From that time it was thought that the car was jinxed, because the tow truck which was driven by an old fart, broke down two times due to a busted radiator and a flat tyre. Eventually on reaching, home some six hours later, for a distance of only two miles (3.2 kilometers), Phantom and the truck driver pushed the car in his backyard much to the annoyance and disgust of his wife. She was very infuriated. Yes friends, the woman was like a banshee (
".
You see, she was duped in believing that the car was in good running condition. All that commotion didn't deter Phantom from calmly paying the driver and admired his new
while calming his wife down by promising her, that he planned to fix everything.
A few years went by and the car just laid where it had been placed from day one, with the engine running from time to time to keep it in running order. (Seems that Phantom either never had the time or money for this project.)
By now it was half covered with grass and all sort of weeds.(see photo above) The wife was sometimes scared to go in the backyard because of her morbid fear of snakes and other vermins.
As Luck (or bad luck) would have it, in the year 2008 he was jobless due to the world wide recession, and with the little severance money he got, with a mortgage balance of a few thousand dollars, he was severely short of cash.
It was now that his wife got miserable. She was like a malignant Hemorrhoid in his arse with the constant nagging day after day, night after night,
("it was either her or the piece of junk"). A decision had to be made.
So a compromise was reached, and the car was to be saved by having it fixed by the husband.
But with little money to spend on such a triviality (said wifey) , Hubby decided to have a go at it himself. With no knowledge of vehicular body work or welding, "Phantom the handy man" rented a small welding plant, bought a few cans of white spray paint and some body filler.
The Operation.
Day one :
(1) Doors removed
(2) Doors placed under tree in backyard.
(3) Wifey stood ten yards away (like a fireman) with a garden hose in case of emergency.
(4) Hubby lit welding torch.
(5) Welding torch made loud pop.
(6) Hubby dropped torch.
(7) Old paint (what was left) on door set ablaze, wifey panicked, dropped garden hose and ran to call 911, but son was using phone.
(8) Hubby retrieved hose and put fire out. ("Whew, what a relief")
Day two:
(1) Hubby called friend who showed him how to adjust welding torch while curious wife looked on. Friend left.
(2) Wifey took the fireman stance, nervously keeping her distance.
(4) Hubby lit welding torch, no loud pop.
Now the torch was blowing yellow and blue flames with the ferocity of hell's fire being sustained by a bellow.
Using pieces of old sheet metal he found somewhere, Hubby did his first patch work on door number one, after rubbing off most of the old paint as advised by friend, and continued until door number four with wifey looking on with less curiousity. Phantom did his first welding job and was on his way to become a full fledged auto body repair man.
After the welding job was done, it was time for the body filler and the painting which was easy, using the paint from the spray can bought at Home Depot.
To jazz it up, four modern rims were bought in along with a different type of headlights and grill.
There was one minor problem however.........While test driving the car the gas tank sprung a leak just about the two gallon (7.57 litre) level. Phantom had missed a rust spot, also a couple rattles here and there due to washers that were rusted away. But that was no problem for "Phantom the handy man". Rust spots were quickly patched within a few days, and washers were replaced by drilling holes in old coins gotten abroad on vacation trips in the hey days.
When told that defacing currencies was a violation of the law, Phantom chuckled and said he was adding monetary value to the old junk.
These days, he talks about nothing but his old junk that he resurrected. He often boasts of his handy work as he would stand admiring the car as though it were a loving pet. It was then named "Dodgey the junked car" from that moment.
Now wifey isn't nagging, only mild complaints about the price of gas.
And that folks, is the story of "Dodgey the junk car."
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