Gus Wilson slammed down the phone in the Model
Garage. Why, that old coot Silas Barnstable, asking him to pull his old
clunker out of the mud, then having the nerve to add: "And don't send that
young whipper-snapper, Stan Hicks!" Stan had turned into a darn good
mechanic, even if it did seem like only yesterday that he was hardly old
enough to shave.
Gus sighed at the passage of time and headed for
the tow truck.
"Watch the store, Stan," he called back. "Have to
give old Silas a tow."
A heavy overnight rain had left huge puddles
everywhere this morning. Spring was in the air...
A horn blared in the doorway. Stan got up from his
work abruptly and whacked his head on a car hood.
Stunned, he motioned frantically to the driver of
the 1957 Ford lunging down the center of the shop, and stepped aside just as
the car dipped to a stop.
"Hey, lady, what are you trying to do, kill me?
Drive it into a stall!"
A pretty young face framed with glistening black
hair popped out the window. "No sir! I'm parking so I can drive out the
back door if necessary!"
Before Stan could utter another word, the young
lady stepped out of the car. We-l-l, thought Stan, I'm glad Gus didn't send
me to rescue Barnstable.
"Where's Mr. Wilson?"
"He's out on a call. I'm Stan Hicks, his
assistant."
"Oh...I'm Mary Atkins, I teach kindergarten at the
elementary school."
"You're a schoolteacher?" Stan blurted. "Why, you
don't look old enough to - "
Her impudent little nose lifted. "Mr. Hicks," she
snapped, her eyes flashing, "I came here to get my car repaired. I can go
elsewhere!"
Stan smiled sheepishly. "Don't get riled up, Miss.
I'm sorry. It's just that - well - doesn't seem
like we had teachers like you when I was in school."
The fire left her eyes and she gave Stan a quick
smile. "I'm sorry, too. And I'm sorry I made you bump your head. I was
mad. You see, I just had a spring tune-up last week. Now the car won't go
in reverse and the radio makes a funny noise. I tried to parallel-park in
front of the department store downtown and the car wouldn't back up!"
Eager to prove to his pretty customer that Gus
Wilson was not the only mechanic in the Model Garage, Stan quickly lifted
the hood and examined the gearshift linkage. It seemed okay. Then he
recalled the tune-up she had mentioned.
If the emergency-brake cable had been adjusted too
tightly, the car might move ahead freely, yet hesitate to back up because
rear-wheel brake shoes have a tendency to self-energize if maladjusted.
Sliding a jack under the axle, Stan slid under,
checked the emergency-cable tension and then slowly rotated the rear
wheels. "The wheels turn backward."
"Well, perhaps the wheels move, but the gearshift
lever won't go into reverse!"
Stan slipped into the seat and tried the shift
lever. With the clutch depressed, it slipped into reverse easily.
"But it wouldn't work for me!" the girl insisted.
Stan reached for the ignition switch.
Let's drive it back and forth and see."
As he turned the switch, a loud "clack" came from
the vicinity of the radio.
A shapely arm flashed past Stan's nose and an
accusing finger pointed at the radio. "There, that's what I meant was wrong
with the radio!"
"It doesn't sound like the radio, Mary - er - Miss
Atkins."
Turning the switch off and on, he added, "Sounds
like a relay to me."
Glancing across the dash, his eyes spotted the
overdrive-lockout control. "Sure." He grinned. "The overdrive relay.
It's mounted in the engine compartment right in front of the radio. It
could sound like the radio to anybody who didn't know."
"But what about the reverse?"
"You have a ground between the relay and the
overdrive governor switch," Stan announced, reaching for a creeper. "That's
why your car won't back up."
He slid beneath the car and checked the wire
leading to the tiny governor projecting from the overdrive housing. The
wire looked sound. Remembering Gus's counsel about faulty switches, he
removed the wire and rubber boot covering the switch.
From above trim ankles came a plaintive voice:
"But what have this 'ground' and 'governor' got to do with the reverse
gear?"
"Just wait - I'm going to tell you."
Stan slid out, governor switch in hand.
"This little gadget should be the troublemaker," he
said, inverting the switch and clamping it in the vise. Removing the screws
from the cap, he explained that the unit is a centrifugal switch.
"See, here's the trouble." Stan pointed to a tiny
drop of dirty water on the switch points inside the cap. "You had
continuity across the points all the time because of this drop of
condensation."
