Well, with an Oregon Trip Permit and Hagerty Classic Car Insurance card in
hand I took my wife motoring in the Spitfire Sunday. This was the first
outing the three of us (wife, car, & me) have had since our daughter was
born (she is now 17!). Although this was meant to be a "shake-down" tour,
we still had a great time buzzing along back country roads, up and down
hills, and through lots of twisty turns. We drove up to Bald Peak where, on
a nice clear day like yesterday, you can see the five major mountains
(ooopps, I mean volcanoes) in our area: Mt. Rainier, St. Helens (what's left
of it!), Adams, Hood, and Batchelor. The engine performed very well and
sounded strong except for an annoying backfire that occurs when shifting
over 3500 RPM (suggestions?). This is also the very first time that my
Spitfire has ever been subjected to the "third dimension" in road travel -
hills! It got to the point where I could judge the steepness of a hill by
the reading on the water temperature gauge. Looks like I'll be investing in
an oil cooler sooner than later. Even in the 88 degree temperature
yesterday the cockpit interior remained relatively cool and quiet thanks to
all the insulation I installed.
A few problems remain though like when the engine is warm there is still
some crunching of gears when shifting, especially reverse, and the brake
pedal is still somewhat "squishy" (maybe I'm too used to the power brakes on
my Z-28).
All in all it was a very pleasant experience and made the time and effort
spent on the car over the past 15 months worth every nanosecond.
Yup, we are definitely going to be doing more of these trips in the future.
:-)
I'm thinking of naming her "Grendel" (the Spitfire, that is) from the old
English tale Beowoulf.
Reid & Grendel
'79 Spitfire (original owner)
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