My Trip Was Great…Until My Rebuilt Engine Blew Up

I’ve always been a weekend automotive hobbyist and, not to toot my own horn, I thought I was a darn good one. I’ve been doing my own repair work for years, but then I made my first mistake by thinking I was expert at working on rebuilt engines. I was planning a cross country trip in my 1974 Austin Mini Moke, which is a rare convertible Jeep- like vehicle. I thought it would be a fun time to take this toy from Florida to California.

I guess my first mistake was thinking it was a good idea to take a 1974 across the US. Everything on this thing was practically new, so I knew if I rebuilt the engine, we’d be in business.

I only made it an hour of the way and broke a head gasket. But I was so happy during the first hour that I couldn’t get the smile off my face! I had the top off and the wind was blowing freely through my hair. My wife and I were so excited to go on our adventure and, luckily, we had AAA, and they came and towed the car in for us. The vehicle is still resting in a shop in Orlando.
You may have thought this issue killed our fun and ended our trip, but the fact is, we’re in Monterey, California as I write this post. We try to keep a positive attitude and not let setbacks like this hold us from having a good time, so we rented a Mustang convertible and continued the trip.
 
As much as I wanted to stay back home and see what was going on with the Jeep, I haven’t even called the mechanic. I’m going to wait until I get back and get updated after the problems are repaired, and at least I went to an honest mechanic. My friend lives in Orlando and we’re all fixer- upper type of guys. I’m just a little green yet, but he has always been a pro with engines.

Monterey has been nice and we’re staying right by the pier and just had a delicious supper at Bennihana’s tonight. We’re going to the aquarium tomorrow and I guess the point of my story is, when life deals you lemons, make lemonade.