A Pair Of Deuces

It’s time for something just a little different.

Some weeks ago, in fact the week that our red ‘Vette came back from the paint shop, we had another ‘Vette in the shed.

Rex, a friend, bought a ’74 in California and brought it into Oz via John Cain, a well known identity in this area.

Rex’s ’74 is a lovely yellow car. It’s previous owner had done quite a bit to it, but when it arrived in Oz, we had to do a few things to keep the inspecting Engineer happy (like seat belts, blinkers etc) plus the usual brake calipers and a few other bits & pieces.

Rex only drives his ‘Vette about every 3rd weekend.


On many occasions, he is met with a battery that won’t turn the engine over. We decided to take it to my place, place an ammeter in series with the main battery lead, and monitor what goes on over a period of time.

It turns out that there was nothing really wrong. The radio draws about 60 milliamp and, in time, this is sufficient to bring the battery voltage down to a point where the car won’t start. Rex bought a “Battery Fighter” from Supercheap. This thing plugs into mains power. You connect it to the battery and it monitors the condition of the battery and applies a trickle charge when required. Problem solved.

I also pulled the instrument cluster out to see why the ammeter didn’t work. The contacts at the back were a bit corroded, so this wasn’t a hard fix either.

It was nice having two ‘Vettes in the shed. The yellow and red complimented each other very nicely. Dayle started thinking a “his and hers” scenario. All I can say is “bring it on”.

But Rex wouldn’t want to part with his ‘Vette anyway.