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Ron Conlon |
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MOFLO
2007
There is no place that I would rather be in
early June than hanging out with a bunch of car people in Missouri. The Roamin’ Chariots of MO-AR-OK-KS chapter
of Fiat Lancia Unlimited main club event has been held since 1999 at Lake of
the Ozarks and has attracted Fiat and Lancia owners from Missouri, Arkansas,
Oklahoma and Kansas as well as from further away and a few other Italian
marques. It is not a show but a
meeting, the M in MOFLO and an outing; you guessed it the first O. So we
polished the cars not to gain a prize but to remove the bugs and dust of
driving there. We opened the engine
compartments to discuss power plants and technical issues and check the
essential fluids. Cars are in every condition
from show car to long-term project. We
photograph them as a group and do attract some attention from the public but
don’t seek it since this is an event for the owners, with the owners and by the
owners.
There can be no doubt that the
Midwest is not a hot bed of inexpensive Italian cars. I saw more Corvettes by two times of our number just driving
along the interstate for a couple of hours.
But, the ones that came here, and this is big, did not rust. We saved them, made them reliable and use them,
sometimes hard, often a lot. So to get
more than 20 Fiat/Lancia cars in one place just draw a circle of a 500-mile
radius around Lake of the Ozarks and send out a notice. It will happen.
Ron’s
car at old burger place in Montreal, MO.
 My MOFLO this year started on
Thursday with a 400 mile drive from Oklahoma to the lake. My Fiat has been running well since I
overhauled the carburetor and is looking better with a new interior. I have noticed a marked decrease in fuel
consumption and wanted to test this. I
also have installed a new windshield and was concerned about leaks. My normal habit has been to fill up at
200-mile intervals as the low fuel light begins flash and this usually means a
two-stop strategy and 25 mpg. This year
I seem to have a 250-mile range and comfortably ran with a one-stop plan while
never seeing the flash for low fuel.
This means very close to 30 mpg in this old sports car and more power as
well. I filled up before the spirited
cruise and then started for home with ¾ tank and 50 miles on the clock.
Nevertheless, one stop was all that I needed and there was a good quarter tank
remaining. I used ½ quart of oil mostly
from drips and the spirited shifting during the cruise and the windshield did
not leak. It was tested big time.  This
year we gathered on Friday for the BBQ icebreaker in the parking lot of the
Scottish Inn. Cars rolled in from every direction to be greeted with a beverage
and goodwill. Folks stretched out the
kinks and shook off the dust from long drives in open sports cars. All were smiling and seeking familiar
friends or new acquaintances as they checked into their room. The chairs then get sorted around the parking
lot where everything happens. Every car
looked better than I recall from last year with new paint or wheels or a top or
interior. Cars are supposed to wear out
and get tossed but not these timeless beauties. Each driver had a story about getting noticed and appreciated on
the journey. One would think we were a movie star or famous sports figure and
it does take some getting used to.  On Saturday we assembled in the park for
photos and a drive on some fine curvaceous roadways before a more formal meal
at a local restaurant. Each morning we
were greeted to coffee and continental breakfast around the parked cars with
subdued conversations of family and life passed between the early risers. The Sunday breakfast was under a canopy in
torrential rain. Our Alfa Romeo owner,
John Greason who brought his superb and rare Montreal pulled his car cover off
to keep it dry and the car wet as I covered the topless X1/9 of Greg McClure
with a tarp. We laughed that only car folks would understand this seemingly contradictory
behavior and I won’t try to explain it.
Each car that headed for home seemed to bring a new wave of showers to
go with the waves of safe trip. I swam through one hour of rain before it
lifted near Springfield. Too soon it
was over but other local gatherings are planned as well as the next MOFLO in
2008.
 Ron,
I didn't think I was gonna make it home. Ignition started cutting out in
the storm, the spray from the trucks just buried the X and Ken's right, I was
eyeball to lugnuts with them. Lurched into an OReillys. God I
hate having car trouble in a Fiat, I feel like all the people who
gather around become ghoulish spectators secretly snickering
into their sleeves, "Look at dat Ahole in dat EYEtalian
POS". Bought some WD40 and dielectric grease to dry out the dizzy and
wires. Seemed to work fine,crossed my fingers, back on the highway,
pass an exit, next one in 12 miles and lurch, buck, of sh!!T! Really bad
this time, T belt busting kind of jerking. I went back to spray
everything again and looked to the side at the little compartment that holds
the module and it was full of water. Somehow, and I know that this is
hard to believe, but somehow rust, yes rust, actual flakes
of rust, had clogged the drainhole and swamped the
module. Took a screwdriver and cleared the hole, she drained out and ran
fine afterward. Rust!? on a Fiat?!! Well just goes to
show; theres a first time for everything eh?
