False Spring

[lloyd3]

We get some pretty mild days here in Colorado, even in deep winter. When the roads are still wet and full of sand and debris I'm not really tempted but...on the few days where the roads are finally clean and dry it's always a temptation to pull off the cover and head out for a little ride. This seems to get more complicated with every passing year as the space in my garage grows ever smaller. We replaced the garage refrigerator a few years ago with a much larger unit and it's become a significant food repository ever since the COVID-induced problems with the supply chain became ever more-normal. Stockpiled food supplies seem to have become a new thing here and the overflow has affected my car's storage space just a bit. It's got a good cover and everybody(?) here is conscientious about it but....food does occasionally end up on the hood (bread, christmas cookie tins, tortillas, etc.) And...it isn't just food overwhelming it, the door into the house is just off of the left-front fender and that spot has become a place to kick off your wet, snowy and/or muddy shoes (and boots) and they now cover the floor around the left front tire and even under the front of the car. On the passenger side is the approach to the upright freezer and that area has filled in with coolers and my son's various car supplies (there is a floor jack partially under the car there now, along with an oil-drain pan of his) it also seems to allow for items being taken from the freezer to be temporarily be placed on the hood while the search continues deep within said freezer. You get it, right? Busy real estate in there now.


Because I've had this car for so-long now (27-years) it has become part of the scenery out there. Taking the car out for a ride is never a simple thing anymore...you have to walk around it and pull away the intruding materials from under it, you then have to take the garage winter coat and gloves from off of the trunk, the bulk hamburger buns (for the church supper) off of the hood, the shoes and boots from under the driver's side and the car supplies out from the other. You then pull the cover, fold it and place it in the trunk and climb-in, roll down the window, insert the key & turn it to see if the battery is still viable (it's relatively new so...it might be). If not, you push in the clutch and let it roll back from the wall (& those damn-risky shelves crammed full of bad things) in front of it to allow for the big, old, NAPA trickle-charger to do it's thing. After about 15-minutes or so, you can help it roll out of the garage about halfway (mostly from the front seat) and then you pull off the air cleaner, dump in a glug of gasoline (from my small plastic chainsaw gas-can on the bench) into the carb, replace the air-cleaner (in case of a backfire), close the hood and then climb back into the car and bump the starter. It generally catches after two or 3 seconds (which is amazing to me, those points and plugs are almost 15-years old now). Sometimes it belches a cloud of grey-blue smoke from sitting so-long (valve guides?) and it then settles into a decent, semi-lopey idle (440 music!). I then throw in my wallet, my cell-phone and perhaps a light coat & hat and then I finally settle into the driver's seat and close the door. There is the initial shock of "recognition" of the dash, the smells, vibrations, and sounds enveloping you and then I shift up and over into reverse, the dash-mounted back-up light glows and we slowly head down the driveway. 



There....I feel better now.

[lloyd3]

Nothing? You guys awake here? No comments about the 200lbs of elk on the back of my car in tubs?

[b5blue]

  Well growing up my extended family had hording issues so until there is a tiny trail just as wide as your butt and crap is piled up to the ceiling front to back side to side (On top of the cars also.)your garage is practically empty to me. Now how many storage units have you filled? Are ya holding out on us?
  As far as false spring goes here in Fl. we are still looking for Winter, you guys hogged up all the cold for yourselves up there. I'm tanned rested and ready having spent most days 80 degree beach side. I try to get my feet sandy before spring break and this year we have Red Tide stinking up the place also.       

[lloyd3]

My brother winters in Ocala so I'd heard that it's been pretty warm down there this winter. No so here. I haven't shaved off my beard yet because it still feels pretty good when I'm outside. When spring finally gets here we'll really be ready for it. Probably still a week or two (or three) before real spring finally shows up here.  My wife loves to plant flowers in May and she's always juggling the risk of starting too-early. This year that will really be a problem, I suspect, just with the way things have been going. Truly-warm weather is likely a long way away out for us here still.

As far as the comparatively-neat garage thing goes, that's an older picture of things. It's quite bad now, not hoarder-status just yet, but getting close.

[b5blue]

 

[lloyd3]

The milder weather has me wondering when my first ride of 2023 will be. I did some preliminary tidy out in the garage today as April isn't far-off now. I've even dreamt about driving it lately, which is a sure sign of Spring here...

[b5blue]

Got to be soon we are stuck in high 80's low 90's!

