On the Road to Buffalo
by Cap
What do you think, when you are driving along with a friend to a car show and
with several hours of driving time remaining, he
pulls over to the side of the road and starts taking apart his carburetor. Do
you start thinking about tow-trucks and missed
check-in times? When you see little springs, floats, and parts all over the
place do you start feeling like that road-kill
lying a few feet away? How about when the big rigs flying by almost blow all
those parts into the ditch? Not to worry!
When Tony deFoster says "this will just take a minute", he means it. I wish I
had a stopwatch when we pulled to the side
of the road because it was only a few minutes before he said "hah!" and then put
it all back together. That was it,
wham, bam, and slam the hood, we're on the road again. Total time? under ten
minutes!
If you're thinking he should have checked out that carb before he left, forget
it, I'm sure he did check it, but this was effectively the
maiden voyage in a car that was nothing but a shell (no glass, interior, wiring,
etc.) only nine days before. In fact it was little more than
six months ago that Tony was trying to locate a car to start this project on.
After the last possible day for the paint job went by,
with no paint, a decision had to be made; paint the car and leave it home, or
skip the paint, put it together and drive it in primer.
The answer was never in doubt, ready or not, this car is going to Buffalo.
When a guy has to get a car ready for a national event and drive it on the 350
mile round trip, you know he's going to be busy.
If the car has been modified from its original state he has even more things to
worry about. When those modifications
involve replacing the stock four cylinder engine in a little transaxle Tempest
with a fire breathing super duty 428;
replacing the transmission and driveshaft, and adapting the rear-end suspension
to accommodate a live axle; replacing parts of
the interior with ones from a larger car; and fitting 8-lug hubs and wheels
where they were never meant to be; you have one very
busy guy.
Nice going Tony, that trophy was well earned.
|
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| On Your Mark... |
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| Get Set... |
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| Go! |
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| The Master At Work |
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| Another Job Well Done |
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