Recovery story:
Ackhem, so, I thought this would be a simple recovery. Not so. The P.O. said I should be able to nurse it home with the existing clutch. Not so.
Let me start from the beginning. My younger brother, Jake, and I headed up to north Raleigh for lunch to pick up the car in mid December. It's cold and as soon as we pull up to the car it starts raining. We got to the car and I aired up the tires with a portable air tank while my bro cleaned the glass. The glass (and car) was (were) covered in dirt and not sap like I thought when I first saw and purchased the car, so Windex cleaned it up no problem. After the tires were aired and the glass cleaned we jumped the car and let it idle. It had been sitting but the owner started it and ran it on occasion. Since the outside glass was done, Jake moved to the interior which smelled like mildew I like to think of it as smelling like nature, a gross, rotten, decaying, damp forest. Which is sometimes a nice smell except when it is coming from inside of the car.
Since there was moisture in the car. I asked Jake to turn on the rear defrost. As soon as he did the car cut out. We spent the next 45 minutes getting the car to start again, the battery was beyond dead, cables were corroded and I'm sure the moisture wasn't helping the electrics.
Finally we get it to start. I tell Jake I'm going to start going and try to move, the clutch finally builds up enough friction to move around 6500 RPM. I get to the end of the pretty steep driveway and keep going, there's no way I'm stopping since I'm about to bounce the car off the rev limiter and I'm just crawling. Jake sprints to his car to follow in pursuit.
I get to the end of the street, a long uphill street at that, and the car cuts out. I let the car back down the road and get off the road into somebody's front yard. We jump the car again, fires right up this time, a good sign. 6500 RPM crawl out into the street.
Get out on the main road, I'm humming along at 5-6000 going maybe 20mph and it stinks of clutch. Crest the top of the hill, barely and then there is a big intersection with a lot of cars, by now, the high school has just gotten out. The P.O. lives across the street from the high school. As soon as I see the intersection the car cuts out, I let the clutch out in 4th hoping to jump start it from a roll. With the clutch out, I don't slow at all! The clutch is wayyyyyy gone. I try to get off the road before I stop rolling but I make it to the corner of the intersection, blocking traffic.
Jake goes up the street and drives against traffic on the shoulder so he can try to jump me. While he's doing this I pop the front hood to expose the battery. I'm sure some knowledgeable (smart ass) high school kids were wondering why I was staring under the front hood of a mid-engined sports car. ("No wonder the car won't start there's no engine!" haha) The car won't jump so Jake helps me push it around the corner and onto the shoulder. As soon as it goes onto the shoulder I realize we are now in about a 1.5" sticky mud.
Try to start the car again, I'm about to give up since I'm pretty sure the clutch won't let it go anywhere. There is a shopping center on the opposite corner of the intersection so Jake and I figure out how best to get it there in all the traffic. We figure out the best way is to cut across and then go in the center through the exit only lane, (a curbed in 100 yard drive) it's about a 1/4 mile push, with cars behind us, honking and yelling, haha. It's still raining.
On the road the push was going well, a lot of adrenaline pumping. Once we made it into the Rite-Aid parking lot, we both crashed, our energy was gone and we felt really nauseated. Good thing we ended up at a Rite-Aid! We must have looked horrible because the cashier looked at us terrified and asked if we were alright as soon as we came in. We were cold, shaking, tired, and our noses and ears were red. After we got Gatorade, we were still feeling pretty out of it but I wanted to talk to a manager to tell her that my car was broken down and to give her my contact info so it wouldn't get towed. Honestly, how dirty it is and how many spiderwebs were inside made it already look like and abandoned vehicle.
So after all that excitement, Jake took me back to work. My "one hour errand" quickly became 2.75 hours.
After work, Jake's friend's dad, the guy who always gets my cars (he has a truck and trailer, something I should get instead of inoperable cars) went to get it with me and Jake and my youngest brother, Kyle.
It's home and safe but I now have another adventure story about collecting a car.
