Question of the Week, Pennzoil Edition: What’s the Biggest Repair You’ve Pulled Off in an Auto Parts Store Parking Lot?—WINNER’S UPDATE You Should Know
WINNER’S ANNOUNCEMENT:
We’re back to announce the winner for our Question of the Week, where our winner will rest on their laurels and accept a $25 credit for a hat or T-shirt from the BaT Gear Store.
This week, we asked: What’s the biggest repair you’ve pulled off in an auto parts store parking lot?
Having to do automotive repairs in an auto parts store parking lot (or adjacent) could be considered an instance of an inconvenient situation arising in the most convenient of places. After reading everyone’s comments, we’re awarding the prize to the user whose comment stood out the most to us this week. That comment comes to us from BaT member @Jim_Rosenthal:
Even with a relatively light engine, that’s one heck of a swap to carry out in a parking lot! Great story and congratulations, Jim_Rosenthal. Be sure to check your email to claim the prize.
Now, let’s take a look at some other popular nominations from this week’s discussion thread:
“1985 Ford Mustang Clutch replacement behind the speed shop that sold me the clutch kit and loaned me the ramps, tools and jack to change it. (owner of the shop had to help me “bench press” the Transmission back in place. hehe
Oh to be young and strong again…”
Starter replacements were a common theme in this week’s comment section, including this story from @IsAlwaystheAnswer:
A starter, or maybe this story is a non-starter.
For weeks, that starter was deader than disco.
My ’63 Ford Econoline 5 window pickup wasn’t just a work truck; it was a lifestyle choice. Specifically: the lifestyle of a person in a relationship with gravity. I parked exclusively on hills. Every job site, every errand, every stop turned into a tactical operation: Find a hill. Pray no one parked too close to roll, pop the clutch, and pretend this is totally normal.
Some people thought I was eccentric, but the people who really know me know that I’m just a cheapshake, I call it resourceful. But then came the day I finally said, this ain’t how life should be, that’s it. I’m buying a starter like a civilized human.
I go to the parts store to buy a new starter, park (on a hill, obviously), walk back out, and the Econoline is now parked in by other cars with no room to roll. I do what any self-respecting car person does: I replace the starter right there in the parking lot. On the asphalt, like I’m on a mission.
The Econoline looks at me, judging me the entire time, “Oh, you think I’m gonna start on my own NOW after all this time and you fixing me here? Adorable.”Wires off. Bolts out. Bolts in. Wires on. starter swapped. Hands filthy. Dignity questionable.
Fire it up on the first crank.
The best part was that less than an hour after buying it, I marched back into the parts store, holding up the old starter like a trophy. The clerk was confused, blinked, and I said, “I’m here for my core deposit. I’ve got a date tonight.”
@bosshoss3406pack says:
This repair wasn’t in the actual parking lot, but within sight of the parts store. On the grassy median on US 59, north of Houston, about 1,000 yds from the New Caney exit. I was driving a ’72 Orange AMC Hornet, my dad had bought for mom. Fun car with a stout 304 V8 and really good AC, but it should have had a tow bar as a factory option! My brother and I borrowed it from time to time and often had to call dad to bring a chain.
That particular day, I was out selling vacuum cleaners, burglar alarms, or something. It was a suit and tie selling job. Did I mention the AC? That’s why I borrowed mom’s Tow Bar Hornet.
So, here I was, wearing a suit and tie on the side of the freeway beside a steaming geyser of AMC’s finest with a useless water pump. Did I mention it was summer in Houston? So I tossed the suit coat and the tie and hiked to the parts store. Bought a new water pump and a couple of jugs of coolant. Lucky that I had my ho bag/never leave home without it tools, but I bought a set of sockets to help out.
When I got back to the Hornet, it was cool enough to work on.
So, I took off my white dress shirt and put it on backward to try and protect my suit pants and pulled the radiator and everything else so I could get it back on the road.
Hat’s off to the Texas Highway Patrol, who stopped by and asked me if I was OK.
Yes, officer. I got it!
@velocity writes:
Timing chain replacement on a ’69 Fairlane with 302 in middle Georgia, July heat, after working the midnight shift.
My aviation career began at a cutthroat commuter airline in Macon, GA, back in ’92. Since I was from Atlanta, I was immediately viewed with suspicion and disdain by all the middle/south GA rednecks. There was ONE guy on my crew who showed basic kindness and help to a 22-year-old newbie who knew less than nothing. So… after a particularly miserable midnight shift, while walking out to my car, I saw Harry with the hood up on his Fairlane (that he did a 140-mile round-trip commute with every day). I don’t remember how he determined the problem, but he flatly said, “It needs a timing chain.” I told him I was in.
One by one – all the midnight shift guys are leaving. Some wave, some stop and feign concern, others smirk and giggle, and roll on. Although we were in an aircraft hangar parking lot and not a parts store lot, we were still short on some tools. I’ll spare the lengthy details, but after several trips to the parts store and a deliriously long, hot day on the pavement in the sun, we got ‘er done! I had NO faith that it was even gonna crank, much less run right, due to our exhaustion after being up all night and in the heat all day. But….he bumped that key and it fired right up and settled into a smooth sewing machine idle. We took it for a short drive to declare it good for his long drive home and then called it a day.
