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21st Ford and Mustang Roundup
When I drove into work this morning, the windshield was initially clear. When I pulled out the heater knob it began to mist up, When I turned on the defroster it fogged up very quickly. I will have to install a new heater core.
I had previously scheduled tomorrow off from work because my wife and I are driving the Falcon up to Ocala for the ......
"21st Ford and Mustang Roundup, January 10 – 11. The show is Totally Free to 1993-earlier vehicles. Set your sights on the most fun-filled gathering of Ford enthusiasts on the east coast. Come join us at Florida's Nature Park - Silver Springs, home of the world-famous Glass-Bottom Boats. Spend a relaxing weekend in a natural garden setting to visit with fellow hobbyists and friends. This is a just for fun event! Judging is people's choice."
See the 2015 Show Flyer at: http://www.npdlink.com/store/pages/ss_ford.html
The Maverick and Comet club will be there! : http://maverickcometclub.org/event/f...rings-florida/
Ocala is about 100 miles north of here and I don't like the idea of driving 200 miles while breathing antifreeze mist from the leaky heater core, or the possibility that the leak could become worse. I will drain the radiator tomorrow morning and bypass the heater by using a piece of the heater hose to join the water inlet and outlet on the engine. How difficult is it to cut a heater hose? Do you think that I can do it with a serrated kitchen knife?
The weather forecast says that it will be around 60 degrees tomorrow as we drive to Ocala. Yea, I know that is not cold, but my wife interprets things differently. I have not told her yet that the heater will not be working. She will need to dress warm. :o
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Wet road driving techniques
I usually do not drive my Falcon on days where the chance of rain is greater than 30%, but we've had at least a 50% chance of rain every day for the last month. This coming week and a half looks to be more of the same with rain every day.
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So, this past week I said to heck with it and drove the Falcon anyway. It rained at about 1:30 and the streets were still wet when I drove home from work. The skinny P175/80/R13 tires on wet pavement made clear that the Falcon does not have automatic traction control or an anti-lock braking system.
The car fishtailed back and forth maybe three times while I made an accelerating right turn from a red light. Yee haw!! A guy in a new Mustang evidently thought that I was peeling out while drag racing him and went zooming past me. I was really just trying to get the car back under control.
Then I made a gentle "power slide" while making a left turn through a green light. I had slowed down so it was not much of a slide, but it was enough for me to feel.
When I was further down the road, the rear wheels spun while I was starting out while from a red light while moving straight. I had to press and the ease off the gas pedal a couple of times and then very gently pressed it down before the car finally took off. The guy in the van behind me was probably wondering what I was doing.
You have to be really careful while driving this car on wet roads. Making a quick stop without sliding would be difficult. I will pay the extra money and get a set of the bigger P185/80/R13 tires whenever my present set wears out.
And for some general gripes about other drivers:
On a different day I was on my way to work and driving the Falcon and in the center lane. I need to move to the left and saw that there was plenty of room and the car behind me was a ways back. I turned on my left turn signal a courtesy and began to move over while watch the car behind me in my mirror. The instant my turn signal came on that turkey (driving a Mitsubishi) suddenly accelerated to close the gap and cut me off. I had already started moving over so I went ahead and completed the merge anyway rather than yank back into the center. He irritated me. :bicker:
On another morning, I was driving the Falcon to work and a guy in a Mustang crossed in front of me from a center turn lane to go into a McDonalds. The guy saw me on top of him ... and he stopped! I was going maybe 40 mph and had to stand on brakes hard and came to a screeching, smoking stop. The guy in the Mustang gave me a startled expression and when my car came to a complete stop, THEN he moved and finished crossing the street to the McDonalds. If you pull in front of someone, don't just STOP and sit there! :WHATTHE:
And on another day, I was driving my Honda CRV home from work. The weather was nice with a 77 degree temperature and I had all my windows down. I was waiting at a red light under an overpass and a twerp in an Acura coup wearing a backwards ball cap was blasting some obnoxious "music" so loud that I couldn't hear my radio. Then the light turned green and this yahoo floored it and darted around the car in front of him. He had straight pipes (no mufflers) and the reverberating sound under that overpass was as loud as a bomb exploding. And my windows were down. He knew what he was doing. He sped forward and we stopped at the next light that was just one block further down. RRRRRRR!!! :bicker: I was not thinking nice thoughts.
But, the idiots are offset by a lot of nice people. I liked the woman who was driving a Mercedes and honked and waved and gave me a big smile while I was driving my Falcon. She was driving a Mercedes and got excited about seeing a Falcon. What a nice person.