He wiped the cap dry, polished the points, and
replaced the cap.
"Is that all that's wrong?" she asked.
"Probably. You see, the condensation made the
relay energize every time the ignition switch was turned. Then that
energized the overdrive solenoid. The solenoid kept the lockout rail from
letting the low-reverse sliding gear engage with the reverse idler.
Understand?"
"Good heavens, no!"
Stan chuckled. "Okay - let's try this.
With overdrive when you reach about 28 miles an
hour, centrifugal force shoves the flyweight segments in the governor
switch-out to close the switch points.
When the governor switch closes, the car can go
into overdrive. At the same time, the transmission is locked in such a way
that you can't shift into reverse when in overdrive. Your switch was closed
all the time, so you couldn't possibly shift to reverse. That better?"
"A little," she answered uncertainly.
"My, you certainly know a lot about cars."
It was a while before Miss Atkins left the shop.
In fact, she'd barely departed when Gus Wilson returned.
"That old tightwad," Gus said as he stepped from
the tow truck. "Bald tires, no chains. Any business while I was away?" He
lit his pipe and walked over to the shop order pad.
"Not much," Stan replied from under the hood of a
car. "Just an old schoolmarm, a Miss Atkins or something. Car wouldn't
back up. Overdrive. Took off the governor switch, put it in the vise,
found a bead of condensation across the switch points. I cleaned the points
and put it back on."
After a long thoughtful silence, Gus said, "I'll
bet Miss Atkins comes back inside half an hour."
"You're pulling my leg, Gus. Bottle of soda says
she won't come back. Okay?"
"That's a bet, Stan. Thirty minutes."
"Right," Stan agreed. "Say, Gus, I've got an
errand at the drug store. Okay if I take off for a few minutes?"
Gus, bent intently over a running engine, didn't
hear the Ford come in, or see a pretty, dark-haired girl get out.
"Stan! Stan!"
Gus turned.
"Oh," she said breathlessly, "you're Mr. Wilson."
"And you're Mary Atkins."
"Stan - uh - Mr. Hicks repaired my car. Now it
won't back up - again!"
"I see," Gus said. His eyes twinkled.
"Stan's out for a few minutes, Miss Atkins. But he
did mention a minor adjustment he forgot to make on your car."
Reaching for the air hose, he slid under the car,
then reappeared. He smiled. "There - everything is fine now."
Miss Atkins was just driving off when Stan came
sauntering across the street.
Spotting the familiar car, he broke step and dashed
toward Gus.
"Guess the sodas are on you, Stan," Gus announced.
"Was she in here?" Stan demanded.
"Yep, and I fixed her car."
"Okay," Stan groaned. He walked to the vending
machine and came back with two bottles. "Tell me what I did wrong."
"Well," Gus began sipping his free drink, "when
you're at the ball game with her tomorrow you can tell her - "
"Ball game with her? How'd you - "
"Well, first off, I knew she wasn't an 'old
schoolmarm.' Remember, I'm on the school board. In the second place, Stan,
you don't usually write down the phone number, the landlady's name, and the
color of the customer's hair and eyes on the shop order. Or circle the
phrase 'two o'clock, Randall Field,' - which, in case you didn't know, is
the time and place of the opening game for the high-school baseball team
tomorrow. And lastly, if that package you brought from the drug store isn't
candy, I'll eat it."
Stan smiled weakly.
"Gus, you've got me.
How'd I lose the bet?"
"You mentioned condensation. That was the
tip-off. The switches hardly ever collect condensation, but once in awhile
they get water inside when driven through hubcap-high water. Like today--.
"On this model ford, the governor switch points
almost downward. You said you put it in the vise to take the cap off -
upward, I figured - and just cleaned the points. So I guessed, since you
couldn't see inside the governor because of the circular fly-weights on this
model, that there might be more water inside.
"Now a slight knowledge of the workings of the
female mind told me Miss Atkins would return to the store, because today is
Bargain Day. Any bump on the way might shake down the water, shorting the
switch again.
"You tell her tomorrow, when you buy her a soda at
the game, that the way to get liquid out of a container is to tip it upside
down. Which is just what I did. I blew the water out of the governor,
right on the car."
Gus chuckled, then added, "Here's a couple of
tickets for the game. Red Plummer gave them to me."
Stan handed one ticket back: "Thanks, Gus, but you
go, too. I'm doing a little thinking today - teachers go free."
END
