Tikkabik

Yep, I still have it, and it still runs. It's now three months overdue for a state inspection and the hole in the muffler is louder than ever. Fact is, I haven't had the time, money or inclination to fix it, especially not with the other vehicle (which my kids have taken to calling the TV van) running well, and money still owed on it.

So I take it out basically twice a week -- once to the grocery store, since it has a lot more cargo carrying capacity than the TV van -- and once to the dump, since it's the vehicle that has the dump sticker.

I've noticed that the smell of burning oil is more pronounced than ever. Leaky engines seem to be a "thing" with Ford vehicles regardless of vintage, if they get enough miles on them, and I've known that it was burning oil for sometime since the oil level went down but didn't actually drip out anywhere. I think since the engine sits for days a time before it's turned over, there's more oil pooled up to burn now. The good news is that it isn't discoloring the exhaust, so it's not a huge problem -- at least not yet.

Amazingly, the van starts without complaint and runs fine, despite going from our daily driver to our twice-a-week driver. I think it's enjoying its retirement.