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Beautiful One Day - Perfect the Next |
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Sunday, 01 February 2004 |
Beautiful One Day
Perfect the Next
by Gerry Rivet
I don’t remember exactly how or where it started. I think Sean planted
the first seed, mumbling about a show in Queensland and that it was
good. And so the pendulum started swinging.
The ranks were called upon and the cavalry responded: four
members in three cars would go to Queensland on Friday, with another
two to follow on Saturday. Reservations were made and everything was
set. Although no one raised the topic, I’m sure the reliability issue
played in the back of peoples’ minds. How would three warmed-over,
modified cars go? Collectively there were enough tools and parts to
cater for any situation. Two-way radios were purchased and distributed
and final arrangements made.
The rendezvous was 6.00am at Thornleigh McDonalds. This would allow us
to beat the morning rush hour across town and put in some good distance
early. Supplies were purchased, tanks were filled and bladders were
emptied. There was no last minute tinkering to be done so everyone was
at ease. We set out; expectations and excitement were high. The mood
was almost euphoric!
First stop would be Maitland for directions. This was the first sign of
a possible mechanical malady. The mighty 440 in Peter Garden’s Charger
was dry of fuel at the carburettor. Vapour lock was the diagnosis. So
Gerry decided to lock lips with the fuel cap and try to blow the fuel
forward to the engine.
The outside ambient temperature was slowly rising but driving
conditions were still pleasant with only moderate traffic. Then, all of
a sudden there was a good old-fashioned braking test with traffic
stopped around a blind corner. As we sat motionless, temperature
started to build and unfortunately the 440 went quiet. The fuel filter
was removed, just in case it contributed to the silence. Pete (with
“I’ve got to have everything big”) runs 1/2 inch fuel lines but only a
3/8 inch line was packed as a spare. Knowing that rubber stretches, it
was unanimously decided to try it, with Nik the engineer hinting that a
small amount of lubrication would help proceedings. Nik volunteered to
produce the oil: everyone expected him to go to his boot and get the
oil, but Nik being the good engineer that he is gets down on one knee
and wipes his finger across the timing cover of the Hemi 6, getting the
aforementioned oil, much to the amusement to the rest of the pit crew!
Five more times in Kempsey, the 440 cubic inch mill was to be
silenced. Each time this happened, we had to patiently wait for the
under bonnet temp to fall before we could reprime the fuel system. This
procedure was done as follows: Gerry sucked on the fuel line to get
petrol into a coke bottle; the coke bottle was used to pour fuel down
the carby; Gerry then tried to blow fuel up to the mechanical pump.
Obviously a fuel problem, it was decided to track down a cheap electric
pump to help the mechanical fuel pump.
With a half decent run into Coffs Harbour, it was time to
source the aforementioned pump. The local auto shops didn’t want to
help too enthusiastically nor budge from their inflated prices- even
after a trade card was produced. Must have been something to do with
the long weekend! While it was stopped in Coffs Harbour, the Charger
attracted plenty of interest from the local pub with a few volunteers
assisting in pushing it up the road. Knowing that a suitable pump
couldn’t be sourced at a reasonable price, Pete pushed on not knowing
if there was to be more traffic going through town. The rest of the
boys would easily catch up, as it would only be a matter of time before
the 440 would run silent – again. By this time Gerry had acquired a
taste for premium unleaded fuel! When Pete fired the 440 to push on,
the pub was duly emptied. It’s always amazing that no matter where you
are there will always be a few fans of the marque. I’m sure Pete would
have converted a few right there and then! It was mentioned that in a
worse case scenario, a car trailer could be hired. Pete however was
determined to make it under his own power.
It was uncanny how there was to be no more traffic for the
next 3 hours. Pete had taken off and the weather was closing in, with
strong evidence the area was recently battered by a very strong storm
with high winds. Driving conditions had turned foul and this was
mirrored by the mood in the remaining 2 cars. A very rude truckie was
on mission, and this included upsetting every car on the road. Maybe he
didn’t notice it was raining! A fuel stop was decided upon as the
“motion potion” was running low. Pete was called, telling him to stop
at the next town as we would need fuel and would regroup as there was
no more traffic. Communications were poor and the conversations
garbled, but the gist was that he had stopped on the side of the road -
presumably waiting. It took a good half hour to catch up, but just a
few short k’s out of Ballina Pete was sitting on the side of the road.
The initial response was that Pete was waiting outside town so he would
be easy to find, however when the 440 sat silent, all smiles
evaporated. Pete was fuming and he relayed the story: a rather smoky
Magna had pulled out in front of him and was doing its best at laying
down a smoke screen. Pete is thinking “unlucky sod, stuck driving a
crappy Magna”. So a quick check of the mirror showed how bad the Magna
was and a quick check of the oil pressure gauge - but hang on, the oil
gauge wasn’t reading where it usually was and the motor was promptly
turned off (again). The oil filter had a small hole worn into it and
had given up the ghost. A half hour is a long time to sit and stew over
things, especially when things aren’t running right. At least it gave
time for everything to cool down before the cavalry arrived.
