A trip to the air port

[Captain Obvious]

I had paid $600 for the Morris and drove it for a few months

Is that the Morris that's in constant danger by being crushed by a piano?

[FastWoman]

How far will AAA tow? Ask them!

I don't know the answer, but I do know they towed me home when my fuel pump died, over halfway to Richmond from here. I guess that would have been about 50 miles. I believe they have different membership levels that might come with different towing distances. I think we would have the premium version, whatever it's called.

I don't think there's much shame in a tow. It's better than spending hours on the side of the road trying to fix your car. People can throw stuff at you, shoot you, or hit you and/or your car.* A serial murderer might pull over to offer help. Weird stuff happens. I'd rather get a tow to my nice, safe driveway, where I can work out the problem in safety and with an abundance of useful tools and parts.

* We had a flat left tire on a cargo trailer and no spare. This was at night, next to a state prison. We dropped the trailer on the side of the road, about 8 feet out of traffic, so that we could go into town, get a replacement, and return in daylight when it was safer. The trailer was still there, but someone had drifted 8 feet off of the road and clobbered it, ripping the left fender cleanly away, leaving tire marks up high on the side of the trailer, and driving the jack a foot into the asphalt shoulder (ran over the tongue???). I'm glad we weren't changing that tire in the dark!

[metalmonkey47]

You know it's kind of funny, I had a similar concern driving my 620 with a built LZ all the way through Atlanta to the airport at 6 AM to go get a friend, and never really trusted my car to make the trip, but it did it wonderfully! Cruising sucked since it had a 4.375 rear gear, but otherwise I actually had a great time with no issues!

It gave me a chance to learn a lot about my car, and asses quite a few issues that I was able to fix, since I had a lot of seat time with them.

[sscanf]

So, look what I did to myself:

Battery not charging this morning (the little red light made me pay attention)! I noticed the other day that the charging was a little flaky (sometimes charging nicely, sometimes not so much).

I actually NEED the car for the next 10 days while someone borrows our "spare". So I'm off to Adv auto at lunch for a new alt. Hoping to get it all done at lunch (will bring the core with me).

Update: All better now

Edited June 26, 2014 by sscanf

[sscanf]

I'm going to check with my insurance company on their towing policy. Will let you know. I don't want to be stuck having to have it towed to a garage if I'm within a reasonable radius of home.

I once had to spend the night in the Cortina when one of the tiny nuts that held on the air cleaner came loose and was swallowed by the carb (it wound up getting stuck between a valve and the head). I hitched a ride the next day and was picked up by a trucker. When I asked what he was hauling, he told me that it was a load of "maggets". I never really figured out what he meant by that and I was afraid to ask.

[sscanf]

Is that the Morris that's in constant danger by being crushed by a piano?

Mine was not the Morris of Top Gear/piano fame (I had to look that up). There might be a marina somewhere int the background of the Cortina photo though. The 1300 looked like a big mini. It was actually a pretty good car. Front wheel drive. Great on gas. No power. 4-speed "granny stick" (gear shift was just a long stick protruding from the floor). When I bought the car, I asked the guy for a quick lesson on how to drive a manual transmission. He claimed to be in a hurry and said "push the cluth in, put it in gear, let the clutch out", that was it. It was parallel parked at the time.... Three hours later I could drive it.

Looked like this:

Edited June 26, 2014 by sscanf

[Captain Obvious]

Haha!! Glad you came up with the reference! I was starting to think that I threw that one out there and it was going to go completely unaccounted for!

"push the cluth in, put it in gear, let the clutch out", that was it. It was parallel parked at the time.... Three hours later I could drive it.

Was that three hours of bouncing off the front and rear of the cars parked in line with you?