Maybe my Dad was right...

I know I've written in here before about how, when I was little, I wanted to be a mechanic when I grew up, because that's what my Dad was.  And how he made it very clear that he did not want me to be a mechanic when I grew up.  He even made up a song about it; well, he didn't make up the song, he just changed the lyrics to an already-written song.  You may or may not have heard it, it's called Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys.

Only my Dad's version was, of course, "Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be mechanics..."

And I've probably written this before, too, but he was onto something there.  I have, like, no innate mechanical drive.  Nothing has ever made me want to take something apart just to put it back together again.  I'm not a frilly girly-girl, but I also don't like my hands being dirty (although if I have a good pair of gloves I'll touch just about anything...) and I get frustrated easily when things I'm working on don't go the way I want them to.  Which happens a lot when dealing with cars.  Whether it's a stripped screw or not being able to find the right O-ring you need to put your fuel tank back together, it can make a person go to "I love my car" to "Don't talk to me" in 0.002 seconds flat.

I know, because I've been there. This ain't my first rodeo, but it's my most recent, so it's the one keeping me awake at night.

I'm happy to say that I am playing a part in the Lincoln Saga -- I'm the Elusive Parts Finder.  I've been training for this all my life.  Sort of.  I used to help out at my Dad's shop all the time, usually by cleaning (sweeping all the floors and cleaning the countertops and the "reception" area, and answering the phones, and accompanying him on parts runs, and watching him fix cars when I wasn't doing that kind of stuff.  Parts runs looked easy back then. He'd call one of his guys (depending on the part -- he had guys for new parts, guys for used parts, guys for domestic parts, guys for imported parts, and guys specifically for VW parts).  It's how I learned what "networking" is, honestly.  Sometimes we'd just have to wait for the nice guy in the Napa truck (remember when Napa trucks had the hats on them? I do!) to bring the part over, sometimes we'd have to go to the parts store to pick it up, and sometimes -- my favorite times -- we'd have to go to the junkyard to get the part ourselves.  Usually the part would already be pulled in that case, but sometimes we got to walk around the junkyard and look for a car that might have the part we needed.  Then one of the guys working there would come cut it out with a sawzall if my Dad didn't wrench it out himself.  ;) 

That's why my first reaction upon hearing the Lincoln needed a new gas tank, was to hit the junkyard.  Then I remembered that it's 2025 and they probably don't let you wander junkyards anymore, and if they do, the chances of finding an old Lincoln with a gas tank worth pulling (or having pulled) at a junkyard are probably next to none.  And that, even if I knew who my Dad's guys had been, they're probably not in the parts game anymore, either.

But...I have something they didn't have.  I don't have to sit on the phone all afternoon like my Dad did, calling different shops in town, trying to find parts that seemingly no one has in stock, getting more and more frustrated and dejected because I can't find what I need and/or get it here as fast as I need it.  Because I have *ahem* The Internet.  

Therefore, I can sit online all afternoon, searching different shops around the country, trying to find parts that seemingly no one has in stock, getting more and more frustrated and dejected because I can't find what I need or I'm not exactly sure it's what I need and/or get it here as fast as I need it.  

Not being mechanically inclined and ordering parts online is a challenge, though, I tell you what.  It was bad enough when ordering the gas tank online.  There is a lot of faith involved there.  If you've never ordered car parts online, most sites have you put in the year, make, and model of your car and then they sort out the parts available for you based on that.  But they're not always right, go figure.  I know that some parts can fit many different years and models, but not all can.  But it's hard to order something not knowing what exactly it is replacing.  Anyway, long story short here is that I did actually order the correct gas tank sight unseen, but it was stressful. There's a lot on the line there; if it was the wrong one I'd have to send it back which is a pain in the ass, and would also delay this project even further, and make me look like a dumbass.  On top of that, there were other things that needed to go with it that I wouldn't have known to order if my hubby hadn't been right there beside me (like the sending unit, although had he not been in the room with my I probably would have ordered it anyway because it sounded like something that needed to go with it) (and i'm not just saying that to sound cool, lol).  I was so relieved and happy when we determined that it was, indeed, most likely the right gas tank.  And after we dropped the Lincoln back off at the shop on Monday, and I didn't hear any word about it being the wrong gas tank, I was more and more confident and even a little proud of myself.  Of course I had Someone up there helping me, I can't take all the credit. Heh.

Then my hubby called and said everything was a mess with my car.  (It's MY car when things aren't going right.  Otherwise it's OUR car.)   I was like...WHAT?! Don't do this to me.  

Apparently there were other parts we were supposed to order. I don't know if they were supposed to come with the gas tank and didn't, or what.  But I furiously took notes and said I'd get right on the internet and get them ordered tout de suite.  (Luckily, or not as it would turn out, he called with this right at the end of my workday.)  

One thing I needed to find was a bung plug for the gas tank. Yes, I wrote that down correctly and even had him spell it. I've never heard of an effing bung plug, so I figured it'd be easy to find.  HA!  I found bung plugs for oxygen sensors, bung plugs for Camaros and Mustangs, and soon found myself with fifteen tabs open trying to figure out what exactly a bung plug was and what purpose it served and what other names it could possibly go by.  

The other part was easy enough. Not an O-ring, but the rubber boot that goes from the filler neck to the gas tank.  By some miracle, I found both of these parts (or what I was most certain was the plug I needed but by another name) at the same online store.  In Florida.  The parts totalled less than $75 (nice) but the cost for overnight shipping was $380 (WHAAAAAAAAT) so I opted for not overnight shipping because that seemed insane. Right? In the meantime, hubby and I were texting back and forth and he was like, When you find the parts, you should have them overnight to the shop.

But...I shared the above information with him.  And then he shared how much per day it costs just to have the Lincoln in the shop.  Don't get me wrong, I don't think we're being overcharged at all for shop fees. I get it.  Suffice to say that we all want the car out of the shop ASAP.  So it *gulp* made sense to have it overnighted. 

Hold on, the story does get better, and that's not sarcasm.

You might be wondering why I didn't call my mechanic/cousin at this point just to make sure I had the right parts, right? I did think of that.  But it was well after 5pm by this point and no one was answering the shop phone. And I don't have his personal cell phone number yet.  So, relying on faith, I put in the order. And thought about it allllllll night, hoping it would get there, hoping they were the right parts.  

Fast forward to this morning. I tried calling the parts place right away because in my rush to order last night, I put the order in twice and couldn't cancel the extra one.  Also, I wanted to get tracking info for the order so I could let my cousin know.  There was no answer and no voicemail.  So I sent a couple of possibly passive-aggressive emails...lol.

A few minutes later, the guy from the parts place in Florida called me.  Turns out the overnight shipping fee was going to be WAY less -- try $60 instead of $380!  Unfortunately, since my order got to them after 5pm, it wouldn't get there today but will tomorrow. And then he even called my cousin directly to update him, and after they discussed it, it does sound like they are the right parts, after all.

So! While waiting for those parts to be delivered, there are other things on the Lincoln that my cousin can work on.  And I'm still praying that I found the right parts, and that they get there tomorrow morning, and that some day real soon I'll have that damn car in my own possession.  Which feels like it will be a minor miracle at this point.

Gotta get back to work! TTFN!