Today, after three or four attempts to bring the 'repaired' car home, we have success!
When I last posted, Karen and I had gone to Port Washington to retrieve the car, but it only got me halfway home when it performed an all too familiar Fiat trick, and sputtered to a halt in the parking lot of Christopher Morley Park. The shop I'm using had the car towed back, and decided that it was a fuel starvation issue, specifically the fuel pump. Unusual, as I had put a new fuel pump in the car shortly after taking delivery of it. All we can assume is that the replacement pump had something wrong with it. So I ordered another new pump, from a different supplier, and dropped it off at the shop on Monday. Yesterday, Ike the mechanic called and said the new pump was in and the car 'runs like a top'. Uh-Huh. I've heard that line before, including the day I picked it up and got stuck with it!
Still, I was hopeful; there really isn't much else that the darn thing could need to run properly. I couldn't get up to Port yesterday, but my sister Ginny called and said she wanted to stop in and drop something off to me today, so I asked if she'd give me a lift up to the shop to get the car (and, by association, follow me home, just in case). Ginny happily agreed, and so today we drove to the shop to get the car. Of course, for those of you who aren't in the Long Island area, today marks the first truly bitterly cold day we've had in a while. Gonna be a nice deep freeze this weekend, with temperatures in the single digits. Today, it was 20 degrees with a nasty wind as we made the trip.
Got to the shop, checked in with Ike, who was nice enough to not charge me for the installation of the new fuel pump, and out to the car we went. Ike got in, cranked the starter, and after two or three attempts, the little beast fired up. Cold weather has never been a Fiat's friend when it comes to starting. Even though the engine is tiny, once the temperature drops below about 35, the engine just doesn't like to turn over. One reason, I think, why the silly things burn out so many starter motors. Ike jokingly asked if I'd like him to loan me a space heater for the car because he was afraid I'd get cold driving it all the way home. Silly man, he obviously never drove an 850 in the cold weather - the heater in these things could melt the rubber on your sneakers if you ran it on high; at least, the heater in my old 850 could.
Got in the car, and with Ike's words of advice ('don't leave town without filling the tank with gas') ringing in my ears, off we went. Being a person who takes good advice to heart, we stopped at the first gas station and topped off the tank. Took a whole 3.5 gallons of BP premium to fill the tank; $7.57, a bit more than it used to cost me back in 1972, when I could fill the tank from almost empty with Getty premium for less than $2, but still reasonable.
Down the road we went, the little thing happily cruising at about 35-40. Doesn't seem to have much beyond that, the engine doesn't have any of the 'punch' that I remember from my old 850. Didn't dare get on the parkway or expressway, due to a) no real power, and b) no outside rear view mirror, both dangerous conditions for high speed driving. So we meandered through the local roads, Ginny following me as I re-learned the quirks and challenges of the car. And oh, yes, the heater worked so well that I never put the fan on high, and even had to shut the fan off a couple of times because I was getting hot in the car! This with both doors having huge gaps where the weatherstripping is bad. I guess my memory of the old car was right.
And here it is, back where it belongs!
And so chapter one of the 850 saga ends with the car happily and easily making the journey home from the shop. What's next for the little beast? Well, you'll just have to watch this blog to find out!
