After purchasing airplane tickets, hotel and a rental car, I spent the next week reading articles about what to look for when shopping for a p1800. I made lists, figured out which tools to bring with, and kept looking at the pictures of the car. I admit that it was an obsession and a huge distraction. Finally, on Friday October 30th we boarded the airplane at just before 9 PM. The flight to Baltimore was a little bumpy and it seemed as though there was issues with cabin pressurization which caused really painful ear aches. Arrived after midnight Eastern time, picked up our Ford Focus rental car and drove to the Pikesville Howard Johnson to sleep a few hours.
I was wishing that I would have read some reviews of that hotel, when I saw the bulletproof glass protecting the front desk clerk from the locals! We were awoken several times by people telling and carrying on in nearby rooms. Luckily, those individuals were nowhere to be seen in the wee hours of the morning when we checked-out.
We met Josh at around 8AM and began inspecting the car. Admittedly, I kinda the caution to the wind and never looked at my list of likely rust and bondo areas. In hindsight, I had a good opportunity to negotiate a lower price when the car's cabin filled with smoke from a smoldering short circuit while the car earned up. Instead, I just turned off the ignition, disconnected the battery and found the melted conductor at the fuse panel. After disconnecting that wire there was no more smoke and everything seemed to work okay, so I assumed that the short circuit was in the wiring for the rear defrost.
We purchased the car, returned the rental and set off on our adventure in a 40+ year old vehicle. Instead of taking back roads as planned, I decided to try the car on the interstate. We gassed up, checked the oil (it was overfilled by at least a quart, probably by a friend that Josh had leant it to) checked the tire pressures and then set off.
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| We stopped at an Autozone and this guy pulled up in a RHD Nissan Skyline. |
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| Ran out of gas at the exit ramp, a block away from aa gas station! |
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| I wanted to take a picture of the car at Ikea, so I told Kyle we were stopping for cinnamon rolls. |
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| Kyle with the cinnamon rolls |
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| I kept forgetting to get pictures of Kyle and I when opportunities arise, so I snuck this in. |
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| Safe in her new home. |
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