Knowing that this was an “Achilles heel” of this particular vehicle, a
spare filter was produced and fitted. Not an easy job on the side of
the road in the rain, with oil bloody everywhere. Normally, to change a
filter is a 2 minute job- this one took the wrong side of 15 minutes.
At least Pete won't have to worry about rust in the immediate future.
On to Ballina, which was less than 1 minute and into a servo to try and
clean up the mess. Pete didn’t want any more oil on the tyres than
necessary. The time was about 9.00pm. So far we had been travelling for
15 hours and we weren’t in Queensland yet!!
From Ballina it was a dash for the border with nothing else to
slow us down, even the weather had cleared and had taken our side. Now
when one travels interstate, it’s a good idea to take a map or street
directory. With all the enthusiasm leading up to here, this point was
overlooked. Finally in Queensland, it was time to ask for directions,
but doing this again caused the mighty 440 to expire. By now the system
to get it running again was well and truly sorted out. When the fuel
was poured down the Edlebrock carburettor, the fuel was heard to
percolate immediately. With directions in hand, one last stop was to be
made: fortunately, there was a drive through “bottle-o” still open for
business. At the motel the tension began to subside as the days dust
was washed away, with pizza and beer becoming the focus of our
immediate attention. Tomorrow was only 1 hour away. Needless to say we
were asleep without any further ado.
First on the agenda was to clean 17 hours of driving dirt and
oil off the cars. Luck would have it there was a car detailing place in
the servo next door to the motel, and with BMWs, Mercs and the likes in
the queue we thought that they must be alright. “Excuse me mate, how
much to pressure clean under the bonnet of the Val?” “Well that depends
on yada, yada, yada, yada, and would be around $100”. Well you know
where and what he can do with his pressure washer! So up the road to
“Carlovers” where the major gunk was removed, with a thorough detail to
be done back at the motel.
George had some errands to run, so the boys jump into Gerry’s
charger and are off. Gerry decides to see if beer bottles empty at the
same rate in Queensland as they do in NSW, and greets other people at
the motel. The “SLICK6 PACK” crew are staying at the same establishment
and some catching up was done and the stories told of their respective
journeys. Two former club members also put in an appearance, one being
Luke and the other being Garry. Time for Gerry to sleep off the
afternoon and wait for the Calvary to return. The boys came back a
while after and all looked a bit shaken, especially Pete. The story is
related as follows:
“We were cruising along when this guy comes along side in a
Datto with his blowoff valve in a hyper active state, trying very hard
to get our attention. Not getting the required attention, he speeds off
into the traffic at a great rate of knots – for a Datto – only to have
the car in front of him stop to turn right. All the while ‘boy wonder’
is still looking over his shoulder and the blow off valve going at 100
phsssstttt per second. With about what seemed 10 meters, blow off valve
boy checks the traffic only to see it has stopped and he hasn’t. With
nowhere to go the Datto locks it up to no avail then decided to swerve
into the lane of 1.6 tons of traveling Mopar metal.” Pete did an
outstanding job of avoiding a collision, maybe spurred on by the fact
it wasn’t his car. True to valiant brakes, there was no lockup. All
this happened less than a kilometre from the motel and the intrepid
adventures were happy to be back out of the car. The evening was put to
use in detailing the cars for the show next day. Pete was still unable
to locate a fuel pump so all fingers were crossed that one would be
found at the show. Sean and Anthony joined up with us that same night.
Pete purchased a fuel regulator hoping this would solve the problem,
but to no avail.
Morning of the SHOW. A 5 minute journey up the road and we
were there. Then we had a 15 minute line up which of course caused the
440 to warm up and cut out again. Luckily it was only a short push down
hill and into the field. Whilst pushing past the vendors a pump was
bought, even before the car was parked. Nik was not too impressed about
having to park along side a Viper. A very hot and dusty day was the go
with a lot of dust getting kicked up. A light shower then more
Queensland sunshine. The cars were impressive with a lot of tough
street cars on display along with some heavy hitting American muscle.
Big blocks have quite a healthy following up there. Unfortunately by
11am cars were starting to leave the show field. We were gob smacked!
