Roland,
Why don't you call Rick McLeoud at Sunbeam Specialties
and ask if he knows anyone in your neighborhood who
specializes in that sort of thing. It's a common problem
for Tigers and late-model Alpines.
Ramon Spontelli
From rwg1@postoffice.mail.cornell.edu Tue Sep 11 11:40:07 2001
From: (Roger Garnett) rwg1@postoffice.mail.cornell.edu
To: (British Cars) british-cars@autox.team.net
Date: 9 Jun 93 15:52:14
Subject: A Saga of Victor(y)
A Saga of Victor(y)
It was a dark and stormy day. Saturday, that is. The wind blew hard, and
the rain pelted down on the roof of the shop, as I cut & bent, drilled &
tapped, then finally painted new corner brackets for Zach's windscreen. I
had to carefully drill and grind away the old screws with very small
bits, in order to remove the rusted remains of the old brackets, one of
which had recently parted the ways after enduring 59 years of MG scuttle
shake. Removing the glass revealed a rubber channel with about the
consistency and vigor of packed mud. Another item to added to the desired
parts list. Reassembly was a bit slow, as I also had to customize some
flat head screws to fit in the limited space available.
I held out hope that the weather would subside long enough to load the
assembled car on the open trailer that evening, to be parked in the
shop overnight in prospect of a clearer morn. The downpour had finally
diminished as I backed the trailer around and set up the ramps. My
hopes and person were both soon dampened, as I discovered a flat tyre
on the trailer, and it began to shower again. A little help from the
"hot wrench" and I was able to extricate the rusty lugs and remove the
wheel, and my old tyre stand helped make reasonable work of applying a
patch to the deflated inner tube. An hour later, the trailer was
together again, and ready to accept it's aged charge. Zach and I both
got quite soaked in the few minutes it took to load up and back into
the garage, and with the weather report calling for more of the same in
the morning, I began to ponder the thought of taking Tilly's nice, dry,
MGB-GT, rather than the completly topless PA Midget.
Morning came, fulfilling the forcast, but with a promise of clearing
by midday. So, despite lingering doubts, we loaded up the truck,
lashed a light tarp over the car, and headed out into the mist, to the
first public "car show" I've taken the Zach to in the 5 years I've
been his caretaker. About halfway into the hour-forty-five trip, the
clouds began to hint of clearing, and by the time we arrived at
Victor, the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and the birds were
singing... Tilly hurried off to sign up as a judge and register the
car, while Kim and I unloaded. We headed off to the show field,
already brimming with over a thousand gleaming cars, with my excited 4
year-old passenger at my left, telling everyone that she was going to
race with her dad! We found our spot next to George Haynes clean black
TC, the only other car in our class, which included all pre-war MG's
and TC's. As 3 cars were said to be required to make a class for
judging, I wouildn't have to worry about my cracking, chipped paint,
dusty chassis, oily engine, and other faults being an issue, so I did a
reasonable dry-down and polish up to make the car presentable, and
headed off to the flea market with Kim while Tilly went off to judge.
Finding no fleas of peticular interest, we headed back to the car and
had a snack while waiting to meet some folks and talking to many
others about it. This lead to meeting another owner of an MG PA, as
well as a J2, who had owned them since the 60's, and brought them with
him from Austrialia (but not to the show). That means I now have
another car within a reasonable drive I can visit to examine various
details on. Kim and I then circulated part of the show, while Tilly
ended up judging longer than expected, after getting assigned to
Cadillacs. Continuing with child in tow, I managed to see a good number
of interesting cars, including many, many LBC's, my first live
Amphicar, and a German Lloyd 600, a front wheel drive 2 cylinder 50's
econo box. There did seem to be more newer cars than in the past, and
an absence of some of the older cars, possibly due in part to the
early threat of poor weather.
During the course of the day, I managed to see the cars of, and meet
SOL'ers George Haynes (TC, MGA's); Al Costich (TR4A); Dan & Pat Golder
(Sprite, and very nice E-Type); and Bob Tufts (Lotus Esprit), who
could just about see his new house from the show. After watching about
half of the awards, and saying various farewells, we sputtered back to
the truck to load up for the ride home. Before we left, Kim got the
chance to examine in detail her favorite car of the show, "one of
those funny cars with the door in front", (an Isetta bubble car),
which pleased her to no end. The sun and breeze had held steady all
afternoon, Kim held out better than can be expected of one her age, and
all in all, it was a good show, and a good day.
But, that turned out not to be the end of the story. A slightly
sunburned Bob Tufts contacted me monday to say that just a bit after
we drove off the field, they announced my car as having won 1st in
class! As I put more effort into making my cars driveable (and then
driving them), than presentable, I've not entered many shows, and
certainly never won any show awards before, so this came as a pleasant
surprize. As they weren't sending out trophies, Bob graciously snagged
mine to send along himself (Thanks Bob).
________
/ _ \ Roger Garnett (Roger_Garnett@cornell.edu)
/ /|| \ \ Agricultural Economics |
| |\/ || _ | 3 Warren Hall | "The South Lansing Centre
| | || | | