Well, I took my Midget "Hershey" to the All-British field meet this
last weekend. Got up early Saturday to discover that my roommates
GTI (he planned on following me down on his way to his mother's house)
had blown a radiator hose. It took until 10:30 before it was fixed and
we were on the road.
For the first hour things were fine, then I noticed my temp creeping
up (my car NEVER heats up), it wasn't that it was that high, but
the rate of increase was alarming. About the time it got to about 2/3 to
3/4 hot, it suddenly *dropped* to about 1/3 hot in about 30 seconds.
Either there was a *long* gradual up-grade I didn't notice or my
thermostat is sticking. Anyway, after that incident there were no
more problems on the way down.
Finally got to PIR at about 1:00, got my admission, found out I was
too late to be judged (too bad, because I think I could have got at least
second in the Midget class) and looked around. Found Teriann's Land
Rover (never did find her) and MYEROPA, the hose-green Lotus (once
again no Mike, we need T-shirts!). Stayed around until 4 or so and
then left for my roommates parents place for the evening.
That evening went to MGP, did 11 laps and 2 sprint car sessions and
had a great time. Took almost 1 second off my best time (53.35 vs
54.19) in the 330cc cars (Winner's circle is 52.99 or better :-().
Maybe next time I'll break into the 52 second range.
Went to drive back to were I was staying, turn the starter, WRRRRR!
The Bendix was not engaging! We push-started the car and proceeded
to take the starter out (it's midnight by now). About 1:30 AM we
finished (it was just gook on the bendix, a little WD-40 fixed it
right up) and I crawled into bed.
Sunday, up about 7:30, eat breakfast and I'm at the meet by 9:15.
Looked around a bit, some people asked questions about my car
(I'm asking $3500) and I run the engine for a couple and their 16
or 17-year-old daughter. About 12:30 they come back again and we
go out for a test drive. The father likes the car and offers $2800,
I laugh and say $3300, he says $3000, I say $3200 and he agrees. I've
sold my car! :-) :-( Anyway, they take "Hershey" away and leave me there
with my suitcase and no way back to Seattle!
I figure I can catch a ride with someone, but, of course, almost everyone
from points north has only 2 seats! I finally settle for a ride to
the bus station and catch the express back to Seattle. The bus ride
is another story all by itself, suffice it to say you meet the most,
um..., *interesting* people on the bus. Next time I'll fly.
In some ways I'm happy and in some ways I'm sad that I sold my car.
I'm glad to have the money, but we did have a lot of good times (and
a lot of times like Saturday night) together. Well, at least it got
a good home.
Now of course I'm down to only one (more like 3/4's) British car,
my 1956 Nash Metropolitian parts car. As soon as I also sell my
Mustang GT convertible I'll be in the market for a new project. Just
what I'm not sure yet. Bugeye? TR-3? MGTF? TR-4A? I'm not sure what I
want, but it should be 50's or so, collectible, but not too expensive,
easy to work on :-), not too hard to get parts for and should be a roadster
or at least a convertible. Any ideas or suggestions? I probably won't
be ready to buy until December, after I come back from my work trip to
France. Hmm, maybe I could scoot up to England and ship something home???
___ __ __ __ __ Alan Dahl
/ / / / / /__/ /__/ /__/ / / North American MORPHO Systems
/ / / /__/ / \ / / / /__/ 1145 Broadway Plaza
Tacoma, WA. 98402, USA
PH: 1 (206) 593-8021
FAX: 1 (206) 591-8856 ...amc-gw!morpho!alan
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