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On Wednesday May 15, 2013 Susan and I followed Gary's truck and my Fury in his trailer to Athol. We caught our first glimpses of Gary's Windsor and were totally blown away, it was absolutely gorgeous! Later as we unloaded the Fury we hoped and prayed Paul would do the Fury proud. After all the problems I'd had over the previous years handing my car over to a stranger was very difficult for me to do.
On Wednesday May 14, 2014, one year later, Susan and I are making our way to Athol. No sooner had we crossed the border into Idaho when we come across this dude with an orange car parked in a field. It had to be Gary, so we stopped to see if he needed help. Paul was on the way with his flat deck to haul Gary the rest of the way.
The problem, both rear axle bearing were toast. After installing new wheel bearings we took this opportunity to record Paul standing with his two amazing creations. As you can see, Paul is very pleased. I couldn't help but think Paul might be just a little sad to have them both leaving the nest, so I asked him for a 5 year 50,000 parts and labor warranty. Paul wouldn't stop laughing, so I guess that's a no!
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Damn it felt pretty good!! |
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Unfortunately Gary's class, "Classic 60's 1966-69", cut off at 69 and there wasn't any class for Classic 70's. So we were forced to enter the class, "Classic Muscle cars - All years 1975". There were a large number of GM and Ford entered in this class and they ate us alive. I really couldn't argue with the result, they were great cars and we simple shouldn't have been in their class. In hind sight I should have entered Gary's class as a '69 Fury. LOL
Paul, however, was pretty disappointed.
A couple of days after the car show, we packed up and headed for Calgary. The pucker factor was pretty high; taking an untested 45 year old car that had been reduced to nuts and bolts on a non-stop 600 Km (400 mile) trip was a little intimidating. Little things like, does the fuel gauge work and how far I can go on a tank of gas were on my mind. Fuel questions aside, what else could go wrong, besides just about anything.
Car worries aside, my biggest concern, the border and getting the car into Canada. In the end Canada Customs was great, I showed them how much I paid for all the work and parts, and they accepted my numbers and charged me five percent GST on the total. They even took Visa!
Once across the border I started to loosen up, the car was running great and I was starting to really enjoy this trip 32 years in the making. In the end, scanning gauges and listening to every little noise kept my mind occupied so the 7 hour trip passed very quickly
I found the gas gauge to be fairly accurate, although I did chicken out at 1/8th tank and filled it up. I’ll have to drive close to home with a gas can to figure out just where dry empty is on the gauge.
My hat is definitely off to Paul who did an amazing job. He not only turned the Fury into a work of art, he also managed to get everything to work properly. You have to admit, a 400 mile mountain run with a newly assembled rotisserie restoration takes a certain measure of faith, although I did have my wife following in the Jeep watching for falling parts. LOL
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The picture shows what looks like lots of clearance, but it doesn't look like much from behind the wheel. |
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Bill Mounteer
Calgary, Alberta Canada |
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