Bird of the Week - Off-Road

[mbulriss]

>the bird in the picture doesn't look like a 1998...?
Good catch oh eagle-eyed one! Changed now. Typo by your truly. :-(

As far as your other question, I had Stagecoach, our 83 PT40, offroad
regularly on the beach at Padre Island, in fields at the NASCAR track
in Dallas/Ft. Worth and at the NHRA track in Ennis. Been stuck more
at the NASCAR track and my side yard than on the beach.

On the beach, look for relative hard pack, avoid obvious deep loose
sand, make no sudden stops, avoid aggressive starts and turns, and
you'll be surprised how tolerant they are of not sinking. Lots of
tire patch on these big rigs. Spent many nights on the sand under the
stars with no incidents. Got stuck on the beach only once when
co-pilot screamed "STOP" for some perceived bug a mile away! Slam on
brakes in loose stuff - Bad move! You sink. Shovel and place rugs
and strips of plywood under rear wheels, roll on throttle very gently,
don't accelerate wildly. Worse case, add a small toad to tug gently
and you drive away. It doesn't take much to get them moving again to
hard pack.

At the NASCAR track, everytime it rained, it was problem. Stagecoach
would spin the rear wheels at the slightest provocation on any wet
grass or dirt - just putting it in gear, even with the foot on the
brake, and the rear tires would start spinning immediately on wet
stuff. Surprisingly, newspaper wadded up under the tires is a great
aid in getting it moving. Once moving on muddy ground, don't stop
until you get to pavement! McMahan will verify we got three Birds out
of ankle deep mud after a bad rainstorm on one trip to Texas Motor
Speedway, with lots of newspaper.

Ahh, the adventures keep on piling up! Not taking the 91 offroad
anytime soon however.

Mike Bulriss
1991 WB40 "Texas Minivan"
San Antonio, TX


--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Brian Gatley" wrote:
>
> I have to ask...and I may have missed this in the discussions...
>
> How far off road do people take their birds? It looks like all sand
> around the Bird of the Week. I have heard of people driving on the
> beaches, but 40,000+ off pavement sounds like a potential disaster. If
> you do go off road regularly, how often do you get stuck?
>
> Also, the bird in the picture doesn't look like a 1998...?
>
> Brian Gatley
> 93 WLWB PT40
> Bend, OR
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>