I hit 10,000 miles in my RCR40 yesterday. A great milestone. My goal with the car is to drive as much as possible and put miles on versus restricting miles. I am averaging about 2k miles per year as I just passed 5 years having the car on the road. Fairly impressive I think as it has probably been down for various issues at least 1.5 years of the five. It’s been an eventful 10k miles but I would not trade it for anything. Driving these cars is fantastic. A partial list of challenges along the way…
- CV boot failure first 200 miles
- Running out of gas due to improperly set fuel level senders
- Wheel bearing failure first year
- Two radiator failures
- Minor off (driver error)
- Coil failure
- Coolant pipe junction failure (first flatbed ride)
- Fuel pump failure during parade laps at Road Atlanta Mitty Historics (second flat bed ride)
- Clutch fork issues that resulted in pulling transmission to address
- Issues getting the water pump, alternator pulleys aligned.
But like I said, driving the car is fantastic and I have been able to do all the work to fix the car myself and with friends.
The best part with these cars is that while they may be material things, they bring people together. Whenever you take it out you get smiles from old and young alike - male and female. The conversations at stops are always enjoyable. I have had three separate “interactions” with law enforcement: one stopping with his lights flashing while I was already pulled off the side of the road to ask about the car, another pulling alongside me on the highway with the officer in the passenger seat taking pictures, and a third yesterday giving me a thumbs up as I drove past! Besides these, I have family and friend memories too many to mention of first time rides and (in a very few instances) drives. I tell my wife that I am spreading joy by taking the car out!
The mechanical issues I take in stride as I have been able to fix things that I never thought I could and I am a lot more patient and calm when things go wrong as I know everything can be fixed.
With all that has happened the first 10k miles, I can only wonder the issues and experiences I’ll have the next 10k…
- CV boot failure first 200 miles
- Running out of gas due to improperly set fuel level senders
- Wheel bearing failure first year
- Two radiator failures
- Minor off (driver error)
- Coil failure
- Coolant pipe junction failure (first flatbed ride)
- Fuel pump failure during parade laps at Road Atlanta Mitty Historics (second flat bed ride)
- Clutch fork issues that resulted in pulling transmission to address
- Issues getting the water pump, alternator pulleys aligned.
But like I said, driving the car is fantastic and I have been able to do all the work to fix the car myself and with friends.
The best part with these cars is that while they may be material things, they bring people together. Whenever you take it out you get smiles from old and young alike - male and female. The conversations at stops are always enjoyable. I have had three separate “interactions” with law enforcement: one stopping with his lights flashing while I was already pulled off the side of the road to ask about the car, another pulling alongside me on the highway with the officer in the passenger seat taking pictures, and a third yesterday giving me a thumbs up as I drove past! Besides these, I have family and friend memories too many to mention of first time rides and (in a very few instances) drives. I tell my wife that I am spreading joy by taking the car out!
The mechanical issues I take in stride as I have been able to fix things that I never thought I could and I am a lot more patient and calm when things go wrong as I know everything can be fixed.
With all that has happened the first 10k miles, I can only wonder the issues and experiences I’ll have the next 10k…
