Last year I had the idea to spend the winter and spring in Tucson, Az rather than around S.E. Michigan. After all, they play with their cars in winter and spring while we just watch them repose in storage or rust in use. This was a great idea! Here are some of my thoughts about the trip and my car.

We prepared my 85 300D for almost any kind of eventuality... cooling, brakes, transmission and drive line, seals and we had Becker add an MP3 jack as well as adding an external power port. Finally, I had my upholsterer add lumbar support to the seat back and had a redo of the seat bottom (new foam and new pad).

In October I drove from the Detroit Metro to Fort Worth, Tx. I visited my daughter there. Then I pushed on to Tucson, Az. I spend a couple of weeks there and returned via air. I was fortunate to have a place to store the car (free). I put it under a car cover so it would be clean upon my return in January.

I flew to Tucson in January and uncovered the car. I was disappointed with the car cover. Even though the car was in a garage, the cover didn't keep out the desert dust. It needed to be washed. (windows were closed and inside of car was fine)

I spent the next couple of months using the car as a daily driver. It was mostly reliable with the following exceptions...
> The transmission mysteriously "lost" a pint of fluid twice and the car would not proceed forward or backward. Adding a pint each time solved the motive issue. (The fluid was down to the lower line on the dipstick.) I put the car on a hoist and could not find any obvious leaks. The vacuum modulator didn't leak (held vac just fine). The dipstick tube O ring was dry. The flex cooling lines were dry and flexible. The radiator was dry as well. So it's a mystery.
> The transmission didn't seem to want to shift into Reverse or Park from Neutral all the time... unless I fiddled with the shifter and driving slightly forward. (no issues in the console area, later found the front shift rod bushing was cracked)
> The motor mounts were about 1/2" shorter (collapsed) than new ones. I thought this might be affecting the shifiing (see above). I installed new ones while I was in Tucson. (jack stands a floor jack and a block of wood were borrowed.) Fortunately the fastners were not rusted. The engine was vibrating on the cross member. This change smoothed that out and quieted the assembly.
> The battery died 2 weeks after arriving. Gee, it was only 7 years old... what gives? MB batteries were lots more $$$ than O'Reilly's so the Irish got the job. (Have you noticed how expensive batteries have gotten?)
> I joined a car club while in Tucson that does a lot of touring. It was a lot of fun to join them on their jaunts and meals. I met some very interesting folks!
> In May I drove back to Michigan via West Bend, Wisconsin.
> The cruise control worked most of the time except when we quickly crested a hill and then went quickly down. The system porpoised and I shut it off so it wouldn't stop working. Gradual declines and inclines were no issue. It maintained speed on the flat at 79 mph with no problem.
> The car was overloaded (see pictures) and the performance on big hills was not what I expected. I lost considerable speed on big hills (10-20 mph.) Mountain performance at 8600 ft of altitude was poor in 4th gear. Manual Downshifting to S was necessary to access 3rd gear. The accelerator was floored.
> The automatic would not downshift for even small hills without a manual shift into S or L.
> On the whole, the automatic transmission was just barely up to the job. Yes, it did go the distance and did not really quit, but it was funky.
> A manual transmission would have been really sweet. (can you guess what my next project will be?)
> Overall I left Michigan in October at 148K+ miles and returned at just over 157K+ miles in early May. It was hard driving, but with the seat improvement and other preparations we did, it was a very satisfactory experience. I'd do it again. A manual 4 speed would make this car excellent!

Pictures: An overloaded car at a rest stop; Looking for Aliens in Roswell, NM (only found construction workers); Following Rte 66; On a road tour

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__________________
Pete Williams, President emeritus - MBCA-International Stars (Eastern Mich.) Now Wi. & Az.
1985 300D Manual 4 speed Green Hen's tooth
1979 MGB triple black Az car nice
1969 back 1/2 of MGB (Az home built trailer)
1991 Volvo 245 Wagon Nice AZ Restored Gold Brick
1983 Jeep CJ7 37,600 Miles Summer use only