Congrats to James Smith!, Parade concours win!! Options

[Pat Garvey]

One of our regulars (though we haven't heard from him in about 2 months) Jafsmith won his class at the Parade with his Swiss 914/6. Since he is from upstate New York & DROVE to the Parade, he also garnered the Long Distance Award!

Not a bad start James! Hope our group helped some. If not, help us!

Love to hear tales of your experience. Must have been about a 2800 mile drive & the to score a win?

Pat

[Jasfsmith]

One of our regulars (though we haven't heard from him in about 2 months) Jafsmith won his class at the Parade with his Swiss 914/6. Since he is from upstate New York & DROVE to the Parade, he also garnered the Long Distance Award!

Not a bad start James! Hope our group helped some. If not, help us!

Love to hear tales of your experience. Must have been about a 2800 mile drive & the to score a win?

Pat

The competition was slim in my class (Preservation). <grin> Nonetheless, I put in three days effort prior to the Concour in attempts to clean the engine bay from oil spray from a loose chain tensioner feed line and 4,000 miles plus of road grime from eastern Maine to Portland, OR, without knowing what level of competition and number of competitors I was to face in my class.

I stepped my effort up in the 100 degree after Robert Dunlap showed up with his pristine '75 914/4. Which ultimately took the Preservation Division class win.

I was pleased with my effort and results considering the underside conitnued to carry undercoating (though cleaned).

Interesting the only demerit I got was carrying a non original tire size. I'm waiting on four 165XAS a I write.

If there was one disappointing part of the judging was the format. The Preservation Class scores on a basis of demerits, not points as typical of all the other classes. I had presented a list of Euro v USA delivery differences with notations where they could be confirmed if questioned, which I couldn't decern whether it was read or not. My guess is that they were looking at the level of condition rather than originality. I do wish it was a point assessment as it would at least give me a comparision point to the other cars and future efforts.

The Parade week went by all to fast.

The final Victory Banquet was VERY interesting as somewhere between desert and the first set of awards (long distance was presented earlier in the week), I became ill and retired to my room hoping the chills and stomach pain was the result of too many CC's and ginger's drinks before the banquet (interesting that I could find ginger ale available at any of the watering holes I visited i the Northwest).

Wife returned to the room after the final prize drawings to find me on the bathroom floor, doubled in pain. A quick all to 911 (in this instance a 911 is better than a 914) and an ambulance haulted me off to the local ER.

After serveral hours of poking and prodding in ER, they conceded that I hadn't had a heart attack, and took another direction with more tests.

I never did get a definitive answer to what was wrong, all I knew is the morephine had taking away the pain and I could leave on Sunday. Best guess were gallstones.
Damn the morephone was good.

Discharged on Sunday afternoon. Packed and ready to leave Monday morning.

Monday's sunrise was breathless and so was I. I couldn't lay down and certainly couldn't without discomfort. I could sit and I could drive. Period. After two days of driving it was clear that I had only have a lung functioning due to phenmonia.

Glendive, MT a few days later (gave up on a six day turn schedule), I packed the overnight bag and was ready to get on the road again only to find the 914-6 in a pool of gas. My fuel pump was leaking. No signs of a leak during my final security check the night before.

I amused several local domestic dealer service and repairs shops just by asking if they had interest in providing assistance. Most responding with "a what" before laughing. I did manage to locate one that ran the local towing company, and was into muscle car restoration, willing to provide a lift to confirm the problem. (Remember, I could easily drop to the ground to verify the problem, however I'd certainly drop dead trying to get up.)

I located a new pump and had it overnighted, and took the rest of the day resting in bed. Pump arrived later than expected the following day which suited me just fine.

Saturday morning (the day we expected to arrive home if all had gone well) with another four days travel ahead of us, we managed about another 100 km when from out of nowhere a stone decided to defy the laws of gravity and took a glancing blow off my windshield on the passenger side. Looked like a bullet hole through too the second layer of glass.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. Took me three weeks to fully recover.

All in all a superb roadtrip. So much so, my wife is willing to make the trip to San Diego next year.

[sixerdon]

Congrats on your win, James. Quite a story! Hope you can make it to the Zone 1 concours in May in Newport, RI. Plans already well under way. Although I won't be going to the west coast for any Parade, I'd sure like to pick your brain on your experience.
Non original tire size, huh?? Interesting.

Don

[tod914]

Congrads James!!

[Jasfsmith]

Congrats on your win, James. Quite a story! Hope you can make it to the Zone 1 concours in May in Newport, RI. Plans already well under way. Although I won't be going to the west coast for any Parade, I'd sure like to pick your brain on your experience.
Non original tire size, huh?? Interesting.

Don

A lot depends on the date. You have any info?

[Jasfsmith]

[
Not a bad start James! Hope our group helped some. If not, help us!

Love to hear tales of your experience. Must have been about a 2800 mile drive & the to score a win?

Pat
[/quote]

YES, YES, all the discussions severed to keep the juices flowing, and what to expect.

Though I have to admit I'm still hung up on my decision (or lack of it) on whether to strip the undercoating off or not. It definitely appears to be a requirement for the Preservation class, and any repaint regardless how old is grounds for a dermit in the class. I need to look at the other classifications to see if there is a better fit for my car. Any suggestions?

BTW mileage to the Parade was of little benefit in the Perservation class, unlike the others.

Oh, and for the record. My 914-6 is what I call a 5' car. Any closer and you'll be sure to find problems. Maybe the juices will continue to flow and I can get it down to a 3' car by spring.....

[sixerdon]

Congrats on your win, James. Quite a story! Hope you can make it to the Zone 1 concours in May in Newport, RI. Plans already well under way. Although I won't be going to the west coast for any Parade, I'd sure like to pick your brain on your experience.
Non original tire size, huh?? Interesting.

Don

A lot depends on the date. You have any info?

May 18,19,20. We have already secured the site, hotel and banquet location.