When last we left Our Hero, sometime back in August, I'd just
put the sticky tires on the Green Car, I had been looking for
a Fisher Family Car for some time to replace the aging Biscuit
Tin of Steel, I was thinking about selling The Black Car, and
a few other things.
None of that still applies. From the end of August through
the end of October, my previous employer sponsored me on a
very nice sabbatical during which time I would be encouraged
to find new employment by the prospect of my pay stopping
on or about October 22. With careful financial modeling, I
determined that my unused vacation pay and various other
supplies could keep us going through early this year, assuming
we didn't buy anything except the necessities (Castrol GT
and the occasional Lucas ignition parts).
Fortunately that wasn't necessary, and I arranged to start at a
new place on October 23. During the time off, I worked on a
number of interesting projects, at least one of which has
borne exciting fruit. By this time next year, you all should
be able to go into a technical bookstore and find a volume called
"Multimedia Authoring," by Scott Fisher, published by Academic
Press. Now all I have to do is finish writing it...
We've also solved the Fisher Family Car Conundrum, or F2C2 as
it came to be known. Some of you might recall the issues: we
really wanted back doors as the two kids were getting hard to
put into the rear seat of the '84 GTI; we really wanted something
more interesting than a Late Eighties Blandmobile; we really,
in short, wanted something British, and were willing to pay the
price in added mechanical attention that such a vehicle would
require.
Then something happened. Last December, while driving Torrey to
school, Kim saw a flash of red on a rainy Palo Alto street.
Rushing through traffic to catch it, she fell in love and memorized
the phone number till she arrived at school to write it down. We
called that night, saw the car two days later, and drove it home
after a visit to the bank.
Now for the quiz: It has...
- four doors (as required)
- a 1.8L pushrod four driving the rear wheels
- Lockheed front disc brakes
- Girling hydraulic cylinders for the brakes and clutch
- two SU carburettors, in size HS6
- a rear suspension using coil springs, radius rods and a Panhard rod
- tubular dampers at all four corners
- a four-speed all-synchromesh transmission
Actually, I've already sent the answer to Robb Pryor; Chris Kantarjiev
has seen the car; Miq Millman has heard about it; and I've alluded to
it in a message to MJB. So I'll give you the answer: it's a 1963 Volvo
122S. It's in condition #1, or pretty close to it. When Kim called
the sellers, I watched her eyes get larger and larger during the
phone call: they were the original owners, they've had the car painted
three times since they bought it, they have all the records and a pile
of spares. I have the original sales receipt for it (purchased 11-15-62),
a few really cool bits of period documentation for it (not just the
owner's manual but a book on options, a book on hot-rodding the B18 motor,
and a few other treasures), and a case of oil filters. Original engine
and trans, 105K miles; there's an open seam about 1.5" long on one of
the seats, and other than that the interior is nearly perfect.
Performance is... well, let's just say that it's supposed to have 85 bhp
and weigh 2400 pounds, but either Swedish horses are smaller than
English horses, or English pounds are smaller than Swedish pounds. The
basic handling is good, with the chassis taking a charming set when you
accelerate out of a curve, and it's loads of fun to set up an outside
pass on the exit of a freeway on-ramp and surprise people as this shiny
red Volvo whooshes past them. It's also a comfortable family car, and
frankly, it's really nice to have an immaculate car -- I've had trash
heaps for the past few years, on and off the track, and it's time for
that nonsense to stop.
Unfortunately, The Green Car decided that it was time for it to stop as
well. In March I went to start it and the batteries were gone, so I
replaced them with a single 12V; I drove in a Fiat Club autocross on
April 10, had a great time, did very well considering how little prep
the car had (running in SP with no SP mods other than wheels, still
came in 4th out of 10), and did some serious damage to some as yet unknown
internal engine bits the next time I tried to start it. So I'll be
checking the condition of the spare motor and will try to get it installed
as soon as possible. We know what it's like not to have these things...
Anyway, that brings me up to date, I believe. I've got to sell two cars,
the GTI and the Chevelle -- I sold the race car back in February, as some
of you already knew. I've got a list of interesting cars to look at with
the money realized by the sale of those two plus the advance from the book,
and one of the more hare-brained schemes I'm envisioning is the purchase
of an XJ-S from about 1987, an age that puts their prices within reach.
If I get the Green Car assembled for autocrossing, the XJ-S would make a
fine car for racetrack events, I think, not to mention comfortable high-
speed touring to visit folks Down South.
I'll post a more British-car oriented message a little later, but for now,
Safety Fast!
--Scott Fisher
|