So I made my first road trip this week end with my Dad, Mom, and Son to the inaugural Celebration of Speed at the Richard Petty Museum and Garage, about 3 hours away. My mom and son drove behind us (luckily as you will see).
I had adjusted the carb as it was idling low, and then stalled out twice before we even left the neighborhood! Got it dialed in and off we go.
Then about an hour down the road pulled off to get gas and found the vent tube had a leak when gas started pouring all over the ground. Talked to some local farmers (good old boys) and they got me to a shop that put on a new hose. Nice guy; used to work in Nascar for the Baker brothers, Buddy and Randy. Our 3 hour trip ended up taking 5 hours.
Then, on the way back the fuel gauge quit working, jiggled the wires under the dash as it had happened once before and it kicked back in. By the way the fill up on the way there from E only took 12 gallons, so dad and I were already suspicious there was something wrong with the gauge or sending unit.
Then the grand finally, about 45 minutes from home, had a blow out on the highway at 70mph! Pulled over to the gas station (ironically enough it was the same one we stopped at on the way up where we found the gas leak), after I changed the front driver’s side tire and found the other front tire was spitting as well. We had to get towed home. Luckily it didn't cost me anything other than I tipped the guy a $20 since it was Saturday night. Thank God for classic auto insurance! Filed a claim last night and hope it goes well. All in all the damage could have been a lot worse and nobody was hurt.
All that said it was a great trip. I bought the car for me and my Dad, who is still battling Cancer, and the enjoyment he gets out of it is worth every penny, gas leak, fuel gauge short, or blown tire. The show was close to where some of my family lives, so two of my dad brothers came up, and my aunt and two cousins. My Uncle brought his 72 Challenger and my Cousin brought his 2017 R/T Challenger. For my dad to be able to do that and spend time with them it was priceless, and with all the crap that happened, no one was injured and the car will get fixed. I can't buy his smiles and that's worth the world, and we'll have a pretty wild story to tell about our first road trip.