Another story about Larry
This is sort a long post, but it really illustrates what kind of person Larry is and how he approaches his business.
I was on a tour to Mt. St. Helens this summer in my black 1999 RT-10 with 9 other Vipers and a ton of LX cars (300-Cs, Chargers, Challengers, Magnums etc.) and was approaching the Johnstone Ridge Observatory. It is the highest point on Mount St. Helens and was the rally point for lunch. As I was just about to pull in to the large parking lot I lost power steering and the car heated up and I lost charging. When I stopped it was spitting out antifreeze. When I popped the hood I saw the serpentine belt laying loose and the belt tensioner laying in the engine compartment. The stud which attaches the belt tensioner mechanism to the engine had broken off. It was noon on a Sunday afternoon and I was dead in the water at the highest point on the mountain. Fortunately Bill Sand had Larry's phone number and I was able to call him from the mountain. I explained the problem and he checked around to find a new tensioner and belt. He then checked out his own Viper to make sure he brought all the appropriate tools to allow me to complete the repairs. He lives east of Portland and fairly far south of the mountain, approximately 100 miles away. He said he could get all the stuff together and meet me at the Castle Rock exit on Interstate 5 if I could get back down the mountain and meet him. Fortunately for me, Christian, a great Viper owner, volunteered to drive me down the mountain and back in his RT-10. When we met Larry at the exit he helped me mock up the repair procedure and checked to see if the tools would fit and gave some pointers on doing the repair. He also loaned me some special wrenches for this job. Christian provided me with a very spirited drive back up the empty mountain road and arrived about 5:00 p.m. With a lot of difficult work and some friends that had small enough hands to get the new tensioner installed we then got the new belt installed and topped the antifreeze. By this time the entire parking lot was virtually empty and the Rangers were hoping to close the mountain up for the night.
I know that this is a long story, but it illustrates how great Viper people really are. Loaning tools, giving rides, helping do repairs etc. But Larry interrupted his Sunday afternoon and drove 100 miles to deliver the parts, loaned me special tools, and made sure I would be successful in doing the repair. That is so above and beyond what I can imagine anyone doing. When I got home at 11:00 that night I was exhausted, but so pleased with the help Larry gave me and the great Viper owners we have. If Larry hadn't been there I would have had to call a wrecker and have the car hauled down the mountain and then taken who knows where and then try to come back down to either fix it myself or have somebody in a small town work on it.
Larry's extra effort saved me a lot of money and time and allowed me to get my Viper up an running again.
