What a Trip

I haven't posted anything since August of last year, and in October, Greg and I took the MG on a 3-day road trip. We had a great time and since the Midget played such a large role in the excursion, I wanted to make sure the experience was documented here. We purposely had no set itinerary upon departure, just a general direction and some ideas. I'm not a big fan of planning; I think it only makes things stressful.

10.01.10

We left my house on Friday night after work. Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Mak'er" got us started off on the right track. We got a bite to eat at Zoup! and headed down to York, PA. We found a crappy motel at nightfall and made a short trip to my college alma mater stopping at a Friendly's on the way back for ice cream.

10.02.10

We made the same trip in the morning where we discovered some kind of Fall Festival event happening at the college. By chance, I was able to meet with my old design professor and she was nice enough to give me a tour of the art and design facilities. I got some Nitrogen ice cream, and from there we headed to Baltimore, MD.

Upon arrival, we parked and walked along West 36th Street and discovered some interesting shops there: a lot of antique thrift stores and under-the-radar kind of shops. We lunched at a very hipster-ish place called Cafe Hon.

From there we enjoyed the sights provided by the Baltimore Museum of Art. I hadn't been to a museum since college, and it was refreshing to go to one without having to take notes the whole time. Greg later recalled this was probably his favorite part of the trip.

We said goodbye to Maryland and made the long journey to Front Royal, VA. We found another questionable motel and had enough time to catch a late movie. Luckily, we didn't opt to see an action movie because the theater, especially the speakers, was poop. But of what we could hear during The Social Network, we enjoyed very much.

10.03.10

I think we missed the free breakfast at the motel the next morning, so we opted for a quick stop at Dunkin' Donuts. Then we anxiously headed to Shenandoah to take on Skyline Drive, a 105-mile national scenic byway among the Blue Ridge Mountains. There are a total of 75 overlooks where you can stop to take in the beauty. We certainly didn't do the whole thing, but the portion we did was just the right amount. The smooth, pothole-less, curvy roads were perfect for the little MG.

The Midget reached 77,777 miles on its odometer (how cool!) as we headed toward the tiny town of Luray.

There, we happened to drive by a small collection of other Midgets and found an odd, house-like brick-oven pizzeria for lunch. From there we headed back into Pennsylvania. We dined in Gettysburg (I think at a Friendly's again) and stayed the night at the most questionable motel yet.

10.04.10

Our luck ran out as we got hit with some rain for the remainder of the trip. After some shopping, which included Adidas purchases from both parties, we headed home.

For the almost 700-mile trip, I believe all I packed tool-wise was a mini toolkit, duct tape and some zip-ties. Luckily, all we needed to use was the duct tape to patch the convertible top during the Gettysburg rain. The Midget ran gloriously....from the 80mph speeds of Route 95 to navigating the confusing back roads of York to the rapidly ascending inclines of Skyline Drive. All we had to do was fill her up once in awhile and she served us well.

Above is a very rough overview of our route. Aside from some of the major highways, I don't remember what roads we took where. Greg had adopted navigation duties during the journey, and I can't recall now the specific routes we took

Greg and I are already in discussion for this year's trip. We may head West with a stop in Pittsburgh. Or maybe not. But we'll definitely do it over the summer instead of waiting for fall. Thanks to Greg, and the mighty Midget, for the fantastic memory!

Three's Company

It's been awhile since my last post, but I've been thoroughly enjoying my cars over the summer - especially the Midget with the hotter temperatures we've been experiencing. I can't get over how great the Midget has been in recent months. It's running so smooth and it's always a blast to drive. In fact, consistent with past summers, car troubles all around have been kept to a minimum. At this time, the only problem is a malfunctioning gas gauge in the Mini. I think it's the fuel sending unit but haven't looked into what swapping in a new one all involves.

In bigger news, I purchased a third vehicle: a 2003 Mini Cooper S. I had been searching for an inexpensive "replica" of the 2002 S I sold two years ago for quite some time. It has more mileage (almost 70,000 on the clock) and more dings and scratches, but it was also half the price. It's kind of nostalgic to drive it which I think is also kind of ironic.

