getting it home

After a month of ignoring it, I finally got the deer damaged tiny gay convertible home:


 The plan was to rent a U-Haul car dolly and tow the Cabrio back with my little truck. When I called U-Haul, they told that the computer wouldn't let them rent the dolly because my truck was too small to tow the tiny car. Which I think is shit. But I know better than to try to argue with a computer system.

I should have told them I was towing a Miatta:


So I had to rent an F-150. I wasn't a fan. The thing felt like it was taking up two lanes. I could never deal with a man-sized truck as my daily driver.

Anyway, I enlisted Justin to help me, and we headed to the body shop. When we got there, the tiny convertible wouldn't start. I tried to back the trailer up through the gates, and I discovered that I'm terrible at backing a trailer up. So I parked the truck, and we got out to push the Cabrio.

With the little dollies, you're supposed to just drive the car up the ramps and strap it down. But without the engine running, we had to push it up. We tried a few times, and every time it fell back down. Then we tried choking up the back wheels and backing the trailer into it. That also failed.

Finally we pushed the car back about thirty feet and sprinted at the trailer. It was rolling fast, hit the ramps, and thunked into place. Success.

After we got back into Greensburg, we had to figure out how to get the car into my garage, which is on a busy street in the middle of a steep hill. I tried backing it in, but apparently a car dolly can't turn with a car on it. I held up some increasingly angry traffic for about 10 minutes before I decided to drive around the block and pull it in straight.

We chocked the back wheels, and Justin got in the car. I pulled the truck forward, and the Cabrio slid off the ramps. He stepped on the brakes to keep it from rolling out into traffic. Then we pushed the car up the hill into the garage. Which sucked. But we got it.

I took the U-Haul back, and started tearing apart the car. Everything came apart easily. No rusty bolts, and everything was either a 10 or 12mm. So pleasant.

Now I just need to bend this fender support thingy back and locate some parts:

I should have this little machine back together in plenty of time for some top-down cruising this summer. I can't wait.