Touring in a Model A

Monday, June 20, 2016

Day Four
At the National Convention, Loveland CO

Today the car is out and we are rolling. Mark arranged for a guided fishing trip so that meant I had to get up early to drop him off at the fly shop. It also means I am on my own for transportation and I get to drive the car back to the hotel and over to the convention.

I dropped Mark off, jumped in behind the wheel and took off to the hotel. At the first stop sign, I discovered the sedan brakes are a little different than the brakes in the truck. That's okay, I figured it out and made perfect stops from there. I was looking for the road back to the hotel. The road I thought was the road I was going to turn on had a different name than I expected. I kept going thinking my street would be the next street. Nope, that street with the different name must have been my turn. I work my way over to the left lane of a four-lane highway in the middle of the morning commute hour and the engine make a little hick-up sound like you hear before your car runs out of gas. I look at the gauge and discover I am on "O", like zero, no gas. I make the U-Turn and am heading in the opposite direction with finding a gas station my number one priority. I find the station, pull in and get to pumping gas. I discover the gas cap is vapor locked on the tank since we are at 4800 feet elevation. And then this man walks out of the station and says, "I like your car!"

I reply, "Thank you, do you have a second? Would you like to help me remove the cap?" He came over and removed it. I thanked him and put in 9.5 gallon. I had 1.5 gallons of gas to spare. How nice the 1931 sedan comes with a "low gas" warning.

I pull out of the station and the car starts sputtering and looses all power. I am now blocking the entrance to the freeway in the middle of the morning commute. I limp the car off to the side of the road and I am almost committed to entering the freeway. I clear the sediment from the bowl on the carberator that I kicked up when I added gas to the tank. I wait for the cars to pass, pull back onto the road and finally get myself back to the hotel.

From there, the day went fine. The car ran fine. She started every time and she tuned heads when we drove through town.

It's a good thing "This Lady Drive a Model A".

Mark fishes a private lake with his guide