My Car Arrived at Carlisle!

Hello EVBC'ers,
My 1966 Barracuda made the 5 1/2 hour trip with no issues. Unless you count the fact that it took 7 1/2 hours to get here.

It all started in the garage. The car was packed, we were ready to go and it would not start. I smelled gas and thought I flooded it. I unpacked the trunk, pulled out the tool box, put the fender cover on the car and removed the front 2 plugs on the left side. The plugs were dry.

OK, I thought. I put them back in, put on the wires, pumped the bejeuzzes out of the throttle and cranked it. She started right up. That's what I get for letting it sit for three days without starting her up.

So we re-loaded the car and off we went. at 5:00 pm. on a major highway. Heading west. Whose bright idea was that!

We hit rush hour traffic in multiple construction zones with the sun in my face through a pitted windshield. Yeah, fun!

At 8:00 pm we pulled off the highway for a bite to eat and let the car cool off and to top off the tank. 45 min later we were back on the road but it wasn't long before we hit more evening road work. and more and more night construction. First it was the left lane, then the right lane.

Then the left lane, but this time they had half of the right lane blocked off too so we were riding half in the lane, half in the breakdown lane right on those "Don't you dare fall asleep at the wheel" rumble strips. At this point my arms hurt and were going numb.

We finally closed in on the exit we needed to take to get to my Aunt and Uncle's house where we are staying for the weekend. We pull off, turn right at the end of the ramp, left on the road we need and then yet again the road fairies threw us another curve ball. "Road Closed" WTF!

OK turn around, get back on the highway, go to the next exit, stop, pull the Blackberry out and check the maps to make sure I was going in the right direction. We finally pulled in the driveway at 12:30 am and promptly went to sleep. Man that was fun! (sarcasm).

Anyway, we got up, fired up the car and headed into Carlisle where the traffic was light, the humidity was low, cruised to the fairgrounds and finally fulfilled a 14 year dream!

The Price of Gas!

With a gallon of gas about to hit the $4.00 per gallon mark in my part of the country it got me to thinking about how it affects me and my Barracuda. I have had this car for over 13 years now and it is finally a usable, drivable, hop-in-at-a-moments-notice-and-go-for-a-cruise, car.

I registered my car to be at the Carlisle All Chrysler Nationals this year for the first time and now I may not be able to go because of the price of gas. I feel so ripped off! I've been looking forward to this trip for years! By July I figure it will cost me about $450 to $500 in gas alone for a 3 day weekend!

Its hard to justify spending that kind of money on a hobby when you need to it to pay for other everyday things like food, electricity and gas for your daily driver to get back and forth to work. I know there are many of you out there who feel the same way. Many of you travel long distances to go to the car show every year because its what we do as car guys and gals.

So whats a person to do? Do we find many people in the same area and rent a car hauler to trailer our cars to the show? I know my car isn't a "trailer queen". Do we swap our V8's for Slant 6 engines? 4 bbl carbs for 2bbls? Do we drop in a de-tuned low hp engine and put the "good motor" on an engine stand?

How about going green? Anyone got an extra fuel cell laying around? Solar? Well hell Yea! Have you seen how big that back window is? Slap some panels in there, add some batteries and were off! We just have to travel during the day, as long as its sunny.

I'm not sure if I would pay to see the "Hurst Hybrid Under Glass" make any 1/4 mile wheels up runs at the drag strip. Somehow it wouldn't be the same.

I'm just a little tweaked about the whole situation. I could air out my political thoughts, rant about this for awhile longer, and it still wouldn't bring the price of gas down to a reasonable level.

Like the rest of you, I have to tighten up on spending and deal with it hoping things will get better soon. Maybe if I'm lucky I can convince the wife to let me use some of the money from our "Stimulus Package" and make the trip anyway.

I dunno. The whole price of gas situation just seems so intolerable. I will be at Carlisle this year. It's just that I may roll up in the wifes Corolla, not my Barracuda.

Torque

A little something I created with photoshop