Flawed Motos are OK

When driving, flying or boating, I believe lack of perfection makes the journey more interesting. I had an '86 Alfa Romeo GTV6 which was a ball to drive and work on but left me in a few predicaments.

One time going north on the Westside Highway heading north out of Manhattan the accelerator linkage decided to take a vacation. I thought the engine had stalled at first but the tach was still at about 800 rpm. I had my little sis in the car and we were heading uphill up to the elevated section of the highway near 57st in heavy traffic. I quickly pulled over to an inch of the mirror on the right and popped the hood to take a look. After about 15 seconds I found the linkage problem and had to ask my sister for a barrette that I quickly fashioned in to a lever and C-clip. In under two minutes I was back in the car and we were rocketing up to 90 mph again. Pure bliss.

Another time I was at almost the same place heading south into the city and lost the engine; this time the distributor cap cracked. Super glue got me home.

Yet again lost the headlights on a long night drive. Ate up two fuses fiddling with it and found a short because of missing insulation. Fixed that with a piece of chewing gum and used the foil wrapper for the fuse. Good stuff. I learned that 95 percent of things could be fixed with a rock, screwdriver, duct tape, zip tie, gum and a Gerber.

Don't buy old classic motos if you do not like to fiddle... it's the best part of the journey.