Thanks for all the support guys, and never say never, but I don't think I'll be driving to Phoenix for Zcon!

I'm confident I could have the radiator issues mitigated by then, but I don't think my back would make it even if the car would. Haha!! ☺️

What spare tire did you put in OG? I need one for my '72.

22 hours ago, w3wilkes said:

once your back gets rested what are your plans for the car now that it has pretty much proven itself as road worthy?

If you would have asked me that question before I drove to Nashville and back, my answer would have been more definitive. Now, I'm cautious about how my back reacted to the journey.

The rest of the car, however, worked great! Other than the radiator needing to be cleaned out, everything was rock solid! He drives like a dream. Starts almost instantly*, handles well, electricals were perfect day and night. Really a pleasure to drive, even at speed. But my back has me a little spooked. My 280 has different seats, and I didn't realize how much I appreciated them until I spent extended time in the OG. And putting different seats in the 240 flies in the face of the originality aspect.

Haha!! Maybe I'm still stung from the road... Ask me again in a week or so. ☺️

*During the banquet, I made a comment to Madkaw about how easily the OG started, and he said he might challenge me to a "start-off" with his car. Well after seeing just how quickly and easily my car started, he withdrew the challenge. LOL!

13 minutes ago, siteunseen said:

What spare tire did you put in OG? I need one for my '72.

Just before the trip, I replaced all the tires. Four corners, and the spare. I got them at Firestone, but what I put on was dictated more by "what was available near the size I wanted" than anything else. The original tire size was 175 SR 14, and the web says that back then, when the aspect ratio was not spelled out, it was 78%, So using that, the original tires were 175-78-14.

The closest to that size I could find near me was 185-70-14's, which is a tiny bit smaller than the original size, but only about one percent different. Close enough considering the availability.

I went to Firestone and got "Suredrive Touring A/S 185/70/14" on all four corners and the spare. Nothing special, but very close to the original size. And the date codes were from late 2024 which was a whole lot fresher than the tires that were on there before.