Well, actually, his name is Moez, not Tony, and he's still fixing "it". "It", of course, being the little Fiat 850 spider that came home a couple of months ago. Tom and I had been fiddling around with it, trying to get the darn thing to run better than it was - there seemed to be a roughness to the idle, and even when we did get it to smooth out and idle correctly, it had no power when we drove it around the block.
My diagnosis was that at a minimum, something was wonky with the carburetor, most likely a bad float, and that it needed a rebuild. Combine that with some of the other issues (no lights on the driver's side; turn signals didn't work;), I decided to have a real mechanic look at it. Only problem was, where do you find someone who's got the knowledge, time, and experience to fix a 46 year old car? First stop, get a hold of the guy who's President of the local chapter of the Fiat Club of America and see who he might know. Turns out there are two 'recommended' mechanics, one in Woodside, and one in Port Washington.
Decided to check the one in Port out, so I rode up and met Moez and Ike, the owners. Turns out that Moez had lived in Great Britain for about 20 years, and for most of that time, had been working primarily on Fiats - especially 850's! Had a nice chat with them both, and decided to give them the job.
Called my buddy Eddie, who's got a nice Ram pickup truck, and asked him if he'd give me a tow. Rented a Uhaul trailer, and on a nice clear Friday morning, we rolled the little car up on the trailer and dragged it to Port Euro repair shop.
And there it sat. And sat. And sat. No call from them for a couple of weeks, so when I got the thing registered and got the license plates, I decided to take a ride up there. Spoke with Ike, who said they'd had the car running, and there was an issue with the carburetor, as I had guessed, but that they couldn't get it right, and would need to do a little more work. Gave them some contact information for parts, chatted a bit more and left. Ike promised Moez would call me the next day.
And then, the call, featuring the four words you never, ever want to hear from a mechanic: "water in the oil". Arrrrrghhh! NNNOOOOOOO! Water in the oil, never a good thing. Means one of several things is wrong, none of them minor. Could be a blown head gasket; a cracked head; a cracked block. All of them somewhat labor intensive. Moez said he'd need to pull the head to confirm, but he suspected a blown head gasket. He gave me a price to fix the problem, and rebuild the carb, and it was reasonable, so I gave him the go ahead to pull the thing apart. Although he'd given me a good price for replacing the head gasket, I feared that once he pulled the head, he'd find other problems.
That was a few weeks ago, so today I drove up to visit the car, and drop off a new window crank I'd picked up for the passenger door. Had a nice conversation with both Ike and Moez, and to my surprise, I was told the repair was all done - and it was only the head gasket! Of course, this thing being a Fiat, there are other issues. The carb has been rebuilt, but it's still in need of some tweaking, but the engine runs like a top now. The clutch master cylinder had a crack, and was leaking fluid, but Moez repaired it using epoxy (nobody stocks a clutch cylinder for a 46 year old car). He's got the lights fixed, but is waiting for a new turn signal switch to fix the signals. And, as I suspected, the tires are shot and will not pass NY Inspection. They're dry rotted and cracked, which is dangerously unsafe.
Still the good news is that the car should be completely done and ready to be picked up some time next week. The little piece of junk is coming home! And before any snow (I hope)!
So, in the next couple of weeks, be prepared to see a post reviewing what it's really like to go back in time to the early 70's, when I was running all over L.I. in my 850. Should be a trip, however it turns out!
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Took a trip to Kansas City; guess what ISN'T there!
You all know from the title of this blog what it's all about; three things I'm passionate about, good food, great music, and classic cars. And those three things all go together pretty well. Sometimes it's all 3, sometimes it's 2 of 3, but whatever, it's a good bet that they combine up more often than not.
Take my trip this week out to Kansas City. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I had to fly, so the car portion was on hold. But, boy, goin' to Kansas City, there's the food, and, of course, the great song "Kansas City" by Wilbert Harrison.
Now, there's no way I'm going to find, nor meet, any 'crazy little women' there, and I'm certainly not going to 'get me one'. I'm also not likely to have a 'bottle of Kansas City Wine' while I'm there, either. I'm pretty picky about when, and what kind, of wine I might drink; I'm more of a beer guy.
