Left the Walmart in Jerome, Idaho
mid-morning Saturday after picking up a few items. I’ve made a point of buying a couple of
needed items at each Walmart stay as a thank you for the courtesy of allowing
me to overnight there. Not all Walmart’s
allow overnighting, those located in larger incorporated areas don’t allow it
due to local ordinances. I have an app,
“Walmart OverNight Parking” that tells me which ones are OK.
Headed east towards the Craters of
the Moon National Monument. About halfway
there as I entered a little town named Carey I spotted another Cortez sitting
in a field. With only 3,211 manufactured
from 1964 until 1979 spotting a Cortez is unusual. This was not just any Cortez however. This was one of the very few built as an
ambulance. Needless to say I made an
abrupt U-turn and pulled into the driveway of the house next to the field.
 |
| The rare and elusive Cortez ambulance |
I’m sure my arrival was the last
thing they ever expected. A gentlemen by
the name of Dennis Patterson answered the door and after a brief introduction
and pointing to my Cortez that was now in his driveway he called for his son
Dusty who was the owner. I was taken
back and shown the Cortez ambulance that had originally been purchased in 1973
by the Elk Grove, California Fire Department.
Later it made its way to Idaho serving as a mobile command post for Sun
Valley and Ketchum. It eventually became
a derelict and was given to Dusty free for the taking. I gave them some info regarding the online
following and support that was available.
After exchanging some stories with Dusty and his dad I gave them a tour
of my Cortez. Mine was the only other
Cortez that they had ever seen. After a
few farewells I was on my way, or so I thought.
I started my rig up moved it a foot and it died. Tried to start it again and it died. Well I thought it might just be a little too warm or something. So I decided to let it cool down but to no avail. Dusty took off to do some errands and the senior Patterson asked if I needed any help. I decided to try some things on my own and apologized profusely for the trouble. Of course I had to take down the dinette and move everything stored under it so I could move the passenger seat back and get to the motor. After dinking around making sure the fuel pump was working, the fuel filter not clogged and checking the heat sink on the ignition module I gave up. Dennis was kind enough to run me into town but by mid-afternoon on a Saturday both shops were closed until Monday. Dennis suggested we enlist the help of Dusty’s friend Scott who was very amiable to help. We determined that for some reason there was no spark from the distributer. We both started checking wires for lack of a better plan. I found a loose terminal to a vacuum module, tightened it up and it fired right up.
I asked if there was any way that
I could repay their generosity but they declined. I thank them again and was on my way. Again, it’s amazing what you will find when
you’re not looking and the people you may meet.
Landed on the Craters of the Moon
late Saturday afternoon.
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