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First off, I want to apologize to those of you who were following
our exploits south of the border in the "La Carrera Chronicles". About
a month after returning from our trip this last year, I became engaged
to a wonderful young lady, and the resulting wedding planning (as anyone
who has experienced this will know), immediately began consuming
slightly more than the collective free time of the two people in
question. Consequently everything, yes even working on Redcar, got put
on hold until The Day of Union had passed.
Well it has, I am now a married person, the thank you notes have all
been written, and I can get back to business at hand, namely car stuff.
-Daren
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lc943
Magic Arrow goes to Mexico, pt. 3
or "Welcome to Ensenada"
Thursday, March 24, 1994
On the morning of the day we would arrive in Ensenada for the 9th
Annual La Carrera Classic Road Race, I was up with the sun. Shaking the
Porter cobwebs from my head and whipping up a cup of lethal java, I
peered out the window and remarked to Paul that someone had trashed his
hood while we were sleeping, a comment he failed to find the humour in.
Feeling benevolent I let my comrades enjoy a few more minutes of
precious shuteye while I re-arranged the truck and sorted out the
graphics for Redcar.
The decals that adorn our cars are the handiwork of good friend
Chris Scherf. Paul and I have known Chris for a number of years and have
found countless oppourtunities to utilise his skills as a graphic
artist, and since opening his own shop last year (Eye-Com Communications
415.856.1313), he has spent much time making us look like a Real Race
Team.
Aside from the "magic arrow racing team" shirts and tow vehicle
decals, one of the ideas we had was to decorate Redcar in period
graphics. For Christmas last year I received a nice big book on the
1951-1954 La Carrera Panamericana races, complete with over a hundred
pictures of the original cars. This I took to Chris' shop, where he
scanned in a drawing of one of the original Panam-issue license plates
and replicated two in plastic, substituting "Classic" for
"Panamericana", and our preferred car numbers (59 for me, 62 for Paul).
These were the absolute hit this year, with people hounding us about
where they could buy them. Incidentally, the gentleman that "rebuilt" El
Caballero de Hierro remarked after seeing our plates that the original
plate on his car is considered to be more valuable than the car ! Chris
also replicated the large script "IX La Carrera Classic" and "Mexico"
than runs up the front fenders, and "piloto: Daren Stone" on the door.
But the coup de grace was the Mexican flag crossed with an American
flag, a symbol of unity from when the Pan-Am highway was first
completed, which was the ostensible reason the Panamericana races began
in the first place. Chris replicated this, substituting the Union Jack
for the American flag, and sized it to fit across the boot of Redcar.
And it looks absolutely beautiful.
By now the sun was up as was the rest of the household, bleary-eyed
but eager to get on with our journey. Being somewhat ahead of schedule
we had time to put on the decals and shoot a few pictures before
enjoying a leisurely breakfast at Dairy Mart Road (last exit before
Mexico). The border crossing was uneventful (excepting me taking a wrong
turn and then having to venture down "drive through upholstery row" to
get back to Hwy 3), and we motored south, arriving in Ensenada at high
noon.
The parking lot of the hotel was abuzz with the sound of finely
tuned motors and nervous drivers. Tech inspection had commenced and it
seems there was now some question as to the roll cage requirements, with
the open cars supposedly requiring full forward bars extending up and
over the driver's head. This late-breaking change had snagged a tidy
289-powered Jensen-Healey, which was now across town having a "proper"
cage built up. (The notion of having a roll cage built in the outskirts
of Ensenada still gives me the willies). Thankfully the organisers were
graciously covering the cost of these modifications, but nevertheless I
did not feel comfortable having the local tubing bender take a whack at
my car. In hopes of persuading the scrutineers (!) that my car was
"legal", we quickly installed the diagonal forward bars and left the top
up. Several times they came by to see if my car was ready to be checked
(each time with a fresh beer in hand !), and each time I asked that they
give me a bit more time. I must admit my hidden agenda was that the
longer I waited, the more "lenient" they'd become, and although I felt
that my car would pass, I was still a bit worried about this new roll
bar edict and them using me as an example. Thankfully my fears went
unfounded as both Redcar and Paul's Shelby passed with flying colours,
and we were awarded our tech stickers.
No sooner than Brendan had presented us with fresh Pacificos to
celebrate our cars being deemed legal, than our attention was drawn by a
sickening noise that I'm sure everyone is familiar with, that being the
sound of two automobiles crashing together. Or in this case, one
automobile and my trailer. We spun around to see that a local had
misjudged how much space it actually requires to park an LTD after
you've had tequila for breakfast, and crashed into the corner of my
trailer, shattering one of its rear lights.
We all watched with curiosity as the driver attempted to park
several more times, each time getting this boat of a car a little
straighter. Finally he was satisfied with his efforts and stopped, at
which time we surrounded the driver's door, and out tumbled a
well-dressed elderly gentleman, who was completely schnockered. I asked
him what he was going to do about my light. He teetered a bit, and the
smiling a little, apologized and said he spoke no English. So I asked
him to give me $20 for a new light. In Spanish. This threw him off, and
he replied he needed to go into the bar to see a friend, and then he
would pay me. Figuring he wasn't going anywhere unless we let him, we
let him go to the bar, with Paul following unnoticed. Paul watched him
walk into the bar and looking around a la secret agent, produce a
*large* roll of bills, where he peeled off a $20. At this point he
looked up and saw Paul, who just smiled. Paul followed him back outside,
where he apologized again, and handed me the twenty. More gas money I
figured. We managed to patch the light together with duct tape & tie
wraps, but somewhere on the way home, on a rutted detour road outside of
Ensenada, Paul radioed forward that he'd just seen the entire light fall
off when we hit a bump. Oh well, another thing to fix when we get back.
Thankfully this would be the last of our troubles, and for the
remainder of the afternoon the cars trickled in, the complimentary
cervezas flowed, the rain threatened and the car fiddling continued.
Attendance this year featured the usual collection of Pan-Am
contenders, with Fritz and Gayle Kott in their '54 Lincoln and '49 Ford
respectively, another '54 Lincoln, and a brace of well-prepped 356s
(most in my class!). The hot rod contingent was also well represented;
the Jensen-Healey with Webers, 5spd, and a new roll cage, as well as a
small-block XKE Roadster w/nitrous, which was completely stock appearing
and terrifyingly quick. And then there were three of the most evil 914s
I've ever seen. Two of them were regulars from Las Vegas; both 914-6s,
one being a full tube framed, chopped top monster that has bettered
170mph in the Silver State Challenge, and *is* street legal, registered
and insured. The other is a beautiful black flared model with a very
potent motor and full roll cage. Then there was the third, which had
been fitted with a small block Chevy and sounded like Armageddon when he
fired it up. With the license plate "CERPRIZ", it fit right in.
Other noteworthies were two Allards, a perfectly restored (down to
it's bias-plys !) RHD TR3A, A Saab Sonnet V4, two other Bugeyes, and two
exhibition cars; the aforementioned "El Caballero de Hierro" (Iron
Horse), and a dry lakes style Hemi-powered '23 T track roadster that was
being featured in Street Rodder or somesuch. The remainder of the lot
was made up of the odd Camaro, Mustang, Miata, Nissan, Toyota, BMW, etc,
for about ~45 cars total.
Next: Part 4, Carroll Shelby doesn't look too good, and hillclimbing in
the rain.
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