Do you have a MOFLO 2007 story? Send it along with any pictures to kdickson@mirafiori.com and I'll be glad to add it to the article.
 A Trip to the Gas Station I jumped in the spider to make a quick milk run for mom on that cool February day. As I was sitting at the last stoplight before I turned onto our street I looked into the rear view mirror and there was this big 4x4 way too close for comfort! I inched the car forward a little, the truck followed. I continued to watch it in the mirror as the light dragged on. Then right as the light turns green the truck turns on his signal to turn the same way I do. “Great!” I thought, “I must have cut this guy off” as I turned off the main road and onto my street the truck followed. I was starting to get a little nervous, “what did I do to this guy?” I quickly whipped the car around in the street and backed into the driveway so I could get a good look at the person following me. As I backed in the truck parked right in front of me. I got out of the spider kind of curious as to what I had done to make this man follow me to my house. He steps out of his truck and says, “hi, I didn’t mean to startle you, I just noticed you were driving a Fiat”. A little puzzled I looked at the car and said “yeah”? “Well” he said “I have one too and just don’t see many of them around here”. At this point I’m thinking, my car is not
for sale. He extends his hand and says “I’m Jim Wagner”, “Johnathan Rodebush” I
said. The next thing I knew we were talking about our Fiats and all the
problems we have fixed and things couldn’t figure out. This man was amazing!
Before I could even finish a sentence on a problem I had, had or was having he
would finish it for me and tell me how to fix it. Then he started listing
different places I could buy parts. Parts? Actual Fiat Spider parts? Are you
sure? I had a count going, at that point in time I had parts from 14 different
cars under the hood. I just couldn’t find Fiat parts. By fluke I found one in
the salvage one day and it was sitting in my back yard with more problems than
mine had. He handed me his card and it had a picture of a Fiat on it. This guy
was serious! Someone who know what the heck my car was! So what did I do….I
forgot about him. I was so busy with school and work that I didn’t have time to
stay in touch.
About two weeks later I get home
from school and there are a few parts magazines sitting on the front porch with
a rear view mirror sitting on it. (I had mentioned that mine had problems)
There was a note “thought you could use this, Jim”. Well I felt a little
guilt so I got online and sent him an e-mail thanking him. Quickly I got a
response back telling me I should come out to his shop to see if there were any
other parts that I might need. So I decided I would that weekend. After all I
was off work.
It was amazing! There were so many
Fiat parts! I thought I died and went to heaven. Boxes of interior pieces that
I was missing, shelf’s full of wires that my car didn’t have, buckets of nuts
and bolts! He told me the parts had been given to him by another guy in the
club that had moved and that some were from cars he had stripped. We spent the
afternoon digging for little things I needed. With in a week I had my car torn
apart his shop replacing my cooling system that I had made out of plumbing pipe
and a Suzuki radiator. Next thing you know it was a weekly event to go out
there and take my car apart. Jim could do anything on that car!
At the time I delivered Chinese food
in the Spider. That’s right, an American boy driving an Italian Car delivering
Chinese food. Now we’re not just talking a few miles a night, were talking
almost 100 miles a night on average five nights a week! The Spider didn’t get
to sit and look pretty. However it was falling apart. I had an engine miss that
would shoot flames out the back when I took off too fast (which I thought was
kinda cool). It also leaked more oil than it used gas. I had holes in the floor
the size of soft balls! The car kept going though. It delivered Chinese food to
three towns. Everybody knew that cool little red car. I kept a fresh coat of
wax on it but it was falling apart! Heck I only paid 200 bucks for the thing
and had to tow it home. Now I’m putting 30,000 a year on it delivering Chinese
food. What did I expect?
