EDITORIAL

VETTE TESTS PATIENCE

THERE ARE days when it would make sense to have a livein f leet manager, and a mechanic. Perhaps t wo of t he latter. Then t hey could keep track of where t he hell evey t hing is and what we’re up to. And whether we rea lly are in a rush for something.

The way things are around Chateau Guido, there are usually at least a couple of projects on t he go – at least one car and one motorcycle. Though if we’re ta lk ing a bad week, that number can rise exponentia lly when they gang up on their owner and decide to brea k faster than you can f i x them.

For example, wit h t he rapid onset of winter in t he sout hern states, it did seem like we were propping up t he entire automotive batter y industr y single-handed. You might k now the feeling – the f irst cold snap comes a long and a ll t hose batteries t hat were just hanging in t here decide it’s a ll to hard and keel over.

That’s before we get on to t he more involv ing projects, such as daughter Ms M junior’s Cor vette. It’s a nice enough car, but we recent ly t hrew it at Mick’s workshop because there were a bunch of ailments to be sorted and, with no hoist at home – not to forget a lack of time and mechanical ta lent – it made sense to f lick-pass it.

Dropping of f a job of course raises t he ugly question of when do we want it back. Sometimes I rea lly do need it tomorrow, but t hat’s rare as t here’s usually some ot her great ga lloping money-pit t hat needs exercising.

It’s ta ken decades of training by a string of mechanics to get my head around t his, but if t here rea lly is no hurr y, t here’s a lot to be said for a llow ing ever yone time to properly assess what’s going on and nut out t he best solution. Ms M’s Cor vette is a good example. It’s a rea lly nice car, but t here were a bunch of old car t hings going on, like dodg y bra kes.

The quick solution would be to buy a bunch of replacement parts and whack them in, yes? Ah, nup. The catch wit h t hat is some replacements inev itably won’t f it staright in and can end up costing more time than they’re worth.

Having a more rela xed schedule a llowed Mick the dubious lu xur y of spending time making bra ke lines that he k new would be a perfect f it, because he had the car a metre away from his workbench. What we’ll end up with is something t hat’s right, will last and will work. Probably more ef f icient in t helong run.

So a life lesson learned because of a set of 50-year old brakes. Who knew that could happen?

Speaking of patience, our Production Editor/Designer Angelo Loupetis celebrates 150 issues wit h t his magazine. Congratulations, mate, you don’t look a day over 120 !