Hope you all had a great holiday weekend and went to some fun parties. I was invited to an early morning fiesta involving drinking mimosas and watching the local parade pass by. Me and the bf headed to Scottsville in his vintage ‘77 Chevy Montecarlo that morning, ready to get our patriotic drink on. We just barely made it into the town before the parade started and all the roads got closed off and so as we drifted down Main street, people were already camped out on either side of us. Then, in the middle of the parade path, the gigantic car abruptly died.
“Are you in the parade?” people shouted.
“Er, no the car just died.” we answered.
My bf fruitlessly turned and twisted the ignition but to no avail. I wanted to crawl under my seat as the local Scottsvillians stared at us. We were going to ruin the parade. We were terrorists! (My bf is pretty darkskinned and could be mistaken for an Arab by ignorant people btw.)
But suddenly, two guys resembling biker dudes, complete with bandannas and tattoos, show up out of the crowd and start pushing us onto a side street. Next thing we know, they’ve got the hood open and are poking around, and sparks are shooting from a wire by the battery. Me and the bf stand there gaping, helpless and can’t believe these random dudes are just jumping in and working on the car.
“You see, you got a short from the thingie because of the thingie to the thing, burned out the thingamajig,” the dude explains to us but we have no idea what he’s talking about. Two more guys show up out of nowhere to have a look, and determine some part is needed and one of them just happens to have one of these spare parts in his pocket, BRAND NEW, still in the package! I can’t believe they have just showed up like guardian angels and are fixing the car, so I run off hoping to find somewhere that sells beer so that I can buy them a case for their trouble. I mean, who does that??? Just shows up when your car breaks dwon, gather around, and start fixing it?? When your bf looks like a terrorist??
Unfortunately, there are no ATMs around and after a lovely scenic tour of every gas station in town, I give up and walk back to the car emptyhanded, wondering what I will see when I get back to the car.
I turn the corner and there’s my bf sitting patiently in the car, waiting for me. All the biker dudes are gone. “Is it fixed?” I ask him and he nods and says they used that random part they had in their pocket and then were done and left. He tells me they wouldn’t take any money for their trouble. They just slapped him on the back and walked away. I climb back into the car and we set on our way and then we see one of the dudes sitting in his truck on the side of the road. I jump out and run over to give him a hug and say thanks. I hug Mr. Sweaty Bandanna-ed man with patriotic tattoos on his sleeveless biceps and say, “Thank you so much! That’s the meaning of the word American!” or something really gay/cheesy like that and run back to the car. Me and the boy head off to our party shaking our heads in wonder.
[Picture by Shirley Thompson]
Popularity: 39% [?]
Tagged as: parade, review, scottsville, story
God Bless those Scottsville folk. I know one of the town council members there and he’s a stand up guy. His aim is true.
So, wait…is he a terrorist or not?
great post Shen. you gotta admit even though they live in the county and drink Bud Light, they is good people.
Sweet car… I’m sure they were impressed by the V8 and looking under the hood of a car like that (with no computer and with ?4barrel? carburetors!!) is a treat. I’m surprised they didn’t keep you after it was fixed to check it out and hear it roar.
Ditto. With gas prices going the way that they are, I’ve come to the sad realization that I’ll probably never own a lot of my dream cars. Sooo… taking that into consideration, I’d be pretty excited about the chance to get under the hood of an old muscle car.
But… I just like working on cars.
@2, that boy ain’t no terrorist, but he is the bomb.
/is cool. I have a shirt to prove it.
@5– hee hee, I’m lucky that all my dream cars are teeny.
Scottsville’s looking awfully pixelated these days.
@5 You’re more than welcome to come help me work on mine! It’s not a muscle car but it is a 3L straight 6 with no fuel injection and dual carbs from 1971.
@9
Heh. It sounds tempting. It would at the same time allow me to legitimize the ridiculous amount of money that I have spent on tools AND prevent me from ever getting around to finishing my damn fence.
At the very least, it has to be far less frustrating to work on than my VW.
I have a ‘67 Dodge Coronet 2 Door Sedan (Slant Six) that needs love from someone that has more knowledge than me…
Donk’s a popular guy all of a sudden!
So you’re saying, they wouldn’t have helped us if we were in a Hybrid?
@12: No, they would have called you yuppies, lifted their shirts and rubbed circles around their nipples.
@12
That’s exactly what we’re saying.
@14
With the exception of Nancy Botwin…. I would’ve helped her Hybrid break down just to fix it.
@13: Aghhhh!!
@16: You would have felt right at home. What’s not to like?
I hate you.
No you don’t. Dislike maybe, but hate is such a strong word.
there is no popping hood and fixing a hybrid
they would have pushed it
in the river
@14: WTF? This post was supposed to be about kindness and humanity. But apparently it’s just about sweet cars. Men.
@19: Getoutofmybar!
thinking we should get our carbureted or air cooled vehicles out in the sun with some beer and sweet music.
@21 you should be proud to have a bf whose car inspires such lofty conversation
b’yo: I don’t know a whole hell of a lot over what I’ve learned of my 71 volvo. I’m happy to hang out and I know some cvillains who don’t post much but might be all over that shit.
@21: I stopped coming to your bar. It might have something to do with me being out of town, but nevertheless, I stopped coming.
@23, echo, remember, you’ve been ordering THE ECHO…of course you don’t think you’ve been there.
Since Scottsville’s streetrape, er, I mean streetscape, project is done, the town looks a bit better than that pictures shows. Not as good as it did before, but better than that.
@12 They would have pushed you out of the parade route, but they wouldn’t have been able to do a thing to help you, even if they wanted to, if you were driving a hybrid. And yes, they probably did just want to look under the hood. Next time, you should park and sit at Lumpkin’s. You get a nice grassy spot and are at the beginning of the parade, so it starts and ends earlier and you get all the good candy. You have to get there pretty early though to get a spot.
@11 & 22 My husband is helping my brother restore my dad’s 66 Comet and would love to get his hands on something else when they’re done. Just saying.
Gotta love the small town people (said in all sincerity).
Now, if you were in Batesville with a 77 Monte Carlo, no dice.
Hybrid would be fixed and you would be on your merry way with a bottle of wine.
FYI, my Saturn broke down in front of X Lounge last night and nobody helped me. A woman did come out of one of those fancy boutiques and scolded me for getting antifreeze on the parking lot.