Well thanks to Jim, the car was now
much more trust worthy. So I worked up the nerve to take it to this car
gathering he had told me about. MOFLO. I talked my dad into going, it was going
to be a great trip. The trip for us was a pretty long one - in one of these
cars anyway. We did pretty well, the engine was still missing here and there
but over all it did ok. We get about 80 miles out from Osage Beach and the car
dies! Just quits! That was it. We were stuck! I pulled the car off to the side
of the road and looked at my dad. I felt really bad at that point. It was 104
degrees and I begged him to go on this trip with me, and now the car broke down
on this little two-lane road with NOTHING in site! My dad got out of the car
and started pushing. I jumped out and said, “What are you doing?” “Pushing it
to that shade tree” he said. Well I looked ahead and that shade tree was at
least half a mile off…but it was hot so I started pushing. We did everything we
knew how to do. We had just about drunk all our water and dad was getting sick
from the heat. So I pulled the phone out and called Jim who was already in
Osage beach. Needless to say after him telling me to try everything I already
tried he got in the car and drove the 80 miles to come save us. My dad and I
ended up falling asleep under the shade tree while we waited. Jim finally made
it and had the car going in just a few minutes. My ignition system had gone out
and he put a set of points back on it and off we went! My dad later commented
that, that was the best nap he had, had in years.
Johnathan Rodebush
Fiat/Lancia Freakout 2007
Herd of Cats Tour
By Ron Conlon This July was the 24th FFO-07 of Fiat Lancia Unlimited was held in Pontiac, Michigan, which is 1100
miles from Norman, Oklahoma. So I, of
course, decided to drive my red 1979 Fiat Spider there in a test of old time
touring in an open car. Three others
joined me. Jim Wagner with Johnathan
Rodebush as co-driver and Csaba Vandor who represented Vick Autosport. Thus the Herd of Cats tour developed as a
way to meet up on the road and drive in the company of other Fiats.
The
cats
The tour was broken into two stages
with an overnight stop in Terre Haute, Indiana. This leg was about 700 miles and made for a relatively easy 400
mile run into Pontiac. Twice while
filling up with fuel, the attendant rushed out to hang an out-of-order sign on
the nozzle that I had just hung up.
This did not inspire confidence in what watery dregs I had pumped into
my tank. The car immediately began to
stutter while accelerating onto the interstate and the idle went to pot. Csaba has a taller 5th gear that he installed with a lot of superior engineering and we compared fuel
usage each pit stop. The dirty gas did
not hurt since I was getting close to 30 mpg and Csaba a bit over 31 mpg on the
cleaner high test. Cruising at a 70 mph
pace or more spirited 75-80 mph seemed to make little difference. Csaba’s white spider had the most
personality with an occasional non-functioning starter and a cantankerous fuel
pump as well as severed exhaust pipe on the return that we repaired in
Norman. My spider decided to hook an electrical
wire around the trunk lock mechanism to create a moment of never-get-in
the-trunk-again panic. Jim’s purple
Spider began to suffer from the lumpy idle related to the poor fuel quality and
heat issues when using his air conditioner.
Find
more information and pictures at http://flu.org/ .
Sept
21-23 - Italian CarFest in Grapevine Texas
Best Fiat Spider in America http://italiancarfest.com/
Fall
to be announced – Fall tour in Arkansas
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MOFLO Breakfast
We arrived in Pontiac about 4pm in time for a
cleanup and dinner. The security camera
or maybe an observant Fluster caught me as I prepared my car for the show. This consisted of hiding my traveling stuff,
tossing old water bottles and washing off the bugs and road tar. This driver was a bit ripe as well and not
fit for company. So a shower and change
of clothes were next. One of first to
meet me in the lobby was my brother, Doug from Ottawa, who now has a very good Pininfarina
Spider that I had helped to assemble while it was restored Oklahoma. This would be a rare treat to get both of
our sports cars and us together. I
could tell the cars and the show impressed him. He was a Midget owner for 25 years and favorably compared FFO to
the many big British car shows. He has tossed away the Brooks cap and wool
smoking jacket with elbow patches of the English gentleman for the more
debonair look of the European jet set.
It suits him.
I was particularly interested in the Ottawa
group since my interest in Fiat was rekindled only after I left there for
warmer climes. Keep a candle in the
windshield for me to visit some day.