Well, there was no progress on Emma this weekend as I spent it in
beautiful Mendocino. However, I have a new leather MG key fob, shift
knob and really nice wool floor mats (the latter two not to be used until
the car's restoration is complete) courtesy of Jenifer who read my mind
and knew just what I wanted for Hanukah. She also had the great wisdom
to get them from O'Connor classics. (Won't Stan Fickes be proud!)
Mendocino was sunny and bright with fantastic surf. At some point, Lucas
invaded my F-1 and the TTL light meter went on the fritz. Perhaps it was
Emma reaching us telepathically from home. In any case, more on the car
later.
Andy's trip part #6, Fiasco at Firestone
My next big surprise came just outside of Sonorra. It seems Firestone
thought a big, wide, flat place would be a good location for its test
center _ and a handsome place for more pictures of the B, rendered in
sepia, of course.
I got a good number of shots and decided I'd move the car just underneath
the Firestone sign. I turned the key. Nothing happened. This is where
my many years -- ok, well four -- of high school science began to pay
off. If I turned the key again, and again, and again, and several more
times, I could conclude by inductive reasoning that a: the car wasn't
going to start if I continued to turn the key, and b: something was wrong
with the car. My teachers always said I have an incredible flair for the
obvious. I guess it's the pigheaded ass thing again.
I hate that feeling when a car won't start. It's even worse when you're
in the middle of fucking nowhere in a 25 year old British sports car you
know nothing about. My stomach was in knots, my adrenal gland was
working overtime and I began to sweat in the 62 degree sunshine. I
opened the hood, propped it with the pecan branch I was carrying along,
crawled under the car and realized that a wire, with a neat little female
spade connector was hanging directly beneath a suspiciously similar male
spade connector attached to the starter. Hmmm.
I hypothesized (high school science again) that if I connected the two,
the car would start, in all likelihood. Connector in place, heart in
throat, I turned the key once more. The car came to life. My
parasympathetic nervous system (more science) took over and I began to
relax. I then took some of the best pictures of the trip during the next
half hour, and drove on toward El Paso and Las Cruces.
Copyright 1995 Andy Ramm
To be continued....
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