I’ll admit, I’m a bit stunned here. This taxi, this miserable, brink-of-death taxi that lived a hard, hard life as a cab for years, some of the hardest working miles a car can endure, for over 375,000 of those miles, now finds itself lapping up the miles and miles of vast, unending highway across this strangely oversized nation. This is not the fate this taxi expected. Even after we bought this heap and saw the condition of it, I don’t think this is an outcome any of us expected.
And yet, here we are.
And, yes, there we were, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and now we’re in Effingham, Illinois, where there’s a big air-cooled Volkswagen show we’ll see this morning before we head back out onto another unending ribbon of road.
I’m so delighted by how the NV200 has done! It just keeps going and going, my janky A/C fix keeps holding and blowing those precious metaphorical cubes into the cabin, and it holds 65-70 mph with ease. Sure, the wind pushes it around like its a shuttlecock in a badminton tournament on the deck of a cruise liner, but that just keeps things exciting.
Also exciting are the new sets of trouble codes the engine is throwing, this time finally admitting that there actually is a misfire, and it looks like it’s in cylinder two:
I should swap one of the other coilpacks to number two to see if, in fact, that coil pack has itself taken a number two, but to do so I need to take off the whole intake manifold, and so far we just haven’t had the time to do that. Maybe tonight. The misfire seems pretty intermittent, and three cylinder feels like plenty anyway, right?
Oh, and the taxi has decided to complain about something else, too, in its own funny staccato way:
I checked the fuel cap. It’s not loose. The O-ring inside it looks good, too. I don’t know why it’s complaining about this. At first I read that as “LOSE FUEL CAP,” and I was thinking, oh yeah, finally something I have plenty of experience with and know I can pull off like a pro. Sadly, there’s that other “o.”
Whatever. This thing is still running like a champ.
We made it to the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), which is the “racing capital of the world” and hosts the Racing Senate and Racing House of Representatives, as well as the Racing Supreme Court. IMS has re-done their museum completely, and we got a nice tour of it, which we’ll have some little reels about coming soon.
It’s full of great stuff, like this dramatic machine, the 1948 Novi Grooved Piston Special Kurtis:
I need to research this car more because this really captured my attention:
What do they mean by “grooved piston” here? The grooves for the rings, or something else? Some lubrication grooves? I should look into that.
The museum also had at least one thing that I own, too! A Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 portable computer! The last machine with code that Bill Gates himself actually wrote! Look, here’s mine:
A museum piece! Who’d have thunk?
Look at those stunning steering wheel spokes! I’ve never seen ones in a directional wave-like configuration like that.
So many good details on all these cars, like that finned exhaust manifold there. Is this one a front-driver?
Here’s Otto pretending to be terrified of the faces that stud the Borg-Warner trophy. I think he’s pretending, at least.
Also, they sell IMS-branded chicken legs in the gift shop. What am I missing here? Are chicken legs a thing at Indy? Do Indycars have a special clamp for chicken-leg snacking mid-race?
Here’s Otto showing off some prime Indy rizz or whatever the hell the kids say today.
We also got a little taste of the air-cooled VW Show, the Funfest for Air-Cooled VWs, before the show at an area by a lake last night, and there were some wonderful Beetles there. Look at this ’56, sporting the first flashing turn signals on a Beetle (before this, they used those wonderful mechanical semaphore arms):
And this very citrusy Super Beetle convertible:
…and also a very un-Beetle-like hot rod, which does a lot to disguise its Beetle-bones:
…though once you go around back, the charade falls away pretty quickly:
Anyway, we’re about to see a lot more of this stuff. For a bit, anyway, because then we have to get back on the road to make the meetup in Lawrence, Kansas. I know the map said”breakfast,” but we’re actually going to be having dinner at Biemer’s BBQ in Lawrence at, hopefully, 7:00 PM tonight. Matt will keep everyone updated on social and on Discord. Has Matt told anyone at the BBQ we’re doing this? He has not. See you tonight!
Ok, I really need to hit the road. We’re up to some insane dollar amount for the fare at this point, I think over $7,000. I’ll have to do some math when I get back in the taxi!
I hope to see you out there! Wherever “there” ends up being!
Top photo: Griffin Riley
That car is indeed front wheel drive. They experimented with that to allow the driver to sit lower, and lower the center of gravity of the car.
Still feels weird seeing the kid that used to be featured in the “will it baby” stories at the old site being that tall. Has it really been that long?
I rescued a TRS-80 from the trash pile a while back and was looking for a drawing program for it. I found one from an old book of TRS-80 ‘games’ that someone put on archive.org but it was designed to be like an etch-a-sketch meets the game Snake. If you ever published your custom TRS-80 BASIC program you wrote for drawing the beetle on it I’d greatly appreciate it!
I also have a TRS-80/100 somewhere in my garage. And an acoustic coupler modem. They were very popular with print reporters (especially the sports guys), back in my newspaper days.
Cruising the Interstate at 70 is the easiest thing this cab has ever done. You’re doing it a favor.
+1 NYC cab duty is a torture track in comparison. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear about NV200s hitting a million miles in less constant urban duty.
You guys stopped in Indy but didn’t tell us ahead of time…boo….
Agreed! Booo!
He doesn’t want to jinx it, if he had told you, the van would’ve broken down.
We turned out bigtime for the Weinermobiles in May This could have been almost as big. Plus the color works for a Pacers parade.
A suggestion usually lose gas cap is shown in an error because no vacuum seal. If the cap is solid I would suggest looking at the fuel neck a filler pipe to be rusted out as hell.
