<VV> If it weren't for bad luck... (long)

AeroNed@aol.com AeroNed@aol.com
Thu, 17 Jun 2004 12:48:13 EDT


... I wouldn't have any.

Rewind to last year's convention, my first, my engine ate a couple of rod 
bearings on the way. Flat towed the car to the convention and ended up having a 
great time without a car. When I took the engine apart, we found some 
'defective' parts. The vendor stood by their parts and help with the rebuild with some 
new parts. The engine runs great, better than the first one ever did.

Now this year...
I was looking forward in driving my car in the convention events in 
Lexington. My employer decides that it would be a good thing to shut down a week before 
Christmas. This combined with my brother's wedding meant that I didn't have 
the vacation time for the convention. Yesterday, they decided that the year end 
shut down would not be needed. This meant that I could go to Lexington and at 
least make the autocross. I was a bit hesitant about making the trip solo but 
the desire for the convention fun was greater. I loaded up the car and headed 
out last night around 9:30 PM. My plan was to do 200-300 miles of the 700 
mile trip and finish today. I made it about 250 miles, got through KC and 
thinking about stopping for the night. At this point, enter Bambi.

I was about 100 yards behind a Semi, doing about 70 MPH, the speed limit, in 
the right lane. A good sized Doe stepped into the right lane, I swerved to the 
left but clipped Bambi with the front right side. The damage is extensive to 
the quarter panel, hood, and front panel with some minor damage to the 
passenger's door. I had to do some adjustment to the quarter to get some clearance 
for the tire but the car was drivable. I proceeded to the next exit which wasn't 
too far.

Needless to say, I decided not to proceed to Lexington. I made a few more 
adjustments to the sheet metal and headed west. The car ran and handled great 
despite roadside modifications. I'm very thankful, and actually feel lucky that I 
was not hurt.

I had lots of time to think about what to do now, do I still don't know what 
I'm going to do. I may look for a "Ultra" rust free body and transfer my 
existing running gear. I'm also thinking about parting out the car (is someone 
trying to tell me something). I'm going to take some more time to figure where to 
go from here.

Ned