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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 24, 2007 - 03:09am PT
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Climbing cars, a lament...
OK, I am really feeling bummed about 510OW and missing the Sushifest. So as an act of therapy, and to wait for the thousands of pictures and millions of words... I thought I'd get you all to relate your climbing trip car breakdowns. This is full disclosure, I don't expect any of you would willing go on a trip in one of my cars ever again..
I'll start, though not with 510OW, with a few stories and cars... and look for some pictures too.
My very first car ever was a 1961 VW bus, which Debbie and I bought in Berkeley in 1975, ZOT580. We actually bought two wrecked VW buses, and a lot of parts, which we assembled into one bus... We drove this from Berkeley to New York City via Los Angeles and Boston. For a lot of years this was my ride. Here it is having transported Mike, Richie, Bill and me to New Hampshire in 1979 to climb at Whitehorse and Cathedral Ledges.
Turns out that aside from some mistiming on a tune-up, this car never broke down on a climbing trip. It did have problem on a spring trip from New York to Boston and back... On the way out the front wheel bearings became very noisy. No problem! I had my How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive book and I was golden. I changed the front wheel bearings and over tightened the right side. At some point it became a very squeaky wheel on the way back to New York. So every 40 to 50 miles or so, I pulled over and repacked the bearing all the way back.
My constant reading companion in those years:
At some point I couldn't keep it together, so I bought a 1977 (or 78?) bus. Here it is the parking lot at Stoney Clove in 1985 in a snow storm after ice climbing:
Once again, I always seemed to keep this car going for climbing trips, but Debbie was an unwitting victim once... her sister came out and they decided they'd drive up to the see the Mystic Sea Port in Connecticut. I told her to rent a car, no way, "you take that car everywhere, why should I have to rent a car?!" Ok, I tune it up, get it ready for the family to putt-putt off in, peace of mind.
So I'm at work where the switchboard had no operator on the weekend, a bell would ring in the computer room, which is where I was serendipitously when Debbie called to report they had broken down on the Connecticut Turnpike. "What's wrong?" "Linda thinks it's a fuel pump." I ride my bike 20 miles to White Plains to get a rental car, then drive back to the lab where my 1961 bus was the parts cabinet, I got every gas pump that I owned (probably something like 4 or 5) and took off to find them.
Of course when I got there I did the test... "gas, spark, air" if all those things are happening then the engine should be running. There was gas, so scratch the pump hypothesis. But no spark. I checked everything and see that the points that I had just installed were broken... bah, Bosch! I had a set that were the wrongs type, but with a little imaginative bending and cutting got the car going.
I don't have a picture of the 1967 Beetle that I had around this time. That one did break down once, but not far from home. Mike and I were going to climb at the 'Gunks. He was house sitting close to where I lived, I picked him up, and as I was turning on the Saw Mill Parkway on-ramp the front left ball joint popped. I was so pissed that I just drove it back with the wheel rubbing, only about a half mile.
Eventually we made enough money to buy a new car, a 1989 VW Golf. What a nice car... in 1993 I took it out to Canada for a month. Here it is at the Saskatchawan Glacier trail head. There is Mike and Lawrence getting ready to launch onto the glacier, our objective was Mt. Columbia.
Various other things happened and we never got across the ice field. We did have a great trip back there, though. On the way home, the main radiator hose decided that life was too sweet, and decided to commit suicide in the middle of pretty much nowhere. Here it is with the field engineered fixes that got me back to Massachusetts..
Eventually I decided that all I really wanted was a reliable ride, and that I was making enough money to pay to keep the cars fixed so the epic nature of travel wouldn't intervene... ho man... you can never escape it, of course.
So I'm still bumming that we missed the Sushifest, but basking in the friendly glow of the SuperTopo community as was on display in Melissa's Pity Party in the East Bay.
Hopefully you all have stories too...
"Be kind to your Ass, for he bears thee"
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Apr 24, 2007 - 03:16am PT
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"Be kind to your Ass, for he bears thee"
Sweet. I want that on a bumper sticker.
I would be way to stoopid to deal with a tempermental auto.
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TradIsGood
Happy and Healthy climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Apr 24, 2007 - 09:17am PT
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Somebody should get Ed a new book. Then maybe he could buy something besides VWs.
then drive back to the lab where my 1961 bus was the parts cabinet, I got every gas pump that I owned (probably something like 4 or 5) and took off to find them.
I must confess that this is the first hint I have seen that Ed is a redneck - a mutant variation, given his German car penchant. :-)
Mein Gott! "Duct Tape"! German auto engineers rolling over in their graves.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Apr 24, 2007 - 09:59am PT
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"This is it,
this is the trip,
this the part, I really like."
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 24, 2007 - 11:16am PT
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TiG - not my book, but a reasonable facsimile taken (unattributed) off the web...
