Napa Mystery Tour,
Sep. 6, 2008
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| Bugsby looks flashy at the start of the mystery tour. |
The Northern California Oldsmobile Club, of which Lynn is a member, has been invited to a mystery tour by the Cadillac Club. He's been looking for an opportunity to start touring with Bugsby and Lynn thinks this would be a good opportunity to start. So on Saturday, September 6, Lynn loads Bugsby in his trailer and drives the 70 miles with Jeanne to a parking lot in Napa, CA, the starting place for the tour.
The Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs do some driving around Napa and stop for a pleasant lunch. Bugsby is getting lots of attention and Lynn is feeling pretty good.
After lunch the cars head north out of town to visit a winery some tens of miles away. The northern California sun is shinning brightly and the the temperature is now exceeding 100°F. Still without a top on Bugsby, Jeanne and Lynn are becoming increasingly uncomfortable in the open car.
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| The Ewing brothers come to Lynn and Jeanne's aid after Bugsby repeatedly overheats. |
Even more troublesome, Bugsby is seriously overheating and Lynn isn't prepared for this as he has no water with him. Fortunately, Larry Ewing (1950 Olds 88 Deluxe 4dr Sedan) and his brother stop and help. Even after twice stopping to adding water, Bugsby continues to dangerously overheat.
Eventually Lynn abandons his plan to continue on the tour. He thanks the Ewings for stopping and helping and releases them to continue on the tour. Lynn turns Bugsby around and heads back to Napa. After stopping a couple of times to add water, Lynn, Jeanne and Bugsby make it back to the trailer.
The day that started so well, turns out badly in the end. Bugsby is not as tour ready as Lynn had hoped and he needs to do some investigation into the overheating issue. He also discovers that he is not well prepared for trouble on the road.
In the days following the tour, Lynn takes some simple steps to improve Bugsby's overheating problem. He cleans the honeycombs of the radiator with a garden hose, flushes the cooling system and installs a new fan belt. Initially thinking that the problem has been solved, Lynn finds that the car still overheats after continuous high-speed driving. Something is still amiss.
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Last updated: Oct. 6, 2009