SO I was 17, and it was about time that I thought about purchasing myself some transportation. I talked about the usual things, little used sedans, vehicles from friends and neighbors, and the like. My Uncle heard that I was pondering such a thing and put out his feelers for another 521 in good shape. A while later, his "brother" Fred informed him that a little 521 was for sale by the side of the road near his house.
My
Uncle and took a trip out to look at the truck, about 60 miles from where
I live. And there is sat, dilapidated, dishonored, and disheartened by
the side of the road. There was a handwritten sign taped to the inside
of the driver's window asking $250 for it. Uncle and I peered through
the dirty windows and checked it out. It was filthy. There was some damaged
bondo on the driver's fender covering some rather large damage. The driver's
wing window was practically destroyed. It had a decidedly _non_ stock
side mirror.
We walked down a long driveway to talk with the "owner" of it. It was his son's and he was selling it to get it out of the yard. Apparently it ran. He said it'd been used mostly for hauling firewood. (Hrm...) My Uncle talked with the guy and bargained him down to $75, making the point that it was trashed, and though the guy mentioned making it into a trailer, my Uncle pointed out that would take time and energy, and for $75 we would get the eyesore out of his life.
He
agreed. A few days later, Fred and my Uncle drove the truck to Fred's
house, 15 or 20 miles away. A week after that my Uncle picked me up at
6am to go retrieve the truck from Fred's house. We changed the oil, topped
off the coolant and hydraulics reservoirs and set out on the road.
Amazingly, it drove almost 200 miles the first day that I owned it. It first drove from Fred's house, to my Uncle's house, and then back to my house. The picture above pretty much sums up the day. In the picture, be sure to notice the extra-long (non-standard) tail pipe, almost dragging the ground, and the lightish smudge on the windshield. That smudge, (no, you aren't seeing things), which runs from the windshield wiper to the wing-window, is a plastic bag. You see, the carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide coming into the truck during normal operation, were high enough to make both of my uncle and I light-headed. SO, we had to open the wing window enough to let in air. But it wouldn't stay open at highway speeds, so I took that plastic bag, (which happened to actually be the bag that my new license plate came in.) jam it into the wiper blade (destroying the blade in the process) and tie the other end around the knob of the wing window.
