Made it back safe! Flew into Denver, took care of the transaction, and was on the road by 1:30pm CST. Thank goodness I had a friend with me to help drive. We made it to his condo in Rockford by 3:30am CST.
Wow was it cold. Due to it being 10 degrees out and us going 75mph, the defroster was having a hard time keeping up. We were getting ice inside the windows. Only thing that acted up on the way was the TCS. Couldn't figure it out. It would intermittently blink green on and off. I called the original owner, and he said that it may be due to the fact that the two rear tires are different. He had blown out one of the Toyo's a couple months ago. The new Toyo was a replacement for the old one, which is no longer produced. At any rate, a mechanic had told him that the two tires with slightly different tread patterns/life could affect the TCS some how. We turned the engine off at a rest stop, fired it back up, and proceeded to shut off the TCS for the remainder of the trip. It was fine from that point on.
No other issues to report, except some clicking from the ABS modulator when first starting the car and driving slowing over icy areas. I read that this is normal. Sorry for the ranting..:smile:
Back to the trip. We must have looked like a couple of idiots rolling I80 through Nebraska/Iowa in frigid temps with 3M Blue Painters tape all over the car's front, fenders, mirrors, etc. This tape really is the way to go. It peels of so easily. Despite not exactly being asthetically pleasing, we still got compliments at the service stations.
The car: This thing is clean! The engine looks brand new, and hums like a sewing machine. I had her parked over night in Rockford in my friend's driveway. She fired up w/o hassle the next day...and it was cold!!
My remaining 85 miles to Chicago seemed so easy compared to the night before. Naturally all of my friends wanted to see the car. She was dirty as heck. I arrived in the city and went to my favorite hand car wash off of Webster(just west of Ashland). I thought for sure I'd have to wait in line forever. These places are normally a zoo just after the snow has been cleared. To my surprise(and liking), the place was dead. I drove into the bay, and the porters/car washers all dropped their jaws. I had 8 people cleaning my car. The owner came out and conversed with me. He couldn't believe it was a '91.
The most comical part was when the first porter came up to the car and was unable to find the door handle. A wry smile came over my face
The owner of the car wash then verbally instructed him where it was located.
Ok..she's clean now. Now I can take her home and show the fiancee. Lucy dropped her jaw when she saw it. The words "pretty" and "beautiful" came out. I suppose I can live with those adjectives:wink:
All in all, the car was well received by all. I'll be storing her for the winter this Sunday.
I took a few amateur pics during the trip back. Any advice on how to post them(size restrictions killing me) would be great. The blue tape shots are the best!
Sorry for being long-winded. It still hasn't sunk in that this is my car yet. Spring can't come soon enough:biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:
-Paul
