[AMC-list] Great day at the Beach n' Boardwalk Cruise-in, VA beach...AMC's scarce, BUT...

[Jerry Casper <gremlingts@xxxxxxxxx>]

 Since my Hornet went nuts last night on it's test drive after some distributor upgrades, we took my wife's Honda Element down to the beach for the cruise-in. Great day, sunny, windy, just enough air moving to keep ya cool. Whew, we walked about 6 miles, I'd say, from 25th street down to 2nd, then back. Then between the car and the boardwalk. We're BEAT! Hot tub night tonight!

 But, with all the neat cars, from the AMX ex-racer to the customized oldies and rat-rods to '50's classics, and everything in between, it was an awesome day. At the end, I took off my shoes, and went down to the water to get them wet.....BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! F-f-f-freezing! Know what head-freeze is when you eat ice cream too suddenly? I got FOOT FREEZE from that water, it HURT after just a few seconds submerged. I did that 4-5 times, but couldn't get used to it. Only a few brave souls in the water, most just playing at the edge or in the sand. I don't know when the last time I was down at Va Beach, but it's been literally YEARS. Had to do it. :) 

 Some of the impressive cars I saw were as follows : gold Dodge Daytona Charger, '70, with big spoiler. '70 Buick Riviera boattail. Neat canary yellow '53 Chevy Bel-air. '60? Amphicar. A pair of '87 BUick Grand National cars. '35 Packard Hearse. Plenty of others I thought merited high praise, but not enough time tonight to go thru them. Plenty of modern Dodge Chargers, Magnums, Ford Mustangs, and PT Cruisers, some stock, some already customized. Quite a mix!

 My wife and I stopped at Larry's Oyster shack, and ate some dinner before heading out. I then went by my late Aunt's house and took pics, the old house looks great. We then took the scenic route back to the interstate thru Oceanview, and near the Bay Bridge, I caught sight of two more AMCs, a blue Marlin, and an Eagle wagon, both headed the other way past the bridge, and maybe to the beach. Wish they'd come down earlier! Oh well. No pics, too quick, just a brief identifying glimpse, then past. 

 We just got home about 9:45 PM, bushed, some sun, and really TIRED. We'll definitely rest tomorrow. I plan on working on the Hornet some more, the test drive Friday prevented me from taking it, as I blew out the muffler with a backfire, and it barely made it home after 8-9 power-outs, maybe electrical in nature. Not sure if the new Duraspark has issus, a faulty ground on the Control box, the 4-year old battery I took out of the Jeep I was using ( shorting plates? ). Will get a new battery for it Sunday, ground the box tightly to make sure with a separate ground wire, and test-drive again. I also found the manifold bolts were loose, while I was cleaning the oily gunk off the valve cover, spraying it with carb cleaner with the motor running, the engine sputtered and changed RPMS, I thought Hmm...got out the wrench, and found the rear bolt 2 turns loose, the 2nd from year 1 turn loose, the rest just barely loose. So it was sucking air. After that, it ran
 GREAT, so I took it out for dinner with the wife - did fine going out, but the come-home trip was bad. Did make it home, but the last restart blew out the muffler when it backfired, so now it has a nice throaty sound. HEH HEH! My wife couldn't stop laughing, because it ran great after THAT, and I said "Hey, Honey, I fixed it!" She lost some sleep that night chuckling over it. I'd bet it wouldn't have been as funny if the Sportabout had NOT made it home ok without a tow. :/  

 Anyway, a great Saturday at the beach with cars, women, sun, and commraderie galore. Glad I went, and hope to take an AMC next time I go! All for tonight, 

Jerry in Virginia



      
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