Well, I lost an old friend a week ago, and it was my fault. A week ago
Thursday, July 26, on my way home from work, I was driving up Telegraph
Road in the right lane, a bit north of Square Lake Road (this is the
northern Detroit suburbs we're talking about here). Typical afternoon rush
hour. Two cars ahead, a green Grand Am slowed to turn into Anderson Honda,
then stopped entirely for reasons not completely explained. The car
immediately ahead of me, a 2nd gen Neon, did a nosestand to get stopped.
I, in my trusty '94 Probe GT, known as The Gryphon, also stood on the
brakes and simultaneously aimed right, hoping that by hopping the low curb,
I'd buy enough distance.
It didn't work. I missed my mark by about 10 inches. The left front of
the Probe went under the right rear of the Neon. It hit high enough to
peel the popup headlight cover back, wrinkle the hood, and push the LF
suspension rearward enough that the tire rubbed the back of the wheelwell,
and it had about 4" of toe out. The Neon was lightly wrinkled, will need a
new bumper skin and a light pull, but was drivable. No injuries to either
party. The Grand Am completed its turn.
The Gryphon left on a hook. I went to the towing yard on Saturday to get
the rest of my stuff out of it, and looked at it again. It looked fixable.
Yeah, it needed to be pulled out, and a new fender, hood, and left
headlight pod fitted, but the radiator and condenser were intact, and it
looked to me like the suspension was mainly intact and would come back when
the shotgun (front rail) was pulled out.
Monday, the insurance adjuster stopped counting at $5000. I think he only
went that high to humor me after he saw the 178,000 miles on the odometer.
The really bad part is that I flew out on Sunday for three weeks of testing
for work, so I didn't have the opportunity to give the Gryphon a proper
goodbye.
I ordered the car new, taking delivery in December 1993. Built just the
way I wanted it. I probably put 98% of those 178K miles on him myself. We
had many adventures together -- and that car always got me home. It's not
a bright spot of my driving career, but I remember a trip home from Auburn,
Indiana, in 1995 where I have zero recall of the last 35 miles of the trip.
I remember passing Michigan International Speedway, but that's about it.
No alcohol was involved, just fatigue, but the car got me home. In fact,
1995 was the monster year for the Gryphon and I. Due to a divorce
proceeding, I was going back and forth from Michigan to Tulsa, Oklahoma, at
least once a month. Even the truckers on that route got to know me and the
car -- they knew they could count on Gryphon to run front door. 1995 was
also the year that the Gryphon and I ran every autocross we could get to.
It wasn't a pretty year for Crider, but we weathered the storms, and had
some good times. Set some personal bests -- our 12 hour, 43 minute
(including stops) run from Tulsa to Ypsilanti (Michigan), a distance of 913
miles, is one I haven't beat yet.
At 170K miles, the water pump went and took the head gaskets with it. The
Gryphon sat dormant for a while, then, last November, we (my wife Karen and
I) put a fresh engine with all the trimmings in it, bolted on some fresh
tires, and the Gryphon returned to duty. He got a new stereo this spring,
new Kuhmo warm-weather tires, also this spring, and a new antenna just a
couple of weeks ago.
We never competed together at the Solo II Nationals, although Gryphon
attended in '96 as our support vehicle when John McIver and I were running
John's ex-Danny-Shields MX-6. But we won a bunch of trophies together in
'94, '95, and '96, and even one in '97 when he came out of retirement after
the MX-6 was laid up after an encounter with a deer. He was a great car, a
faithful companion on the road, and I'm going to miss him.
Karen went by the tow yard Tuesday and removed the last of our things --
the stereo and the license plate, with its Detroit Region SCCA frame.
Someone will get the custom 2.5" cat-back exhaust with stainless SuperTrapp
(freshly re-cored) muffler. Someone will get some 225/50-16 Kuhmo Ecsta
712s with less than 4000 miles on them. And someone will get the rest of
its bones, too. Each part will carry a little bit of the Gryphon's spirit
with it, and I'm sure they will serve their new cars well.
I hate having to say goodbye by remote control. The Gryphon deserved a
better end than I gave him, and I feel absolutely rotten about that. Fly
high, my friend. You will be remembered.
Jim Crider
autojim@att.net
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