There is not much I can add to the blogs that Mitch and John have posted, but my focus has been trying to keep them entertained and happy. Both are very good at describing the highlights of our trip from their vantage point, baby boomer as it may be. However, there are some insights that have been overlooked in their essays. That is what I want to provide the reader.
First, we have these frequent random moments when we catch up on things about each others lives. While we used to see each other at least once a year in our formative years, sometimes for as long as a week, we would be fortunate now to be together at least once every 10 years. Thus, there’s a whole lot of catching up to do. And with no one to verify what we are telling each other, we can make up or embellish whatever we want.
“Then why,” you might ask, “were each of you compelled to take this trip together?” Mitch said it best, I think, when he remarked, “You know, our mothers would be tickled pink that we were making this trip together.” Indeed, it was because of the strong bond between those two Wilson sisters, Esther and Margaret, that we were kept informed about each other.
As I recalled with John, I can remember our mothers on the phone for long periods of time trying to figure out what to do with this child or another. How serendipitous that Mother’s Day falls at the midway point in our adventure. So, please know, elegant ladies, we are thinking of you, and know that you would be having an endless phone conversation if you knew what was really going on.
So, if you are not aware, John’s beautiful AC Cobra is an open cockpit. You may have seen photos with his convertible top on, but this was only on for Days 1 and 2. It takes about 30 minutes to it take down, or a better description would be, disassemble. If one were to take it down and put it up each day, it would be a major chunk of lost road time. Plus, quite honestly, it really takes away from the look of the ’65 low-slung, wide stance sports car of its day.
Then there is my Miata. I have to have my car stopped, manually release a lever near the top of the windshield, get out of the car and make sure the latch behind the seat is set. It takes maybe two minutes to get the top down and about the same to put it up. My opinion is that it looks the same, top up or top down, a compliment to the designers for one of the best returns on investment for that sports-car-feeling. Loss of road time is only dependent on whether I’m on the road or not.
Now, Mitch’s Audi TT has a fully insulated convertible top that has a button to push that automatically lowers the top even while moving at slow speeds. It takes about 30 seconds, if that, to be fully down with no loss of road time. It was aptly name by one of John’s Factory Five friends as the ‘princess car.”
It is this difference in our cars that made me give our adventure another “C3” distinction: Cool (Cobra), Cheap (Miata) and Comfortable (TT).
Besides having abundant fresh air ventilation, there are other sacrifices John is making with his car. There is no air conditioning or heater. There is no sun visor. There is no cruise control. There is only one windshield wiper (driver’s side, of course). There is no radio, and even if there was, you couldn’t hear it while the car is running. (See photo with side exhaust pipes exiting at driver’s door.)
Nevertheless, John’s car is the head-turner of the three. It looks so cool because it looks like a race car being so low to the ground, with wide tires, a bold racing stripe, roll bars above the seats, and five-point seat belts hanging on the seats. It is amazing how many people stop to take a look, and use their phone to take photos from every angle.
If John is close to the car, he will strike up a conversation with the gawker, tell the story of building the car, explain his long history with Factory Five, and best of all, hook them into considering making a donation to one of our causes.
Because we are polite, Mitch and I go along with this lack of attention to our cars. My Miata was an actual driven by a national autocross race winner with the previous owner (see “The Ring” blog). Mitch’s car has many upgrades as a luxury sports car, including the Sony radio he recently installed with Apple car play, navigation, blue tooth and interface with steering wheel controls.
Seriously, we are all enjoying the ride in our own cars and look forward to next week when we may have an opportunity to drive each others. That’s when Mitch will have to make the sacrifice with his disadvantage of being the tallest when squeezing into a racing seat or finding adequate leg room for a car built for people under 6 feet tall.
