Julie's weekend (LONG)

[juliemac57 at hotmail.com (Julie Macfarlane)]

Trusting the seller I paid up front for a 1985 Wolfsburg MKII.
Up at 2am Saturday and on the plane to OH by 5:30. Gack... It was $320 to 
fly from Albany to Cincy, but only $175 to go from Albany, to Cincy then on 
to Columbus. Go figure... If I flew from there to Dayton would the price 
drop again? (Actually NO. There are no flights from Columbus to Dayton...)

That sweet lovable Scirocco horder Daun, picked me up and away we sped to 
the local DMV (BMV in OH) only to run into a snag in the paper work. Tired 
but still under control I allowd Daun to work out another solution...

Sure enough, when I saw the car, I fell in love. Then smelled the interior 
as it was. Mice had built condo's in the car. As we pulled the carpet you 
could smell mouse pee. ARRRRGGGHHH> What a horrible smell. Stripping it to 
the floor, including the padding got it reasonable.

We through in a seat and took it to have the front end aligned. It hiccupped 
and almost stalled a few times due to 2 year old gas almost on empty.
Seems the DS axle was bad and needed replacing as well. Soooo... Dropping 
the car off for the alignment, we (Daun, Brad and I went shopping for an 
axle and other goodiess. Thank god. One axle in stocK!
Back to pick up the car and was told. No Alignment. Top bearing, tie rod and 
ball joints too bad to do the job. Ok. That was it. I let out an expletive. 
I think I scared  Daun and Brad. Sorry guys  :)

Grab the car and back to replace the axle. Removing the axle, it lost its 
balls. Ok so its a female car. Or a eunich. Hey, who wants a car with no 
balls?... Oh yeah. I owned one once  :)

Next morning, after loading the replacement carpets etc in the trunk, 
stopped to bade farewell to the wonderful Yeagleys. Off to get coffee then 
on to 71. I had reasoned that the car would run well all the way home. Never 
a hickup or a glitch....

About 45 miles from them, the car s gas gauge read 1/4 tank. Holy S**T 
Batman!10 gallons in 40 miles? 4MPG? and the coolant showing low. Low 
power... Ohhhh no....

The car lost power at the light on the exit. It wouldn't even crank. I 
rolled the car to the nearest gas station for a check...  Did I tell you 
that due to HLS, small tools, nail files etc cannot be carried on an 
aircraft? That I was going to do the drive (684 miles) with only a Swiss 
Army knife? Read on dear reader, read on....

I called Daun only to get his awnsering machine. I called his parents house. 
His mother told me he had just walked in. Thank GOD! I told him that it was 
either the ALT or the battery that died. In a few minutes, my gallant heros, 
my guardian angels, were on their way with a spare 65 Amp alt, jumper cables 
and a volt meter.

There was no power from the blue exciter wire, nor power from the alt. 
Soooo, Brad with his McGuiver talents, rigged a wire from the alt to the 
battery. Still no out put from the alt. Swap the alts. POWER! GREAT!

Belts squeeling. BAD! An hour later, Brad having missed his mothers arrival 
at the airport, I was on my way again...

If the belts are loose, do not down shift. The belts will slip and the water 
boil over. Thank god for the gallon of imported water from Canada that Daun 
put in the trunk (Thanks Cath).

Back on the road again, I made it past another refill with out boil over, 
cruised smoothly to Amsterdam and got off the Thruway. Hummm, Belts 
squeeling again. Well thats ok. Only 2 miles to home. Turned the corner of 
my street, not 1/2 a mile to go.
Whoops, no belt squeel.
Whoops the H2O light is on. Damn, lost the belt.

I pulled in to my drive at 12:15 pm, turned off the car and sat in the calm 
of the night listening to the car out vent.....

I think this car is one of those that will carry me home every time. Will it 
scare the local Hondas? Well as a very famous man once said, "Remember 
Julie, its not a 16v...."


I would like to thank VW of Wilmington for their courtious assistance in the 
rain today. I say that as a joke, but I am really grateful to Daun and Brad.

I know the car has had a talk to Gino, now to make sure they dont talk to 
Cathy's tribe....

Good night folks!





Julie Macfarlane
"Its not just a car! Its an adventure!"
DSM4 entry: "Masochism: See Scirocco"
1981 MKI 2L 16v w 2Y
Amsterdam NY