Ride along as I stumble my way through classic car maintenance and repair.  

When a car won’t run, it usually comes down to either ignition (spark) or a problem with fuel delivery.  It gets interesting when you have trouble telling which is which. I’m a barely competent mechanic, and that’s where the fun begins. These are “tell all” stories. I won’t hold anything back – you’ll witness the frustration, the folly, the fruitlessness of half-baked repairs and unsuccessful quick fixes as I struggle to keep two classics on the road.

I have two cars I’ll be wrenching on (and cursing at) : a 1999 BMW 323i, owned since new, with 140K miles, and just beginning to misbehave with wonky electrics, cranky idiosyncrasies, and intermittent mechanical problems, and a 1971 MGB – surprisingly robust, with ancient but dog simple mechanicals, aging electricals and just enough quirks to drive you to drink.

Aggravation Ratings

And speaking of drinking, I’ll be rating each project as to the number of beers required for adequate post-project compensation.  Remember, don’t drink and wrench.  The limb you save will most likely be your own.

There’s Upside Too

We’ll also talk about things that work well, as well as the joys of banging around in a pair of aging museum pieces.  So buckle up.  I’m pretty sure we’re in for a bumpy ride.

-Greg Peek