I went to the track in 2012 with my son. We just went to the museum, and man was it nice. I should take him back someday. But when we finished there, we stepped outside and there was some sort of old timer’s event going on at the track. Tons of old cars doing parade laps. That was a trip.
I wonder what transmission this thing has that makes it so reliable and efficient at both highway speeds and around town?
Probably its fourth.
Cotd
NYC traffic cycle is definitely one of the benchmarks for transmission durability testing.
Summoning only works by saying that in a mirror three times.
Now I’m imagining Beetlejuice as a parts delivery driver asking you to sign for a crated one he has on the truck.
That taxi does look like something he’d drive.
Loose fuel cap code? Even if the o-ring looks fine, give it (and the fuel port) a wipe the next time you fill up.
I’m going to have to refine my guess.
I’m less concerned about the taxi’s lifespan, and more concerned about the lifespan of your right-hand ring finger. That can’t be comfortable, JT. lol
This is why I wear my wedding ring around my neck. After 20 years of her cooking, it don’t fit anymore.
That black car is indeed FWD, it’s a Miller I’m pretty sure, don’t think anyone else did FWD seriously, and the gorgeous detailing also indicates Miller, his cars all had beautiful artistry too them as well. I’ve only just started learning about him in the last year or so and I’ve been getting pretty obsessed with how cool and pretty those cars were, and fast!
I thing they did have a poultry clamp in the cockpit back in the day – a toothed, pointy thing right above the shifter, about eye level?
Now of course, it’s all slurry fed through a tube, which AJ Foyt probably mocks as wimpy, but hey, times change.
I’m pretty sure that’s not a chicken leg. Chicken legs are for wimps. That’s a Turkey leg.
You are correct. And turkey leg is a big food item in the month of May at IMS.
The IMS museum is amazing and definitely deserves a full write up, like you’ve done with the Petersen.
If you fly through Indy airport there are always some cars on rotation from the museum there. Last time through I saw the 1952 Cummins Diesel Special. The last diesel to race at Indy. It won the Pole that year, although finished 27th.
I saw it back in April. It was my first time flying out of Indy, as I normally fly international, and the drive to O’Hare is worth the $1000 I would otherwise spend to fly the whole family (4 of us).
“The museum also had at least one thing that I own, too! A Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 portable computer!”
If I’m not mistaken, item #18 in that photo is a genuine Casio G-Shock watch, like I first wore back in middle school. Funny thing, they still make essentially the same model today, I know because I’m wearing one now, which is probably my fifth example since the aforementioned middle school years. I find comfort in familiarity, LOL.
Keep on keeping on! Surprised the A/C fix is still working but this NV200 has apparently just redefined “plucky”.
I’ve always enjoyed Casio’s very if-it’s-not-broken-don’t-fix-it ways…it also still makes basically the same calculator watch it did back in the ’80s when Marty Mcfly wore one.
As a Timex guy myself, I’m envious as I have to search out my old favorites, like the ’90s Black Max I’m wearing right now.
I still have the Casio calculator watch issued to me by the Air Force back in 1982. The buttons are kind of mushy now, but it still works. As a piece of flight gear it was nearly worthless, but it impressed ladies in bars for about a minute while I touted up bar tabs and tips. Sometimes, all you need is a minute to get your foot in the door. Pretty sure they stopped issuing these things pretty quick.
I am wearing a Casio re-pop of the calculator watch. I got one as a birthday present when I turned 8, but it was stolen from the public pool not long after. I about lost my shit when my wife gave me a new one for Father’s Day a few years ago. I’ve worn it nearly everyday since.
It’s actually an Accusplit 936 Turbo Wristwatch. I’ve looked and I can’t find anything on it, but if you zoom in on it, it does say Accusplit on it. Makes sense since this is a racing museum.
I also have a black G-shock. Found it in a junk drawer a few days ago basically unused lol, now I wear it everyday.
A Trash-80, nice. Haven’t seen one of those since freshman year of HS.
I still own a working Model 100!!!
Yeah, looks like the taxi with its hood-mounted A/C switch is in good company with that blue race car with the directional steering wheel spokes as seeing how the race car has a dash-mounted switch similar to aforementioned A/C switch. The taxi needs some Dymo labels, stat! Do they even make those embossed labels anymore??
Maybe the taxi is finally able to run free like zoo or circus animals taken to a refuge for their final years. Woo-hoo! Goodbye Manhattan cage! Hello open road!
I looked up the Novi Grooved Piston Special, mostly because my first thought was of Novi, MI (I was born in the town just east of there).
Sure enough, the engine was commissioned by Lewis Welch of Novi, MI…
https://www.conceptcarz.com/z33813/novi-grooved-piston-special-kurtis.aspx
A 450+hp, supercharged V8 FWD race car. What could go wrong?
Here’s what a search brought me on why it was called the “Grooved Piston Special” (sorry, it’s AI):
The “Grooved Piston Special” refers to the Novi race car used in the Indianapolis 500. The name comes from a unique feature in its engine: pistons with specialized grooves.
These grooves are likely referring to one of two potential features commonly found in racing pistons:
Lawrence has a great ice cream shop – Sylas and Maddy’s.
Lawrence tonight…….or bust! (well, hopefully not bust – A/C, keep on A/C’in!) It’s hot out there today…..
That plushie is a turkey leg! Apparently, Indiana really likes turkey legs. No idea why there’s a plushie of one, though.
Kinda want one of these for my cat now. Looks like it would make a great “kicker” toy.
I used to live in Indy and I have no idea why ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
Dogspeed!