Howdy!
The weather this weekend was absolutely beautiful. I'm originally from
Texas but now live near Dayton, Ohio. Don't get me wrong, I love Texas.
However, September in Texas is just more of August in Texas -- hot and
humid. Here in Ohio, the trees are starting to turn and the highs are only
in the mid 70's. Sunny skies, cool weather... It all adds up to really
great top-down driving weather.
With the weather so nice, my wife and I decided to take the family for a
drive Sunday afternoon. This means "Two-car Caravan". The kids argued over
who gets to ride in the Spitfire first, and my daughter won. She and I
jumped in the Spitfire, my wife and son jump in the van and off we go.
Destination: Mershon's in Springfield. Mershon's is a used car dealership
that deals almost exclusively in classic muscle cars. OK, I know they're
closed on Sunday, but it's a car related destination and they always have
something interesting out on the lot. Besides, spending time with the kids
during the drive over is the real draw.
We took the old pike from Fairborn up to Springfield. Lots of twists and
turns. The Spitfire was running well but seemed just a little short on
power, even for a Spitfire. But it's not overheating, no odd noises or
anything, so no worries. We stopped at a state park for a few minutes,
learned a little about the Native American chief Tecumseh, and switched
riders. On to Springfield.
I have to admit that I'm a car nut. I like LBC's, but not exclusively. I
tend to enjoy all cars for what they are, whether its a restored Packard or
a hot rod Chevy. Sports cars lead the list and Mershon's was loaded. They
have about 20 - 30 old Corvettes ranging from the late 50's through the mid
90's. A couple of Chevells, a Charger, and even an old Model T. With the
exception of the Charger, they all looked showroom new. It was fun watching
my 7-year-old son peek in the windows and guessing the names of the cars.
He's getting pretty good, although he still refers to all convertibles as
Spitfires. "Hey dad! There goes a Corvette Spitfire!"
On the way back, I suffered my first fatality since finishing the
restoration earlier this year. The speedometer suddenly dropped to zero and
stayed there. I hope it's just the cable or something simple; however, I'm
afraid that the nylon gear in the transmission has probably failed. You may
recall that during my transmission rebuild, the nylon gear separated from
the steel collar that it's molded to. I couldn't find a replacement and
ended up bonding them together with epoxy. Guess I'll be looking into that
later this week.
Besides being with the kids, the best part was all of the waves we got. We
saw quite a few people out enjoying the early fall weather in old cars, most
of who either honked or waved at us as we passed. For an unplanned, short
90 minute drive, we saw a Jag XK-120 (red convertible), a nicely restored
Road Runner, a drop-dead gorgeous '59 T-bird (pink convertible), and an
early Enfield motorcycle complete with front fender license and the rider
wearing a leather helmet and goggles.
What a blast! Riding around with my kids with the top down and the most
comfortable weather of the year! Hope the weather holds out so I can do it
again this coming weekend.
|