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T3,
Well, I voluntarily went to have my yearly road inspection done yesterday -
I was bored and my alloted time is coming up soon anyway. I had been
having problems with my wiper motor going to semi-auto mode by itself if
the idle speed is too fast, plus some other small problems (like the horn
sounding like it is high on helium), so I was a little concerned. Clear
front turn signal indicators are also a no-no north of I-taly as well. I
changed them while I waited in line. However, none of these odd,
unexplainable mishaps occurred while my Square was being inspected - go
figure. I was feeling good - confidence is high - until they put the car
up.
No rust - which shocked them - and the underside of the pan withstood
several manly smacks with a crow bar. "No cancer here. You must keep this
car garaged." Not really. Thankfully, I had covered some of the noticable
rust areas under the fenders with rubber undercoating on Monday. No other
structural problems.
He likes the wheels (Sprint Stars) and notices that I have brand news
rotors and calipers. "Rebuilt the brakes. They hold well." $500.00 worth
of new brake parts should, I counter. "You're a foreigner, Morton, Patrick
Joel. Where you from?" The U-Nited States, I say. "You speak Finnish,
own a car, probably have a job too, huh?" Sure. What about my car? "You
uh, know a thing or two about Volkswagens." Not really. I just read a
lot. "Yeah, well, lets look here."
I was waiting to hear him go on about people like me come to Finland, take
someone's job, steal their women-folk and drink all of their liquor. He
stopped short of that. Must be because Clinton was here a few weeks back.
Then the inspector starts with the front suspension.
"You have virtually no shock travel whatsoever. That's bad." Sure, it's
10.5cm lower than stock, I replied. "Uh-huh. The angle of the front
suspension is 'un-natural'. Do you know why Volkswagen designed the front
axle assembly the way that it is?" Please tell me (yawn). [He explains
things that he does not know anything about]. "The rubber suspension stops
are gone. Gonna have to replace them." OK. "Yeah, the suspension is too
low." But it looks good, I interject. [He only smirks]
He goes on to explain what a shock absorber does and why supposedly it is
not doing it on my Volkswagen. "No shock travel. Limited suspension
movement."
The inspection is basically over, but he is still mad about my slammed
front end.
"This is one of the nicest, old Volkswagens that I have seen in here.
Really good condition. But you don't pass. You'll have to fix the front
suspension first." Sure give me two hours and I will be back. [More
smirking]. "Right."
I will raise it up one turn, pass the inspection, drop it again this
weekend and have an alignment done Monday. One more year of driving to go.
This is a great country.
More news later.
Mud
_____________________________________
P A T R I C K J O E L M O R T O N
Owner of, "Helmut", a 1963 Pearl White,
Resto-Cal Custom Volkswagen Beetle &
"Urs", a 1967 Baltic Blue Squareback,
which will eat all of my money for years to come ...
E-mail Address:
patmor@utu.fi
GSM/Text: +358 40 502 2654
Fax: +358 2 469 2671
Kasken Linna - Kaskenkatu 1E, 44
FIN - 20700 TURKU
S U O M I F I N L A N D
"The older I become, the farther away I am from the
potential that I once had."
-- Patrick J. Morton
_____________________________________