THE CROSLEY REPORT | ROAD TRIP |
The remainder of the trip was anti-climactic. For 250 miles, the Crosley ran perfectly smooth. The only excitement we had was watching some yahoo back his van out of the gas pump and into the car parked next to us! The temperature ran 180-200 almost the whole way and the car had plenty of power. We burned over the Antioch Bridge at 40+ with nary a peep from the Crosley. Just to keep us humble, we ran out of gas 5 miles from home-- we had our emergency can full and with a minimum of priming and flooding we were on our way. As we pulled into the alley behind my house, the car was running smoother and cooler than when we'd pulled out four days before. We traveled a total of 701 miles, 250 of which we did on the last day alone. I suspect we actually went further since the radials I have on the car are slightly larger than the stock tires. Our friend with the trailer told us that we were doing at least 50 when he passed us-- our speedo showed 40-45. We used about 21 gallons of gas and a quart of oil. I adjusted the carburetor probably 10 times, the timing once, the brakes once, the clutch once and greased the water pump at least 5 times. We both have pretty good sun and windburns, and I don't know when my back will return to its normal shape. I feel more like I've been run over by a Crosley than that I've made a trip in one. I don't plan on making any more long-distance trips in the Crosley in the immediate future. I think some seat-padding (there is none on the driver's seat), side windows and a top are mandatory before I try this again. Oh, and brakes. Brakes would be nice. I've still got my eye on next year's Ohio Crosley meet, and someone just told me about a two-laner that crosses the Sierras... |
Cooling off on Highway 41. |
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