In the song, both of these occurrences are said to happen at the "corner of Twelfth Street and Vine". Now I've heard this song more times than I can count, so when I knew I was going to be in KC for a few days, my sick and twisted mind immediately figured I'd have to get to that corner and get a photo. Got to KC Tuesday, around lunch time, and after a short search, found a favorite destination of mine:
Yeah, Jack In The Box. There's about half a dozen of them in the general KC area, and it was about a 20 minute detour from the airport to reach this one, but I wasn't on any sort of time schedule, all I had to do was find my hotel, check in, and be ready for a 6 pm meeting. So it was a veritable feast, as usual, my two "monster" tacos and onion rings.
Alright, enough of that. Over to the hotel I go, check in, and start poking around "MapQuest" to plan my trip to Twelfth and Vine. Uh-Oh..........this isn't good. Turns out that there is a Twelfth Street; in fact, it's one of the bigger east west arteries, and it runs pretty much right through the center of town. And, hey, out here on the east side of town, look at that, Vine Street! But there's a problem. Vine Street is just a big circle, that's intersected by a couple of smaller streets, but it's a good distance away from Twelfth Street! That's right, the two streets don't come close to intersecting each other. As Charlie Brown might say, 'rats'. Another great idea down the drain, there will be no photo of me "standing on the corner, Twelfth street and Vine". Actually, there'll be no photo of anyone at that corner!
Oh well. On to the next quest. If you're in Kansas City, you're pretty much obligated to get yourself some good KC barbecue. I was in KC about 20 years back, and during that trip I ate at Arthur Bryant's, one of the real legendary names in bbq. This time, we were teaching at the KC Airport Hilton, which is a decent ride away from 'downtown' KC and Arthur Bryant's or Gates barbecue. Fortunately, we had a contact who lives near KC, and they turned us on to a place called The Smokehouse, in a nice upscale shopping district called Zona Rosa, which was only about 5 minutes away from the hotel. The Hilton provides a good shuttle service, and in short order the 7 of us were sitting in The Smokehouse, looking over a pretty large menu.
Kansas City barbecue, whether beef, pork, or chicken, is noted for the sauce. Tomato based, loaded with molasses, it's sweet and thick, with just a little bit of spice to it. Unfortunately, as most of these KC places do, the meat comes already slathered with the sauce. In other areas where bbq is popular, most pitmasters serve up their food dry, with sauce on the side, so as not to cover up the subtle flavors that low, slow smoking over hardwood produces. Still, we ordered and dug in, and the food was pretty darn good.
Starters that were sampled included side house salads which were ridiculously large for a 'side' salad; garlic butter shrimp skewers, which were so large as to be suitable for a main course; and my choice, fried pickles. Unfortunately, these were not good, for several reasons. First, the final quality of a fried pickle begins and ends with the pickle; choose a good pickle, and you get a good result. Choose a poor pickle, and you get a poor result. These were poor pickles. Bland, barely a hint of dill, no garlic, and not the least bit salty, I would have turned my nose up at them had they come as a topping for a burger or a side. Second, the pickles were not sliced into chips, which is the best shape for frying them, but rather, had been sent lengthwise through a french fry cutter, resulting in long thin strips, which were then battered and fried, the end result looking almost exactly like a french fry. Lastly, the batter did not go with the pickles at all. Fluffy and somewhat sweet, it overwhelmed the poorly seasoned pickles. Even a dose of table salt and pepper didn't improve the end product. Oh well. On to the main course.
I chose the half rack of baby back ribs dinner, with two sides, a baked potato, and baked beans.The baked potato was fine, although it was a bit dry, and could have used more butter and sour cream. Still, there's not a lot you can do to really ruin a baked spud, and overall, it was okay. The baked beans were very good, tender, covered in a slightly sweet and spicy sauce, they were a good contrast to the potato.
The ribs were pretty good sized for baby backs, which at some places, can be thin and not very meaty. These had plenty of meat on them, and had been nicely smoked, although, as noted earlier, the sauce which covered them made it a bit difficult to really get that nice smoky flavor. Here's the meal midway through:
The white bread is a KC tradition, though it's not particularly needed when you order ribs; it would be great with their pulled pork however. And, those 'chip pickles' that came with dinner, those are what they should be frying! They were salty and full of dill, just what you need to make a good fried pickle - go figure!
I got to sample their burnt ends of brisket, which were good and meaty, very tender, full of smoke flavor, although a bit fatty; pulled pork, which was moist, tender, and had a great texture to it; and bbq chicken, moist, tender, and just fine.
Overall, pretty good bbq, for Kansas City, and frankly, anyplace. Combine that with a good drink menu, decent draft beer selection, and a friendly staff, and it's a place that I would definitely visit again.
