[jeffy]

Had some nice driving yesterday. The Richmond 5-speed takes some getting used to but can be mastered. I had a tendency to go from third to second (instead of to fourth) that was annoying. Less often went from second to fifth. Just took some getting used to.

Was brave enough to floor it through the first three gears and it is wicked fast. My friend that races a Lotus Exige Cup car looked a little fearful as I was going through the gears, but when we were once again safe and sound said he was very impressed by the V-8's torque. Thought it was clearly faster than the Exige.

I had a bit of a shock when I snapped the turn signal arm while making a left. Not a very sturdy piece. Taped it up but will need to be replaced post-Carlisle. Has this happened to anyone else?

This car really sucks gas. Of course I've been keeping the revs high and not doing any real cruising, but it has burned up almost 20 gallons with just 167 miles on the odometer. As I said last week, the odometer seems to understate the mileage by 20%, but even accounting for that it's about 10 mpg. We had a '65 Cadillac that got that kind of mileage.

Where my right hand rests on the transmission tunnel by the shifter the aluminum is starting to tarnish. What do you guys use to clean up the aluminum?

Everyone oohs-and-ahs over it, and the paint job gets a lot of compliments, but the most fun is opening the hood. What's some backfiring compared to the bug-eyes the Webers always get? That and the exhaust note just gets people laughing and shaking their head. The car is just too much fun!