I'm sad....

[woad_yurt]

I'm posting this here because there are times when one wants to say something to someone who'll understand. I think some of you folks will....

I have a '62 Plymouth Valiant, my baby, that needs a rear end/differential rebuild. The noise it makes is just horrible, like it's screaming in agony. It's the only thing I can't do by myself on that car because I don't have the tools or the shop to do the job. So, I have to pay someone else and it's going to cost, big time.

To get the money, I have to sell off some guns. Choosing which was not easy. It took a while to come to a very difficult decision.

So, goodbye, H&R 676 DA convertible revolver (.22LR/WMR) with 12" barrel, in your original box with papers. Goodbye also, near perfect, original Whitney Wolverine in your numbered box w/original literature.

I know I'll never see either of you ever again.

I feel like I have limited space in a lifeboat and I have to choose among family members who stays and who goes. First, my cat of 16 years died and, now, this. I hate this crap.

Oh yeah, my mother just broke her foot. Sigh....

[PT-92]

Hey man,

Hang in there. Times are really tough now and it's hard to keep one's faculties together. Just keep plugging away and there will be light at the end of the tunnel. Sorry to hear, in particular, about your cat and Mom. We can always get guns later on (provided the elections turns out favorably) even if not the very same models.

-Cheers

[deputy tom]

yurt,don't sell your prized pistols.I went thru the same situation a few weeks ago.Ordered ring and pinion and installation kit at Summit Racing for $271.00 shipped.A local shop installed it for $150.00.I will be paying off the charge card for a while but didn't get rid of items that can't be replaced.Another option is buying an entire rear end axles and all at a junk yard.No special tools or knowledge to do a complete swap vs. setting up the rear end parts which is very tricky.tom.

[Smaug]

Charge the car repair. Keep the guns you love, and pay off the CC instead of buying more guns/ammo/range time in the near future.

[dgludwig]

Adios Valiant!

[Creature]

Guns are not commodities to be traded or sold! They are to be hoarded and collected only.

Regret regret regret!

[Wuchak]

I agree with the advice given to keep the guns. If you do need to sell some sell only those that are readily replaceable e.g. Glocks

I'd charge the fix if necessary and look for a part-time job for a few months to pay it off quickly. Something 10 hours a week or so. With Christmas approaching there are a lot of seasonal jobs like that popping up.

[woad_yurt]

I don't do credit cards, folks. I did once and it wasn't a good experience. I do have another Wolverine, btw. It's an early one that actually has the Wolverine name on it. It's in good shape, but not good enough that I feel papranoid about shooting it.

To deputy Tom:
While it's apart, I want to make it a 3.55 limited slip (posi for you GM people.) It's going to cost around $800-$900 total. It's an 8 1/4" rear. All of the good ones are 8 3/4" and they're all too wide for the car. Even if I had an 8 3/4 narrowed to fit, I'd have to change the hubs to keep the same bolt pattern on the rims or I'd need two different rims and an additional spare tire. Either way, with the narrowing, it'll cost way more. I want it to look stock.

Look at the car! It's too cool to let sit, you know? Since I have another Wolverine, I'm opting for wheels.

[fisherman66]

Just stuff. It's not family. Not even close.

[kristop64089]

I want that Mustang(66?)

I came to a point where I thought I may have to sell a gun. We just had another baby, and wife is off work for 6 weeks, just bought a new house, yada-yada-yada. I chose to pick a gun I knew I could live without, but still make enough to buy another with the leftover scratch. But that was for family.

If it came down to cars for me, I have 4 others, if you have another ride, I'd buy parts when money allowed, if not....got 2 feet

[bigghoss]

I just had to put a new crate motor in my blazer to the tune of $4800 thanks to the fact that I don't have my own shop. it was either that or buy a new truck and eat the $6000 I already have in it with the original purchase, new tranny, and new tires and wheels. but thats what credit cards are for

[cbm1948]

Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do!

Robert Schuller

This is a line quoted from a book by the same title. I know this may seem over simplistic to some people, but during tough times, and folks time are tough right now, it might help. It helped me overcome some tough times over 24 years ago. Just thought.

Clint

[Pappy John]

I know where you're coming from, woad yurt. I recently turned a .44 Special S&W 696 into a set of Michelin LTX AT2s for my pick-up truck, to get it ready for hunting season. The money wasn't going to come from anywhere else. Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

[Raytracer]

Man, I'm sorry to hear about your troubles - especially your cat and your mom. While the car and guns are cool (that Valiant is very cool) they're just things, and things come and go. Don't get too hung up on them, treasure the time you spend with the people (and critters) that are important to you.

