"Fording" an Avanti!

[mfg]

WOW!...this past Thursday afternoon I almost "pushed the envelope" a bit too far!.....Right around the time I was heading home from work the skies opened up and probably 2-3" of rain fell in an hour or so!

There really was no place for all this water to go...the street storm drains were overfilling, and water was gushing backwards out of these drains!

There's a low area at the base of a steep hill along the route which I normally travel.........Approaching this low area, I saw a city truck stopped with its flashing work lights on....the driver was standing outside of the vehicle. (in all probability about to close the road)

I saw that I was approaching a "puddle" right in the middle of this low area, and I noticed the vehicle just ahead of my Avanti had pulled over to the side of the road and stopped

Wanting to get home ASAP, I "went for it" and slowly drove through the "puddle" towards the hill.....I noticed in my rear view mirror that the Toyota Highlander which was following me had stopped and was turning around.

Well, although my right front tire fell into a small unseen pothole, my "good old '83 Avanti" kept rolling, and indeed I made it through the "puddle" and up the hill!

Stopping on Friday, which was sunny and dry, I measured the water line left on the trees and signposts in this low area....Turns out the "puddle" was approx. 14" deep!!

The weatherseals at the bottom of the doors on my Avanti must be working, as no water entered the car!!.....I LOVE THIS CAR!......NOTHING FAZES IT!!!!.........Ed

Edited January 27, 2019 by mfg

[studegary]

I can believe your story as I was out in that same weather.  At least here, the very heavy rainfall was exacerbated by the rapidly melting snow accumulation with temperatures in the 40s and the ground was still frozen due to below zero readings a couple of days earlier.  My driveway was under at least six inches of water.  

Years ago, I did drive my 1957 President Classic through water on a road on the Northshore of LI that came in on the floor of the car as I went through it.    Once, going to a hospital in Cleveland, during a downpour, on roads that I was not familiar with, I saw a flooded underpass ahead.  I stopped.  My mother, who didn't drive, said go through it.  I turned around and went a circuitous route to the hospital.  I believe that water was about 3 to 4 feet deep.       

[NHcamper]

You bring back fond memories of my 57 Commander. My sister and her husband were stationed at Sumter AFB SC in 1974. I talked my Mom into road trip over Christmas vacation so I could by an old car, amazingly she agreed and off we went in a 73’ VW Bus. To make a long story short I bought my Commander from a retired gentleman for 400.00 cash because that’s all I had, and he saw how excited I was. He asked me where I was from, when I told him NH and I was going to drive it back he laughed and said you can keep the plates. I still have the plates but the car is long gone. Lol