I forgot to post this one of 510OW, in Tuolumne Meadows a couple of years ago now, with all of the guys who climbed with me and rode in those vehicles... and who appeared in the pictures above:
Life is to precious to waste it worrying over mechanical problems... hug a friend today!
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Russ Walling
Social climber
Out on the sand.... man.....
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Apr 24, 2007 - 11:24am PT
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Good one Ed....
I never went anywhere without my new set of pistons and sleeves and a few main bearings. Got a '67 bus from my sister in trade for my '62 T-Bird in 1979/80. Still have the bus and it was running until a few months ago... now it just sits there as a kick ass storage locker waiting for a longblock.
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spyork
Social climber
Land of Green Stretchy People
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Apr 24, 2007 - 11:27am PT
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Damn Ed, I used to have that book! It was all dog eared and greasy from working on my 57 ragtop bug. I can smell the gear oil even now...
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L
climber
NoName City and It Don't Look Pretty
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Apr 24, 2007 - 11:44am PT
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Dang Ed--You spin a good yarn!
Only because my brother's way into cars, and because you supplied pictures, could I translate your story into girlspeak: Drive a Honda.
I do, and have never broken down on a climbing trip.
Thanks for an excellent lament!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Apr 24, 2007 - 12:16pm PT
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I was a VW pilot for years Ed, so you have the entirety of my masochistic sympathy. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that my life was enough of an adventure without driving one too! I have heat now, without fumes. What a concept!
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Phil_B
Social climber
Hercules, CA
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Apr 24, 2007 - 12:20pm PT
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Ha, those cars were fun if you liked working on them.
I think I told you guys at the pity party that I once rebuilt my Bug engine in my dorm room over spring break. All I needed was my book and a few tools. The cleaning staff didn't appreciate my parts dip in the room though.
Glad I got to meet ya at the pity party.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Apr 24, 2007 - 12:24pm PT
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"Drive a Honda" haha, more Ironic than you know!
FWIW, I have repaired my ex's '97 accord alongside the road.
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Matt
Trad climber
places you shouldn't talk about in polite company
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Apr 24, 2007 - 12:27pm PT
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T
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L
climber
NoName City and It Don't Look Pretty
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Apr 24, 2007 - 12:31pm PT
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Well Jaybro, cars have personalities. If it belonged to your ex and you were doing the repairs...that might explain a few things. (chuckle, chuckle)
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Apr 24, 2007 - 12:34pm PT
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Good point
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WBraun
climber
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Apr 24, 2007 - 12:40pm PT
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Back in those days most climbers had VW's. They were cheap and easy to fix and maintain.
I've been thru a lot of mechanical break downs on the road in various places to numerous to want to go into it.
I'm still stuck with those kind of cars.
Nice interesting thread you made there, Ed
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 24, 2007 - 02:42pm PT
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we drove those cars, back in the day, because we could fix them... it was the only way I could have had a car. I believe I touched every part on a VW bus and bug...
Drive a Honda is ironic because that was Debbie's advice to our daughter, when she bought a VW new beetle... told Jaybro the story on the long 1300 mile trip (in less than 24 hours) that we made last week.
Debbie, by the way, thought I was crazy for buying 510OW...
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L
climber
NoName City and It Don't Look Pretty
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Apr 24, 2007 - 03:37pm PT
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Don't get me wrong--I've replaced parts in my car over the years. The thing is, it always warns me first. Usually several times. Never just takes a dump on the highway...which a chick can certainly appreciate, not being automotively inclined.
It's a 1990 CRX in mint condition, gets 45 miles to the gallon, and doesn't leak oil. I'm keeping that baby forever...
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davidji
Social climber
CA
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Apr 24, 2007 - 04:59pm PT
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Sounds like you've already kept it forever!
My climbing cars have been good to me. Worst I've had to do it add a little stop leak on the road to fix a leaky radiator.
Plenty of issues in prior cars though.
I had a 65 Corvair that threw an intake valve seat a couple of times. To drive home I'd have to figure out which cylinder, and pull the sparkplug, to prevent it from blowing into the intake manifold.
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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Apr 24, 2007 - 05:08pm PT
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I now own an OBDII code reader, that's what it's come to.
I also had a little rag top 57 bug, red, with a hole in the floor under the gas peddle thru which the road slush would spray up and muck up the inside of the windshield. It had a ski rack on the back and parts I robbed off a John Deer. I finally gave it up for a Canadian dirt bike with studs. Today most of my breakdowns involve the cooling. Water, must be the Piscean influence.
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davidji
Social climber
CA
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Apr 24, 2007 - 05:14pm PT
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" I now own an OBDII code reader, that's what it's come to. "
Doesn't everyone?
OK, I know they don't but probably should. If they drive OBDII car (some 95 models, and all 96 and newer US cars).
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