Jack is back on the road! After 8 months of owning Jack, my 1968 Mercury Cougar, the first significant work has been done. When I found the car I knew that it had a transmission problem. The car would not go forward, but only backward. I bought the car and my dad and I brought the Cougar home on July 7th, 2007 and there it sat except for an oil change and some cleaning. I finally had the money ready and it was time to put Jack back on the road. My dad's friend recommended that I take my problem to Kenny at Guaranteed Transmissions in Granite City, IL. He likes working on older transmissions and gave me a good price and I made the appointment to bring the car to the shop on Saturday, March 15. This sounds a lot easier than it was. Jack was parked in my dad's garage about 30 miles from the shop. For a car that does not go forward this is not an easy task. We also found that there were barely any brakes. My dad, his neighbor Jeff, and myself had to load Jack onto a car trailer. We parked the trailer behind where the car was parked and pushed Jack out of the garage up to the trailer. Then we hooked a come-a-long to the axle and I started to wench Jack up onto the trailer. With the car finally loaded and secured with straps. Total time about an hour. My dad and I drove to the shop and delivered the Cougar to the shop and Kenny and I pushed Jack into the garage as my dad drove.
Kenny called me on Tuesday morning that the vehicle was done. My dad and I went to the shop on Wednesday afternoon to pick up Jack. This time it was much easier to load the car onto the trailer because I could drive it right up the ramps rather than pushing or using a wench. We drove back to my parent's house and unloaded Jack and stowed the trailer.
Now it was time for a test drive! My dad and I hopped into the venerable Cougar and drove up and down the streets of his subdivision. I have not licensed the car, nor does it have any insurance. Besides, as I said earlier, the brakes were mushy and barely stopping the car so we weren't going very far or very fast. The transmission seemed to shift nicely and went forward with no issues in all three forward gears. I muscled Jack around the streets and cul-de-sacs as the power steering wasn't working too well. My dad and I came back to the garage and put Jack up on the lift to inspect the work that Kenny had done. Then we checked the power steering fluid and it was almost empty. We filled up the power steering reservoir with fluid and I took Jack back out for another drive by myself. This time the Cougar was much easier to maneuver through the turns. Now we just have to see if the fluid continues to leak.
Thanks go to dad for helping with the trailer and loading and unloading process and not getting upset that his truck got dirty as we drove past the steel mill a couple of times. Special thanks to Jeff for the use of his trailer and helping with the loading process.
Now I just need to replace the front brake pads, shoes & rotors and rear brake drums, get some decent tires, put insurance on the vehicle, get the car licensed, buy new shocks and leaf springs, start the body work process, replace the interior...yadda, yadda, yadda.
