[njsteve]

In 1988 I drove a friend's newly purchased 1971 Hemi 4 speed Charger R/T (a Mr Norms car originally) from Miami to New Haven Connectut, non stop.

We had flown down there and only after he bought it did he tell me he didn't know how to drive a manual transmission. So I had to drive it the 1,400 miles.

The only glitch was the wiring melt down at the valve cover bulkhead connector for the alternator wire. A known issue with all hemi cars - the 12 gauge wire off the alternator drops to a 14 gauge wire at the second half of the connector. They melt under heavy use (night time driving with lights and defroster on).

Totally dead in the middle of the Tappan Zee Bridge at 3:00 AM. I had to rip the melted connector apart and hand-twist the burning wires together to get us running and off the bridge. I still have the burn scars on my thumb and forefinger from it 35 years later.

Here's the mandatory South of the Border shot.