The drive home

With our new purchase and a lot of ambition, we set off for our journey home. I climb in the drivers seat and close the door. After looking around foolishly, I ask the guy "Seatbelt?" The reply was a "Uh, there's only one on the passengers side." Well what can you do? "How about gas?" I asked. "Well, there's about 10 bucks worth." OK so I've got no seatbelt and no idea how much gas was really left after their jaunt down the freeway. Sometimes you just have to go for it!

I put it in gear and pulled away. It seemed to run fine as we chugged down the road. The brakes are drum so the pedal was a little soft. I better keep a safe distance in front of me. About 5 blocks down the road, the car starts bucking and sputtering. It was running just fine. What happened? We pulled over and popped the hood. It seemed to be idling fine. I pulled the small choking air cleaner off to look for flooding. "Seems to be running better" proclaims Alan. With that, I threw it in the bed and closed the hood. It just needs to make the drive home.

So with that, I put it back in gear and drove off. It runs fine with light throttle and low RPMs. I think I've got this figured out. With a steady foot and keeping the gears moving, the car was making it down the road just fine. As long as I didn't have to goose the throttle, everything would be fine.

Coming up to an intersection, I wasn't sure which way to go so I got in the turn lane. Alan pulls next to me in a big Dodge truck (thanks for the loan Guy) and points straight ahead. Without power windows and having a nice wide cab, I couldn't roll down the window and talk to him. Hand gestures would have to do. I give him the OK signal and he stares at me as he waits for me to go. Alan, I can't see through the truck and I'm crossing a major street. Beep beep goes the car behind me. GO ALAN... I CAN'T SEE THROUGH THE TRUCK! He points forward again showing me the right direction. I give him the hand over the eyebrow, looking out over the horizon gesture as I attempt to see through the truck. Beep beep goes the car behind me. GO AROUND! Alan points forward again and I started gesturing frantically like Yosemite Sam. I think that did it because Alan proceeded across the intersection and I could now see the traffic in both directions.

As we drove around back roads and by the airport, I was trying to figure out where this would take us. Then we get to River Road which is like a small 2 lane highway-like road that typically has a lot of traffic. Oh crap! Will I be able to make it across this road without getting killed. Alan quickly throttles across and heads off. Lucky for me, there was an unusual break in traffic for both directions. I give it some gas and immediately start bucking into the middle of the road as cars are heading me way. Hiccups and backfires spew from the car like bad words out of a sailors mouth. One lane cleared and one more to go. I felt like top fuel dragster without the speed. I was pedaling the car just to keep the engine running. Luckily, I was rolling again and gaining speed. That was a close one!

A few minutes later, I was pulling into my driveway and shutting her down. We made it! Alan and I pop the hood and start inspecting our score. It had a nice set of finned Thunderbird valve covers on the engine and a bunch of parts that we couldn't identify in the bed. I think they just threw in all the parts they wanted to get rid of. Oh well, for the price, I will haul away some junk too.