Yeah, you read that right.
There was a Vermont Saab get-together/work day/meet planned for yesterday. The destination is about an hour South and I hit the road. All is well, I'm not getting lost, the car is running great. I = happeh.
Then **** starts going wrong.
I miss a turn. No idea where it went. Oh well. As I'm turning around I notice that my shifter is less than enthusiastic about working. It takes a lot of force to go into gear. Ruh roh.
I make it back to civilization, rolling up to a stop sign at a busy 4-way intersection. Go for 1st gear and nothing. ****. Move the shifter around, solid walls in front of every gear. Shiiiit. Hazards on, I push/cost the car off the road and get out. Assessing the situation I realize that 1) I don't have my cell phone, 2) I don't have any tools, 3) I don't know what to look for, 4) I'm an hour from home, 5)I have to be at work in 3.5 hours, 6) Fork.
I head across the road to a convenience store for a phone and score the use of the cashiers' cell. I call the kind people of the VT Saab meet because they have tools, they know what they're doing, and they are pretty nearby. But, unfortunately, I just get some weird-*** whining/beeping noise. Awesome.
Meanwhile a guy pulls in driving a Saab 9000. He asks what's wrong with my car, the situation is explained, and he promises assistance after he buys his beer. HE comes over and we determine that the clutch cable has a **** ton too much slack. Neither of us have tools, neither of us know how to adjust it. After a few failed attempts he finds us a bottle cap, and cuts a notch in it with his leatherman. We have us a spacer, and it works. I decide that the less shifting I have to do the better off I am and hit the interstate. As I'm pulling into my driveway the shifter starts getting stiff again.
Cliffs: Car won't engage any gears, I'm an hour from home and totally not prepared, a spacer made from a bottle cap gets me home.
09-11-08
How a stranger with a bottle cap saved my ***...
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