Research question for those savvy with cars

[Whispersecret]

I need help filling in the blanks on this section of my newest story. Can anyone offer suggestions?

“It happened like this. Mom was only sixteen. She’d just bought her first car, a used one, and it conked out on her in Truckee. She brought it to the shop where Dad worked. He didn’t own it at the time. He looked it over and told her she’d have to leave it overnight. When she came back the next day, he told her it needed a lot of work. About two hundred dollars worth.

“What Dad didn’t know was that Mom knew a little bit about cars herself. She confronted him. She told him that she knew she only needed a ______, and not a new _______, like he said. She threatened to call the police and have the shop shut down.”

Then a little ways down the page there's this:

“She took pictures of the ___(auto part)__ and kept copies of his estimate. She told him that if he didn’t turn over a new leaf, she’d turn him in.

Please help!

 

[NoJo]

I'm sorry, Whisper, I just couldn't resist:
1. Fuck,
2. Asshole
3. Camshaft.

I need help filling in the blanks on this section of my newest story. Can anyone offer suggestions?

“It happened like this. Mom was only sixteen. She’d just bought her first car, a used one, and it conked out on her in Truckee. She brought it to the shop where Dad worked. He didn’t own it at the time. He looked it over and told her she’d have to leave it overnight. When she came back the next day, he told her it needed a lot of work. About two hundred dollars worth.

“What Dad didn’t know was that Mom knew a little bit about cars herself. She confronted him. She told him that she knew she only needed a ______, and not a new _______, like he said. She threatened to call the police and have the shop shut down.”

Then a little ways down the page there's this:

“She took pictures of the ___(auto part)__ and kept copies of his estimate. She told him that if he didn’t turn over a new leaf, she’d turn him in.

Please help!

 

[KillerMuffin]

Try this:

“What Dad didn’t know was that Mom knew a little bit about cars herself. She confronted him. She told him that she knew she only needed a belt, and not a new alternator, like he said. She threatened to call the police and have the shop shut down.”

Then a little ways down the page there's this:

"She took pictures of the alternator and the old belts and kept copies of his estimate. She told him that if he didn’t turn over a new leaf, she’d turn him in. "

 

[Whispersecret]

LMAO, Sub Joe. That was funny.

Thanks KM. You're a doll! Are new alternators a couple hundred or do I need to modify the amount?

 

[Rod Hardwick]

LMAO, Sub Joe. That was funny.

Thanks KM. You're a doll! Are new alternators a couple hundred or do I need to modify the amount?

It depends on the car, of course, and its origin. Foreign cars are generally more expensive to repair than domestics, but for the most part you can expect to pay a shop somewhere around $200 to $400 to install a new alternator for you on a domestic automobile.

Rod

 

[KillerMuffin]

You should also consider the phrase "Mom was only sixteen when..."

This implies that it happened at least 35 years ago. Two hundred sounds reasonable. To make it more so, you could give a date. It was back in the mid 60s when mom was only sixteen.

 

[Weird Harold]

needed: Cap and rotor
not a: New Distributor

Took pictures of: old Cap, Rotor, and Distributor.

(Note: add "points" if the car is older than about 1975 (various manufacturers introduced "pointless ignitions" at different times through the late seventies and eighties.

As the son of of a "Master Service Technician" in the sixties, $200 would be a touch high, in the seventies about right for installing a new distributor. In the sixties, mechanics made about $16/hour from a customer charge of $25/hour That went up about $5/hour by the seventies.

Parts in Truckee would be more expensive than in Reno or Carson City, and distributors were a common road breakdown "scam" because they were fairly expensive but easy to install.