York / So-What / Thank You.

I have had a GREAT weekend!

I might be a little hard to imagine if you look at it wrong, or focus on the bad things.

Here’s what happened.

I drive my 29 coupe to York Pa for the nats and put up a tent at the So-What camp, that night (Friday) I meet up with some guys from Portsmouth Va. and get roped in to going to dinner and then driving one of the guys back to the fairgrounds. Nice folks, good company.

Just as we were leaving it started to rain. I do not mind driving in the rain. Both me and my car enjoy getting wet, but it was not just raining, it was pouring. You have all seen it, rain drops 1/2" in diameter and 3 ft long. The kind that that you can not see through.

Before we left the grounds my break pedal felt soft, and went down further than usual. This detail has nothing to do with what turned out, except that it added to the feeling that I probably should not go on this little trip.

Traffic out of the fairgrounds was slow, and I felt several times that I should "flake out" and stay behind. It was not quite that easy, because although traffic was slow, it was moving, and if I had gotten out it would have clogged things up worse for those behind me. I was also the ride home for this other guy too, and I was two cars back from the guy that I was following and the guy following me did not know where he was going either.

The feeling did not get any better when the roads we were navigating were a foot under water.

The 12 miles to dinner had not seemed far away until I realized that we were not going over 20 MPH.

I was not wearing my waterproof shoes, in fact my sneakers are kind of like sponges.

My friend that asked me along did pay for my dinner and it was a good time while inside, but he did promise the waitress my spare ****on and the two childrens p***es that it turned out that I would not need. It was only a drag that I had to go back out the car twice for forgetting the kids p***es. One shoe got completely soaked when I miss judged a puddle.

About half way back I lost traction and was headed for three on-coming cars. I managed to avoid hitting any of them, but it was close. My avoidance maneuver was the last bit of control I had. The back end swung around to my left further than 180 degrees. I looked over my left shoulder to see what we were going to hit. I did not see anything except a telephone pole. Then WHAM! we hit. The doors flew open and the car shut off. We were pointed the wrong way on our side of the street, half up on the curb. As I am trying to start the car, my p***enger gets out and says "you're not going any where, you’ve lost a wheel". I could not be surprised, we had hit pretty hard. I get out and take a look. All four wheels looked attached to me, and I figured that we had better get the hell out of there before the cops came. I had not hit any one, or destroyed anything that was not mine, so I got back in and started her up and moved it up into a double drive way that would be easy to get out of. The rear driver side wheel was munched and a bunch of spokes were broken and splayed out. The wheel that we had lost was the spare (thank goodness I had one). My guy called the folks we had just eaten with and a minute after he had gotten off the phone. I had the spare on. Things were not great, because the impact had shoved the wheel about 8" forward, giving my Jag rear a ton of "tow in". We shoved everything back in the car and hoped for the best. Well the best was about 6 MPH. At 7 MPH the car was absolutely uncontrollable.

I guess it never occurred to me that 6 miles at 6 MPH takes an hour. Not that it mattered we were so glad to be alive and moving that the endorphins and addrenolin made for some great laughs. I kept recalling scenes from the Cannonball Run that I had just seen the night before, and the most significant part that I remember was the out takes at the end with: Burt Reynolds and Dom Delouise trying not to crack up while doing their lines. Laughing was a great help

The directions that we had gotten were not good. One of the left's we were supposed to make was a “one way” the wrong way, and it was not so simple to just go one more and work our way back. It was a zoo.

We drove in to the fairgrounds and left the car in the Michigan Hotod Garage (an area for broke cars). It was well lit and pretty dry, even though it was closed I could get a lot of work done before they opened in the morning. I walked back across the street to the camp, and borrowed some jack stands out from under a Scotty camper (sorry, I don’t remember his name, but he had a flat gold 5 window with white headers that went through the frame). I don't like working under a jack, and since my luck seemed to be questionable and I would be by myself, it seemed prudent. I did get offers to help from the few people that I told, an abbreviated version of my story to, but I figured that I would do what I could and not mess up the party unless I needed to.

When I got back to the car, I put the jack up under it, and then removed the panel in the trunk that allows me to get to the differential. It gave me a view I had not expected.

