September 28, 2003
A day without a camera.
After a lunch-time trip to Rosamunde's and a pint of Drake's at the Toronado, Arshad and I headed in a roundabout way through the Inner Mission and out onto Highway 80 over to the Pick'n'Pull to find a new motor for the radiator fan on his (other) car.
And me without a camera! After ponying up our $2 entrance fee and signing a disclaimer, we wandered awestruck into a field of cars propped on old wheels, each with their hoods (if remaining) agape. Thousands of late-80s Japanese and American cars, mixed with a handful of Swedish and German models, stood in neat rows on several acres between the Union Pacific tracks and the elevated BART lines. We could hear the noise from the neighbouring Coliseum: massive applause as the Raiders scored, thundering pickups and SUVs as the game ended.
A two-engine diesel rolled by with a couple dozen tanker cars. Several BART trains rolled overhead; we had a spectacular view of the undercarriages.
We found not one, but two radiator fans that looked in good order; in order to save space (and, hopefully, cost), we picked apart the motor from the fan and housing. However, when we got up to the counter, the cashier sternly admonished us for "destroying" two fans and insisted on charging full price ($19.95 + 10% Environmental Surcharge Fee). Seems as though the company would be cheery if we bought the fans for $8 apiece, allowing them to sell the fan blades and the housing separately. No go. So we bagged on the less-reliable looking motor -- we'd pulled it from the wreckage of a Supra, not a Celica -- and arranged to hide the second one so that we could exchange if necessary. We took the first one out to Varonika, but the engine compartment is so durn tidy that we couldn't find any wires with which to test the motor! As we climbed in, I noticed two AA 1.5V batteries: we placed one against each contact on the motor, and then bridged them with a key. The motor spun weakly!