Almost a nice enough visit to make me forget my disappointment in there not being a "Twelfth Street and Vine"!
Take my trip this week out to Kansas City. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I had to fly, so the car portion was on hold. But, boy, goin' to Kansas City, there's the food, and, of course, the great song "Kansas City" by Wilbert Harrison.
Now, there's no way I'm going to find, nor meet, any 'crazy little women' there, and I'm certainly not going to 'get me one'. I'm also not likely to have a 'bottle of Kansas City Wine' while I'm there, either. I'm pretty picky about when, and what kind, of wine I might drink; I'm more of a beer guy.
In the song, both of these occurrences are said to happen at the "corner of Twelfth Street and Vine". Now I've heard this song more times than I can count, so when I knew I was going to be in KC for a few days, my sick and twisted mind immediately figured I'd have to get to that corner and get a photo. Got to KC Tuesday, around lunch time, and after a short search, found a favorite destination of mine:
Yeah, Jack In The Box. There's about half a dozen of them in the general KC area, and it was about a 20 minute detour from the airport to reach this one, but I wasn't on any sort of time schedule, all I had to do was find my hotel, check in, and be ready for a 6 pm meeting. So it was a veritable feast, as usual, my two "monster" tacos and onion rings.
Oh well. On to the next quest. If you're in Kansas City, you're pretty much obligated to get yourself some good KC barbecue. I was in KC about 20 years back, and during that trip I ate at Arthur Bryant's, one of the real legendary names in bbq. This time, we were teaching at the KC Airport Hilton, which is a decent ride away from 'downtown' KC and Arthur Bryant's or Gates barbecue. Fortunately, we had a contact who lives near KC, and they turned us on to a place called The Smokehouse, in a nice upscale shopping district called Zona Rosa, which was only about 5 minutes away from the hotel. The Hilton provides a good shuttle service, and in short order the 7 of us were sitting in The Smokehouse, looking over a pretty large menu.
Kansas City barbecue, whether beef, pork, or chicken, is noted for the sauce. Tomato based, loaded with molasses, it's sweet and thick, with just a little bit of spice to it. Unfortunately, as most of these KC places do, the meat comes already slathered with the sauce. In other areas where bbq is popular, most pitmasters serve up their food dry, with sauce on the side, so as not to cover up the subtle flavors that low, slow smoking over hardwood produces. Still, we ordered and dug in, and the food was pretty darn good.
Starters that were sampled included side house salads which were ridiculously large for a 'side' salad; garlic butter shrimp skewers, which were so large as to be suitable for a main course; and my choice, fried pickles. Unfortunately, these were not good, for several reasons. First, the final quality of a fried pickle begins and ends with the pickle; choose a good pickle, and you get a good result. Choose a poor pickle, and you get a poor result. These were poor pickles. Bland, barely a hint of dill, no garlic, and not the least bit salty, I would have turned my nose up at them had they come as a topping for a burger or a side. Second, the pickles were not sliced into chips, which is the best shape for frying them, but rather, had been sent lengthwise through a french fry cutter, resulting in long thin strips, which were then battered and fried, the end result looking almost exactly like a french fry. Lastly, the batter did not go with the pickles at all. Fluffy and somewhat sweet, it overwhelmed the poorly seasoned pickles. Even a dose of table salt and pepper didn't improve the end product. Oh well. On to the main course.
I chose the half rack of baby back ribs dinner, with two sides, a baked potato, and baked beans.The baked potato was fine, although it was a bit dry, and could have used more butter and sour cream. Still, there's not a lot you can do to really ruin a baked spud, and overall, it was okay. The baked beans were very good, tender, covered in a slightly sweet and spicy sauce, they were a good contrast to the potato.
The ribs were pretty good sized for baby backs, which at some places, can be thin and not very meaty. These had plenty of meat on them, and had been nicely smoked, although, as noted earlier, the sauce which covered them made it a bit difficult to really get that nice smoky flavor. Here's the meal midway through:
I got to sample their burnt ends of brisket, which were good and meaty, very tender, full of smoke flavor, although a bit fatty; pulled pork, which was moist, tender, and had a great texture to it; and bbq chicken, moist, tender, and just fine.
Overall, pretty good bbq, for Kansas City, and frankly, anyplace. Combine that with a good drink menu, decent draft beer selection, and a friendly staff, and it's a place that I would definitely visit again.
Almost a nice enough visit to make me forget my disappointment in there not being a "Twelfth Street and Vine"!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)