Life of Brian

I apologize, I usually have some sort of cute total of something that may or may not have happened on the day when a car in possession passes through a thousand mile increment, but today I have none. Today after work Donna and I drove both cars to West Columbia and passing through Wagener on the drive there the Purple Whale ticked past the 41,000 mile mark.

The Emperor is going to a warrior’s retreat and hanging with a bunch of Miata race cars for the next few days. The folks at Panic Motorsports have agreed to see if they can get rid of his annoying 1st gear standing start random stumble.

I can’t swear to it, but this little foible seemed to start not long after the 125,000 mile major service about 2-1/2 years ago. At first it was very random, it didn’t seem to matter whether the weather was hot or cold, if it was day or night or even if the car was warmed up or not, but its happening was few and far between. Then the Sonata joined the family and the Miata got driven less, so the little stumble was even less frequent. As time progressed it became more frequent in rearing its ugly head, I became more adept at sensing its arrival and compensating by slipping the clutch and goosing the gas to to avoid bucking at standing starts. I started considering the stumble part of the car’s patina, a bit of character that is the hallmark of owning a true sports car.

For the last few months it was still random, but it was much more frequent, so I finally opted to have an expert look at it. A couple of weeks ago I called Steve at Panic and worked out a time that was amenable to the both of us and of course, since then, the Emperor has been acting up less. Only happened a couple of times on the Savannah trip this weekend and only once today, at the DD drive thru, but it still needed looking at, so look here.