This is something I mull over a lot as well. Everything has been gone
through, rebuilt, or replaced on Mr. Finzzz (my '57 Fury), and I've only put
about 3000 miles on it since, so the car is barely broken in, so you'd think
I'd have no problems, but it IS scary.
Last year, I really wanted to take my car to the Golden Fin Society meet in
Livermore, CA. It's almost 1000 miles away, across no less than 6 mountain
passes. I had every confidence that I could drive it without breaking down,
but I chickened out, and since my Dakota was not yet set up with a tow
package, borrowed my Dad's F150 to trailer the car.
Well, long story short, halfway through the mountain passes, near Yreka, CA,
one of the scariest situations of my life happened! As I was passing a
motorhome on a steep upgrade @ 65 mph, I felt the coolant reservoir burst
and steam and coolant vent out over the hood of the truck and the engine
died. I quickly pulled over, but the shoulder was narrow and on a right
hand curve and there was a guard rail there, and I had to stop so quickly
for fear of having a blown engine that I wasn't completely out of the travel
lane. Once stopped, I could see I still had a foot or two of space to my
right, and with that much of the trailer and my '57 Fury still in the travel
lane, I was gonna try to inch over a little more to protect my car (and me
too!). Since the engine wouldn't run, and the truck was an auto, the best I
could do was turn on the key, put it in neutral, and try to back it up into
place. . . .well, like I said, it was a steep uphill grade on a sharp right
curve, and I was unsuccessful. All I was able to do was slightly jackknife
and have the front of the car about 4 feet into the travel lane! And
tractor/trailers were whooshing by less than 3 feet away!
Just as we were about to call 911 from our cell phone, thank goodness a CHP
officer happened by. He got behind me, used his cruiser push-bars to push
me off the road as much as possible, turned on his overheads to warn other
traffic, called a tow truck, and waited until the tow got there. A life
saver!!!
Then, it was just as scary to watch from inside the tow truck, to see my
Fury being towed by the pickup, which in turn was being towed by the tow
truck! I even got a picture of this if anyone wants to see this strange
combination. It was certainly a test of how well I had cinched the car to
the trailer, as they were bouncing around all over the place. . .scared the
HELL out of me, but the car wasn't at all damaged. But I'll think twice
before making a trip like THAT again.
One the flip side, I drove Mr. Finzzz 300 miles to the WPC National Meet in
Portland 3 years ago (no mountain passes) with no mechanical problems (blew
the rubber boot on the driveline though),and had a great time getting all
the looks from people who'd never seen a '57 Fury before. . . . so I'd be
inclined to drive if I choose to go to a far away event again. But since
I'm not too mechanically inclined, I may just stay close to home!!
Mark mjh
'57 Fury
'68 300 ragtop
----- Original Message -----
From: "Greg Filtz" <filtz@xxxxxxx>
To: <L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 2:04 PM
Subject: [FWDLK] Nerves of steel?
> Group,
>
> A general question to the group if you don't mind.
>
> With the car show and swap meet season approaching, how do you find the
> nerve to drive long distances with your forward look vehicle? I love
> to drive my car, but I stick to local shows and errands. I find the
> thought of breaking down with vintage tin scary. Any thought to share
> with me on taking my car to more events this year?
>
> Greg in WI -1 degrees this morning
> 1956 Dodge Royal Lancer
>
> -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
> 2003 Calendar voting results and ordering information is online! Please
visit:
> http://www.forwardlook.net/calendar2003 for more information.
>
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
2003 Calendar voting results and ordering information is online! Please visit:
http://www.forwardlook.net/calendar2003 for more information.
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