So for the 20th year of ownership, I ended up having the coldest "3 hour epic battle" drive home from work against a Colorado snow/ice storm on Thursday, Feb 27th, 2003 - this drive usually takes about an hour. The first half hour was uneventful (light snow), but it rapidly got nasty, with the first ominous sign being a garbage truck facing the wrong way on "Pray for Me, I'm on Highway 93" surrounded by emergency vehicles. I got as far as a moderate hill 10 miles South of Boulder (composite picture shot a few weeks later) that was incredibly icy/slick. I tried about a dozen times over an hour to make it up this hill ... while watching other cars spinning, side-swiping, ending up in ditches, being pushed by a crowd, turning around, and all sorts of stuff! I had a GREAT side-road vantage point to see it all, which also allowed me various opportunities to "go for it" without getting in anyone's way; and also an "escape route" to slide back to when my attempts failed. I have no chains for the convertible ... and with the big V-8 engine, there is not a lotta traction on the rear wheel drive back tires. BTW, I don't exactly have snow tires on this car, and those that are on there were bought back in March/1993 or about 20,000 miles ago. So the equipment is a bit marginal for the coldest car!
My biggest regret was not having a camera to record some of the
carnage above - fortunately, nobody appeared to get hurt.
And not only was I was the coldest car, I was also by far the
"most popular car" out there, as I got quite a few comments sitting
in my convertible ... in the coldest snowstorm!
After an attempt as the #4 car behind a snowplow dropping dirt on the road,
I finally had to throw in the towel and turn around, taking a very long
way back home via I-70/287 ... and the picture belows shows what it looked
like when I finally made it back home inside the garage! ;-)