Hot Mamma

As I've mentioned before, my husband Mike and I are just about as uneducated as they come when it comes to being mechanics (although Mike has an impressive knowledge base compared to mine), and spending time with Stella is a constant learning process.  For example, we recently learned that she doesn't do so well in traffic jams. >_<

Corvettes were designed to be as aerodynamic as possible--curvy, low to the ground, a pointed nose, etc--but although this made them very fast (and totally BAMF), it didn't make it any easier on the engine.  With a smallish grill underneath each headlamp, there just isn't enough air moving over the engine to keep it sufficiently cool.  This problem is made substantially worse when the car is running but not moving, such as it would be in a traffic jam.  The engine temperature, which usually sits at a scorching 200 degrees to begin with, creeps quickly into the 220s-230s after five to ten minutes idling in traffic.  This is not uncommon, but it took some time for Mike and I to learn that.

Unfortunately, each time we learn something, we tend to find a hole in something else. ;)

Thinking we had a coolant problem, we took Stella to our favorite oil-change place where a trustworthy father-son duo have been looking underneath our cars for many years now.  After a radiator flush and reassurance that our engine was behaving just as typically as any engine would've back then, they brought to our attention that we had a pretty nasty hole in the radiator anyway.  This didn't come as a huge surprise--since the engine was replaced we'd been noticing a sizable puddle beneath the radiator regularly.  Not to mention, no news is quite as bad as hearing that the engine block was cracked.  Everything else seems like small potatoes in comparison.

Nevertheless, Mike and I had to decide where exactly to focus our restoration at this point.  Owning a car this old is probably similar to owning an old house.  You may want to paint the rooms, pull up the carpet and put down some hardwood floors--make it look better in general--but you've got to fix the pluming, furnace, and structural damages first.  Because a great looking house doesn't do you a damn bit of good if it can't perform the functions of a house.  If it can't keep you warm, keep water in your toilets, or keep the roof over your head.  To everything there is a season, and Stella's vital organs take precedence over her worn seats and cracked dashboard.  I've gotta make this car better from the inside out--but I'm going to have to start deep inside.

I've already replaced her heart--time for her guts. ;)