What the ...??

["Giller,Bruce C." <bgiller@domain.elided>]

	It was the Best of Sundays and the Not so Great of Sundays.

	After much trial and tribulation, not to mention much thinking,
thunkin', and wonderin', the rebuilt motor in the GTV started up on
almost 3 cylinders.  Long enough for me to race around from the driver's
seat to twist the distributor until she started to purr (with a few
hiccups and lumpiness).  Now, don't ask me why she suddenly started to
work for I really don't know.  

	I whipped off the car cover, piled in a bunch of tools, told my wife
that she Finally Started, and went off I went on it's break-in ride. 
Keeping the rpms at 3500 and below, called for lots of gear shifting and
a light foot.  I tried to vary the rpms up and down and went from 30 mph
to 50 mph a few times.  Good thing it was a holiday here in DC for the
traffic was light and manageable. 

	Pulled into a convenient Home Depot after the temp gauge had reached
175-180 and remained there, to check out the over revving idle, in the
2k range.  Readjusted the throttle cable for the butterflies were not
closing all the way and tighten down on the air cleaner intake hose
clamps.  Then I adjusted the inlet idle opening to give me a nice 1000
rpm idle.  She sounded quite nice.  I so pleased with myself.

	Then I went around and tried to show her off to all the folks who had
helped me with the rebuild effort.  One friend wasn't home but I made
sure that his wife saw the GTV.  Then I went over to my Alfa mech. who
wanted to hear/see it when I had finished.  He was impressed that I got
it back together much less running.  But he did point out that my fan
was on backwards (never could get them right) and the timing was a bit
advanced.  But he liked the sound even it was a bit of a lumpy idle.  I
was already planning on driving the GTV for the next few warm days to
break it in further.  And thinking of when I could take time to visit
Summit Point and at least pass someone on the track.

	So off I went home to set the timing and reverse the fan.  Happy,
happy, happy.

	Little did I know...oh, so little did I know.....

	that within 3 miles of my house, a driver, not paying attention pulled
out from a side street from the right into my path.  With no on-coming
traffic, I pulled over to the left side hoping that he would stop short.
 But he wasn't even looking in my direction when I hit him right on the
front right wheel well.  I got to see his air bag inflate and then
subside leaving lots of white powder everywhere.  My car bounced back a
bit while I was pounding my steering wheel (bent with fractured wood) in
rampant frustration of having just ran into someone in my just
sweet-running GTV.

	3 cop cars, ambulance and fire truck showed up since it was reported as
a 'personal injury' for the other guy had a bloody noise, for which I
blame the air bag.  The cops gave him a ticket since he freely admitted
that he didn't look my way - his passenger told me that he told him not
to pull out into the street.  His car, Tercel, had some body damage and
the drivers door was creaky.  It didn't start.

	On my car, the whole front grill is gone (I picked up the pieces off
the ground and put them in the trunk), along with a fog lamp, pushed in
fog lamp holders, hood is jammed shut, some warped/bent sheet metal,
bent steering wheel, blown-out brake MC (blew out the seals), and a
small hole in the radiator.  But she started.

	The only fun part was that 2 of the 5 officers (must have been a slow
day), thought the GTV was worth around $40k+....  At least no one was
seriously hurt.

	After all the paper work was taken care of, the GTV started right back
up and I drove it home.  I got all the tools out of the car and then
drove it over to a local body shop that deals in Alfas.  Along the way,
the temp. rose too much for my liking causing me to call AAA to get a
tow to the shop.  I sure do not want to rebuild the motor a second time.

	Accident at around 3 pm - got home at 8 pm for dinner.  Not my idea of
a restful, peaceful Sunday....

	Since I don't have collision on the car (NOW I'm going to look into
vintage car insurance), I get to handle all the paper work.  But the
claim is filed and now I get to await the verdict of the claims adjuster
as to what they will do.  Hope that I don't have to argue over the
retail price of my GTV with them.

	hubrisly,
		Bruce

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