For the past ten days the snake has been up on jack-stands, minus it's
wheels. By now the wheels should be soaking away in British Wire
Wheel's hot tank or perhaps on one of their jigs being trued, de-dinged
and whatever else needs doing. I followed the advice of one of you
(sorry, forgotten who) to have new tires delivered directly to BWW
instead of to me. I'm am now an "official" member of TEAM COMP T/A (or
will be when I receive my membership packet and sign the enclosed
waiver- whatever that's for, liability, I suppose). As
several of you pointed out, it was as simple as a toll-free phone call.
When I dropped the wheels off at O'Connor Classics I specifically
requested that they be ready in time for the ALL British Car Show in Palo
Alto Next month. I was assured that there was time to spare. We shall
see. Even if they are ready in time I'm not sure the snake will be up to
even the relatively short drive to Palo Alto. For one thing, the gas
tank is full of scum and rust and I won't have time before the 13th to
pull it and have it boiled out. Maybe I'll follow TeriAnn's advice and
carry a bunch of filters and hope the car doesn't decide to die somewhere
inconvenient. Besides the dirty gas tank, there's the non functioning
temperature gauge. I have no idea whether the engine runs at a normal
temperature or not. A wiring diagram would make tracking down this and
a couple of other electrical problems a lot easier. Finally there is
how embarrassingly awful my snake looks.
At the last minute I decided spend Saturday at Monterey. The Shelby Club
was out of tickets but I did manage to get a pass for the Shelby Club
parking corral near turn five. I was hoping to meet a few SOLers but
the crowd was so big I missed everyone. The Club corral was supposed to
be next Triumph Travelers' but I got there a little late and had to park
a few rows away, next to the MG area. I did see lots of Triumphs but not
many people. Most everyone was off somewhere else so I just looked at
cars for awhile. While I was looking over a nice red MGTD the owner and
his son came over to chat. They were from southern Cal and had spent the
last 6 years restoring the car. The trip to Monterey was the shakedown
run for the car. I'd probably still be talking to them if I hadn't told
them I needed to go to my car for something. They were justifiably
proud of their work. As a former owner of a red TD, I really didn't
mind being a captive audience for a while. BTW, they also complained
about the quality of the the rubber steering boots that Moss sells. The
one they bought sat in the box for a couple of years and had already
rotted by the time they were ready to install it.
Besides the TD I saw an exceptionally nice TC. In fact, it was the very
one pictured at the middle of the center page of the Oct '92 issue of
BRITISH CAR magazine. The picture doesn't really do it justice. When I
spotted the car, the owners were just unloading their supplies from a nifty
chrome luggage carrier that was folded down at the back of the car.
I was hoping to take some macro close-up pictures of the details on some
Cobras but the only club member there with a snake was Mike Tangney.
He drove his red Mark I down from Santa Clara. I did take a couple of
shots of his car and was able to talk to Mike for a bit. I was happy
learn that he can get me an Otter switch and a couple of other items
I've been keeping an eye out for. I forgot to ask him about a wiring
diagram. I ask when I order the switch.
Roland Dudley
cobra@hpcdcsn.cdc.hp.com
CSX2282
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