This one happened to me and a friend a couple of weeks ago.
-so saturday night we decide to go skiing up at Lake Tahoe for the day -
me, sarah, mike and david. We're coming from San Francisco so it's about a
three - ish hour drive in good weather.
-i persuade my friend mike to take his brand new (to him) 1967 mercury
montclair (aka the merc.) up to tahoe, the thing is as big as a house and
all of our gear including skis & snowboards doesn't even come close to
filling up the boot (trunk).
-we get going a bit late, about 7am, and zoom up to sugarbowl in a bit over
2 -1/2 hours
-it snows all day but we have an awesome time playing in the fresh snow
-end of the day, it's cold, getting dark, everyone is knackered, and, of
course - the car doesn't start - no amount of
coaxing/swearing/cranking/towing/wiggling/tinkering helps. There is no
spark at the plugs so I was guessing that the coil was shot.
-we finally get a tow to truckee (20 miles away), david and sarah in the
truck, me and mike freeze our butts off in the car. $140 bucks later we are
now stuck in truckee even slightly colder than before.
-no mechanic on duty. garage will rent us a car for a mere $90/day, two day
minimum.
-i was planning on taking a bus or shuttle to reno since i had to be at
work there first thing monday morning. no way no how no bus no nothing.
-we rent the car and drive back to sf - six hour trip through
nasty-shi*%$#-blizzard and arrive around midnight - i have to be at the
airport by 7am to fly back to reno
- we unload mike and sarah - i realize that the keys to my place are still
in the merc in truckee
-i drive all across town to go and wake up my friend tony to get my spares
-i get back to my place and it turns out another friend of mine, who is
again between apartments, has his stuff strewn all over my place and is
snoring happily in my bed - he didn't wake up the whole time i was there -
i still don't know how he got in since he didn't have any keys.
-at this stage i think something must have snapped - i call mike and tell
him to catch a quick nap and that i'll be over an hour to pick him up
-i get cleaned up, pack my stuff for reno, put away my skis, have a quick
snack and a *very* long shower to recharge the batteries and go back to
mikes place - terry is still asleep
-mike jumps in the back seat and sleeps the whole way back to truckee, we
arrive at about 6:00am and pick up my keys out of the merc before heading
on to reno - the storm has cleared almost completely in the space of 4
hours and it's now a perfectly clear night.
-we arrive at The Silver Legacy hotel/casino in Reno around 7am - that's
the place i stay at when in reno for work - it's a bizarre scene, me and
mike looking like something the cat dragged in and some old ladies still
cranking on the slot machines.
-we get some breakfast and mike drops me off at work around 7:30am this
morning
-he heads back to truckee to arrange to have the car fixed
-the mechanic spends about a 1/2 hour on it and finds that there was an
ignition 'kill switch' hidden underneath the steering column. mike must
have bumped it off while changing his boots or something. the previous
owner had neglected to mention this little feature when he sold the car.
-the car starts perfectly once the switched is turned back off.
-mike drives back to San Francisco, i spend a very unproductive day and
work and we both crash about 6pm that evening.
- 24 hours, a days skiing, about $400 wasted and 800 miles on the
road......
well that was my sunday, saturday really sort of paled in comparison
take care in '98 everyone
Mark Sinclair
64 spitfire
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