Another thing that got our attention was the lack of Chargers. Its not
that they are the be and end all, but you are just used to seeing a
fair amount of them at any Val show. Some enquiries were made about
this and the answer came back “politics”. There were about 200 cars on
display. The idea to go to the show was to see different cars and we
were not disappointed. There were only about three other cars on show
that we had seen before. It’s unusual, but a Centura won best sedan. By
now though we could tell this wasn’t your usual weekend. A lot of
people came to look at the Viper, gave it a quick once over, then
proceeded to look at Nik’s Pacer, probably the best VG in the land.
What was amazing was watching people getting on their hands and knees
and looking under the car. Also they took longer to look at the Pacer
than the Viper. The other two cars also got their share of attention.
It was overheard that Pete had a 460 “fraud” big block in his, whilst
Gerry had a “K24” Police Charger complete with a “Hemi 6”. (mind you
the bonnet was up at the time)! They must have been in the sun for too
long! Whilst Pete was on show duty, he was posed a question by a
curious member of the public in regard to Gerry’s K16 in all its Police
livery. “How does he go driving it on the street?” Pete’s reply was
“Yeah alright, it’s his daily driver” Well this guy was suitably
impressed, much to the amusement of Pete and Nik, who only then
realised what he had meant.
Time for the presentations and then back to the motel. Pete fitted up
his new fuel pump. A quick road test and we were all ready for the
return trip the next day. The only job left was to finish off the grog
so we wouldn’t have to take it back to Sydney.
Departure time was 8.30am. First stop was fuel and supplies.
On the return leg there was Nik, Pete, George, Gerry, Sean, Tony, Paul
and Christine. So now we had five cars on the journey back to Sydney.
There is plenty of rivalry over which is the best motor Ma Mopar
produced and the argument was to be contested all the way home. Three
V8s – a 440, a 360 and a 318 and two hemi 265s. So far the 440 was
lagging behind. The drive across Brisbane in peak hour was a pleasant
surprise. As soon as we left the outskirts, Paul driving Sean's GLX is
off like a shot cat. Not being a long weekend in Queensland, traffic
was light and good progress was being made. As long as we didn’t have
to stop for traffic, Pete’s (I’ve got a big everything) Charger would
be fine. Gerry had been running some Goodyear Grand Rally S tyres which
were just able to keep the car off the ground and not much else. Each
time he would go around a corner they would start squealing in protest,
but since the trip would be predominantly on the highway why bother
changing them? Upon crossing some mountainous roads, Nik started to
become very worried as he heard rather alarmingly loud tyre squeal. So
down goes the window on the Pacer for further investigations. It became
even more alarming when he was still going straight when the sound
occurred again. A quick discussion on the 2-ways and Nik’s worries were
not to be for him but for Gerry who reassured Nik everything was OK-
it’s just these crappy tyres!
We passed a speed camera that went off - which one of the five got
zapped? No one has yet been issued an infringement notice. We push on.
Then it started to rain. You guessed it - Pete’s wipers liked
Queensland so much they decided they were going to stay there. How much
bad luck can someone have? Rain X was issued at the next fuel stop and
we surged ahead. A decision is made to go for the Putty Road. Surely
traffic would be lighter than the F3 freeway (later we found out this
was a very wise decision as the roads were blocked up for 2 hours or
so)?
On the Putty Road comments were made on who would be the first
to pass the traffic? Surely not one of the 6’s? With the conversation
not even finished, Pete shot off like a man on a mission. There was no
traffic to pass and it was on - the four wheeled bikers were at it!
Pete was a man possessed and his machine was put to the test. No
wipers, in the rain, narrow roads and a very dark night. That was the
last Gerry saw of Pete for a while. Later, comments were made about the
size of his manhood and then his sanity. The 440 equipped VH Charger
made short work of the Putty Road. Sean and Paul gave chase but were
soon in the darkness by themselves. Gerry at the back of the pack was
not having a good time. Those front tyres were giving him all the
dilemmas that crappy tyres can give in the wet. His jumper came off as
he raised a sweat. Although Gerry did try to stay in contact with the
group, it was a wiser decision to slow down. One that George is
eternally grateful for. On the straights Gerry tried to make up for
lost time. He was able to catch Nik who had also slowed down,
preferring to tackle the Putty Road in more favourable conditions.
Gerry took the lead between the two purely because of superior
lighting. Nik was witness to some very weird angles from the white
Charger, especially under braking. By the end of it Gerry had a couple
of new grey hairs and was thankful that the interior was already brown.
(He also hassled his missus for a new set of tyres as soon as he made
it home!) Then relief; the end of the road and a fuel stop. Pete had to
wait a good 5 minutes before Sean and Paul turned up then another 5 for
Nik and Gerry.
Pete was smiling like only a man with a 440 could and the rest
of us just shook our heads and questioned his lack of sanity. When Pete
was asked if he would go on the trip again, a rye smile was his answer
with “ask me again next year”.
Guys - thanks for the memories!
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