It seems it took no time at all to engulf the house. (PICS) Windows were breaking, his car was making all sorts of popping sounds, the heat was becoming intense. When we walked out of our house we saw Mr. Miles standing in his driveway with the neighbor from across the street. He was OK, but shaken. It was horrific watching it. I’ve never seen a home burn before and the fire was truly in charge. I could see it burning through the front metal door.
Then I noticed embers flying into my yard as well as my other neighbor’s yards. My son and I grabbed the hose and went to the back yard to try and keep the flames/heat from reaching us. The hose was so tangled we couldn’t get it working. Thankfully the Clinton Fire Department showed up and started hosing it down. The force from the water drove the smoke over the fence into our yard and smothered my son and I, so we went back to the front to observe.
Although Mr. Miles was OK, he had just moved in 6-8 months ago after loosing his home on the Gulf Coast to Katrina. Now he has lost everything but his life. He was telling me, “that’s 90 years of stuff I’ve just lost.” He’s staying with family that lives close by. Now he has to pick up the pieces all over again. We’ll keep him in our prayers.
Wes and I were able to get the motor completely ready for removal. All connections, hoses, etc. have been removed. Wes was able to acquire an engine stand from a friend at school. Thanks to Mike Townsend for letting us borrow it.
I drove my father-in-law’s truck to Performance Motorsports to borrow an engine hoist, but it would not fit in the back of the truck very well without scratching it up pretty bad. I’m going to see if my Dad will let me borrow his again. It might be a full-size bed. Can’t remember.
Wes and I spent a little time on the engine Tuesday night. We were attempting to remove the head without removing too much else. That failed. Now our plan is to go ahead and remove the engine entirely to make it easier to work on. A friend of Wes has an engine stand and said we could borrow it. That will help us some so we do not have to purchase one, I hope!
I noticed one of the local used car dealers in town has a 1995 Nissan 240 and is asking $3600 for it. It seems like it is in good shape from the road. I’m going to stop by later and take a better look at it.
Well I sold the Bonneville! Although the reason for selling it has changed from wanting to purchase a car for my Son to needing extra cash for my wife’s nursing school. So I took a hit on it and sold it for around $3k. Not bad for the items that were wrong with it. I hated to see it go though. I’m gonna’ miss that car!
It turns out the SX is a 1990 and not a 1989. That’s fine. Not bad shape body-wise. A little interior work may need to be done. The horror story was the ordeal in picking up the car. I needed a truck so I borrowed my Dad’s. Now my Dad and I are just now getting to know each other again after many years of being apart due to a divorce when I was child. EOMLS – So I pick up his truck and head to U-Haul to rent a tow dolly. No problem, truck was already setup for everything except the ball for the bumper. So I purchased one and installed it myself. We connected the dolly, tested lights, etc. All was good.
We head to my friend Jake’s place to pick up the car. We pull into the apartment complex and I see Jake waiting for us. Pulling up to the car it was evident that it was in pretty bad shape. Two flat front tires! GREAT – how do I roll it onto the dolly? I thought, “Well at least it runs” so we can drive it onto the dolly even with flat tires. WRONG! Jake went to start it and of course it would not even turn over. Come to find out there’s no battery. An additional problem would be that the 240 has a low air dam which would make simply driving it onto the dolly impossible.
It won’t start and we can’t roll it with flat tires. The tires are in pretty rough shape, but were holding some air. So we take the two front tires off and Wes (my son) and I head off to the local gas station for air. We air up both tires and head back to the car. We mount the tires and that brought the stance up enough to roll onto the dolly. Great I think. Well before you know it, I’ve installed a “golf-ball” sized dent into my Dad’s tailgate by ramming it with the dolly. Yeah, for the first time in 40 years, I wrecked my Dad’s truck!
We finally get it placed onto the dolly, tie it down, and head home. By this time it is getting dark so we decide to go home, unload, and turn-in the dolly. We do just that. It’s now 6:30PM and we started this ordeal at 12:30PM.
Well, it is finally ready to pick up today. I’m going to the Body Shop this afternoon after I take back the rental then pick up my baby! Hoorah! I hope to have reconstruction pics up soon.