Harry was about 5’10” and 250 lbs of stocky, menacing-looking muscle. When we got to work that next night, he stuck out his bear paw of a hand. When I shook his hand, he squeezed it, yanked me forward, looked me in the eyes, and told me how much he appreciated my help. He kept saying repeatedly – ‘if you EVER need anything, I’m here to help!’ I never formally called in any favors, but one really nice perk from that day was that ANY time Harry saw somebody jawin at me, giving me a hard time (even our Lead) – he was on it like a fly on stink!! He would slide up with his most menacing scowl, barrel chest poked out, and quickly defuse whatever situation was going on!😄😄 Needless to say, from that day forward, we became great friends!
“When I worked at Autozone I once rebuilt a customer’s QuadraJet Carburetor on the counter in the store!
They brought theirs in intending to order a whole carburetor but I sold them on a rebuild kit and we tore it down and rebuilt it there instead.
I was later told it Worked fine!”
Now that’s some stellar customer service right there.
@PlainOldVehicles writes:
“Back in the Covid years of 20-21″ might someday be a common reference, but for us, it was simply an attempt to spend family time in the Outer Banks, NC, with kids, grandkids, and a few of their friends (all tested negative as a requirement to attend that week).
I left early on Thursday, having promised to pick up a 3 and 5-year-old so the parents could get important things done the day before and morning the rental started. Little did I know that a disc brake caliper would decide to freeze on an otherwise smooth as silk, 2011 Grand Cherokee. When I first felt it dragging, I thought,” I’ll free it up with a long screwdriver – it just has some dirt on it,” but that was not the case. Two shops and no one was working at 7 PM that Friday, so I started checking the parts stores along US 301. First one was negative, but the second said ” we have it, but the book shows two, you’ll need to know which one you have” to which I replied,” It’s out front, but I’ll need to pull the wheel off”. The older man behind the counter said ” pull it up out front and take that jack off the shelf over there” — That started things, and he said a local mechanic sometimes comes by when he gets off if you need a hand; so I started tearing it down literally at the curb in the shopping center, and sure enough it was a case of taking the old retainer off to put on the new one and it was a struggle but within another hour, we had the caliper working, with the help of all sorts of tools from the store shelves, and the help of the quiet but talented mechanic who liked to hang out on friday nights at his favorite parts store. I had about $80 planned to treat grandkids, but that was offered up to the two men, who kept to their regular jobs while we worked away in the parking lot. For a breakdown that would have meant a tow to a dealership and a ” we’ll call you next week” to a fully functional repair the same night, which kept the Saturday trip down to the banks on schedule the next day, this meets the request of BaT for a “repair pulled off in an auto parts parking lot.” .. I stop and visit those fellas when I come up or down US 301 from time to time, always thankful for their willingness to lend a helping hand.
“The back window in my 924 blew out (long story, sorry to the driver of the Toyota Previa behind me…) so I removed the tweaked frame and and headed across the bay to Parts Heaven in Hayward sans hatch and installed a replacement from a 924S in their lot. I could feel the added horsepower from the spoiler.”
That’s it for this week’s Question of the Week! Thanks to everyone who participated, and congratulations once again to our winner, Jim_Rosenthal. We’ll be back with a new question soon.
ORIGINAL POST:
Welcome to the BaT Question of the Week! For those unfamiliar, here are the rules: we ask an automotive-themed question, and the author of our favorite answer from the comments is awarded a $25 credit to the BaT Gear Store. This week’s question is brought to us by Pennzoil, who is currently offering ALL Bring a Trailer members a spring oil change rebate good for six free quarts of oil! Our question is:
What’s the biggest repair you’ve pulled off in an auto parts store parking lot?
There’s one thing you’re bound to see when you visit your local auto parts store: a vehicle opened up for emergency surgery, often right in front of a sign that says “No Mechanic Work in Parking Lot.” Our partners at Pennzoil are no strangers to the parking lot rescue—it’s a way of life with older vehicles, and sometimes it’s the only way to get home.
We’ve got a hunch that some of you have made some pretty dramatic saves at the local strip mall, and those are the stories we want to hear about.
Tell us: what’s the biggest repair you’ve pulled off in an auto parts store parking lot?
Give us your answer it in the comments, and leave a thumbs-up to any nominations that grab your attention. We’ll announce the winner on Monday.
“Two of us changed a VW engine in the parking lot, but it wasn’t the parts store parking lot. It was the parking lot NEXT DOOR to a parts store parking lot. Because we’d fitted the engine tin wrong, one cylinder overheated and seized (this is evidently not unusual) Since neither of us had much money, and VW engines don’t weigh much, we decided to do it right there. There are many things I would not attempt now, for any amount of $$$. This is now one of them.”
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jim_rosenthal commented on Question of the Week, Pennzoil Edition: What's the Biggest Repair You've Pulled Off in an Auto Parts Store Parking Lot?—WINNER’S UPDATE