GT Veloce headliner, water pump and attitudes

[JHertzman@xxxxxxx]

In AD7-165 Bob Brooks asks two questions about his new '73 GT Veloce- a few
headliner stains and some water pump noises.

On the headliner, vinyl is not forever, and twenty-five years is a long time
in the life of most plastics. With no tears, nothing worse than stains, I
would recommend considering the word "patinated", describing the appearance or
aura of a mature object beautifully showing the character which can only come
with respectable age and respectful use, as opposed to the raw, bland cookie-
cutter new perfection. Like slight cracks in the corners of the glass gaskets,
and occasional spots in the paint where the primer is starting to show through
the over-polished color coat. When the paint and glass gaskets become
excessively patinated it is reasonable to do all three at one time - some
people aerosol-can stained headliners, but the tell-tale signs of respectable
aging on a well cared-for fine old car are irreplaceable. Some of the better
restoration shops have developed pre-cracked leather and special "aged-look"
paints so a restored car can look like a remarkably well-preserved heirloom
rather than just another better-than-new restoration, but if you have the real
thing why not keep it as long as you can?.

The water pump is a more sober question, depends partly on how far you roam
from home base. "A little noisy, not bad, no leaks or overheating, do these
pumps fail all of a sudden or will I get at least a week of leaks to tip me
off?" One failure mode is a seize-up, which can take out the fan-belt and
electric generation. The inconvenience of that can depend on where you drive,
when you drive, motor-club membership break-down service and whatnot. For many
situations a flush, radiator-clean, water pump, hoses, belts, new plastic fan
and fresh coolant all at once would be adding a lot of base-line security to a
car that is worth treating right.

Enjoy it-

John H. 

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