Z people are everywhere

[zoom240]

A couple years ago, when I moved back to the states, I pulled my 240Z out of storage. It had been in storage for 3 years. I'd pull it out & drive it for about a week every year, so it wasn't too bad, but it was a bit rough. I drove it around a bit & everything seemed to be working (after I replaced a frozen starter & aired up the tires). So what the hell, I decided to drive it to my new house - from mid Missouri to Houston, TX, about 800 miles. Well, I took all my tools, just in case.

It was a blast. Great to be back in the car. Radar detector humming, car humming. Until southern Oklahoma. 90 mph, 85 mph, 75 mph ... still floored, not making headway... 60 mph, 50 mph. I coasted into a small town (Atika?) can't remember, on a Sunday. Pull into the auto parts store & scratch my head. Then I figure -- running hard, must have been crud in the gas tank.. need a new filter. I buy a new filter, pop it on, fire it up & take off. For about two blocks... Coast into a bank, which is closed. Not getting gas. So, I figure... fuel pump. I go back to autostore (on foot, this time) and buy a fuel pump.

That wasn't the whole story either. Took me about an hour to figure out that the fuel filter they sold me was defective -- it was plugged solid.

But the cool thing, was .. while I'm lying on my back in a parking lot of a bank in the backwoods of Oklahoma, drenched in gasoline, finally getting everything lined out (I'm a messy mechanic), a guy drives up & says hey.. a Z. "I had one of these when I was a kid". Then he proceeds to tell me all of HIS Z stories.

Z people everywhere. Once you've had one, you'll always remember it.