Island: Isle au Haut

Vehicle: 1985 Mitsubishi Montero

Owner: Kenneth Breeze

Mileage: 81,500

 

 “My sister gave me this car two years ago when it quit running,” wrote owner Kenneth Breeze.

“She came running into the house one morning muttering, ‘My car is leaking. I’m losing all my gas.’ With that she grabbed an old kitchen dishpan and stuck it under the car. Whenever she wanted to go anywhere she pulled the plastic dishpan out and poured the gas into the tank, drove quickly to wherever, and stuck the dishpan underneath again. This worked all right for about three days, until the car just died.“

“Rather than pay to have the car hauled off the island, she gave it to me. I replaced the fuel tank and the fuel filter, and the car runs like a champ. The tank itself had rusted through. The real problem though, causing it to not run, was the fact that gas, being a solvent, was dissolving polymers in the plastic dishpan, which were subsequently solidifying in the fuel filter. The filter was totally and completely plugged.
The Montero would never pass inspection on the mainland. It just wouldn’t happen. I’m sure this is the case with many/most island cars. This Montero is ideally suited for the island, and has no real quirks, other than the fact that bits and pieces fall off now and again. It’s old, it’s rusty, and it runs well, now. It suits my purposes perfectly.

The Montero was bought originally in Georgia by the daughter of one of the summer residents. Her husband was in the Army, so the car traveled a bit, though it never accumulated too much mileage. It has been to Alaska. I found a receipt for work done at Ft. Wainwright in Fairbanks. It went to college with my sister’s daughter in upstate New York. I think that’s where the body rusted so badly.

My sister brought the Montero to Isle au Haut probably about twelve years ago. Reggie Greenlaw floated it across from Stonington.

Tell us about your island vehicle. Send photos of you and your vehicle, and a description, to David Tyler, editor, Working Waterfront, P.O. Box 648, Rockland, ME 04841. Or send an e-mail to: dtyler@islandinstitute.org.