Forced servitude.

"ImmoralMinority" (araimondo) 04/24/2018 at 17:30 • Filed to: None

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The sacrifices one makes as a father are significant.

I took the Subaru to my mechanic for a once-over and an oil change. I want to make sure he starts from a good place. He drove my Infiniti to school. They also put new battery terminal clamps on the Sunchaser. But the Subie likely will not be done until tomorrow.

But I have to go to Salinas tomorrow, which means he will have to drive the Infiniti, and my 300 mile round trip (including visits to various farms). Unless I let him take the Sunchaser to school....not fucking likely.

This will mean a lot of Sunchaser time. Friday, we drive to Sacramento (180 miles) and stay overnight for a 2 day vintage car rally, the California Carrera, put on by the California Automotive Museum. We will drive home Sunday or Monday depending on how late the rally ends and how tired we are.

All in all, this will be a 1000+ mile week for the little ‘Chaser.

Good thing she is not an Italian or British roadster. She is a workhorse. 22R is stone cold reliable.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > ImmoralMinority 04/24/2018 at 17:47

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Hawkeye! I wish I were able to find a wagon version in STi trim but the sedan is growing on me now.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > ImmoralMinority 04/24/2018 at 17:55

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Fun fact about the california auto museum a significant portion of the Ford cars came from a defunct auto museum in Deer Lodge MT. I saw the museum in Deer Lodge as a child and visited those same cars in sacramento nearly 25 years later!

From their web site:

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Fast forward a couple of years… In October 1985 I got a letter from Edward Towe of Deer Lodge, Montana inquiring if we would be interested in having his auto museum in Sacramento. The significance of which was that his was the world’s largest collection of a single make of car: the Ford. His museum represented every year and model of the first 50 years of Ford. Were we interested? Wow! What an opportunity. An immediate world class museum ready-made for us! All we need is a place to put the cars.

The Towes came down that Christmas to look us over. Oh, yes! Edward brought a 1909 two-pedal Tourister Model T for me to play with on that first trip. A peace offering? Not only that; he soon made a second trip bringing a 1946 Sportsman woody convertible. Eat your heart out because he made a third trip bringing a 1932 Model B station wagon. Supposedly, one of five in restored condition. Now, we’re really getting along “On the Road to a Car Museum!”

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Summer 1986 – Now we’ve got the cars – or at least the promise of them. But where are we going to put them? First suggestion: the old power plant on Jibboom Street. Neal Frandsen, one of the original $100 contributors brought us the plans for it. It was a great focus for publicity but we could only fit 40 cars in there. Then THIS building showed up. About two acres, built in 1946 as a grocery warehouse, later a tire warehouse, it was now a repository for used restaurant equipment. We had a new board member, Carl Amundson, who was on the Redevelopment Agency Board. They wanted this building for Sacramento’s waterfront manifest destiny. Figuring it was worth $2,000,000 – they challenged us to get it for that.

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1986 – 1987 – Challenged by the Redevelopment Agency to negotiate the price of the building for $2,000,000, we dutifully contacted the owners, the Finegold brothers, Ray and Cecil. Their attorneys agree, with an appraiser who just happened to appraise the value at exactly $2 million. We took that to the Redevelopment Agency with the deal, to be told, “Sorry, we’re out of money.” A truly revolting development. We were at a drop dead date with the Finegolds. Desperate, we were able to get an audience City Councilman, and Chairman of the Finance Committee. A car guy by the name of Joe Serna. Three of us had spent 36 hours straight hobbling together the semblance of a pro forma document.

On Monday morning we were at City Hall, I presented the document to Mr. Serna, who, without opening it, laid it on the corner of his desk. He said, “Let me make a phone call to Tom Friery.” (The City Treasurer at that time.)

“Don’t we have a couple of million dollars left from the convention center bond issue? Yes! I’ll call you back.” Call two was to the head of the convention center, Sam Burns, “How’d you like to be the landlord of a car museum?” Response, “OK!” Joe called the treasurer back, “Tom, we’ve got a deal!”

Then Joe turned to me, “Dick, I know you guys don’t have any money, do you suppose if we gave you twenty years you could dig up $200 a month?”

What do you suppose it feels like to levitate?

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OK … We’ve got a contract for a car museum and a place to put the cars. How do we get the cars from Deer Lodge, Montana to Sacramento? One of “the guys” had a contact with the local Teamsters Union secretary. And he had a contact with the Teamsters’ boss in San Francisco. Out of the blue I got a call from Bill Hadley of Hadley Auto Transport (who denies being contacted by the Teamsters) He set it up as a reward/reunion for his drivers. The result was 13 transporters from the Hadley empire: Denver, Salt Lake, Seattle, Portland, Benicia, and Los Angeles plus expeditors and planners. Each having over 25 years of clear driving records with the company.

Seven of us, including a cameraman from Channel 40, loaded in an old pickup and camper, set off to Deer Lodge to help load 95 Towe Museum vehicles onto those transporters for the long caravan to Sacramento, plus five cars that were to be driven.

Now came the adventure! It was the third week of September. The weather had been fine. We pulled out at dawn. Within a few miles the weather burst into the first full scale blizzard with several inches of snow by Idaho Falls. Onward to our first night in Jackpot, Nevada. Next night, hard to believe, blizzard conditions closed I-80 over Donner Summit. Our problem: the Highway Patrol refused us passage at 6am and our scheduled arrival time in Sacramento is 9am. How do we get there on time? Well, we won’t! It’s 9am and finally, the Highway Patrol released us to go.

Edward Towe had to do some emergency repairs on one of the five cars and put me into the lead car, a 1933 right hand drive Phaeton with a top, but no side curtains. The road over Donner Pass was fine, and by the time we approached our destination we had accumulated additional procession of cars; the Sierra Mustang Club, some early V8 Fords and the British car club, among others.

Our pre-designated route was to come in on I-80, transition to I-5, then across the river to Front Street to here. I looked down as I came around this curve above… I honestly thought I saw thousands of people in front of the museum. It was noon and I thought everyone would have gone home. Now, emoting, my hair stood straight up and I began to bawl. I was so nervous I drove right past the reception committee and up the ramp into the museum.

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We opened the Towe Ford Museum on May 1, 1987 and we have lived happily ever after. Don’t we wish it had been that easy. But we are here now as The California Automobile Museum, and we are looking forward to an even more fabulous future.

gettingoldercarguy > ImmoralMinority 04/24/2018 at 18:03

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I gotta ask, what oil?

TorqueToYield > ImmoralMinority 04/24/2018 at 18:27

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Those NA Imprezas make good teenager cars. Slow. Easy to wrench on. Unlikely to leave you stranded but little things go wrong often enough you’ll have to wrench on it. Enough space for road trips. Reasonable on gas. Space for friends. And they can take a ton of abuse. Fun to drive in a slow car fast kind of way. Did I mention slow?

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > gettingoldercarguy 04/24/2018 at 18:58

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I had the same question. I’d be running 10W30, maybe even SAE30. I assume there are many miles on it.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ImmoralMinority 04/24/2018 at 19:40

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Is this the replacement for the car that some guy’s son wrecked? Way nicer than what I would’ve bought. Like a ‘95 Corolla or something with 572,000 miles on it and disintegrated seats...

wafflesnfalafel > ImmoralMinority 04/24/2018 at 22:07

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You are just one Miata away from Prime Platinum OPPO status...

CaptDale - is secretly British > ImmoralMinority 04/26/2018 at 20:27

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Damn it, not I’ll have to prove you wrong if my little Sprite ever gets finished