A casual observer would notice that the wheel was way forward, towed in, and had tons of positive camber. Having noticed that, your eye would go right to the trailing arm that was buckled out and down, almost touching the ground. Even I had hoped that straightening that trailing arm would put me back where I needed to be. That is until I looked under the panel. The first thing that I saw was the differential all pushed up and to the right. I am not sure if the frame is bent, but the 3/8ths inch plate that the mount is made of sure is. A little peak further down revealed that the lower control arm was bent too.

I took a deep breath and thought hard. I could work my tail off all day Saturday, tax my friends and possibly get it so that it could be driven home. It was also possible that (if I were able to get it drivable that) it might not be safe.

After a few minutes of thinking, I realized that it would be a lot easier to fix in my shop, at my own pace. And that I would probably want to re work anything that I had rigged up to get home.

I am lazy, and I sure did not want to have to spend any more time fixing that thing than humanly possible. “Fix it once, and fix it right” I thought.


One I made that decision. My weekend really started looking up. I moved the car out of the Michigan Hotrod Garage, and a few hundred yards closer to camp, right next to my Portsmouth buddies Ez-Up tent. I rented a 16ft box truck on Saturday, and got a lift from the “burn out” guy’s dad (sorry bad with names) and his rollback on Sunday.

I can not say enough good about the So-What guys and every one at their camp. Even though they might not have believed it, I had a great time.

The good people around me stirred my optimism, and I could not have felt more fortunate that it had not been worse.

No one was hurt. I did not destroy anyone else’s stuff. The body on my car got only one tiny dent (if it does not pop right out, I will probably not fix it). The suspension and frame are fixable. There were no cops, no tickets, and no h***le.

How could I not feel fortunate that things were not worse.

Thanks SO-WHAT guys. Forgive me for not knowing all of your names.


Philip

 

Glad you still had a good time even with the unfortunate incident. A story like that deserves pictures.

 

Heres one for ya..I heard about the accident, but since I'm also bad with names, I didn't realize it was YOU they were talking about! Glad you're OK! How can you NOT have a great time around the So-What camp? Everyone there is the best. By the way..the "Burn-Out" guy is Mikey. That Burn-Out RULED! Maybe next time he shouldn't do it right in front of the Po-leace...?

Spike

 

OUCH - I sure hate to hear about incidents like this. Glad everyone is OK.

 

Thanks, me too.

Sq.

 

I've got bad news for you....you are one of us!

Glad you made it home OK.
Clark

 

Yes, that burn out ruled. And yes, you have a great time at the So What camp no matter what. Great people make all the difference.

If there had not been a cop beneath those blue lights, it would have been awesome. The light effects were crazy.

I have long thought about building a car just for burnouts. Perhaps I will make some blue lights that pop through the roof when the entire car is engulfed in smoke.

 

Cool. I did. Thanks.

Maybe this is not the best time to tell everyone that my daily driver had been towed and impounded (on account of street cleaning) when I got home.

It is kind of funny.

Right?







.

 

Phillip, hate to hear about your misforture but also glad you made it back safe...Jack

 

Whew! What a story. The good thing is you couln't have been in better company than the So-What guys to either help out or keep your spirits up

I'm glad nobody was hurt.

 

ya know I was sitting on the curb at the so-what camp on saturday and some nut in a huge motor home tagged the left front of some guys jalopy and he tries to leave crazy. glad nobody was hurt and the spirits were still good!

 

it was a great meet, york always turns out good. in the past i never found a room, when i heard they were down a 1000 cars, i thought....there should be a 1000 rooms. and i only needed one....i found one and even one for a fellow hamb'er from indiana...great cars and great people............sure do make it great...cadillac dave

 

That whole broken hot rod in the box truck thing went pretty smooth,like it's been done before.

 

If you read the fine print on most box truck rentals carring a car inside them is NOT ALLOWED, if something happens, like breaking free and falling out or damaging the box you could be in for a sizeable bill.

 

Yeah, and you can go to jail for taking the tag off of your mattress.

Thanks for the positive thoughts and encouragement, LOL.

I knew that, but there are risks involved in lots of things we do. It is a shame that I could not fine them for giving me a truck that was missing a bunch of wheel weights.



I do still have my sence of humor. But I admit it is wearing thin. This morning my convertible top was cut, my (broken) stereo was stolen, and my door latch was broken so that my door won't stay shut.

Must remain positive.

