The Bay to Birdwood Classic is next month, and although I'd already entered with another vehicle, I'm considering changing my entry vehicle to the Corona. In order to do that, I thought I'd better check that it would get there ok as the road to Birdwood is extremely windy and hilly.
I needn't have worried, apart for the odd misfire, which I still think is residual dirty or contaminated fuel on steep ascents, and the lack of power when reaching the peaks, it performed very well and the handling was excellent. I'm not surprised they raced them back in the day (well the manuals anyway).
I quickly stopped for a photo at the Big Rocking Horse on the way back.
Seems the cold weld on the radiator has blocked that pinhole too, which is good.
Following the wheel alignment, The Corona was ready for it's first longer-distance trip. So far I'd not travelled more than 10km from home, mainly as I wasn't too confident on the reliability and I didn't want to scrub out the tyres until properly aligned.
Weather was reasonable so I decided to visit my parents in Gawler which is a 70 km round trip with patches of 90kph along the way. I'd not had it over 70 at that stage.
Trip up was generally trouble free, although at times I noticed a bit of a haze emanating from the front of the car when I stopped. I did investigate but came up with nothing. It managed to keep up with traffic, generally, bit slow off the lights but 90kph seemed quite doable. It did rev quite high by then so I'd not think 100 would be advisable for long periods if even possible.
Here we are after arrival:
Back to the odd mist, I checked around and found a tiny pinhole in the top radiator tank. Quite vexing given I had that radiator totally rebuilt. Alas that was maybe 4 years ago so warranty would no longer be valid. It hadn't lost much coolant at all so I left it at this stage.
The trip home was pretty uneventful except for a number of misfires along the way. Might need to investigate that. I have since pulled the plugs and leads and so on to find all are perfect. I hope it's not a burnt valve. I used some cold weld on the radiator so I'll see if that holds pressure, before pulling it out for a pro to solder it.
I've also been considering entering it in the Bay to Birdwood this year. Back in 2010 I posted about maybe making it to the 2011 B2B Classic - totally daft in hindsight, only now 4 years later is that even slightly possible. I'm going to do a test run to Birdwood and back on Saturday morning before deciding.
Recently I emailed the original family of the Corona. I still had their email address on a scrap of paper with all the documents when I first bought it. They were delighted to hear about it and see some pictures of it back in action.
They sent me this photo from when it was brand new:
The paint was so nice when it was new!
Anyway this pic has whitewalls! Something I was considering doing so on a whim I called the local whitewall guy who came out the very next morning and did them for $90. His price hasn't changed in 10 years I reckon. I didn't want to wear the tyres out more than necessary so I finally had it wheel aligned. On my birthday or all days.