[Kern Dog]

I'd go bonkers living in a place that snows. I'm already halfway there. It is the end of March and we have STILL not had a 70 degree day. We usually see 75+ by now. Today was 59. Yesterday was 58. We've had a lot of rain...enough to refill many reservoirs that had been depleted over the last few years.
I've had the car out a bit lately....trips to the store and just tooling around town. Yesterday I took "Ginger" out on a 100 mile trip, carting the wife around wine tasting with her friends in another car.
Borgeson steering box is a great upgrade. No wandering, no loose and overboosted feeling...just tight and responsive like a newer car. The Tremec and hydraulic clutch were great as always. I had the engine out from June to October last year and it runs great and seems to keep the oil clean and full. It is nice to be able to drive a classic car with new car confidence.
Regarding the rigmarole of unearthing the car to drive it....
Yes, I saw the meat on the trunklid! I don't cover my car but with one in place, I don't think a few plastic containers would cause damage. I scoff at those that say they never wash their cars with water, as if they will dissolve or something. These are cars, not sculptures made of sugar. Yes, they are valuable and great things but they are meant to be driven and admired for what they are.
 

[lloyd3]

Well, single digits and snow here this AM. Just when I think Spring is getting close everything freezes up solid and they bring out the snowplows again. I've never lived anywhere where March is a good month (back East or here). There's a reason why Spring Break is so popular with folks that live in northern climes. Makes me remember when I was driving these cars everyday during winter and dealing with the slippery roads and the crappy conditions (iced-up windows, frozen door locks, dead batteries, etc.). Where I grew up, they used so-much salt that it caused a white-rind to form all around your wheel wells. No surprise that things rusted so-badly back then. The roads would frost-heave and create gigantic pot-holes and the gravel they used as a traction solution would scar the chrome on your grill and pit your windows. At least big block Mopars always had good heaters...

[375instroke]

We have a saying in Seattle--April showers brings May showers.  If I had to wait for good weather to drive, I never would.

[Pinballjim]

A friend of mine got an elk one year.  He gave me 2 lbs of elk jerkey.  I ate it ALL in a day.

Here in SE Pa., we have to wait for good weather to enjoy our cars.  Last October, I bought an FJ5 Superbird.  I drove it three times before winter set in.  I'm going NUTS waiting here!!!       

[lloyd3]

A "Bird" with only 3 drives....yeah, I'll bet. Well, unless Pennsylvania has changed alot since I left, by mid-April you should be golden, if not before. Especially in the SE portion of the State.

[lloyd3]

Another fine Spring day...

[lloyd3]

Cruel!



From back in 2018. My garage was less crowded then.

[Kern Dog]

Even down here in California, we have yet to see a 70 degree day this year. Usually we see at least one 70 degree day in  February, March has a few more and by now, we have had a few days in the upper 70s.
I know.....this pales in comparison to you guys dealing with late season snow.
Still, the cold temps sure put a damper on the motivation.

[lloyd3]

KD: Four or five years ago now, I was on a job somewhat near-to the Placerville Ranger Station. We were dealing with historic mine dumps wayyyy back out in the middle of nowhere for Region 9 EPA. The snowplow equipment those folks had at the station was very impressive ( big!), so were the suger pines we were seeing up there (not as big as sequioas, but darn close).  Is that fairly close to you?

[Kern Dog]

Placerville is about 30 minutes from me. What a beautiful town!

[metallicareload99]

False spring indeed

[b5blue]

Is that Daytona/Superbird parts on the sides of the windshield? 

[lloyd3]

KD: I kinda figured that. It was pretty up there, possibly the only uncrowded place in California (with the exception of the deserts) I've ever been. The local Forrest Service folks had to escort us out to the job site, as various small forest fires had been going-on, even in that early Spring. Cell phones didn't work there and they had radios in case we had to leave quickly. The pine cones from those Sugar Pines are bigger than my size 14 boots up there in the Eldorado National Forest.

[metallicareload99]

Is that Daytona/Superbird parts on the sides of the windshield? 

Yes sir, gotta be worth something in the 1/4 mile or some lap time 

[b5blue]

 

[Kern Dog]

Yesterday we had our warmest day of the year, 74 degrees. Today it reached 78. We usually reach those numbers by early March.
I'm not bragging or trying to rub it in. There are colder climates where the politicians aren't in your pocket and in your life quite so much. That is looking more and more attractive to me. I just paid $4.69 a gallon for 89 octane mid-grade. A buddy in Texas said that he paid $3.08 yesterday.

[lloyd3]

Finally!