During the whole time working on my skin however, I knew something was also wrong… I heard Tom talk to his brother often about my heart… the old 1600CC engine that they had removed before starting to work on my skin body. The had taken my engine heart to a specialist heart doctor for a full check up. Tom’s brother seemed to understand all the technical details and explaining this to Tom, I noticed Tom was nodding his head but that he did not understand a word his brother was saying. ‘No oil in the top cylinder head… blocked oil channel… camshaft replacement… engine bolts threads damaged…’. It did not sound good…
Tom looked worried and asked if that could all be fixed. ‘Anything can be fixed Tom, but it takes two important things: time and money. If you have both, we are in good shape!” Tom murmured things like…. ’I promised Sara and her Dad…work overtime for extra money…’ and genuinely looked worried everytime Tom’s brother discussed the problems with my heart.
And time it took indeed. The heart surgeon completely dismantled my aging old heart and ordered several new parts. I never liked pictures of open heart surgery and also in my case… look away if you can’t stand the bloody sight of oil dripping from an opened up engine heart…
‘She’s alive Tom!’ I heard his brother shout one day. ‘I knew my guy would be able to fix that old engine heart properly! And with a brand new camshaft, I’m sure this little old engine will be able to reach the top speed this 1600CC engine was designed for in the first place: 100 miles per hour! Yes, you heard me right: this baby was built by the British engineers to be the first one point six litre standard roadcar engine with a top speed of 100 miles per hour!
Tom and his brother collected my newly repaired engine from the heart surgeon and re-assembled everything back together. ‘We’re getting there finally Tom! The difficult stuff is done. Some final work on the interior and we are good to go! Looking perfect from the outside also required her to look fabulous from the inside. We are going to give her a complete new carpet skin on the inside. I know a guy who is good at this at a fair price so don’t worry.‘
Again, Tom took me to another place where friendly, but foreign speaking guys (Polish?) worked on my interior. The warm carpet felt very good compared to the old rubber stuff that covered me previously.
Also, they gave me a completely new roof! I never head a roof over my head as the sun was always shining. I felt like a queen! My own roof hat!
Tom was smiling the entire time when he collected me again from the carpet men. ‘It was not cheap, but you deserve the best Iris… and I promised Sara and her dad, so there really was no choice but to give you the best treatment possible. Final surprise will be to give you new wheels, Iris. The old one are still sort of okay but you know, old shoes need replacement now and then. And if you want to slip into your old shoes again… I won’t throw them away, ok?’
My new life is looking good….I’m thrilled the journey is almost completed!