800 Mile Trip to Nowhere
Three days in Dry Ridge, Kentucky

At 5:10 am CDT on the morning of Wednesday 23 Oct 02 I departed my home in Wheaton, IL (west suburban Chicago) to go to the Vintage Triumph Register Southeastern Regional Convention at Jekyll Island, GA, a one way trip of 1,056 miles (1,700 km). The night before I'd finally decided that good judgement was the better part of valor and I'd put the top up on my 1964 TR4 - a good decision since the predawn temperature was 38F (3C) with a light but cold wind. It was early enough that I got around the south end of Lake Michigan with out being slowed by traffic and soon I was southbound on I-65 with only the open road before me. The heater was if anything a little too hot but could be reasonably moderated by fresh air through the dash vents. I'd forgotten how snug and weather worthy the top and windows were since I'd not made a trip with the top up in many years. The car was running great, all was well and I cruised in light traffic at about 75 m.p.h. (120 kph) toward Indianapolis in overdrive/4th. I drove through intermittent light rain but never enough to switch on the wipers - the drops simply blew off the rain-x treated windshield. I skirted around the eastern side of Indianapolis using I-465 and after a very brief stop for fuel and a small breakfast, headed toward Cincinnati on I-74. In due course I bypassed Cincinnati on the west using I-275, crossed the Ohio River, and entered Kentucky southbound on I-75. The sun was shinning, the leaves were starting to turn their fall colors and somehow I seemed to pleasantly sense Dixie just in front of me.

At about 11:00 am CDT, (12:00 PM EDT local) zipping along at 75 m.p.h. about midway between Cincinnati and Lexington, I heard a loud, disastrous sounding clang and a piece of something metallic pass beneath the car. I immediately checked the gauges and momentarily the temperature indicator started to rise. Fortunately I was able to stop very quickly, switch off and park on the wide grassed shoulder, well removed from the travel lanes of the interstate highway. I glanced at the trip odometer - I'd come 396 miles (637 km) from my garage at home.

After thinking for a moment, I decided that this was likely not a broken hose problem due to the noise, and when I opened the hood, sure enough, although there was coolant sprayed everywhere, all the hoses were intact. Earlier in the year I'd experienced two water pump pulley (both made-in-Taiwan parts) failures, but the water pump and associated parts looked fine. After things cooled down a bit - not long since I'd been able to stop so quickly - I started the engine and poured water into the filler of the radiator - which ran out immediately at the left bottom rear of the radiator in a large stream. Engine off. I decided that no matter what, the radiator had to be removed and that the car was going nowhere on its own power. Nothing in my "self-help" kit would solve this except maybe some crude patching with JB-Weld epoxy. I started to remove the hoses from the radiator and while doing this a passing motorist stopped and offered me a ride. Rather than leave the car unattended beside the road, I asked him to stop at the next exit and call for a tow truck. He agreed to do so. The hoses had not been off for some years and were stubborn but eventually came off - I'd just started to remove the 4 bolts holding the radiator when a tilt bed tow truck arrived. The TR4 was put on the truck, secured, and hauled to Sechrest Garage & Co., Inc., in Williamstown, KY. Clearly my trip to the VTR SE Convention was delayed.

The TR4 was pushed into the shop of Sechrest Garage, the radiator removed and it then became very apparent what had holed the radiator: one complete aluminum blade, from the hub out, was broken off and missing from the engine cooling fan. I'd not noticed this on the side of the road since the broken blade was on the downside of the fan.

