Page 36 - Oct 2022

I immediately called a Volvo car and parts friend, Joe mine but in those days, they used pot metal ? a
Lazenby, in Harrisburg, PA and discussed the soft metal ? at this key location of stress, and if
situation with him. He told me that Volvo parts folks that area of stress was overloaded, the metal
from VP Autoparts of Charleston, SC were coming to could flow a bit and eventually fail. And this is
the meet and bringing parts for sale. If I could what happened some years ago before I bought
contact them in time, maybe they could bring the it; the pot metal part had failed and the
parts I needed with them. enterprising owner back then used scotch tape
or something similar to help put it back
I called them, told them what had happened and
together, allowing it to continue to function.
asked if they had the parts that would be needed to
fix it. At first, they said that they did not have the That was then and now was now. Now it was
parts , but as they dug further into their electronic completely broken and needed to be replaced
ordering system, they found that they did! Hurray! with one of the brass parts that VP Autoparts had
brought to me. The problem with fixing it was
They told me they?d arrive in mid-morning on
that this brass part had to be hammered onto a
Saturday (Sept 10th), the day of the show. where
splined shaft that moved in and out of the wiper
people would vote for their favorite Volvo cars. The
assembly. How was it going to be possible to
rain on Saturday morning was light, and we were
drive it onto this movable shaft?
able to drive the 10 miles to the show field without
incident even though we were missing the driver?s Matthew then phoned an experienced, young
side windshield wiper. Volvo friend who was present, David Bello, to
come help him keep that shaft still while he
Quite a few car owners and Volvo people were
wielded the hammer to drive the brass part onto
already there when we arrived and they immediately
the shaft. To get to a position where he could
were drawn to the green Volvo to look at it and ask
see the wiper assembly from underneath the
about its history and condition. By late morning
dashboard and prevent the shaft from moving,
when VP Autoproducts arrived, we were pretty wet
he had to lay on his back in the driver?s seat area
despite having umbrellas as the rain was now
and look up under the dashboard to find the
coming down steadily.
lower end of the movable shaft of the wiper
I went to the Volvo tent to see if they had my parts, assembly. Then, with the use of a hammer from
and, sure enough, they did! They brought all the parts my tool collection ( a tool that was so old it had
needed to completely overhaul the drive mechanism. a wooden handle), he pressed it up against the
When I looked at all those moving parts I realized I shaft while Matthew, standing outside the car,
did not know how to go about fixing my driver?s side hammered the brass part onto that shaft. All of
wiper. I stared at the collection for a few minutes this took about 45 minutes including installing
and then asked ? actually pleaded ? it they could help the new wiper arm onto the splined brass part
me install the parts as I didn't understand how to do that had been manually hammered onto the
it. I guess it pays to be almost 89 with gray hair and wiper shaft.
to walk with a bit of a shuffle and a limp because
AND LO AND BEHOLD, WHEN THE WIPER
one of them, Matthew (not my son, Matt), agreed to
SWITCH WAS PULLED OUT, THE WIPERS
come check my car?s wiper system.
WORKED!! This was, for me, The Miracle of
There was a Volvo tent nearby that was rectangular Hickory for how could I ever have found two
and high enough that a car could drive under it and other mechanics that were available and knew
be mostly protected from the direct rain. So, I how to fix this assembly? God was surely
shuffled slowly over to my car and drove it under and watching over me.
into the tent. There, Matthew looked at the broken
I thanked Matthew and David profusely for what
part and told me it was correct for a 1961 Volvo like
they did; I also offered them cash in thanks for
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