Having said that, it sounds like your priorities are with the car. See if you can find a gunnie friend that is willing to buy the revolver with the understanding that you can either buy it back when you get flush again, or you get first refusal if he ever sells it. I've been part of similar deals in the past - on both sides - and it can be a better option than outright letting something go.

Joe

[bamabiker]

Hi all, just signed up. I have been reading this forum for a while. Raytracer just beat me to my thought. If you have some one that would buy the guns with the agreement to sell them back when you get the money. I would do this to help a friend out as long as I could shoot the guns while in my posession.

[Freeman1952]

Good God, man, don't sell the Wolverine if it is original! The Olympic Arms version can't hold a candle to it. I bought one when I was thirteen for twenty-five bucks, new, from Martin B. Retting in Culver City, CA, and sold it five years later for fifty...and thought I had made a killing. Now I would almost surrender the left half of my reproductive equipment to replace it. You WILL regret it in your old age if you do it!

[VonFireball]

Just wondering, does that valiant have the max wedge in it?

[FrontSight]

Dumb question, but you you HAVE TO get the car fixed right now?? Why not just wait till you have the funds...

[Harry Callahan]

Just some little old 413. Who wants THAT?

[pax]

Beautiful car.

Bummer about the guns.

The only thing I really know about life is this: the seasons change.

Hang in there!

pax

[woad_yurt]

Everybody:
It's ok. I like this car quite a bit, as much as the firearms, easy. I have another Whitney (w/o box) as a shooter. And yes, the car has to be fixed. My other vehicle is a giant E350 van, which is full of tools. I need something to drive rather than navigate. Those two guns were mainly safe queens anyway. Cool to own but not fun to use, you know?

To those who asked about the engine:
The car has a 170 slant six. The exhaust has been done already. It has a 350 CFM two barrel w/an aluminum intake instead of the tiny original 1 bbl. I had the head milled a while back to 9.5 to 1 compression. I could just go with a stock ring and pinion but then it'd eventually have to be replaced by a lower gear w/a posi differential. Since it's shot now, I might as well do it that way now. All that would be left is a cam, but that can wait. My goal is about 175 HP. Back in the day, they sold an option package for the 170 called a Hyper-Pak. I'm kind of going along that route. The 170 is a short stroke motor and it revs like crazy. It's a really light car and it'll be a real sleeper. It even has the optional AM radio and heater.

[cold dead hands]

I won't sell any of my guns for anything. EVER.

My kids even understand that. Food can be gotten with guns. Guns can rarely be gotten with food.

Or something to that effect.

[Creature]

I won't sell any of my guns for anything. EVER.

My kids even understand that. Food can be gotten with guns. Guns can rarely be gotten with food.

Or something to that effect.

I agree with that sentiment. There isn't much that I would take with me if I had just fifteen minutes to abandon my house in the face of a destructive force of nature. Except for a photo album, a handful of important papers, a few heirlooms...and all of my guns.

[johnm1]

Woad

Feeling your pain. Did the same thing when we bought the house. The only consolation is that we still have the appliances we bought with the money. I still regret the decision to sell and that was 12 years ago!

The suggestion to remove and replace is a sound one. Just for the time it takes to save up for what you want you can easily replace the entire rear end for something close to a $100. not sure what the recent scrap metal prices have done to prices but this was around average a couple of years ago. Chrysler was very good about staying with standard dimensions and there are literally millions of 8 1/4" rear ends sitting in salvage yards that can be had for a song. The remove and replace are easily done by your average shade tree mechanic. I know because I did mine around 8 years ago. Mine was a 1960 1/2 ton Panel Truck. I still have the old one for when I get the money to do it the way I want it.

I have a parts exchange book someplace. Send me an e mail or PM and i'll look up the exchanges that are possible.

[fat old gun nut]

Well, I understand. I have had to sell guns twice. Once to pay bills, and once to have extra money on our vacation. The bills,$1,500 worth were paid; the money for vacation was stolen before I could spend a cent. End result--about 5 guns gone that I've never been able to replace; a wife who felt like I responded like a good husband should have.

My opinion--next time I'll use the plastic-wife can feel good about me for some other reason.