 

COULD YOU PLEASE POST A PICTURE OF YOU ON THE HAMB? THAT WAY, IF I'M EVER TALKING TO YOU AT A SHOW AND A BIG BLACK CLOUD IS P***ING OVERHEAD I COULD POLITELY EXCUSE MYSELF AND KEEP FROM GETTING STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. MAN, YOU SURE HAVE SOME BAD LUCK........HOPE THING TURN AROUND FOR YOU SOON.

 

Phillip, bad things sometime come in three's,keep your fingers crossed.....

 

Hang tough Phillip. In a few months it will all just be a story that you will laugh at. These are the ones we tell over and over again (like Clarks Bonneville trip starter story...I hate that one!) It was good to see you again.

 

Philip-
Was wondering how ya made out- last I saw ya, you were looking for jackstands and I got the story second-hand as to why. Glad you got the car home and sounds like a good call not wasting the weekend trying to patch it up.

Being that today is 6/6/6 you should probably just lock yourself in the house and stay in bed for the day.

Hope your luck turns around soon.

And glad you had a good trip despite the bad parts.

Rob

 

I do appreciate yall's concern. Many thanks.

I am optomistic that things are starting to turn. But I am keeping my distance from people I like. LOL.

My door has fixed itself, and my mechanic/ wiring guy, has squeezed me in to his busy morning schedule.

I have a lead on a Jag rear.

My mechanic just called to say that my radio wires are tied up and will not short out.

Thats another good thing.

 

I'd also like to dupicate the "glad your not hurt" setiments and the fact that your car is fixable. Keep your chin up bud!

 

As clark said sorry you are one of us, glad you made it home ok. It can only get better from here.

 

I have sewn up the top that was so rudely sliced open while I slept.

It is a bit frankenstein ish when you get close, but not too bad from 10 ft.

I have two coats of Barge Cement on the patch and on the inside of the top.

After it cures a while, I am going back out there with a deadblow hammer and a piece of 2X4 to set it.

 

Hey Philip,

Nice to see you again, and sorry about the bad luck. I'm just glad you hung out with us at camp and had a good time despite the wreck. The So What gang rules, and Mikey's burnout was KICK ***.

Stacey

 

so where are all the pictures...eh..

tok

 

Sorry no pictures of the car yet. I did not have a camra at the show.

But if I could go back in time, I would love to have the one minutes worth of video from the slide to letting the car off the jack and getting gone.

Then again, if I could go back in time...


Action Girl- great to see you too. I will try not to bring any bad luck with me next time. But for the most part, I kept it to myself. Humm....

I wonder if Mickey's burnout ticket was my fault?



I will take a few pic's before I get started tearing it apart.


.

 

phillip.

glad your alright.. sorry I wasnt there to help you out.. glad everything worked out ok..

best wishes to a speedy repair..

MAYBE you should switch the current MOTOR with that other one you have...

(and I know you know what I am talkin about.)

 

I could, and I have thought about it. I respect your opinion (and listen to others) on the matter.

Do you think that I should make the swap?

I could, but the car has tons of room inside, and with that hemi in it, it would not. In fact, the car was great, all around.

Right now, all the car needs is to have it's *** fixed. If I make the swap, I will have to re-do TONS of stuff.

That little 302 is not big, or good lookin', or nostalgic, but it makes PLENTY of power, and I can get parts for it at Pep Boys.

I think, that if I were going to make an improvement to the drivetrain, it would be a snappier gear, and an overdrive.

I will get around to hand building a car around that engine, just have patience.

But hey, I am all ears. Tell me if you think that I am way off.

Philip

 

I am going to try to make the trip to Saluda to pick up a jag rear today.
----------------------------------
From that last post. I might just make the swap to a T-5. the rear gear is pretty tall, but that would get my R's down even further with the overdrive. And having the clutch would allow me to engage the drive line at a higher rpm.

Although, right now, it is set up pretty good. My engine starts making power a few hundred rpms higher than my converter will flash.

That gives me great traction off the line, and then cam delivers it's magic.

If I need to leave long black marks. I just need to help the converter with a little bit of break. Just enough to let the converter flash a little bit higher.

A car is not quick if it can not get traction. Don't even get me started on what happens when you loose traction. LOL.

For now I think I will leave it the way it is.

 

But I do respond to pressure.

If ya'll stay on me. I will fix my A, and build that new car before you know it.

Sq.