bummer! i apparently missed the bay area people at central park in santa clara
on sunday. unfortunately, i didn't show up until about 2:30, so perhaps the
heat ran everyone off - sorry i missed it.
after one of the best road trips in memory, my '69 sprite is
now a resident of san diego! russell (the ecstatic recipient of the
car, now also on the mailing list - hey man!) and i left san jose yesterday
afternoon about 1:30, and pulled into san diego at about 4:30am today
we took the fantastic pch (pacific coast highway - california highway 1 for
you right coasters, OFATP, and any other of the uninitiated) *all the way*
(one of the principal bases of russell's and my friendship is that neither
of us have a ounce of sense, and like it that way (well, and bourbon)).
we actually managed to get the car smogged saturday - much to russell's
amazement (and my considerable pleasure). perhaps the alcohol helped,
and i found a decent smog tech who would actually let me adjust the mixture
to get it right.
the car ran amazingly well. when we left san hoser it was 100+ degrees,
and the new radiator we put in saturday worked great. we used redline
water wetter, and that stuff is unbelievable. even at about 70 in
the massive heat, we barely got to the middle of the N. once we hit
the coast, it was foggy and in the 60's (perfect lbc weather!),
and the temp stayed about halfway between C and N for the rest of the
trip (too cold - our gas mileage went to hell after the first tank,
i wonder if the cold running was to blame?) russell, get yourself
a thermostat! (i've been running the car without one for the past several
years).
following the coast of the monetery bay toward monterey, we smelled the
unique (and frightening) smell of scorched wiring. we pulled off in a beach
parking cutout to check it out, but could find nothing amiss. we restarted
the car, and it didn't reappear, so we put it on the "hmm" list and went on.
we took the car for a brief (probably ill advised, but way too fun to skip)
dip in the ocean at pismo beach in slo-town (san louis obisbo). there's
nothing quite like a drive on the beach in a battered ragtop. highly
recommended! four bucks for all the sand you can trap in your car.
about half an hour after our beach excursion, the generator light came on
solid, and we pulled off (near lompoc (sp?)) to check it out. we pulled
the cover off the regulator, and russell started playing with the cutout,
noticing that if he pushed the contact arm off the outer contact plate,
the light would go out. after reading the manual (bentley) on the
functioning of the cutout, and playing with it a bit, we apparently got
it working again. and stopped in the next town to find a test light so we
could see of there was, in fact, voltage being generated by the dynamo.
the light shone on us brightly, so we called it a win and drove on
(wondering just what a dose of salt water would (did?) do to the generator).
we must have gotten the right test light, because right on
the bottom of the instructions, it said that it was a timing light
for Austin Healey, ...! yet another good sign. the best sign of all
was a lovely blue neon number that said "blue skies" - when we saw that,
we knew we were going to make it, even if not on the strength of our
willie nelson impersonations.
i could babble on for hours about the perfect moments and narrowly
averted mechanical disasters, but the executive summary is - we made it!
unbelievable that my (whoops, russell's) battered sprite could hold up
on a 15 hour marathon road trip without a major problem. kinda restores
my faith in the spiritual purity of impractical, spontaneous, unsafe,
irresponsible, lunatic endeavors.
hans
<grin>
next week: peace (red '66 sprite) is nearly usable. after this weekend,
i've gotta get a daily driver running!
spridget: accept no substitutes. yow!
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