The fix was simple and obvious - get a replacement fan, repair the radiator and be on my way to Jekyll Island. Lester Haskett, the service manager at Sechrest, thought the first approach to look into was a universal fan, however nothing in his books had a center hub hole big enough to clear the starting hand crank dog bolt. And there was doubt about the fixing bolt pattern. I called The Roadster Factory and while they did not have a correct TR4, 4-blade metal fan, they said the available plastic 8-blade TR6 fan would fit up and work. I ordered the plastic fan and a mounting kit for next day delivery. This was not to be. It was about 1:00 PM EST and The Roadster Factory had already had its once daily visit from UPS - the next possible time for TRF to ship something was Thursday morning, 24 Oct 02, for earliest delivery on Friday, 25 Oct 02. Going this route turned out to be a mistake. Les and I took the radiator to Ashcraft Welding & Radiator Service in the next town, Dry Ridge. The radiator could be repaired easily by closing off the 5-6 cut tubes at the rear left bottom. I was unconcerned with the small loss of cooling capacity since when the radiator was recored in the mid 90's, a much higher capacity 3 row coil was used, solving the long existing previous cooling problems.

Les dropped me at the Holiday Inn Express at Dry Ridge since nothing more could be done until the replacement fan arrived from The Roadster Factory on Friday. I had a two night stay in Dry Ridge / Williamstown, KY, before me with the earliest possible arrival at Jekyll Island now very late Friday, 25 Oct, or early in the morning of Saturday, 26 Oct. I walked over to the nearby Cracker Barrel Restaurant, had an early dinner, sent a fax to the Jekyll Island hotel and the SE VTR registrar about my delay, and turned in.

The manager at the Holiday Inn, Bob, was very helpful. Although there was no taxi service in the area, he arranged for the hotel housekeeping manager, Janet, to take me to the Grant County Public Library adjacent to the courthouse in downtown Williamstown, where I spent the day on Thursday. I introduced my self to the librarians and they were very hospitable. After a fine lunch (a pimento-cheese sandwich, vegetable soup and coffee) at the soda fountain of Lucas-Moore Drug Store across the street, I browsed around the nearby Antique Mall. In talking with the proprietress, she mentioned that her intact '67 MGB and another '69 MGB with the engine out, were long stored in her barn.

Late on Friday morning Les called me at the Holiday Inn and said that the fan had arrived from The Roadster Factory but did not fit - the fan blades conflicted with the radiator. To make matters worse, this had been learned when the engine was first turned over, again damaging the radiator along with the plastic fan. I called the tech line at TRF and their only suggestion was to turn the plastic fan around backward. They also checked their pile of engines for rebuild but no serviceable used 4 blade metal fan could be found. By this time it was midafternoon - I called Moss Motors and they had an original type 4 blade metal fan! Next day Saturday delivery - no problem. Clearly, I should have been more persistent on Wednesday and exhausted all possibilities before ordering the substitute plastic fan (which didn't fit) from TRF. I called the hotel in Jekyll Island and cancelled what was left of my reservation then sent a fax to the SE VTR event chairman about my situation.

Facing yet another night in Dry Ridge, I walked over to the outlet mall behind the hotel and came across a used paperback bookstore. I bought a couple of Tom Clancy novels, ordered a pizza and settled in for the night. By the way, Grant County, Kentucky is a "dry" county, although based on my reading of the police blotter in the local newspaper, "driving under the influence" seems to be the most common reason for arrest. Fortunately I had an ample stock of pretty good red wine with me, mostly Italian.

The 4 blade metal fan from Moss Motors was delivered to me at the hotel about 10:30 am on Saturday morning by UPS. The fan was an excellent, nice looking Taiwanese reproduction of the broken original fan. I called Les, he picked me up, and an hour later the correct fan, along with the twice-repaired radiator were back together, the system filled with coolant and tested. I departed Sechrest Garage, drove back to the Holiday Inn to check out and show the now infamous TR4 to the hotel staff. I arrived at home in Wheaton around 6:00 PM Saturday evening, having traveled almost exactly 800 miles. While I met many very nice people during my 3 day stay at Dry Ridge / Williamstown, KY, I was glad to be at home. It's now time to wash the TR4 and put her away for the winter. Perhaps next year I can actually make it to the SE VTR Regional Convention.

by Jay Holekamp

Copyright © 2002 Illinois Sports Owners Association