[Tom Vaught]

I posted this back in 2009 about my winter beater:

"I bought a 1960 Chevy Impala back in the 60s to drive so that I did not have to drive my 64 GTO in the winter time. Bought the car from a mail delivery guy. Engine/ trans had well over 100K when I bought it. Trunk floor was rotted out, 2x4s across the frame to hold a spare tire from falling though the trunk. Gas tank was good as was the basic mechanicals as the guy took care of that stuff. Engine was a 283 cid V8.

Played basketball a lot in the winters at the Catholic School Gym with my buddies, who were Catholic, and who could get me in the place. I knew being a Babtist and playing ball in Catholic territory would come back to haunt me someday.

Finished playing ball one night and came outside. The ground was frozen over big time. The old Chebby was in some mud ruts in the grass. Fired it up and put it in reverse. Car would not move out of the ruts. Frozen solid. Rev it up a bit more, still doesn't move. Get pis$ed and rev it uo to 5000 on the old Sun tach in the car and do a drop into reverse from neutral. POS Chebby engine was still stuck but now the trans is wounded big time and making a lot of noise. Shut it off and hitch a ride home with some buddies.

Car sits on Church property throughout the winter, The FATHER is NOT HAPPY AT ALL. My buddies see me in the High School where we all go to school and say: "You got to get that car off Church property, the 'Founding Fathers of the Community' are give Father a lot of lip about it, say it looks like HeL*"

One day I get a friend with a Ford Pick-Up 5 bucks to "rope tow" me in the car out to my Grandfather's farm. It sits on blocks for the next winter as I try and fix the POS transmission. No Luck.

It is now Summer time, the GTO is on the road, and my pals come by to visit and Bench Race. One guy asks "You ever going to do anything with that old chevy?" I say, "Yep, I am going to blow it up today."

My pals and I drain the oil, drain the coolant, put a brick on the gas pedal, fire it up, and she goes to 4700 on the tach. We watch a few minutes and the sucker is still running. Grab some lawn chairs and some sandwiches and pop and it is still running. EVENTUALLY the engine gets so hot it locks up from the heat. KILLED THAT SUCKER!!

Car sits for a few more months and the mail delivery guy says "You still got my old car, I need another engine, I froze the block in the car last winter and need another "winter car".

I said, The car is "out at the house but I don't know if the engine is any good"

We drive back out there in the GTO and he looks over the car. Says he will bring some "aired up" tires, and have it towed back to a garage. Told him the trans was toast. He said he only needed the engine anyway.

Hear from him in the fall and he says "we got that engine installed in the car and boy it runs great." Asked him how much it was to rebuild it. He said we did not rebuid it, we stuck it right it the car and used the other transmission. Car ran I gues another two winters until he hit a telephone pole and totaled the car while driving drunk one night. YOU CAN'T KILL ONE OF THOSE 283 CID CHEBBY ENGINES!

Tom Vaught

ps My pals think the bearings were fine, after the oil change by the garage. They think the engine stopped running because it over-heated. ""