When Accessoring Makes Sense

When Accessorizing Makes Sense

POWER OPTIONS BECOME MORE APPEALING AS WE GROW OLDER

By Frank Adkins

When I was small, I looked up to my father, and I saw him as the pinnacle of strength. It seemed he could lift just about anything, and he could remove my bicycle tires from the rims with his bare fingers.

I know most of us regarded our fathers in a similar manner, but as I got older, I realized my father really was stronger than most other men. When he was in his early forties, he was diagnosed with arthritis in his shoulders. Even so, his shoulder pain didn’t seem to slow him down or curb his choice of activities. He still cut and split firewood on the weekends, and he enjoyed woodworking when time allowed. It came as a shock one day less than 10 years later when were driving in my sister’s ’69 Dart with slow ratio manual steering, and I discovered he could no longer maneuver the car into a parking space by steering hand-over-hand.

It is inevitable that our bodies will break down over time. Even so, we are living longer than ever, and most of us enjoy active lives for far longer than folks did in previous generations. But as we age, we have to make allowances for the issues that arise with our bodies. Commercials for special canes, braces, walk-in bath tubs, and chair lifts appear daily on televisions around the world. And, if we are to remain active in the car hobby, it is natural that our vehicles reflect the changes in our bodies as well.

More than 10 years ago, my friend Joe was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. It soon became apparent that he could no longer enjoy his ’55 Ford police car, which was equipped with manual steering and brakes and lacked air conditioning. He replaced it with a ’75 Plymouth Fury that was equipped with those accessories, and which he also transformed into a police car. Although he eventually succumbed to his heart condition, he was able to enjoy the hobby with his friends for several more years.

In just the last two years, three of my car friends have had open heart surgery. Two others have had shoulder replacements, a couple have had knee replacements, a couple more have had hip replacements, and I have lost count of how many have had back surgery. Clearly, we aren’t kids anymore.

When we were younger, power options weren’t all that desirable to many of us, and some of us thought nothing of removing them. I have converted at least half a dozen cars from automatic to manual transmissions. I made a habit of removing air conditioning and eliminating power brake boosters, and over the years I have replaced power steering with manual steering in nearly a dozen of my own cars.

Of the ten ‘60s and ‘70s cars that my wife and I currently own, only her ’73 Road Runner has power steering, power brakes, or air conditioning. We will retain those options only because the car remains largely original and it was built with those features.

Nowadays, with an aging old-car populace, the trend has reversed. Joe opted to replace his car with one that had the options he wanted, but many of us keep our cars and add the options we desire or need.

One of my buddies is rebuilding the ’67 Chevelle he bought in 1969. Although it will be essentially a caged, street-legal race car, he is adding power steering, power brakes, and air conditioning. As a member of the joint replacement club, he plans to drive the car long distances regularly so he wants to be comfortable. Another friend does mostly local driving, but his deteriorating shoulders have made it necessary for him to retrofit power steering into his Road Runner. Several other friends have added air conditioning to their cars because they can’t tolerate the heat like they did when they were young.

Of course, the aftermarket has made the addition of such options easy by offering complete kits consisting of high-quality components made specifically for your particular model and power plant. Air conditioning kits with modern compressors, power brake booster and master cylinder assemblies with updated rubber materials, and power steering kits complete with vastly improved latemodel steering gears, pumps, hoses and all of the related brackets and pulleys, are but a few mouse clicks away.

Those of us with back issues or who have accumulated extra weight with the passing years are happy to discover comfortable seating options. In addition, many fiberglass kit cars that are based on early model cars and trucks with cramped interiors are designed with additional room in their cockpits for leg comfort and to accommodate the extra girth that many of us acquire as we age.

Although genetics have dealt me quite a blow when it comes to arthritis, I must admit that I have been in denial when it comes to my future mobility. X-rays have confirmed bone injuries and severe arthritis in my hips as well as arthritis in my shoulders and knees. Still, I prefer cars with manual steering, brakes, and transmissions. My rationale has been that I simply push through the pain and refuse to give up.

Some folks call me a die-hard, and my wife says I’m just plain stubborn, but I believe in the adage, “Use it or lose it.” I still hike portions of the Appalachian Trail several times a year, I go junkyarding whenever time permits, and I still do all of the things that I have always done despite the pain. I believe this mindset is what keeps me going, and it continues to promote my good quality of life.

But during a nasty fall on ice last March, I injured my right shoulder, which made it impossible to drive with a manual transmission for a while. In the months that followed, I regained some use of my arm, and eventually I was able to drive a manual again. I couldn’t shift quickly, however, and moving an old Hurst shifter across the neutral gate and through the detent for reverse required me to use both hands. I nearly regained my full range of motion, but only a small portion of my strength. I could not raise a garage door with my right arm, nor could I remove or install a wheel from a car by grabbing it at four and eight o’clock positions like I normally would.

To cope with my situation, I developed work-arounds. I would jack up the car until the wheel was a couple of inches off the ground. Then, after removing the lug nuts, I would hook my toe under the tire to support its weight. I would use one hand to steady it as I dragged my heel away from the hub until the tire cleared the wheel opening. This might sound extreme, but I’m really no different from many of the guys who I worked with in the automotive field or those who work in other fields with physical demands. We hurt ourselves, then we find ways to keep working while we heal.

Eventually, my condition stopped improving, so I finally sought medical attention. An MRI revealed extensive tendon and muscle damage in addition to the arthritis that had been there all along. As I write this, it has been a few weeks since my surgery to repair the damage. My arm is in a sling, and it will be for a few more weeks, but I have been cleared to drive.

With my right arm incapacitated, I cannot operate a vehicle with manual steering, but I have proven that I can drive with a manual transmission provided I shift with my left hand. With any luck, my shoulder will regain most of its strength and mobility, but this experience has forced me to consider how my wife and I will enjoy our cars after we are stricken with permanent physical limitations. At the moment, her Road Runner is our only old car that I can drive easily. As an aside, I plan to replace its antiquated power steering system with a modern power steering kit for more precise handling and better road feel.

Although I have no immediate plans to load up our other cars with the optional equipment that I used to remove, I can now empathize with folks who add certain power options to their vehicles so that they may enjoy them for years to come. I’m thankful for a strong aftermarket that makes these accessories so easy to source and install.