#22 - The Story of Mrs. Mayberry - Part 3

Picking up where we left off, with us going back to Mt. Airy and trying to get Ms. Mayberry on the trailer for the trip home, and finding a dead battery… Even though I was never a Boy Scout, I have always believed in being prepared so I went to my truck and took a 6 volt battery out of the back. I had used this battery in my 1934 Ford, but had recently changed that car to a 12 volt system, so this battery was sitting there waiting to be used elsewhere. Little did I know that it would be in a 1955 Ford Fairlane. When Mr. Mittman saw me take the battery out, he said, “Wow, you really did come ready for anything.” We put my 6 volt battery in Mrs. Mayberry, cranked her up, loaded her up, and headed for home.

The trip home was uneventful and once we got back, I put the car in the air and proceeded to give her a good once over. The brake cylinders were corroded, the exhaust pipes were rotted and the master cylinder leaked. Even the heater core was leaking onto the carpet. I replaced all the brake components (hoses, shoes, cylinders, etc) and bypassed the heater. It still ran kind of rough on take off, but I thought a good tune-up was in order. To my surprise, I took her down to get new exhaust pipes, and mufflers, installed and once those were in, she ran like a new car. The old mufflers had corroded and collapsed internally.

But Mrs. Mayberry was on the road…July of 2003.

We put about 1000 miles on her and only had one real scare. On the way back home from a cruise in Union City, TN, she started running horribly, almost like on 2 cylinders. I thought we had broken a rocker arm or something internal in the engine. As we limped along, I decided to try the choke to see if the carburetor was plugged. Lo and behold, she perked right up and we made it back home fine. After getting home, I decided to rebuild the carburetor and in my “junk box” I found a carburetor that my dad had used on one of his dirt track stock cars back in the late 1950’s. It was exactly the right carb for Mrs. Mayberry, so I rebuilt it and put it in. Boy, did that wake that big 272 cubic inch motor up! After a while I had to put in smaller carburetor jets, but that’s not surprising…Ms. Mayberry isn’t a race car. She is just a sweet old car that has found herself a new home with folks who appreciate her and who will enjoy making new family memories with her.

Next week - part 4.