[T3] Northern Midwest Invasion Caravan

[John Jaranson]

On 19 Apr 2024, Jim Adney wrote:
>On 19 Apr 2024 at 23:10, David Hall wrote:

>> We met the deep sea green Fastback at Jackson, and I got a scary ride over the
>> Rockies in it with ? Jason ?. We found brake issues later, ISTR. Great memories
>> from that adventure to Boise.

>I keep trying to remember his name, too. Wasn't his wife following in a Vega, or Pinto, or
>something like that? ISTR some sort of issue with a completely shot tie rod end, even though
>he had just had a complete front end alignment done. Of course that problem wasn't noticed
>until AFTER Dave and he had finished driving thru all the risky/twisty mountain roads.

>My strongest memory from that trip was the time we stopped in the middle of that long
>downhill road along a 1000 ft cliff face. Keith parked and started to walk away from his car,
>not noticing that it had started to roll backwards. We yelled and he ran back, got in the car
>and managed to stop the car, maybe 10-20 ft from disaster.

*******************************
That cliff-side close call was actually on the drive out to Myrtle Creek, OR for the 3rd Invasion.  Jill and I drove that route again in 2022 for the Crescent City, CA Invasion.  Good memories for sure.

I actually went through my records and put together a list of Sophy’s adventures to all of the Invasions about a year ago.  It goes something like this….

2002 - Parma, ID. (3984 miles) 4 New Tires in Parma, ID (the recaps were just not up to the task of the return trip). New 6V starter bushing installed in Russ Wolfe's shop in Iowa on the way out. I think we welded up one of my j-tubes also at Russ's place also.

2004 - Hershey, PA. (976 miles) New clutch and main seal in Hershey, PA Dropped the engine in the hotel parking lot.

2006 - Myrtle Creek, OR. (4902 miles) Brass plug in the bottom of the left-hand float bowl fell out at highway speed in the middle of nowhere, WY dumping fuel all over the left side of the engine and exhaust. Miraculously, it landed on the engine tin and stayed there. Just had to re-install it after changing my shorts. <G>
Electro-magnetic shut-off valve failed on the way home. Russ Wolfe took it off the carb, snipped off the cut-off plunger effectively making it a static jet. Worked perfectly and is still on the carb.

2008 - Ypsilanti, MI. (60 miles) Only 30 miles from the house. No major repairs needed!

2010 - -Carthage, MO. (1590 miles) Condensor to Coil wire fell at speed on the interstate effectively killing the engine. Easy fix after coasting to a stop.

2012 - Colorado Springs, CO. (2666 miles) One of the short carb linkage rods popped off about 2 miles from home. Easy parking lot fix.

2014 - Fairport, NY. (864 miles) No issues with Sophy, but we did have to replace the two bolts for the fan housing (the ones behind the fan) on Jill's Type 34 Ghia on the way out. Not a fun job a parking lot...

2016 - Prescott Valley, AZ. (4050 miles) Had one of the fuel inlet brass pipes come loose from the carb. Not a fun fix in the 100F+ heat in AZ, but got it done. Also had the muffler fall off at highway speed just outside St. Louis, MO on the way back. We were able to retrieve the muffler and make it to a muffler shop the next more to get it welded back on. Jill's Ghia ran flawlessley for the whole 4051 mile round trip.

2018 - Scottsboro, AL. (1330 miles) No issues with either car.

2020 - COVID! No Invasion. No repairs.

2022 - Crescent City, CA. (4986 miles) New cylinder heads in Crescent City, CA. Dropped the engine in the hotel parking lot...again. Also got a new rotor (delivered by train in the middle of the night) in Winnemucca, NV. Jill's Ghia stayed home due to the electric A/C install not being completed....and the length of the trip.

The mileage numbers are estimates based on google maps and do not include any of the side trips and dinner caravans, etc.  Total miles driven in Sophy to each of the 10 Invasion = 25,468!

Going to add another 1400 or so miles in June and I am sure lots more great memories.

John
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