Then the clutch pedal stopped working.
The clutch gave out just as I was shifting from first to second while pulling away from a stoplight, leaving me stuck in neutral in the left lane. I had no power to the wheels so I had to coast to the left shoulder of the divided highway, though I couldn't get over too far off the road due to a dropoff. Someone that had been behind me expressed their opinion out the window as they drove past, but I didn't catch it. I don't imagine it was kind words.
As I was calling AAA, two gentlemen from a nearby Space Age filling station bicycled up and asked if there was anything they could do. I had to wave the spacemen on, explaning the clutch pedal was broken but thanking them for their concern.
My conversation with AAA went something like this:
AAA: Thank you for calling AAA roadside assistance, how can I help you?
Me: I could use a spot of roadside assistance.
AAA: What happened?
Me: My clutch pedal gave out and I had to pull over.
AAA: Are you in a safe location?
Me: Mmm...kinda.
AAA: Kinda?
Me: I'm on the left shoulder.
AAA dispatch lady decided that as I was causing trouble on the highway, I got priority status. Sure enough, the truck was there less than 5 minutes later. The AAA man tried messing around with the clutch pedal but it wasn't fixable on the embankment of a divided highway. As AAA man was loading the Firebird onto his truck, a 3rd-gen Camaro drove past in the other direction giving me a 'tsk tsk' finger waving. All I could do was shrug.
AAA man wanted to have another go at fixing the Firebird, so we pulled into a parking lot to get out of traffic. He fiddled around and found that the clutch pedal had broken free of the clutch master cylinder. I declined his offer to jury-rig it with a zip-tie and call it good, and decided to continue towing the Firebird home.
Further down the road, we happened upon a parts store that was still open. We decided to check it out on AAA man's suggestion. Parts man and AAA man were unable to find the replacement in the parts database, but we found it in a set of various bushings in one of the aisles. AAA man set about installing the replacement and I ate a Payday bar.
The replacement seemed to take, so AAA man unloaded the Firebird and I hopped in to drive it around the parking lot. I got a few gear changes out of it, but then the clutch pedal gave out again. We loaded the Firebird back up on the truck and took it home, dumping it in my apartment complex's lot. AAA man was dismayed that something he had repaired didn't work, but I assured him he had already gone above and beyond his duty.
With that, AAA man drove away, leaving me with a broken Firebird.
No comments:
Post a Comment