If It Didn't Suck....

I do have to mention this post is just for completists who want to know, need to know about my car seat.

Well as I mentioned briefly a 77 year old man basically replaced my seat. The man is my wife's grandfather, and I went to Far Rockaway, to where he lives to replace my seat. I met him at his place and he got into my car with a bucket full of tools.

Granddad, as I call him is a real character and very sage old man, whom justice wont be done to him in this brief blog, but I will talk about him at a later date.

So I pick him up and he suggests we go to Riis park parking lot so we wont be bothered. I hadn't thought about how obtrusive things would have been if we tried to do this parked on the street. So we went to the park and he looked at the bolts of the seat and pulled out a rachet and started working. He had picked exactly the right size and well I was impress. I am mechanically disinclined almost manually retarded when it comes to home improvement or zen and the art of auto maintenance. Thank god for a guy like Granddad.

So I felt bad and stupid by not partaking but when I offered he declined, in part because they were his tools and he knew how to use them, and in part because he loves to be given a project to complete. When we got to the fourth bolt it was very difficult. He had thought that it might be reversed, and the top would be under the carriage of the car, it sounded logical, so I said I would check under the car.

The jeep is fairly high off of the ground so that wasn't a problem, getting back up was. Though when I was under there saw something and I tried to unbolt it. And was informed, when I was proud at undoing this stubborn piece of metal, that the bolt I intended to undo was still, in fact, intact inside the jeep. Granddad then put the piece back and continued to work at the stubborn last piece.

Eventually he got the seat out. The frame came apart in two pieces. I guess I was lucky that I wasn't in an accident while driving with the odd and broken seat. Now we had to fasten the new seat to the new frame and then set the frame into the car and bolt it in. One problem. bolts on the bottom of the seat needed to be undone with an Allen wrench. Granddad had a whole set. Back at the house.

The old seat was useless and lie like a wounded soldier in the war of commuting. And the new seat wasn't fastened to the car. And Granddad had rode with me. And he lived at least five miles away. Decisions. Decisions. So I placed the new seat on the floor of the car, stuck a milk crate with car supplies behind the seat and wedged a blanket (which had been in the car because the old seat had a piece of jagged metal sticking through that really hurt your thigh after a while) between the seat and the crate and proceeded to drive back to the apartment.

The ride was interesting, whenever I broke, the seat would move up and I would slide under the steering wheel, or I would slide backward and my feet would fall of the pedals. No worries though, I made it back unscathed. And five minutes later Granddad came down with the required tools and the job was soon complete.

After that I finally got my car inspected and with a welcomed change of luck, I didnt have to pay for the inspection again, got my sticker and drove home. Though the seat is new, and doesnt move around when I drive, it is higher and well, a bit tighter. If it didn't suck.....