I was going over my budget when I realized that the YTD expense for autocross entry fees was unusually low for this time of year. Oh yeah, I haven’t done a single timed autocross run yet this year. In fact, the $40 tagged under autocross entry fees are the two cancellations I made for the Pittsburgh Match Tour and the New Jersey Pro Solo. What a sad state of affairs. ∞
Aside
Progress on the Mustang was slow this weekend. I bailed on the Pittsburgh Match Tour to wrench on the Mustang in hopes of getting the car running for the New Jersey Pro, but I’ve finally accepted that the car just won’t be ready. It kills me to do it, but I’ve decided to cancel my entry to the New Jersey Pro and keep working on the Mustang instead of subbing my Miata in as my Pro Solo entry. I just have to put in new brake lines, install and bleed the hydraulic lines for the clutch, install the driveshaft, install the new seats, and reinstall the hood. At this rate, it will take me three weeks to do all of that. ∞
Money and a bill of sale have changed hands, so the Morgan is officially sold. The original plan was for me to road trip the Morgan 6 hours down to Champaign, Illinois this weekend, instruct at the CCSCC solo school, maybe play around with the car during the test and tune, leave it with its new owner, and go back to Michigan. As it’s currently still winter down in Illinois, the solo school was postponed, and the Morgan sits safe and snug in my garage. Arrangements will be made for delivery later.
With that said, it should be pretty obvious now who the new owner of the Morgan is. It’s none other than Barry, one of the old timers who welcomed me to CCSCC when I first started autocrossing, one of the folks who encouraged me to get involved with the Board and with running autocross events, and who served as my safety steward for all the autocross events I chaired. Most importantly, he was a British car guy with a specific penchant for TVRs, bringing out his TVR 2500M out to autocrosses (when it ran) and imbuing me with a love for really obscure British cars. It is only fitting then that my Morgan goes to him. ∞
The Morgan is tentatively sold and off the market. Should the deal go through, I will be delivering the car personally this weekend. I am incredibly sad that I will no longer have such a fun little roadster to blast around town in, incredibly excited for its new owner, and already thinking about what is going to replace the Morgan’s spot in the garage. ∞
Okay, the evening’s drive with the Morgan wasn’t entirely relaxing. I didn’t realize just how many humongous potholes had opened up on 696 and 75 until I was driving on them. I counted nearly a dozen cars tonight stranded on the side of the road with busted tires. I dodged most but not all of the potholes — I nailed a few and by the end of the evening, the passenger left parking lamp on the fender and the speedometer in the dashboard had come loose. If potholes are scary and jarring in a regular car with modern steel or alloy wheels, I found them infinitely more scary and jarring in a flexible flyer of a car with WIRE WHEELS. #JohnLiproblems ∞