Ah…the bug eyed Sprite. had one follow me at speed very late one wet night…sitting right on my tail…I knew the road well with a nasty S bend coming up…I was driving a Triumph 1500 front wheeler (not the best of cars!) but when it hugged around the first bend…the bug missed it and vanished across the road thro the hedge into a field…Pleased me no end!
(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
Greg Elmassian said:
You mean non synchro tranny, right? My Mini Coopers all had non-synchro 1st gear. It was nasty getting back into first while you were rolling… gives the term “crashbox” meaning…
Greg
Yes Greg, that is what I was supposed to type but my fingers got it wrong. I’ll have to have a talk with them! I used different fingers this time and corrected it so it reads correctly now.(https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
My MGA is non synchro in first and second. I have to double clutch going from third to second. I get expensive noises if I try to access first while rolling.
The A has a crank, carried behind the seat next to the two 6 volt batteries hooked in series. It is for use when the Lucas starter motor goes on vacation. It connects to the crankshaft through a hole in the front bumper.
Like I said, it’s not reliable transportation, it’s a hobby. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
My Riley also had a crank. I guess I was a weak kid back then because I could not even crank it once! (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)
Nice one Rooster!
Hilarious, Roos.
Why do the Brits drink warm beer?
Lucas makes their refrigerators.
Joe Zullo said:
My Riley also had a crank. I guess I was a weak kid back then because I could not even crank it once! (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)
Our 1962 Peugeot 404 had a crank and the only way I could turn the motor was to stand on the crank and bounce.
Went through the bumper …
This thread is on an interesting and unexpected path. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)I am enjoying y’all’s accounts here; whole bunch of stuff I didn’t know about.
Steve Featherkile said:
Hilarious, Roos.
Why do the Brits drink warm beer?
Lucas makes their refrigerators.
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Thats a 1943 joke!..you need to try the Real Ale Steve …knocks your socks off!!
Forrest Scott Wood said:
This thread is on an interesting and unexpected path. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)I am enjoying y’all’s accounts here; whole bunch of stuff I didn’t know about.
Wait till these guys get into piranha ignition as I feel it’s coming
OK. I’ll bite!
Greg Elmassian said:
OK. I’ll bite!
Good one! (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
we does our best Joe! Time for some humor!
Greg
Steve Featherkile said:
My MGA is non synchro in first and second. I have to double clutch going from third to second. I get expensive noises if I try to access first while rolling.
The A has a crank, carried behind the seat next to the two 6 volt batteries hooked in series. It is for use when the Lucas starter motor goes on vacation. It connects to the crankshaft through a hole in the front bumper.
Like I said, it’s not reliable transportation, it’s a hobby. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
A, what nostalgia. I had a 1959 MGA 1500. I think only 1st gear was unsynchronized on BMC cars, but the 2nd gear syncro tended to wear so you might not have noticed it.
One day it wouldn’t move off at a traffic light - turned out one of the 6V batteries had dropped out of the carrier behind the seat and was firmly lodged under the axle. Still connected.
I ‘fixed’ my fuel pump, but didn’t get the gap right so it stopped occasionally. When driving up to the Smoke (London) on the motorway I used to keep a small transistor radio on a dead station, so I could hear the pump ticking. When it stopped, you had about 15 seconds before the fuel ran out in the engine. So you reached behind the seat and tapped it. . .
It also started smouldering one day, and it wasn’t the wiring. We were driving to Bristol in the rain, and started to notice smoke. I felt around under/behind the dash but no hot wires. Finally, I stopped and the wife got out (in the rain) as the smoke was coming from under her seat. Lifted the cushion, and there was a 2" hole in the plywood floor, smouldering nicely around the edges. In the rain. So I wet a rag and put it out.
Turned out I had replaced the engine mounts, which lifted the exhaust system on that side of the car, which had been fitted/aligned when the engine was sagging on the duff engine mounts. Now it was too close to the floor.
When we got to Bristol, her Dad said ‘What can I get you’, and wife says “Brandy”. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)
Now, let me tell you about my Sunbeam Talbot, or the Lotus Elan . . .
I have a similar story.
In my wild youth, I had both an afro hair do and a mini cooper.
The person I bought it from was restoring it, but had the wild idea to remove the external seams between body panels that stuck out perpendicular to the body. Removing them made it look really nice.
But the seam between the roof and the the rest of the body is also the rain gutter.
I was replacing the weatherstripping, and of course it needed to come from england, and of course it would take 6 months.
So my friends and I were out driving in the rain, and the water came down the roof and right inside the car, unimpeded by any silly rain gutter or weatherstripping.
Now the carpets were soaked… but a Mini is a pretty compact car, so the exhaust pipe runs in a narrow central tunnel, and it was heating the floor… enough to create steam/fog inside the car.
So the cop sees a strange little car driving down the street, with what looks like a solid block of smoke inside, and it’s got 4 long haired hippies inside.
He was very perplexed when we all seemed normal (except for the hair), and I had to have him stick his head inside to see the steam rising from the carpet… he thought he had a drug bust and all it was was a steamy microclimate in a tiny car.
Greg
That’s funny!
Poor Cop, cheated out of a bust; but, hey, at least he had a story to tell over coffee at the doughnut shop.
Though neither electrical nor mechanical just remembered a MG sports car story from when Dad was n the Navy in 1970s. On some base here in the lower 48 one of the guys’ wives got in trouble for just keeping on going for quite a while when Shore Patrol went to pull her for I don’t remember what.
Turned out the truck was following her at a distance which allowed neither the MG’s mirrors nor rear window a line of sight to bubble gum light on the pickup’s roof.
Now, if I have the following part correct here after multiple decades,
When asked why even without seeing the light she didn’t pull over to see why she was being followed her logic was, On a major Navy base what is unusual about a haze grey truck happening to be going the same way you are?
They couldn’t argue with that logic! (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
While we’re at it… 1967; St. George, Utah at a Chrysler dealer because we were in tandem; the Peugeot 404 doing poorly trying to keep up with Detroit muscle. At the new altitude, the mechanic decided it was the plugs, but he’d never seen them go through the top of the head before. Being the youngest, they kept me out of the loop. About the time the poor mechanic had fashioned a thin wall socket, I was told what our wait was about. I went to the trunk and pulled out the wrench supplied with the car. Quickly my Dad put it back and told me to keep quiet!
Our hero was allowed to bask in his glory as he got us running with new plugs … 2+ hours later.
Fun car
Yep, can see why your Dad did that - an act of wisdom.
