Jeff and the list,
ok, i'll chime in on the long distance spit debate. How far is
it from Washington
D.C. to Key West, Fla ??? Several years ago, I took a teaching job in the
Keys, because I
grew up in Fl. and was sick of D.C.(weather, traffic, the fact that it's D.C.,
and lastly,
Marion Barry. How much brainpower does it take to not vote for a crackhead...
twice ??) I
took my '80 Spit with 197,000 miles on it (it happens when you own one as a
daily driver
for 15 years) with the idea of retiring it on the very small island of Key West
(2mi X 4mi).
Then, I got a load of the drive on the Overseas highway, from Miami to Key
West . 150
miles of 2 lane blacktop with some nice long bridges connecting the islands in
a chain and
nothing but water on either side. I decided I had to keep the car alive long
enough to make
that drive a few more times before the car died for good (@208.000
miles...still have the
speedo ). If I guessed, I'd say the mileage from D.C. was 1200-1300 miles
one-way, with
no stops other than to replenish leaking fluids (including my own leak... ).
Sorry for the
length but, it's hard to stop reminiscing once you start...
Dean Martz
('63 Spit 4)
Jeff McNeal wrote:
> The farthest I traveled in my original '67 Spitfire was roundtrip from Los
> Angeles to San Francisco, logging about 1,200 miles roundtrip with a lot of
> other driving going on. In the middle of the journey, the splines on my
> right front wheel wore down and the whole wheel fell off going down a
> freeway offramp at 60mph.
>
> My second longest journey in my current '67 Spitfire was 19 miles before my
> left front wheel fell off, going 6 MPH in a parking lot.
>
> Funny how history has a way of repeating itself!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Jeff in San Diego
> '67 RHD Spitfire Mk3 aka "Mrs. Jones"
> www.ohms.com/spitfire/spitfire.shtml
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <SJagGo@aol.com>
> To: <spitfires@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Friday, February 18, 2000 10:58 AM
> Subject: Long distance Spits
>
> >
> > Greetings:
> > What's the farthest drive any of you have taken in your Spitfires?
> > My personal best, no CO-driver has been 6100 miles, including the last
> 1500
> > (Lava Hot Springs, ID to Springfield, IL) stopping only for gas, oil, and
> > fast foods. That's what the 1500 really stands for-1500 miles.
> >
> > The quirkiest has been Springfield to Macon, MO to Columbia, MO to St.
> Louis
> > back to Springfield. Over 500 miles. Why? A girlfriend called and
> wanted
> > to go for a drive. "How far?" I asked. "Till I say to turn back," was her
> > reply. She fell asleep about 50 miles out and never told me to turn back
> > until she woke up near Macon. We ate a very late dinner at a country bar
> > with live band in Macon and headed home by way of St. Louis. Great
> > sunrise-darn those bucket seats and parking brake handle!
> >
> > If you've gone 1500+ miles, what breakdowns occurred. In my case, the
> gasket
> > between the head exhaust pipe and the exhaust manifold blew out. Found
> one
> > in Missoula, Montana. A couple thousand miles later on the return trip,
> the
> > headpipe broke away from the flange attaching to the exhaust manifold. I
> had
> > it welded in Arlington, Oregon.
> > Bill Brockschmidt
> >
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