An amazing event! First, all compliments and thanks to Buster and Pam.
Wonderfully gracious hosts that insured a steady steam of food and cold
beverage was available for the sometimes huge crowd of wrenchers. Huge, of
course, referred to the number of spridgeteers, not their girth. Beds when
needed, drinks, food and conversation were all well supplied.
It was great to meet so many people whose names I've known for so long. It
was an amazingly diverse cast of characters, and I mean characters! Every
time you looked up, you were face to face with yet another list member joining
the fray. PeterPP, The Frank, engineer Mike, Paul "Morrisman"A., Ron "very
Soave" and his brother, U-Haul Hal F., and so many more.
I took some pictures at sunrise on Friday of the garage scene before anyone
arrived and will pass on the photos to Buster for inclusion in the album. An
idyllic scene of neatly arranged parts, a clean shell on crates, carefully
arranged tools, freshly plated fasteners sorted into bins and a pristine
bonnet standing on a pad waiting for the hurricane to come. And come it did.
After tremendous progress on Friday and Saturday, there was a letdown as the
hour grew late and a number of critical issues seemed to preclude getting it
started Saturday night. But after Frank did a full strip and rebuild on the
"ran-when-parked" dizzy in about 10 minutes flat, Paul replaced the yet
unplumbed fuel pump with an oilcan, and I found a piece of oil pressure line
to complete the oil circuit, things took a good turn. With the first POP,
everyone came rushing back into the garage to circle the car. A hushed crowd
watched the last few adjustments and then the magic arrived. The motor ran
great and actually settled down to a decent idle even before any serious
tuning was done. The feeling in that garage at that moment with everyone
standing in the cloud of exhaust pouring from the open manifold was special.
A final celebratory cup of Stout and it was time for me to head back to Davis
and leave the final day to the remaining crew.
The Morris woody was a dream for the whole 900 mile trip. Over 31 MPG, good
stereo, comfortable seat and nice suspension. Since the two kegs wouldn't
have fit into Bugsy anyway, it was a good choice for the trip. No overheating
at all, and it even handled the Grapevine on I5 on the way home without even a
wiggle from the temp gauge.
Best to all,
Glen Byrns
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