Thank god for pick&pull. Nephew has been out of work for a while and has a small child, so when prospects of a new gig reared their head, of course, his truck died. So he called his uncle.

I don’t have $300 to put in parts at the moment either, but I went to the Hammond Pick&Pull and looked for a starter and an alternator. $64 later, I’m in the car with them in my toolbag. I found a relatively low mileage starter that came off a Clunkers car (they have orange spray paint on the engine, lest you try to reuse any internal engine parts) and an alternator that was rebuilt apparently four days before it’s donor car was t-boned. Hope they work and give him some good service.

Remember crawling through puddles of antifreeze covered with a rainbow sheen of foul oil? Chasing the snakes out of the car to get the part you need? Remember when you could look at the taillight to determine the car’s age? when did THAT stop?

Anyway, I got the parts, even a 1 year warranty (though you have to go into the yard to get another part and take it out yourself) so I can’t complain too much. And I’ll probably take it out of the nephew in mowed lawns, which, to anyone who has seen my lawn, is a good idea.