Vixen Goes to Cleveland... Day One

["Dave Stragand" <dave.stragand@xxxx>]

Sooo... it's been one really, really long day.

I got on the road around 10am and began the trek to Cleveland. I'm
towing the D behind my 14 year old Mercury Grand Marquis (named
"Prowler". yes, I name all of my cars). Now, the owner's manual for
the Mercury says that it's able to tow a 10,000 trailer weight total,
but Prowler seemed sluggish and resentful of having to tow a mere 2,500
lb load on her made-for-luxury rear end. She really didn't like going
over 55 mph at all.

Well, Prowler is about the same age as me in "people-years". I guess if
someone strapped a DeLorean to my butt and tried to make me drag it to
Cleveland, I'd be sluggish and resentful, too...

But about the trip... it was long, hot, and nerve-wracking. I kept
hearing a really loud scraping/grinding noise from the dolly... almost
as if it was breaking loose. Every time I stopped to check it out, I
couldn't find anything wrong. Maybe there's something wrong in the D's
rear end? Hard to say.

I stopped on the Ohio turnpike and checked how things were going. The D
was holding up fairly well, but I noticed that the passenger side
torsion bar (in place, but not loaded) had broken free of the tape I was
using, and had started to slide out. I re-taped it, but didn't do the
driver's side (more on that later).

Finally getting into Cleveland, I made several wrong turns but
eventually ended up near the Science Center, and made my way to a
parking area. It happened to be the wrong area, I found out later, but
I had already unloaded the Vixen so I prepared to just drive her over to
the parking garage. As soon as I got back in the car, the engine just
quit. After a bit of diagnosis, I found that my brand new fuel pump had
stopped dead. I hate when things like that happen. I pulled it out to
try and get it working, but no luck.

Now the car is off of the dolly, and in the wrong place. I can't get it
back on the dolly without starting it, and I can't push it a half-mile
to where it needs to be. I hated leaving the car totally unsecured and
helpless in an area I knew nothing about, but I figured that I had to do
just that. I walked up to the Holiday Inn, and began my search for a
fuel pump. No luck. Oh well.

I walked back down to the car, and decided that maybe with a strong
enough push, I would be able to get the car up on the dolly again... and
it worked. Whew. Everything is fine now, except... where is my
driver's side torsion bar? You've got to be kidding! I lost it? I
don't believe this.

Well, I figured that I'd have to bite the bullet on that one, and buy a
new one. I hate when stuff like that happens, and hate it even more
because it was preventable.

I pulled over to the correct parking area, and shortly thereafter, a
mobile home the size of an aircraft carrier pulled in carrying the whole
DMC Houston gang. I told James Espey about the lost torsion bar... and
he asked me which side. I told him driver's side and they all cringed.
It seems they are in short supply, (Anybody got one they can part with
by the way?)

So, licking my wounds, I went back to the hotel, checked in, and headed
off to the reception. It was a very nice event. I won't go into much
detail... it's getting late, I'm really drained after today.

I stole a beer glass from the bar at the hotel here, and I have my fuel
pump sitting in it to try and clean out any goop that may have gotten
sucked up in there. Hopefully, it'll break free and start working again
tomorrow. What a day.

To wrap up, it's really nice walking through a parking garage where
every other car is a D. That's the way the world -should- be. =)

-Dave Stragand
VIN #5927
http://www.ProjectVixen.com