"clear the driveway!"

"...I'm not sure how this is going to go."

Those are the words Jim used on Sunday when we decided today would be the day the Corvair would roll under its own power.

I spent the earlier part of the afternoon reconditioning the vinyl dash in the shade of a large patio umbrella we placed next to the car. Jim adjusted the throttle and the carb and deemed it ready for a try.

With Jim driving and Gixxer and I in the passenger seat, we giggled like mad as he fired up the engine and moved the lever on the dash to "D". With a slight hesitation, the car bumped into gear and almost died. Jim put his foot into it, and the car lurched forward! It was a herkey-jerky drive, but we got to the end of the block before Jim stopped and asked if I wanted to drive. He only had to ask once. :) We Chinese-fire-drilled it and I drove the car around the block using the same technique as Jim: steady gas until it about dies, then pump it to get it into gear.

The steering wheel is HUGE! Jim's comment was "how many cranks does it take to make a 90degree turn?". The answer is like asking how many licks to the middle of a tootsie roll. And there is a sweet spot :)

We pulled back into the driveway and toasted to our success. Jim went in to prep food for BBQ and I continued to clean. Its amazing what clean windows do for a car!

Later, our friends came over for dinner and I took them each for a spin individually (no back seat yet) taking slightly different routes each time. The last loop took my friend and I passed a group of younger guys standing outside their house, near an old Lincoln with suicide doors. They saw us crawl by along the narrow street between the cars. They stopped, turned, smiled large and gave us big thumbs up! We waved and laughed all the way back home to our smiling boys, margaritas and great BBQ.

It was a wonderful way to spend Mother's Day!