It really is a completely different car than my classic mini: 400% faster, 50% bigger, 70% heavier and all the modern day luxuries like leather seats, air conditioning and power steering. Still certainly not as fun as the classic but fun nonetheless.

It's crazy for one person to own three cars, I know. But I'm happy I got it. And I hope people aren't so quick to judge me on my decision. I plan on using the new car for longer, non-vacation related trips and during the winter when the salty roads would normally erode my two most loved cars.

Hellertown Car Show

Sunday I took the Mini to the 17th Annual British Motorcar Gathering in Hellertown. Friends and family visited and it was good fun. It rained some.

Nice Rack

Years ago, I had gotten a whole bunch of used Midget parts from a fellow at church. Amidst the collection was everthing from body panels to doors to seats to mechanical parts to whatever. Most of the stuff is old and rusty and unusable. But among the stuff was a luggage rack and a boot lid. The luggage rack itself would've cost me $300 from eBay, but we paid just $100 for the whole collection of stuff.

Anyway, with thoughts of getting the car painted soon, I thought it'd be neat to get both boot lids painted (one with holes for the rack and one without) so that I had the option to choose. I think I prefer the cleanliness of the car sans rack, but I like the option of being able to use the rack if I was going on a trip or needed the space.

So today I affixed the rack to the lid, and then the lid to the car - to see how it all came together. It's hard to tell with the unpainted lid, but I think it looks nice.

Back Up Lights are Back Up

Finally got the 'correct' reverse lamp switch from Moss. Not sure if they labeled it wrong, or if my transmission is actually a 60s model, but I put it in earlier this week with minor setbacks. I should be all set for inspection now!

Spring Time

The Midget is equipped with 1/2 elliptic leaf springs as part of its rear suspension. In preparation for inspection, I went about replacing all of the worn bushings on the right side. Dad and I had done the left side back in 2008, so I won't go into a lot of detail since it has been covered before. But it was certainly more difficult than I remembered. I got off to a good start with disassembly, but I eventually had to enlist Dad's help on two occasions.

The first, I was only able to remove half of the bushing on the front side. Dad helped me hammer out the rest with a chisel. The second, upon reassembly, I somehow cross-threaded one of the nuts welded to the floorboard of the car. Dad showed up tonight with his tap and die set, and we were able to clean it up. He stuck around to help me put the rest of things back together for which I was extremely thankful. Some things are so much easier to do logistically with two people. Like when screwing in the 3 bolts in the rear plate, one person had to hold the bolt steady from underneath the car while the other secures the nut from inside the boot. It was quite difficult for me to remove them by myself, and I'd imagine putting them back in by myself would have been crazy difficult. It was tricky. It went relatively smooth with Dad here.

So thanks again to my dad for his assistance. When I called him, I was so frustrated that I could never seem to finish a task (of a certain magnitude) on my own. But I just keep reminding myself that I'm slowly learning new things (which I am) and continuing to acquire a respectable tool collection (Dad is 'lending' me his tap and die set and brought me some chisels) - both of which will help me in future projects.

I still don't have a vise though. So I improvised.

Rear BEFORE

Rear AFTER

Front BEFORE

Front AFTER

Completed leaf spring.

Getting it back on the car.

Looking Back

I took a drive down to my parents today for Mother's Day. I went across the street to visit Amy, an old neighbor, who has owned two Binis. A red hardtop which, from what I understand, was quite the lemon. And more recently, a red cabriolet. An '07 I think.

We each took a turn behind the wheel of each other's cars. Although she doesn't normally drive stick, she was comfortable enough going up and down the cul-de-sac. Then I took her automatic out on the roads. One of my favorite things about my gray Mini was the interior, so it was pretty nostalgic sitting inside of her car. I felt immediately comfortable. Her interior was quite nice too - chrome trim, additional gauges, leather seats. And although hers wasn't an S (nor a manual), the experience has fueled my desire to get another one of these beasts.