The Drive Home

As we pulled out of the house and headed home I stopped at a local gas station to fill the tank. The car clunked around and was hard to keep in a straight line with the steering. With the tank full I began to smell more gas in the car. There must be some kind of leak in the gas tank. Hopefully that won't be a problem. My wife following behind we took off down the country roads to make the 2 hour drive home.

I did my best to keep the engine at 2K or 3K so as not to exasperate the annoying sound of my exhaust. I realized the sound wasn't bad just because of the crappy muffler, but there was also an exhaust leak or two under the car.

Taking off from a stop sign took a little gusto and it felt as if there was no power up to 2000 rpms, a little power from 2000 to 4000 and then nothing above 4000. Other than making a lot of noise, going over 4000 didn't do anyting at all.

The combination of exhaust fumes and gas fumes required I drive with the window down. The sun was setting and a picturesque view stretched over the horizon before me. For a second I felt like I did 16 years ago, driving those back country roads.

But I suddenly came to a curve and had to muster all of my focus to keep the car from over steering into a ditch. As I rounded the corner I hit the gas and the car dug in and pulled through. I felt the g-forces push me slightly into my seat and amazingly the suspension felt good. It was a glimmer of hope. There still was sports car spirit alive and well deep in this little car. It just needs some TLC to bring it back to life.


We arrived home and parked her in front of the garage. I turned off the engine and went home to begin my long lists of items I needed to do in order to make her street worthy once again.