Reading Scott's theory of compatability the other day reminded me of the
"VACATION FROM HELL" that my wife and I took a few years back.
We decided to go the North American Triumph Challenge/VTR National Meet
in Albany, New York in 1989.
We had, after many discussions and arguments decided:
a) No way were we going to DRIVE the Spitfire to Albany. We are getting to
old to be folded up for that long a period.
b) I was not going to be able to tow the Spit, no trailers available.
The decisions came down to:
a) I go alone and do a "banzai" run in the truck.
b) The wife goes, we drive her Tempo, and we make a vacation out of it.
B) won, and thence began the "VFH". I put some of my Lucas bumper stickers
(magnetic mount) on the back of the Tempo. The trip there was great with no
problems.
The return trip, we left Albany to go North to Lake Placid. In Lake Placid,
we had a light lunch, and when we went to start the car, it immediately went
to an "idle" at 4000 rpm. We figured that it was a temporary problem, and
left Lake Placid. Well, the problem didn't go away. We ended up in
Rochester for two days waiting for repairs. The worst part was that we went
for the cheap motel, and it didn't have a pool.
After getting the car fixed, we decided to forget the rest of the vacation
and return home. In Hamilton, Ontario, we hit a large piece of metal, and
blew two tires, and cracked the oil pan. The suspension was also damaged,
along with most of the floorboards and the gas tank being bent on the right
side.
After a tow to the local Ford dealership, the car was patched together and
we limped the rest of the way home.
I never would have believed that the Lucas curse could be transferred to Ford
electronics, especially not from a simple bumper sticker.
BTW, the stickers in the story are:
Why do the English drink warm beer? Because they have Lucas refrigerators.
A drawing of a toggle switch with the positions labeled: Dim, Flicker, Off.
A drawing of a headstone labeled: RIP J. Lucas
Doug Mitchell 1973 Spitfire 1500?1300
AKA The Grape.
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