Some of the people on this forum are real...

...heroes! One of these guys saved my a@@ on Saturday. So, here's what happened:

Mid-afternoon on Saturday (01/15) my friend Mark and I decided to go on a little drive in my GT40. As usual, as soon as we were on the road, we both were big "grins" all the way! There is just something about driving the GT40...well, you all know. Anyway, as we are driving along towards San Ramon on a short stint on the freeway, I suddenly noticed my temp gauge starting to move up (luckily I always keep a close eye on all my gauges when I drive the car). Within 30 seconds I was on the off ramp and my temp gauge at 240. I turned off the engine as we coasted off the ramp and pulled the car over immediately. As soon as we got out of the car we saw coolant flowing down the road. We opened the clam shell...and lot of coolant flowing out the overflow. A quick look at the front of the engine and there was a very loose belt and one missing one...ah, I thought, broken belt. NOT SO FAST. A second look, and to our surprise, what's laying there on the e-brake bracket...a nice aluminum pulley. Yep! There it was. Incredibly, as the pulley bolts broke (the first and only failure since I've owned the car and have driven it 2,000 miles!), the pulley just fell down and got hung up on the only piece of metal, the emergency brake bracket, that was in its way and kept it from falling onto the road (at 60 MPH)...which would not have been so good. Now what?

I was thinking to call a tow company, but then again, my car is a major pain in the butt to load and may get damaged in the process (unless you are really lucky to find a really, really knowledgeable and careful tow truck driver). So, I thought, there is another GT40 owner who lives in the East Bay (Livermore, Dublin, San Ramon area) that I know and who I've met a few times. I've also visited him at his house/garage and he was always helpful and full of great advice...and, from what I remembered, he had access to a trailer that would work well for a GT40. So, despite some hesitation, I made the call. By now it's Sat evening (and people have plans)...yet, I was lucky and he picked up the phone. I briefly explained my situation and where I was, and before I finished that he already offered to pick up his trailer (from wherever it is stored) and come to pick me up. Within an hour or so, he showed up, loaded the car (mostly by himself as he asked us "to stay out of his way" :), drove 30 miles back to drop me off, unloaded the car and helped me move it into the garage. All of this while he missed dinner and a shopping trip with his wife/family...and not even wanting to accept any gas money either!

What can I say. There are few close friends that would go through all this trouble to help me out. But here is HOWARD JONES, who I don't really know very well...and he spends 3.5 hours on Saturday afternoon/evening - without any notice - to help some guy who got stuck. I really can't tell you how impressed I am with him - what a QUALITY guy. I just felt that I had to post this to say "Thank you" again and let people know that there are some great people in this world, on this forum and in some GT40s.

Thanks for letting me share this...and thanks again Howard. You are THE MAN!
 
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Howard periodically hosts a GT40 get-together at his house, and I've been fortunate enough to make it to one of them. Just based on what I saw that one time, I believe he has established himself as a particularly generous fellow, who gives freely of himself with no expectation of anything in return. My hat is off to him once again!
 
Sonds like a great guy. Although, if it was a choice between shopping with the wife or playing with cars, I know which I would choose.
 
Nice work. Looks like you owe that man a beer!

PS Took my old classic truck for a run recently and it broke down when the MSD coil failed. Rang home for another and while I waited for it to arrive, there was a steady procession of people stopping and seeing if they could help. It was a good feeling to know there were so many strangers ready to help out.


Cam
Auck, NZ
 
Eric, sorry to hear of the problems which brought back a few memories of a couple of failed water-pumps in mine. Strange that the bolts would break. Any ideaa as to why? Will be interested in hearing.

Howard....what a great man you are sir! Well done.
 
A few years ago my wife and I made a trip to California from UK. I contacted Howard and suggested we met up as we planned to be in the San Fransisco area during our visit.
On the agreed day, we arrived at Howard's - to find a full BBQ, with beers and some 6 GT40s awaiting us. We had a great afternoon with Howard and Bud Creighton - and all organised for a bloke he'd never met before!
So, I'm not at all surprised to hear that Howard went so far out of his way - he's that sort of person.
Good man.
Tony
 
Nice work. Looks like you owe that man a beer!

PS Took my old classic truck for a run recently and it broke down when the MSD coil failed. Rang home for another and while I waited for it to arrive, there was a steady procession of people stopping and seeing if they could help. It was a good feeling to know there were so many strangers ready to help out.


Cam
Auck, NZ

Cam, I already took care of the beer part and will follow up with a "Summit Racing" part :pleased:
 
A few years ago my wife and I made a trip to California from UK. I contacted Howard and suggested we met up as we planned to be in the San Fransisco area during our visit.
On the agreed day, we arrived at Howard's - to find a full BBQ, with beers and some 6 GT40s awaiting us. We had a great afternoon with Howard and Bud Creighton - and all organised for a bloke he'd never met before!
So, I'm not at all surprised to hear that Howard went so far out of his way - he's that sort of person.
Good man.
Tony

Tony, I can absolutely see him do that - one "heck of a guy" Howard is!
 

Tim Kay

Lifetime Supporter
Although, if it was a choice between shopping with the wife or playing with cars, I know which I would choose.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

To expound on what Jon said, Howard probably had more fun and saved a few bucks to boot considering what the alternative agenda for that day was :love:

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All kidding aside, way to be so gracious Howard and quite admirable. Tells a lot about someone. And thanks for sharing Eric.
 
Just want to chime in and say that despite our differences in political viewpoints, Howard is one hell of a guy, and someone I will always consider a friend. I have been to his house twice for GT40 get-togethers while I lived in Sacramento, and should things work out, I will happily make the trip up from San Diego to attend future gatherings. He is a wonderful host.

Ian
 
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