Shifting Gears

I recently purchased a used car. It has over 100,000 miles on it but the overall condition is excellent and it’s a sporty stick shift with a lot of power. It’s been a problem since I bought it.

After having the entire fuel injection system rebuilt (well over a thousand dollars on that) I thought I had worked the bugs out. So there I was tooling down the highway on my way to an appointment. Traffic was moderate to heavy but moving fast. I’m in the left lane approaching one of my favorite stretches of road – an incline on the highway that comes to the top of a hill and then sweeps down and to the right. I want to do this curve fast but I know that I have to get into the right lane to take my exit which is only three quarters of a mile ahead. I’m in the left lane and as I top the crest of the hill I downshift from 6^th to 5^th gear while maneuvering along the curve and press on the gas. I signal a right hand lane change and tighten the turn. Like a slingshot I whiz around and down with visions of Top Gun and the Formula 1 race cars at Monaco going through my mind - just as the stick shift snaps off below the boot!

No kidding, the shifter literally snaps off! There I am holding this shifter in my hand like a – well - like something. I can’t believe it. My mind is a little blurry on the details, but I have to say I think I handled it pretty well. Without really loosing any “track” position, I disengage the clutch and somehow pull the boot cowling and cover panel off to expose the guts of whatever linkage there is beneath it that makes the stick engage the transmission. What I see is a few levers and rods and a socket where the stick is supposed to go. There’s also a spring and some other stuff that was obviously part of the shifter that is now in pieces. I reach down with my hand, claw-like, and just grab the whole thing and try to move it. It moves and the rods shift and engage and it’s greasy and one of the rods pinches my finger as I move it into fourth and then into third gear. I signal a lane change for the exit. I’m all right.

I did get to the appointment on time and after a quick visit to the men’s room to wash off the grease I have a very successful meeting. All the while I’m thinking, what the heck is it with this car? At one point I kinda chuckle, thank God for the years I messed around rebuilding sportscars, look up (as to God) and say “really?”.

Now the original plan was to buy an inexpensive, smaller, more gas efficient car and then sell my late model pickup truck (which I own free and clear) and use the cash from that sale to pay off the car and free up some extra cash - considerable extra cash – I thought.

So I call my new best friends at the car dealership service and parts department and they, at first, don’t believe my story. Eventually they do but they cannot find a replacement shifter stick – in fact there is no such thing – you have to purchase a whole shifter “assembly” for $450.00+ and have that installed. And by the way, there are no “assemblies” in stock anywhere in the U.S. but their "system" tells them there might be one somewhere in the Canadian “supply system”. I don't really want an aftermarket short shifter and they're too expensive anyway. What?! I kinda chuckle, thank God for my truck (which I haven’t sold yet) and look up (as to God) and say, “really?”.

Meanwhile, in order to use this “new” car I managed to find an old eye bolt that I’ve had for decades in a coffee can in my shed. It fits into the socket of the shifter. The only problem with this “fix” is that there is no mechanism to prevent me from shifting into reverse when I go for first gear. I find this out at a stop light when I release the clutch to go and nearly ram the car behind me. I have to say that I haven’t felt this alert and alive while driving a car since I got my Learners Permit. So I learn how to sense the very subtle difference between “far left and up” for reverse and the “slightly left and up” for first.   

Now this whole episode began with the notion (my notion) that I was going to be a better steward of my “things” by downsizing to a more practical automobile arrangement. The particular car I bought was not one that I had my heart set on – it was not the object of any idolatrous longing. In fact it was just there in the first used car lot my wife and I passed by on the road. The sticker price seemed right, but I negotiated an even better price and I put the car through a good test drive. I did sign a warranty waver because the car had over 100K on it. Big mistake signing that ....

I remember thinking, hey, maybe God wants me to have this car! It’s got a turbo which wasn’t really what I had in mind. Sure, it has a lot of miles on it – but – it’s kinda cool. The stick shift was not terribly practical but it was reminiscent of my youth and  - what the heck! I should mention that there were a few scratches on the hood and roof that were not apparent to me on the day I purchased the car. Okay there were a LOT of scratches. (The guy at the body shop later told me someone had probably used a snow shovel to clear snow off the car.) The day I bought the car it was raining, the car is black (did I mention it is a cool charcoal/sparkly/carbon black color … with a spoiler on the back ..?) and the scratches were invisible because it was wet. Don’t buy a black used car on a rainy day. (I sound like the commercial for Direct TV.) Upon discovering all the scratches I recall that I kinda chuckled, thanked God that there was no evidence of rust yet, looked up (as to God) and said, “really?”.

