First, let me congratulate our own Steve Timmins (and I hope it isn't Mike
or Bill or something, because my memory is totally blank right now) on his
story in The English Channel on coaxing his GT-6 home with a screwdriver and
and ARMCO barrier. But, umm, it seems to me that this story first appeared
in SOL mail! So we scooped VTR, that's okay with me. :-)
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A longish tale follows:
TeriAnn tells us:
>I am concerned about how all my cars work in all kinds of weather. This is
>because I expect all my cars {that are currently on line} to be able to go
>anywhere at any time. Be it down to the store or a thousand miles away.
This point was underlined by a wonderful-but-wet trip Sharon and I took in
Percy this past weekend. Of course, I don't usually take him out in wet
weather either, but we do like to use him for recreation and sometimes
recreation is however you find it. BTW, he has never had a problem with
unsufficient windshield wipers. Also I recently mounted a set of ANSA (or
is it ANCA?) 11-inch blades to replace the 12-inch blades he had when I
bought him. (They don't make a 12-inch version in black, or so it seems.)
The 11-inchers do just fine. It's nice to have clear windows in the rain!
Due to a wedding cancellation, we had a hole in our band's schedule and a
reservation at a B&B inn in New Hampshire (part of the wedding plans). So
on Friday morning we loaded up Percy with packs and boots and such, and
headed north for the weekend. The boot held two pairs of boots, a largish
duffel of clothes, a smallish cooler, two grocery bags, the spare tire, and
a few incidental items. Behind the seats were our two internal-frame ski
packs that double as day-hike packs (with smaller packs we'd carry less
weight, I keep reminding myself) and another small clothes bag. A small
CB radio antenna with magnetic mount snakes back through the rear window
zipper, and our hiking sticks share Sharon's side of the passenger space.
All in all, we'd be hard-pressed to fit much more in. It's looking like
a bit of folly to take Percy instead of The Van (a Dodge Caravan named
Vincent) but this forces Sharon to take less than the kitchen sink. :-)
Sharon was understandably afraid of three hours of sun so we had erected
the hood but unzipped the back window. (Wonderful invention, almost as good
as a convertible top itself!) Weather predictions (This is New England!
Ha!) said it would cloud up with a chance of a shower by late afternoon,
but the sky was the brightest, sunniest blue you could imagine (at least
to the north and west). Within an hour the entire sky had turned white;
okay so they were right, sort of. This made it a cool ride on up to the
White Mountains and through Franconia Notch, so the heater felt good.
It was slow motoring up the dirt road to the Zealand trailhead because the
surface was a bit washboardy and a loaded Spitfire isn't the smoothest beast.
We pulled up alongside a family of two parents and two small sons preparing
for the 2-mile walk in to Zealand Hut. The boys were wowed by the car, so
we made two friends just by being there. We walked nice and easy aiming for
Thoreau Falls until we neared the center of Zealand Notch. While talking to
a ranger we watched the far peaks fade away into grey haze. Hmmm, weather
was moving in. For the remaining 2 miles in plus 5 miles out, we walked
through the chance of shower, a steady, heavy rain that stopped for maybe 30
minutes while we were still deep in the woods. Our arrival back at the car
presented us with an interesting technical challenge - how to get the least
dirt and water into the car while maintaining our vacation-composure...stuff
the packs behind the seats without unzipping the rear window...hold up my
poncho like a tent so Sharon can climb in while still relatively dry...find
some safe place in the already-packed boot to store two thoroughly soaked
ponchos, without drowning... Ever try to replace your heavy, dirty mountain
boots with running shoes while sitting in the driver's seat of a Spitfire?
Great fun!
Fortunately, Spitfires have great defrosters, so with the new windshield
wipers, we had no trouble seeing to drive out. After a 30-minute drive,
we found the inn with no trouble. On checking in, the landlord commented
that there was supposed to be a chance of a shower here too but this already
qualified as real, card-carrying rain. Then he stepped outside to offer to
help us unpack our car. Heh! Heh, heh, heh! (He started laughing when he
saw it.) Maybe it did look a little ridiculous. We had a great time that
evening and for the rest of our stay. The innkeepers were wonderful.
Percy played a small role for most of the rest of the weekend. Some friends
met us Friday night, and we rode in their 4-seater Subaru to the trailhead
to climb Franconia Ridge on Saturday. (Imagine a car being bigger than our
Spitfire and that car being a Subaru!) Percy slept until we motored off to
another trailhead in Waterville Valley on Sunday morning. Pulling onto a
highway ramp, we noticed a peculiar spitting sound. Damn, sounds like we've
blown an exhaust gasket. Oh well, that's another afternoon's work. The
blown gasket didn't get any worse, and we were only slightly down on power,
so the rest of the trip home was no trouble at all. Percy is quite happy
cruising in OD 4th at 60-70 mph. Speed limits drop to 55 at the Massachusetts
line, so that's where the big speed differentials start, some folks still at
60-65, others doing 50-55, and the omni-present few maniacs doing 85+ on a
very crowded highway. Plus it's 4 lanes here. Yeesh! We slid over to the
right and motored home in obscurity.
It was a good weekend. Terrible weather (which made it all the more, shall
we say, interesting), good motoring, and great fun. Percy is resting, waiting
for me to acertain exactly which gasket is blown (probably the one between
manifold and catalyst). Otherwise, all three of us are ready to go again.
The Spitfire was part of the fun.
Jim Muller
Intrepid Spitfire Pilot and North Woods Explorer
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