Classic/Antique Car Repair: 1958 Plymouth Fury Engine

Question
This is likely not your usual type of question, but I wondered if you might be able to help. I'm an author of romantic suspense stories, and I have a heroine who drives a 1958 Plymouth Fury. I need the car to break down (because how else will she meet my garage-owner hero!) ... I need the cause to be something he can't immediately fix, and to be something that may take a while to get parts to repair it, requiring the car to be towed to his garage. Would you be willing to give a girl a clue on where to start figuring that out? My hero really needs to sound like he knows his stuff when he explains it to her :-)
HUGE THANKS!
Scarlett

Answer
I have had requests like this before. My sister In law is Robin Wells, the romance novelist. So lets see what we can dream up here that will stand the test of a technical proof reader. Being a Fury model lets put kind of a rare engine in the car one that one would have to order parts for. Lets try the 350 CID Golden Commando engine with the twin 4 barrel carburetors. So lets say our, your heroine is driving down the road, maybe a little too fast and the engine develops a loud knocking. She pulls over and good samaritans stop, listen and the consensus is to have the car towed and they know just the place. He diagnosis the problem as a broken valve spring. The job is only a several hour repair but because it is a rare engine the part will have to be ordered from the factory and that could take several weeks. Now that should be enough time for the story to get a little steamy. If you need more time built into the story line there is always the possibility that there was damage done to the cylinder head when the spring broke and that would not be known until the old spring was removed. That could then include scouring junk yards for a used head and other parts or ordering new from the factory. Hope this helps, good luck. As a published author it would be nice if you could credit me , thanks.