[DeTomaso] Mike Drew on Jay Leno's Garage?????

[Corey Price]

Awesome Mike!  Loved the video but your story was icing on the cake!

Corey

> On Jun 23, 2014, at 1:06 PM, Mike Drew via DeTomaso <detomaso at poca.com> wrote:
> 
>   In a message dated 6/23/14 7 48 13, michael at michaelshortt.com writes:
>   Great job Mike, so now tell us all what happens next, did you get a
>   private tour of the place, did Jay let you sit in any of his toys?
>>>> It was a fantastic day.  I'd been there before; he gave Lori and me
>   a private 2.5 hour tour of his collection back in December.
>   On the day of the shoot (last month, on the way to the Fun Rally) I got
>   there early and he was a bit late, so I got to spend another hour or so
>   wandering around the shop by myself.  The shoot took about two hours,
>   but then he invited me to stay and play cars some more.  He did two
>   more shoots with other people, so I just sort of wandered around and
>   watched the process.  After they left, the crew, mechanics, Jay and I
>   had lunch in the shop, and then he took me for a ride in his 1925 Doble
>   steam car.
>   That turned into an adventure and a half over the space of the next
>   several hours.  I had already Drewsastered his Pantera during the shoot
>   (A/C system let go), and then when we were many miles from the shop in
>   the Doble, it conked out due to a mega water leak.  We were able to
>   fill the tank at a convenient fire station (!) and then limped slowly
>   back towards the shop, stopping again in the barrio at a used tire
>   store for more water.  Once back in the shop I helped them get it up on
>   the lift to evaluate the problem.
>   A water transfer pump that sends water from the storage tank to the
>   boiler had let go, and water was cascading out of it.  While they were
>   under the car checking it out, I backed away to take in the whole
>   scene.  My next words were, "Fire fire no shit this car is on fire!"
>   It was completely ablaze under the hood!  After a mad scramble, Jay got
>   an air hose, a mechanic got a blow gun for it, the car was lowered
>   (still burning), I popped the hood and they got after it with the air
>   hose, literally blowing the fire out (a process that took longer than
>   you'd expect).
>   Surprisingly it did no damage; it was apparently caused by gasoline
>   fumes spontaneously combusting due to contact with the hot boiler.
>   With steam cars, things like this happen apparently (he told me he has
>   several videos on Youtube of him blowing himself up with steam cars).
>   Eventually we got cleaned up and called it a day--I was there at the
>   shop for about ten hours.
>   One of the best days of my life, and even though he set a record for
>   the first-ever TRIPLE Drewsaster, Jay invited me to come back sometime,
>   as I had mentioned to him that my late father loved Duesenbergs, so he
>   wants to take me for a ride in his SJ as a tribute to him.
>   What a terrific guy!  He loves his Pantera, too.  If you're in So Cal
>   at a car show, you may well see him with it.  He told me yesterday that
>   he bumped into Leon Rower this weekend (whose immaculate, bone-stock
>   blue Pantera wowed the crowd at the Fun Rally at the Saturday car show)
>   and really was impressed with his Pantera too!
>   Oh, and the Doble problem was caused by the water pump failing and
>   hydro-locking.  Doble water pumps don't grow on trees (they only made
>   46 cars and no two were the same) but fortunately he has so much
>   machining capability within his shop that he was able to have a new one
>   made from scratch, and the car is back on the road alreadya|.
>   Mike
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