By the time you read this, it's quite possible you've gotten reports from
other Spridgeteers who were at Sprite Rush. Still, just to finish my
journal, here's what happened on Thursday.
The big event of the day was an outing to Gettysburg. What a show! All
those Sprites (and some Midgets and even a big Healey or two) winding
through the Pennsylvania countryside, avoiding the LaBrea tar pits which had
been conveniently relocated from California, and finding our way around the
battlefields...'twas spectacular and fun! Jack Merryman, Civil War buff and
master mechanic, put together a very thorough guide to the Gettysburg area.
All in all, a great outing.
Thursday evening's gala anniversary party was a great success. I'm afraid
my note-keeping skills lapsed, so I can only tell you that the
photo/model/handicraft winners were announced, the Chinese auction winners
were selected, and Frank's part identification games were completed. Rick
Moses unveiled the "Tadpole," a bugeye front and back welded together. It
will soon be a trailer. He showed us the infamous rotating transmission
lamp, complete with its badge and pin decorated shade and shifter-controlled
brightness. Kevin Valentine took wonderful photos on Wednesday and we got
to see and purchase the results. Frank awarded the Most Tastefully Modified
Sprite award to Steve Bell -- you gotta love that Sprite emblem on the hardtop!
George Marinos had been plotting during the week to help recognize Rick for
his contribution to Spritedom. My husband Paul, Frank, and I had been
spreading the word about the project and receiving donations from the
participants. We were happy to present Rick and Cindy with two round trip
tickets to Conclave.
It's been said a million times, but the best thing was getting together with
other enthusiasts who love these cars. Thursday night found me underneath
the dash with Charlie Lownsdale, Jay (who works with Jack Merryman), and
especially Peter Samaroo from Charlotte. We fixed my electrical problem --
turned out to be the flasher unit, not the switch -- and got the dash lights
working. All the repairs were possible thanks to Peter's donation of a
flasher unit, dash light, and tremendous skill. What would I do without
these people?!!!
Which brings us to today's attempt to return home. Yes, I said attempt.
Paul drove the van, I drove HEALIUM, and Charlie Lownsdale joined us for the
trip in his beautiful black MK III Sprite. We got about two hours down the
road from Carlisle and stopped in Winchester, VA, for lunch. When we pulled
into the Denny's parking lot I discovered that the throttle didn't want to
stop as much as I did. A frayed throttle cable was the culprit. No
problem, right? Just find a replacement cable. All it is is a cable inside
a sleeve...and, oh yeah, there's a bump on the end of the cable. Nothing to it!
Wrong.
I actually had a replacement cable in the car. It, too, was frayed. We
went to Advance Auto Parts. No luck. They sent us to a foreign car repair
shop. We got our hopes up since there was a BRG big Healey out front. No
luck. They sent us to Big A Auto Parts. They looked for some replacement,
just something that would work. No luck. We tried fiddling with the cables
that wouldn't work. They still didn't work. We found a U-Haul place, and
they informed us that there were no car trailers available, but they located
one that was supposed to be turned in at 5:00 at a place down the road, but
they might not let us do a one-way rental. Paul and Charlie went back out
to Big A, who sent him to another import car place. Jerry Garcia's
lookalike used to have a Midget, and he found the cable!!!! Only problem
was that the fittings on the end didn't fit. There was too much slop in the
throttle, and it still stuck. Paul got another cable. It was too short.
We called U-Haul again. The trailer hadn't been turned in yet, but they
would let us rent it one-way. I had called Frank at some point during all
this, and he pointed out that we could use any multi-thread cable in the
sleeve we already had. Long story short (yeah, I know it's too late): Paul
finally found a cable at a motorcycle shop! We threaded it through the
sleeve, crimped a thing on the end of the cable, the throttle worked, and we
left Winchester, VA, about six hours after we got there. Yaaaaaay!
Another couple hours down the road, we stopped for dinner in Staunton, VA.
Ahhhh, our problems were behind us. HEALIUM can only make it a couple hours
without a fill up, thanks to the Weber carbs, I'm told. Anyway, we had
dinner, ran down to the gas station, filled up, and got ready to hit the
road. Except that HEALIUM wouldn't start. It went
"Rrrrrr-Rrrrrr-Rrrrrr-tickticktickticktick." About four tries later,
though, it started. What's this? The starter solenoid? I don't know.
I'll find out tomorrow morning. If all else fails, we can push start it, right?
So...we were ready to hit the road! No, we weren't. Charlie's lights
wouldn't light. The switch isn't switching too well. Sometimes the lights
come on, sometimes they don't. We called it a night. We're now in a hotel
in Staunton, VA, and we're planning to get going in the morning, head for
Roanoke, where we'll stop at Webb Motors, a British car shop. I called them
during the throttle cable debacle, and they said they had one. I'm hoping
they'll have something to start the starter and maybe a switch for Charlie,
although that's not critical during daylight hours.
Has it been fun? Well, not every minute of it. It has been an adventure,
though, and it's still worth every tick and rattle and buzz and whirr. If
all else fails, we'll find another U-Haul and drag one of the cars home.
Please cross your fingers for us that one of the cars will still be working!
I still love these cars!
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