Make all the jokes you want about elderly drivers in Florida, but I've become one and it beats the Hell out of shoveling snow in Michigan. We loaded up the roadster and headed for Sarasota two weeks ago, it's been a blast so far. I've met some guys in a local club, "Road Kings", and went to a work day they had a local shop on Saturday where they began chopping one guy's '53 Plymouth hardtop. We've driven it to the beach, cruised around town, drive it to the market and out to dinner, so we are having a ball. The car looks great under our new (not quite completed) carport, and fits with our other car or our huge Ram pickup, so that part of the plan is working. One thing that was immediately obvious was that it is VERY uncomfortable in the tropical sun on a 90 degree day. Very little air moves around the ****pit, and a lot of heat was being transferred to the little ****pit through the floor and firewall. I put some Dyna-mat like stuff, butyl backed foil flashing from Lowes, on the floor and firewall. That didn't do much, so I got some header wrap for the exhaust pipes and wrapped the head pipes back to the first hanger. That helped noticeably, although I think the job looks kinda sloppy, mainly because the pipes can't be easily removed (the system is all welded) and I had to do it on the car. It's cheap, I think I'll get some more of it, soak it in water this time, and start out with it wet. It's doesn't look bad, but it could be better. Meanwhile, it's great not being cold and wishing I could drive my hot rod!
Brian Do you know who Kathleen Madigan is, Google her on Youtube. In my opinion, she's the best comedian on the planet, she has a routine about The Villages. Hilarious!
We moved from Michigan to coastal Alabama forty two years ago. We live within a mile of Mobile Bay (brackish not fresh water not salt water ) but are often very near to the Gulf of Mexico. One thing I’ve noticed over the years is the thin layer of salt deposited on everything that comes from the air. Don’t know how close you are to the water but if you don’t have one I would seriously consider a car cover for your roadster. Preferably one that is washable that can be cleaned regularly. Near the Gulf on a breezy day this thin layer can show up within a day or sometimes a few hours.
Getting ready to leave for Bradenton in a month. I hope to see your roadster on the road some day and say hi. Boy you’ve got balls running that thing in the traffic in Sarasota and Bradenton areas. But I envy you. Glad your having fun! If you hear a nut in a huge BLACK Nissan ***an blowing his horn at you that’s me.
Welcome to the sunshine state. Shoveling sand and sunshine beats shoveling snow for sure. I'm a little bit to the south of you in Cape Coral and yes that mid day sun can get ya. I didn't know the uv index went above 10 until moving here
We're right on Sarasota Bay, which is also brackish, and are very familiar with that salt dust you're talking about. I just got a full, multi-layer cover for it, that's on it when we're not using it. An even more worrisome problem here is rodents. They LOVE to snack on the insulation on the wiring, our daily driver Toyota Avalon, an '05 with just 15,000 miles is in the shop right now getting the wiring harness for the HVAC and a couple of sensors for the climate control replaced. When we got down here, the car fired right up but ran rough and the check engine light was on. I popped the engine cover and wasn't too surprised to find a mouse nest on top of the front cylinder bank's cam cover, and the wires gnawed off to one of the injectors. I fixed that, and then discovered the A/C was blowing hot air. Ugh. To fix it, the entire dash had come out, which is a huge job that I didn't want to tackle so I'm biting the bullet and having it done. We've got our pest control company coming out to put rodent traps out, and treat our backyard bar, which is infested with tiny little carpenter ants, and we're taking some pretty aggressive steps to try to keep the little *******s (mice) out of the car next summer.
It's not bad right now, but when the rest of us snowbirds get here traffic will be horrible on 41. University Parkway is horrible all the time, I try to avoid it and use the back streets to get around. Hit me up when you get down and we'll get together.
Just went through this with my daughters car. Damn rodent ate the injector harness on her 2021 Nissan. They had to pull the motor to replace the harness. Why do manufacturers make the insulation so tasty.
Bought a new bbq, it had basic rubber hose, full tank,didn't have it a week and the tank was empty, tried to fire it up, nothing, found tooth marks all over the hose, heard they actually do that to sharpen their teeth, so being the animal friendly sort that I am, I replaced it with a braided stainless steel hose, they could probably cut a tree down now.
"I'm the only person out of 500,000 that has both of their own knees. I'm the Yussian Bolt of The Villages." You're right, that was hilarious, and spot on. Her bit about cruise ships made my sides hurt, and I haven't even had a Monkey *** Rum Punch...
Do you leave the car there during the summer? Is that why they set up home, it sits dormant for a length of time?
I've gotta try one of them, it must have 151 in it, probably shouldn't though. Yeh, Kathleen is the best, my wife feels threatened by her! "Imagine your standing in the Belagio............and it just sails away".
Yup. Although right after my aunt bought the car (new), the same thing happened. Toyota said it wasn't their fault, her insurance didn't cover it either, so, like us now 15 years later, out of pocket. It sets under a carport, we are looking into inside storage for next summer, but it's so old that it won't take long to reach the point of diminishing returns. Especially with the $3,400 bill to fix it this time. It's a lot, but we couldn't buy a 17,000 mile car for that, so it's getting fixed.
At home in Michigan, it's a problem as well, and not just because a car sets dormant. My sister in law and her husband had similar problems with rodents (chipmunks for them) eating the wiring of cars they drove every day. We've been lucky up there, it caught up with us down here...
So, have you been through “Love Bug” season yet? Enjoy! As a Florida Native, I can’t relate to Michigan winters, but I’m really glad to live in Tennessee, and wouldn’t move back.
Hey @flynbrian48 So cool that you got out of the cold and into the heat and humidity. I know its a bit of a drive from where you are, to the Florida Keys, but if you are adventurous, I recommend that you go to a world famous hang out known as Alabama Jacks. The location is 58000 Card Sound Road Key Largo Florida 33037 Tel. 305-248-8741. It gets super busy on the weekends, but during the week is the best time to go. You can look them up online, the pictures tell the story. Have yourself a deep fried conch fritter. Enjoy from Dennis.
Florida is great when it's winter in Minnesota and Wisconsin. But when summer comes it's un bearable. I don't see how people can live there in the summer.
I've found in my storage quonset that the mice only want to nest under a hood if it's closed. I have alleviated this problem by leaving the hoods open and they don't try to nest there.
I do the same, my Quonset door is translucent and faces south, I leave hoods up and do t have a problem
The Jalopy Journal
