A big red-faced smiling admission of the truth:
Yes, I loved my car so much I didn't stop driving it when the starter went out for a couple of years actually, but I learned to always park on a hill, and then when reverse went out I learned to avoid situations that required backing up like compression starting it going down a Safeway loading dock. Yes, it started; no, we didn't hit the building; yes, it died again before I could back it out... with my legs and shoulders growing stronger daily.
Who uses neutral to improve gas mileage like I did, and how well I learned the difference between getting good gas mileage and running out of gas! -more pushing than starting.
What have I learned? "The good car" was the name my car earned, although I often called it "the wonder car" lovingly wondering if it would start. "To always park the good car on a hill pointed downhill with plenty of room in front of it"... rule changed over time to "always give yourself a second chance, and always point forward".
I had a lot of help. My brother Mark also had a 600, but he was always trying to break the 50mpg barrier with tricks and technique: driving it steady at 50mph to SanFran or Seattle. One time he got 49.9mpg at 49mph.
He built my 600 by cutting and welding two 600s together: one had a good front end, the other a good rear clip. I think they were welded across the floor and the 'A' pillars of the windshield, back in 1978? So I don't wonder when he sugests taking a 600 and cutting it down the middle to widen its engine compartment to fit Sundance struts into the strut-holes of the now widened 600. He has said he'd like it to be tiny, but not tinier than the '75 CVCC, the perfect sized car. And to key-start.
I don't know now if I would like a 4cyl. tiny car or original better- his ideas were to detach extra weight like the spare and the spare carrier-if you don't have a flat, they're extra weight! But people change, and he is now a Chrysler expert with spares. My sundance weighs 3100 lbs, my 600 was 1100lbs. so I have a lot of weight to trim off! My ideas are to create a golf-cart vehicle by removing doors and hood and hatch, then the roof. If I had a good running 600 I'd never need to change it.
A note to those I've contacted about buying a new 600: I now have that job, but not the first paycheck yet. My tax refunds both came and went into the gas tank of my Sundance Behemoth getting me employed. Don't give up on me! A second paycheck and I'll be looking for purchase again.
Best wishes and Happy St. Patrick's day to all!
Marshall
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