So what did I do a few days after taking the car home? I brought it to the body shop and had them put $1400 worth of paint on it. And the car looked like new - they really did a nice job. And I had them put some sporty mud flaps on – to finish it. It was after that exercise in vanity that the fuel injection system failed and this whole investment “thing” started.

Back to the shifter. So by now I’m pretty much fed up but proud of myself for not being obsessed with revenge toward the used car dealer – who hasn’t answered any of my calls or voicemail messages with reports on my “experience”.

There is NO WAY I’m replacing the shifter “assembly”. I'm done pouring money into this! I’m going to MAKE a new shift rod. All I need is a piece of rod and a way to thread it and some hardware and maybe a “cooler” shifter grip (I got a Hurst T-Shifter). I also have to somehow incorporate a “preventer” pin that will keep me from shifting into reverse and that spring I found that will make the rod lift so I have to push it in the go into reverse. Did you follow that?

I realize I’d better just buy some threaded rod for the job because I’ll never be able to put a thread on a rod that thick. Of course it’s a metric size too. So I order two pieces of threaded rod because I’m not sure whether or not to use a high strength steel or stainless. I buy a drill press to drill the hole for the “preventer” pin because I don’t have one and I’m too proud to ask someone to borrow theirs (besides - I need one anyway and this a good excuse to purchase one). I start with the stainless rod, ruining several drill bits trying to make a tap hole. I finally make the hole and then proceed to snap the thread tap in the hole because I forgot how to gently “work” a tap in and out. I recall that I kinda chuckled at this point, thanked God that I had the spare rod, looked up (as to God) and said, really”.

I finally was able to get the job done and I think I saved some money. The car is running fine but I have trouble once in a while shifting into (finding) first. I’ll have to work on that.

So – what’s the lesson in all of this? Were my motives wrong? God has a plan, so this must be part of His plan – right? God is in the details and He knows every hair on my head – though these days there are fewer of them to concern Him. I want to refrain, out of respect for JOB, from looking too hard in his Book for parallels to my struggle with this car. After all, I still have my family, my health and my home and everything else – plus two vehicles  - where before I had one. My Wife never once told me to curse God and die. In fact, she has been remarkably calm, non-judgmental and docile throughout this whole episode - a trusting, graceful, blessing. I don’t believe that the car troubles were God’s judgment on me. My attitude was tested and I did look for the blessings in each stage.

Perhaps Solomon has some Godly wisdom in Proverbs.

Proverbs 20:14 (NKJV) “It is good for nothing,” cries the buyer; but when he has gone his way, then he boasts.” – CHECK!

Proverbs 14:12-15 (NKJV), “There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death. Even in laughter the heart may sorrow, And the end of mirth may be grief. The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways, but a good man will be satisfied from above. The simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps.” – DOUBLE CHECK!

Proverbs 12:25-28 (NKJV) “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad. The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray. The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting, but diligence is man’s precious possession.” – AMEN and CHECK!

Proverbs 13:10 (NKJV) “By pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom.” – SELA!

And of course Matthew 6:19-20 (rust and moth …) and the whole book of Ecclesiastes is germane – you know -  on vanity.

I have meditated a lot on this. It’s one thing to pray for God’s will in things and quite another to pray for His will when we already have an end in mind. It’s also a little laughable when I get myself into a jam and then take it to God - though I still should ... in humility ... just as King David did so many times. It’s a joke to make up one’s mind and then invite God to bless that thing. It’s hard to know where I end and God begins – where God initiates and where He hands it to me for my portion. I have to ask for wisdom in that and I suppose I will always struggle with that. Patience and obedience is at the core of it all. I think about Romans 5 where trials are designed to produce endurance, patience and perseverance and with that character and ultimately Godly hope.

Now the truck is making some strange noises when I turn the wheel to the left. Is it because I’m not using it every day and a film of rust has formed on some bearing surface? Or is it something more insidious? I kinda chuckle, thank God that I have this spare car that was causing all these troubles and, looking up (as to God) I say, “really?”.            

Blessings,

Bill