Way back in the winter of 75, my friend Terry's stepfather died. His mother
asked us to clean out the garage, where we found a 66 TR4A IRS which looked
like it hadn't moved in years. After about a month of cleaning out rodent
nests, fixing hydraulics, cleaning carbs, and taping over some of the larger
holes, we actually got the thing running. No plates, no top, no insurance,
no title, no worries(invincible 18 year olds) - we had to go cruising even
though it was snowing. I was at the wheel, when we passed a group of kids
who thought it would be great fun to lob snowballs at the crazy guys driving
around with no top. They were pelting us good, when I spun around and
started chasing them through yards, ditches, and flower beds. They scattered
like cockroaches. After getting back on the road, the front end started to
vibrate pretty bad. We decided to see if the vibration would get better or
worse with speed(much worse). At about 50mph, smoke started billowing from
under the bonnet. Terry yelled "it's going to blow - bail out!" I got the
thing slowed to about 20, when we threw open to doors and bailed out. After
we got through rolling and laughing, we found the car piled up against a
fence. The vibration from the recently broken frame had worked a heater hose
loose and spewed coolant all over the engine. We reconnected the hose and
drove it home. Over the next 2 weeks, we parted it out and used the money
for beer.
Dave Camp
sadder budweiser
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