Now it might work, this little mechanism on the Rover. I mounted the front license plate on hinges to cover the hole but still let it be accessable. Under the back seat is a crank rod that I can fit through the planet Saturn shaped hole in my front bumper. From there it passes through to a peculiar fitting on the crank shaft pully.

These parts were supposed to all be ready to use, but I discovered that not to be the case a couple of weeks ago and with some grinding and shopping around I’ve remedied what was out of whack. They work together to allow me to start my car without using the electric starter. It’s a crank start. Hand crank.

Imagine your rig is in the virgin forest far from roads or service shops and the starter motor burns out. You can’t push start the truck in some cases. If you didn’t bring the kit and tools to rebuild the starter then you need this functionality. Put the hand throttle up a few notches to hold the gas pedal down a bit, set the manual choke, put the shifter in neutral, and hand crank the engine over using the handle.

What? The engine didn’t start? Put the key in the ignition and turn it to the run position. Should have done that in the first place.

If everything else is right then this process lets you start the car without having a starter.

I hope I never have to use it but I’m glad it’s part of the car.

The guy I bought it from used to say that an inordinate amount of the energy in acceleration is spent in the first few feet when it goes from dead stop. This is pretty much the same as the extra energy it takes me to transition from a  dream to feet on the floor and legs in motion. In car parlance this is called “off the line”.

Races are won and lost by the nuances of starting off the line. The runner can jump the gun, which is to literally start a split second before the signal to start is given, and be disqualified. Any racer can mess up. Start in the wrong gear or accidently drop the clutch or hit the wrong pedal and all the competition snarls away without you.

The second and last time I ever skiied, my party all changed into their gear and ran to the slopes ahead of me. I had all sorts of trouble with my boots so that by the time I was ready to face my downhill death, they were gone. I don’t even know if I got much time on the snow beause my late start cost me the confidence I would have taken by staying close to friends.

Hand holding isn’t always that crucial, but it certainly helps. That’s why we train each other in the scary things, like driving a car. The first few seconds might never happen if not for the assurances of someone who “knows”. The rest of eternity rides on those first seconds but not if they don’t happen.

For a while in the early nineties I worked as a bill collector, calling people on the phone and asking them to pay their balance. That is not consistent with my timid nature. The first calls would never have happened if I didn’t have a trainer sitting within earshot expecting me to dial, speak, and properly collect the money. It just felt too awkward at first.

This comes up now because I’m about to embark on two forays into “new territory” that require a start of sorts. Like a good machine in proper tune, I expect the first little bit to be unlike the rest. No car while purring along sounds the same as when it was being started. No plant  looks like the seed from which it springs.

Despite knowing that, I’m acting like the little kid in a place just out of his dad’s reach who knows his father can catch him but can’t be enticed to drop into his arms. It’s rediculous.

I’m acting like when I as a boy went to swim in the cold river and took a long time to coax myself into the water only to discover that it was just fine.

Consistent with this description, I’m finally starting a career as a creative at the tail end of my fifth decade on planet.

Maybe now is the time to put the habit of indulgent hesitation to rest. There is simply too much to accomplish for it to be worth keeping. It’s as if I’ve forgotten all the complex things I’ve completed by simply starting them.

As the old saying (and song lyric) goes, every happy ending needs to have a start. On this world everything that is ever finished has first to be started. Starting makes finishing possible.

Now I’m feeling embarrassed that I’ve procrastinated.

First thing in the morning, I’m fixing it.