Roger Garnett says:
> acg@hermes.dlogics.com scribed:
> > Roland Dudley <cobra@cdc.hp.com> writes:
> > > So why does a car without door locks (or door handles for that m
atter)
> > > require 3 keys?
>
> > Stuff You Can Lock With a Key on Your LBC:
The real question, of course, is WHY would you lock anything on an LBC?
It always gives me a chuckle when I drive someone new to LBCs and, when
we park the Green Car, they invariably ask, out of habit no doubt, how
to lock the car. I just smile and they look across the open passenger
compartment, then realize how pointless it would be. If I'm really
feeling like a smartass, I'll say, "Close the door, then reach over and
push that little panel on the latch towards the rear of the car."
Late Sprites and Midgets, now, have a real test of intelligence,
persistence, and fingernail strength when it comes time to lock the
door (not to mention shoulder flexibility). I always loved the little
leftover-from-a-ratchet-wrench rotating button-thingie on the latch.
That's because I never used it... that thing ripped off nails faster,
surer, and closer to the quick than the worst Lift-a-Dot fasteners.
Then there's my friend Lance, a major stereo buff (who BTW looks
and sounds exactly like Ed on Northern Exposure, if you'd like to
visualize the following encounter). Lance and I took a ride in
The Green Car when our respective wives and kids were in the Biscuit
Tin of Steel one day.
Lance was quite impressed with the room in the B's kick panels as a
mounting point for good stereo speakers. He waxed quietly eloquent
for a few minutes on what kind of installation you could make in a
car with kick panels as spacious as those on the B.
"I can't imagine doing that, though," I said. "It'd be a lot simpler,
and you'd get exactly as much enjoyment out of the investment, to put
an equivalent amount of money in a large envelope, write CASH on it in
large day-glo letters, and leave it on a bus stop. Plus you wouldn't
have to repair the car after they pulled the stereo equipment out."
Of course, there's a gaping hole in the center console of my car where
the radio would be installed. I've got the radio blanking plate for it,
but right now my temporary oil-pressure gauge is using that space. I'll
have to do something permanent about it one of these days, but in the
meanwhile it's more eloquent than any "No radio" sign on the window
(which would be rolled down anyway).
Gee all this is pretty funny to me. My Bugeye has 8 (eight) keys.
The only place for a key is in the ignition [...]
Let's see, I'd guess that Roland's car has a locking trunk lid, and maybe
a glovebox. One of the irritating things about 1968-71 MGBs is that they
have no glovebox, just a pocket down by the passenger's feet (and I removed
that pocket because the carpet on it was shot, and I've never put it back).
I've got two keys, one longish double-sided one for the ignition (which is
on the steering wheel), and one short one for the doors and trunk. I think
I locked the trunk once to see if it would work, but I can't remember.
I guess that the previous owner (I'm the second) just liked to collect
little keys similar to the Bugeye key.
Maybe one day I'll look him up and go over to his house to see what other
cars he has......maybe one of the keys will fit.
I know Miq's heard this before, since we were talking about it just
the other day, but a friend of mine had an MGB several years ago, a
'68 or '69, from before they went to the steering interlock. He had
noticed how loose the ignition lock was on his car, so we spent about
half an hour going through keys to see what would start his car. He
had a huge keyring for some reason, and out of the 40 or 50 keys that
he'd accumulated over the years, we managed to find six or seven
that would start his car. One of them was the original key to my
Lotus-Cortina, which was so worn out that it fell out of the lock
occasionally while I was driving the car. I replaced the lock cylinder
and of course got a new key with it; I think *that* key started his
MG, too, come to think of it.
It became something of a joke with us... "Now let's see, which key do
I feel like using today? Ah, here's a nice one!"
--Scott
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