After some twenty-odd years of looking at, talking to owners of, and occasionally buying old cars and tractors, I have noticed a pronounced tendency on the part of many older people. They become incapable of addmitting to themselves that their prized Buick or Ford 8N is simply not running. Instead they maintain to themselves the fiction that although it has been sitting completely untouched for five or ten years, all it needs is a fresh battery. This, in spite of the fact that the vehicle in question usually stopped running well in the first place, or it probably would not have been allowed to sit undisturbed for scores of months. This is especially true of Alzheimer's patients and others with dementia. Thus the 8-volt 8N I was posting about. The owner, who has little experience with older machinery, got if from a widow who insisted it ran. In fact the fuel system is badly rusted, and I don't think this tractor has been run for at least a couple of years. I may well be the same myself in about twenty years...
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