Well, after not driving the car for BCW Day 2 (air conditioner drip
pan in ceiling decided to overflow and dump 1 weeks worth of water
through my ceiling into my kitchen - hey, does Lucas make air
conditioners??), I was determined to get the Spitfire out for Day 3.
Talked my wife into taking a break from writing a paper (she's about
to graduate Grad School) and accompanying me on a quick repeat of the
journey I wrote about on Monday. I wanted to hit that spot at the end
of the runway and do some more plane spotting.
Cranked up the car, and noticed the gauge lights weren't working.
Fiddled with the wiring under the dash - err, I mean, technically
diagnosed the short - and got the gauge lights on. Well, all except
the tachometer. 'Diagnosed' some more, and was finally ready to go.
Left the neighborhood, took the same route as before. The car was
running beautifully. This was my test run, to see how it was running,
before bringing it to work the next day - 27 miles each way.
Hit the highway, heading for the airport. All of a sudden, we hear a
thump-thump sound above us - look up, and there's a Police helicopter
directly above us, spotlight shining on the car. We felt like
sitting-ducks, helpless, nowhere to go - or, at least, nowhere to go
quickly. It was really cool, but also kind of eerie - felt like the
movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." He moved off, apparently
having temporarily satisfied his LBC curiousity, and headed for the
landing pad.
Cruised around, hit the airport, was having a ball. Stopped at the
dirt shoulder at the end of the runway, and switched off the car.
Watched some planes land, and then decided it was time to go.
Switched the car on, and - nothing. No crank, not even an attempt.
Turned the switch off, then back on - nothing. Green oil light
glowing, ignition light on, but not cranking.
Hmm, I say, as I look at her and she looks at me. We'll just turn it
off and let it charge a bit - maybe it'll crank up. I remember that
my nice 4 D-cell maglight is in my garage. What is it they say about
hindsight and foresight again? And, exactly who are THEY, anyway? I
decide I really don't like them anyway, and try to crank it again. No
dice.
It's at this time that I'm thankful that the car only weighs about
1600 lbs. We spin it around, back it up into a small drive, and face
it downhill. I jump in, and my wife pushes (she didn't think she'd be
able to pop the clutch right. Okay, okay, so I won the
rock-paper-scissors match two for three!) and I drop it into second -
vroom, there she goes. We jump in, grinning from ear to ear, and head
back for home.
We both utter a sigh of relief, as the Spitfire is again back in the
hanger, happily leaking oil on my new garage floor. Laughing, we
glance to the other car in the garage, and she says - "Hell - we've
never had that much fun in the Toyota, and that's got 106k miles on it!"
I just sit back and smile. Feeling under the dash to the ignition
module, I feel a loose dangling wire. "Oops," I say to her as she's
getting out, "I don't think it's 'Ol Smokey's fault we were stuck on
the side of the road. I think I disconnected the ignition switch!"
(Note: Remind me to fire the mechanic next time I see him - wait,
that's me!)
Needless to say, I had to take my 106k beast in to work the next day.
As I'm running down the road at 75 mph, sunroof open, electric windows
down, I think to myself - this is nice, but where are the exhaust
fumes and the double-clutching? Hell, the Toyota even has carpet!
And the seats are bolted in! No stress cracks on the bonnet - does a
Toyota even have a bonnet?
Think I'll fix that wire on the ignition tonight. Oh, yeah - and top
it off with clutch fluid. Now, if I can just get rid of that Toy... :P
Cheers!
Chip
'71 Spitfire MKIV - 'Ol Smokey
==
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Aerodynamics are for people who cannot build engines." - Enzo Ferrari
|