Mike: enjoyed your trip story. About the only car to drive around
Washington City is an old Imperial. Then you are bigger than they are.
Good writing. Bill '67
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Pittinaro" <mechimike@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 1:38 PM
Subject: IML: Cinci to D.C.
> Sunday around 2PM. 60 degrees, partly cloudy.
> Cincinnati, Ohio. I bid adieu to my friends after a
> fun weekend, and about 2:30 in the afternoon I check
> the level of 15W-50 Mobil 1 in the 440 and head off.
>
> My trip to Cincinnati had been with one express
> purpose: get there quickly. As such, I had
> frequented the expressways and superhighways I
> generally loath. Also, with the planned inclement
> weather, I figured a multi-lane highway would be a
> safer bet.
>
> However, on the trip home, I decided to test the old
> Imperial on the roads it was meant to run- blue
> highways. After circumnavigating Cinci on its Beltway
> (275) I hopped onto the Appalachain Highway (rt 32)
> and plowed thru the bottom part of Ohio, a few dozen
> miles north of Kentucky.
>
> Now, Western Ohio has one very pronounced trait: it
> is flat. Pancake flat. This, however, is quite
> advantageous when one has a large, powerful car that
> one wishes to run full out and watch for officers of
> the law who might not be pleased to see a large,
> powerful machine speeding down their highway. On a
> few occasions I tipped the needle up around 120; as I
> was deccelerating off one such run, a police cruiser
> passed me in the opposite lane. I watched him in my
> rearview, but he never came after me. Got to thinking
> later on, maybe that officer knows what a '67
> 440-powered Imperial is, and that, if he'd given
> chase, I could have easily left him far, far behind,
> given my head-start.
>
> At any rate, 32 is 2 lanes each way, and I soon
> desired more adventure. After a fuel up in Albany,
> Ohio, I turned onto 681 east which, according to my
> map, would take me right to the ohio river and West
> Virginia. 681 was a blast. 25 miles of undulating,
> twisting, up-and-down road that, on several occasions,
> left my stomach behind me. Unfortunately, the
> Imperial had a somewhat nasty habit on the blind
> hills: As I'd crest a hill, the body kept wanting to
> go up, but the suspension pulled the front wheels
> down, and when gravity caught up with the suspension,
> the front end nosedived and the suspension bottomed
> out. The only solution was not to drive 65 mph over
> such cliffs. ;) Besides, the fact that the road was
> EXACTLY 2 lanes wide and each lane was EXACTLY 6
> inches wider than a 1967 Imperial, made truely
> spirited driving a dangerous proposition.
>
> >From 681 I went through Parkersburg, W. Virginia and
> took 50 east. 50 is a great, 4 lane byway, with
> gorgeous scenery, and once again I was able to
> flat-out run the wheels off the Imperial. For about
> an hour. After Clarksbug, 50 turns into two lanes,
> even twistier and more undulating than 681, but,
> fortunately, with wider lanes and a shoulder.
>
> Here, the 440 proved its stuff. 50, you see, cuts
> right throught the heart of the Appalachain mountains.
> And the mighty big block pulled that 5,000 pound
> Imperial up the switchbacks with aplomb. And the
> mighty Budd Brakes were more than adequate to slow
> that lead sled down on the downslopes (which,
> conventiently, were also switch-backed, with happy 180
> degree hairpin turns, unmarked, of course.)
>
> At the top of the highest hill I took a slight detour,
> aiming the Imp down a single lane, barely paved stip
> to the middle of the road. There, I found a small
> gospel church with a modest graveyard, overlooking
> what had to be one of the most beautiful vistas I've
> ever laid eyes upon. I snapped about two dozen
> pictures while I was up there, a few with the Imperial
> in the foreground. :) As I got back in the car to
> leave, I glanced down at the odometer: 86,000 even.
>
> route 50 took me into Winchester, Virginia, after a
> harrowing 50 or so miles with no gas stations and a
> fuel gauge that was beginning to illuminate the "check
> gages" light. Well, there was one station, but their
> "premium" fuel was 89. Goat p*ss was not going into
> my Imperial's tank.
>
> >From Wichester I took 81 south to 66 east, back to the
> Beltway (495 again) and up to the Balt Wash parkway to
> get home. Being that I drove into Winchester under
> cover of darkness, I figured continuing the trip on
> blue routes would be meaningless, and perhaps
> foolhardy.
>
> The trip home was definitely more fun, had better
> scenery, and was more relaxing. Sure, it took an
> extra hour and a half, but the quality of one's trip
> is not necessarily measured in how quickly one arrives
> at their destination. Plus, I got to drive a plush,
> smooth highway machine nearly 1100 miles, through some
> beautiful country.
>
> =====
> --Mike Pittinaro
>
> Piles of pitted chrome
> Hubcaps along the floorboard
> My junkyard-bedroom
>
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