This is the beast! Toyota Tercel 1981 vintage. 3,500 miles in the dead of winter with good treaded tires, but far from "winter" tires. More like Douglas specials which were $20 each at Wal-Mart. The heater worked just barely enough to let you take your coat off inside. And the paint job was brand-new!  Just in time to show off from one state to the next!        

One of the more enjoyable things to do with a few rounds of frozen paint! It's hard to believe that this is Wisconsin in Jan, but there was very little snow that year. I would have to say we all looked rather professional there that day, except the third guy on the left was a rookie in a lot of ways! ; )

This was a moment I'll not soon forget! The morning thata we were to leave for Ohio, I went out to start the car (for the first time in a week...bad, BAD planning) the battery was near dead and the wonderful little spark in the plugs that makes the car go brrrummm, just didn't want to make a showing that day. So we had to dig around for some jumper cables, and with the help from Dan's car, and the struggling efforts of mine, it finally went brrrummmm! Then the radiator went. Our hopes were dashed for any kind of dash out of there that morning, but Sabrina was resourceful and we found someone that put in a new one right away, and we were off that afternoon.

This was a happy moment! Just outside St.Louis Missouri the car rounded 190,000 miles. That's not really a lot for a car to have necessarily, but to call this "a car" really only scratches the surface. To have gone this far is nothing less than a miracle. I'm already beginning to miss the sound of it's purrrrrrrooooaarrr!