As yet, she remains unnamed

Token Shot
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.

This car is AWESOME!

Sure, there are a ton of little things that need to be addressed, but this car goes STRONGLY through the powerband....man, I have no idea if the speedo is correct (why only 80mph???) but it seems to hit 80 in 4th at about 4k on the tach - and continues to BURY the speedo w/ little effort.

At those speeds, the car still feels VERY solid and sure of itself. If you are driving along "gently" at about 80 and stomp on the gas, the car does have a few pauses & hiccups, as if it's unsure it's really allowed to do that. The brakes are solid and sure, with no pulling to one side or another. Taking a highway exit ramp at about 70 (eyes were on the road, not the speedo), I barely got even a squeak from the tires. I was, of course, heeled over like a sailboat in the America's Cup, but the damn car stuck to the road!

The fuel injection gives the engine a nice whirring noise that's not entirely unpleasant. The exhaust, nice & burbully at idle, seems to get quieter the faster I go. I want to HEAR it! How do we make it LOUDER? What about the Vick's vintage racing style trumpet muffler? (Wouldn't the neighbors be pleased?) There is definitely an oil leak somewhere around the dizzy, keeping the fresh scent of burnt oil around...seems to be a good mosquito repellant, bit pisses me off anyway. The engine, once REALLY warm, has the strong sound of a bearing race...not sure if it's the alternator or the water pump, but one of them is unhappy.

I have a brand-new-in-the-box water pump for Bella I was going to return to IAP. I'm not sure, but it looks like it may fit this car? That of course means the fault will be the alternator...which would make sense, since it's way more expensive!

In the enormous stack of paperwork Tony gave me...I unearthed the original owner's manual! It was inside the back pocket of a large receipts notebook, and I don't think Tony ever found it, because it explains the bizarro lighting switches, heater controls, and the odd fact that the car has to be ON for the trunk lid release to work!

The driver's seat makes me crazy - the tweaking is bad enough, but compared to Bella, I feel like I need to push back about 4 inches, and am sitting on a seat cushion 4 inches thicker. In the older cars, the top of the seat cushion was the same height as the door sills, maybe even a tad lower. I had to reach my elbow UP to rest it on the door! Certainly not the case with the newer car. And the lack of wing-windows...stifling.

Yeah, I'm not keeping this car original! Wheeee!