Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/08/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Dans un courrier daté du 12/08/00 21:26:52 Paris, Madrid (heure d'été), TTAbrahams@aol.com a écrit : << For those on the LUG who has wondered about the whereabouts of the LUG gadfly Martin Howard, I can inform you that he is finishing up a 3-week tour of the US. His trip started off with a flight to New Orleans and then on to San Diego and a hurried roadtrip up the California coast and on to Seattle. The reason for the speed was to arrive in Vancouver early enough to figure how to navigate his latest acquisition "Eric The Red" a.k.a. "The Big Red" or "The Longboat". Martin is new to car ownership and called upon me to help him and given the opportunity to lead a youth astray, I jumped at the chance. He has never owned a car before and I figured out he needed something that when he was asked "What was you first car?" would cause a bit of a stir. First rule governing "First Cars", they must be cheap, second rule they should allow you to sleep in them, and the third rule is that the sound-system should be good or at least weird enough. Eric The Red full-filled all these requirements, it was less than a new 50 Summicron for a M (this is my arbitrary guideline for cars), it has a back-seat big enough for a party of four and it has a Quadraphonic 8-track system with multiple speakers, some of which works! Martin is now cruising back to Columbus, Ohio in a 20 feet of 1977 Lincoln Continental Town Car, metallic red and at least 4 cows gave up their hides for the acres of grey leather. Oh, it also came with a large selection of 8track tapes, ranging from Mantovani's String music to Elvis Golden Hits all the way to James Taylor, as well as some 1977 Disco Dance tapes! For the last 4 days we have been checking the car out, cleaning out several years of accumulated pine-needles (it was parked on a smallish island of the coast of BC, under some old growth pine trees) as well as fixing some of the mechanical problems afflicting 23 year old cars. It is a low-mileage car (113000 miles) as the Island it resided on is not that big, nor does it have that much of a road-system, it has it shares of minor dings (Exc+ condition), including a couple of dents on the hood and left hand fender where a 80ft pine tree landed and broke in half, during a storm. It did dent the chrome strip on the fender and put a quarter-sized dent in the hood. Yesterday was spent cleaning the interior and outfitting the car for 2000 miles of I-90/I-94 cruising, some tools, some food and he already had "On The Road" by Kerouac and a Rand McNally road map. Chris, a friend of ours gave him the RoadWarrior kit, a box with a mug, spoon, tea, a chocolate bar (in case of breakdown, eat the chocolate bar before attempting to fix anything), and other essentials. We gave some extra FP-4 and Pan-F as well as some bread and fruit. Of course he is carrying his trusty Shintaro painted black M2 with 25/35/50 and 90 and he will soon figure out how to drive one-handed and shoot through the windshield, across a substantial expanse of hood. LUGgers along I-90 and I-94, for the next 4-days keep your eyes peeled for a metallic red Lincoln driven by a person brandishing a black M2. Of course we all want a travel report once he is back in Ohio later this month. Bon Voyage Martin! Tom & Tuulikki and Barnack the Cat >> Hey Tom . THIS is a story that I really love . Now I'm longing my 66 Chevy II to be painted ( my body man is on vacation ) . The car has a front bench seat and when I drive there's always a handy Leica M laying on it . " Drive by Shooting " technique is easy . Keep on the good story . JoGOODTIMES