How to Fix an Exhaust with "Style"

By: Greg "O"

Did Mrs. Campbell ever help you out on your exhaust? I know of one time she helped me out, though most of the time it was one of the "triplets”: Mountain Dew, Pepsi, or Coca Cola. We’d just cut the top and bottom off one of those cans, scrape up 70 cents or so for two clamps, and we were on our way -- semi-permanently of course.

I don't recall too many of my motorhead crowd from the early 70's who could afford new exhaust stuff, whatever the cost was or wasn't. Even hacking on it in our driveways or freeze-your-butt-off-crawling on the garage floor wasn't the issue and nobody dared think the ultimate insult: Paying a shop to do it.

According to my pal David "The Wrench" Pollock at O'Brien’s Service in Ferndale, there's not much of that creativity anymore. Steel pop cans have long ago given way to aluminum and still others have gone to plastic. Most folks now who do temporary patching are using flex-pipe. (Sure it works, but it sounds soooooo boring.)

So, in my travels, during which I complained about the coming cruise season coupled with the high gas prices, I stopped in to O'Brien's. David showed me this fine masterpiece, the likes of which are rarely seen these days, mostly due to excessive heat and the easy availability of flex-pipe.

One really has to appreciate the effort that went into this: slicing a coffee can right down the seam, cutting off the extra, then binding it all together with mechanics or MOPAR wire. Don't know about the rest of youz, but I think Uncle Maxwell would be proud.

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