VA Rally

Our shop provides the "official" mechanical support for the rallies set up by Rich and Jean Taylor at Vintage rallies ( http://vintagerallies.com/index.html ). We chase the pack in 3 events per year, a Rally in the New England, in VA/W.VA/ and in TX making sure that most of the classic cars that break down can be revived so the owners can continue flogging them on some of the best roads in the country.

Karl and I just got back from the Mountain Mille 2007 where about 40 pre-'74 (a few newer cars) sports cars gathered in So. Boston VA to start off the event. Upon arriving, we had our hands full preparing a few broken classic cars and fuel up a fleet of brand new Porsche Boxter's and Cayman's. We loaded the 5 new Porsches into our Freightliner and Exotic Car Transports Freightliner and prepared for a week of repairs and logistics.

On the Monday (first day of driving) I guessed which car would be the most trouble, would it be the 1986 Ferrari 328 or the 1954 Morgan? How about that stunning 1957 Lancia B24 Aurelia Convertible? Well, the joke was on me, within the first 2 hours our 2007 Freightliner blew a turbocharger which made so much smoke that I could not see the rear axle!

I stuck around with our truck waiting for it to be towed and Karl and Tom from Exotic followed the route. I called a truck repair center in Lynchburg VA and made sure that they ordered me a new turbo ASAP because I need this rig, mostly to get home on Friday. They assured me that it will be no problem.

We worked that evening to shuttle the dead 1986 Ferrari and 1975 Aston Martin that were both too broken to repair and freed up a sticking needle valve on a Porsche 911. The next morning I called Lynchburg to see how the truck was coming along and I was assured that the parts are on the way.

Over the course of the event I had a Alternator shipped in for a 1967 Jaguar XKE overnight. I also had a Fuel pump for the Ferrari sent in for the next day and we managed to keep nearly every car on the event performing beautifully.

The Freightliner was a different story. On Thursday we visited Lynchburg to learn that the Turbo was still not in. This is a 2007 truck that is one of probably 2 million produced and the Mercedes-Benz engine in this truck is used in a bunch of farm machines so it should not be a problem getting this part. They claimed that the only one was in OR. even though the truck is assembled in Mt. Holly NC, 3 hours from Lynchburg. We finally left the Lynchburg with the high range engine brake not working and drive shaft vibrating from being improperly installed after the tow truck driver removed it for towing.

My point..... we can get parts overnighted into remote areas of W. VA for nearly 40 year old foreign cars that had limited production numbers, and get them running the next day but the same cannot be said for a 2007 mass produced domestic vehicle? What is going on? This incident makes me really appreciate the parts suppliers that I deal with every day to keep these cars running!