look at the old girl.

There she sat, surrounded by customs and hot rods, looking like she belonged there. A few mechanical complaints notwithstanding, she'd made the trip under her own power, and that was something worth smiling about.

The rest of the day was just what a good car show ought to be. Cool cars, good friends, familiar faces, a few new ones, and plenty of conversation. After the morning she'd given me, it was nice to let the Chevy sit and look pretty for a while.

When it was finally time to head home, I climbed back behind the wheel, fired up the Chevy, and hoped she'd gotten all the mischief out of her system.

And wouldn't you know it? She behaved herself all the way home.

The weather was beautiful, the road was pleasant, and the old Chevy just rolled along as though nothing unusual had happened all morning.

By the time we pulled into the driveway, we'd completed our first two-hour round trip together. A little lost gear oil, one flying mirror, and a temperature gauge with a mind of its own.

Not bad for our first outing.

Sure, there's still plenty of work to do. But she'd made her first real trip, and we'd both come home in one piece. Even the mirror.

— Ruby Rochester