Input Needed For an Irritating Water Leak

[papawayne]

Gentlemen, Fraser and Tony, I bought an early 2000's Mustang used because I thought it would be cool to drive for an old man. I was told and discovered for myself that it was useless in snow, which we normally get much of. I also live at the top of a hill which makes it even more useless. So, in the winter it spends time under a tarp. But in the summer, it also leaks. I have caulked all of the gaps around the windshield to no avail, and I have come to believe that I do not care. This old man did not get any cooler looking by driving it, and it is so low to the ground (ill engineered?) that it is really too big for me, a rather small man. My daughter is currently driving it because she crashed her Prius (yes, you read correctly, a Prius) when she is done with it, I will be too. My daily driver is a Ford Taurus station wagon of indiscriminate age. Wayne

[TonyC]

Well, Scott's Sadie had A/C, don't know if it worked. He would only bring it out on days that were perfect. Save for the wagon-wheels and the blacked-out bumpers, the car was stock, and very decently equipped. We weren't exactly buddies; we were just aware of one another as we drove the only clap-door Lincolns on Fort Riley.

Funny you should mention Mustang, Wayne. I'll be taking delivery of my mother's 2006 GT 'vert soon. My late stepfather special-ordered it new, and she said she wanted it to go to somebody who would appreciate and care for it. She didn't think either of his sons would, so she left it to me in her will.

---Tony

[papawayne]

I hope you're taller than 5'7". Mine's not a convertible, but it does have 40th anniversary stuff all over it, and I sincerely hope you enjoy it, and get lots of use from it. Let us know when you get it. Wayne

[TonyC]

Well, it will be very soon. Saturday I'll be boarding a bus to Tallahassee to retrieve it. Luckily, last year, the last time I saw my mother, I was able to wake it up from a three-year slumber. It needed a new battery and new tires, which I was able to get with.a little help from Mom–she wanted to see that car awakened as much as I did. Miraculously, the car fired up even with three-year-old gas! I burned all that out and filled the tank with then-new gas before I went back home. I also disconnected the new battery before I left, to slow the rate of drain. It should be ready to wake up again.

---Tony

[Lee]

Does this suggest Frankenstein may be put out to pasture?

I don’t know how long the new battery has been waiting, but lead-acid will self discharge at like 3 - 5% per month, so be prepared.

[papawayne]

I woke up my camper tow car with the Jump start thingy on my charger, drove around for a while and then went and got gas. Had to shut it off, but it started right up again. I trust that Tony shouldn't have any trouble, and I still hope he's taller than I am. Someday I may have one of those trickle charge things for all of my vehicles that sit around. Wayne

[TonyC]

Does this suggest Frankenstein may be put out to pasture?

I don’t know how long the new battery has been waiting, but lead-acid will self discharge at like 3 - 5% per month, so be prepared.

Oh, no, Lee, not a chance in Hell of that! Frankenstein is still my choice ride; the Mustang (which still needs a name) is my secondary ride. I'm only relieving him of some of the travel burden, not replacing him; that wouldn't happen even if somebody offered my life entitlement as an even trade.

As for the new battery, I can tell you it's been 13 months. I disconnected it from the car and placed the plastic post covers on before I left for Kansas last year. Frankenstein sat dormant for 20 months (battery also disconnected back then) and fired up when I came back from Germany for leave; so I am confident the Mustang will wake right up, even if others aren't. Plus, the tires were replaced with brand-new at the same time, give or take a couple of days, and the old gas was completely burned out and replaced with new; so, yeah, I'm even more confident. But, for good measure, I'm carrying my charger and inflater with me, as well as a few small metric sockets...just in case.

Wayne, the Army's official assessment of my height is 5'8". Think that's tall enough? I've never really been happy with my height; maybe I should try that fad of "identifying as," saying that I "identify as" a 6-footer.

---Tony

[Lee]

Frankenstein is still my choice ride; the Mustang (which still needs a name) is my secondary ride.

May I suggest “Elsa” [Lanchester]? She was was the lead actress in one of favorite movies, Bride of Frankenstein.

[papawayne]

The identifying thing is too new for me. My nephew told me I can be anything I want to be by identifying as such. I told my buddies that they were to think of me henceforth as (something I can never be). They told me to shut the "you know what" up. My generation isn't ready for identifying, but if you want to be 6 feet tall, I'm in favor. It will help you drive the Mustang. Wayne

[TonyC]

I think you know me by now, and that I meant that with the most acidic snark. I'm a Gen-X'er who was brought up with just about every educational source of sarcasm available to X'ers. We used to call it "pretend to be," until some self-ordained Gen-Z whippersnapper came up with "identify as" to replace "pretend to be," because that old phrase is just so-o-o..."offensive." Well, you know that is...and how I am.

Elsa... that's one possible candidate.

---Tony

[papawayne]

I do know you, Tony, and I wanted to make you laugh. I originally had the way I wanted to be identified inside of the parentheses, but I erased it because I was too afraid to actually use the words, because this is a public forum, even though my daughters, in their 30's, could accept it if I wasn't a short, elderly, heterosexual man. They'd think it was proper. My nephew started all of this foolishness over an amber colored fermented beverage. He, also in his 30's wanted to educate me and his father. Have fun with the Mustang! Wayne

[1Bad55Chevy]

[TonyC]

!! In that context, I "identify as"

---Tony

[1Bad55Chevy]

God damn! What is that?

I have seen "Atomic Annie" at Fort Sill and it wasn't nearly as big as that!

The Panzer meme was a wwii tank joke for "no fat chicks" google those variations and you will get it lol.

[TonyC]

That's another Atomic Annie, placed at the top of a mountain across I-70 from Fort Riley. Same series of cannon, though without its piggyback tractors. The apartment complex I lived at was close enough to see it from the top of that small mountain (or large hill, depending on one's opinion), which was why they named the street "Cannon View Lane." In the 7 years I lived there, I only was able to make it up to the top of that hill two weeks before moving out–part of that time because the hill was closed off to tourists due to a "thing" that happened right before I took an assignment there, and part of the time with other things getting in my way.

You're right, close-up these cannons don't seem all that imposing. I saw yet another AA cannon on display at a park at Rock Island Arsenal 7 years ago; though big compared to other pieces, it didn't seem all that big. Yet, they could fire artillery shells of the same yield as the Little Boy bomb. The one you saw at Fort Sill was the only of the 20 built that actually fired one of those shells, as a test in Nevada.

---Tony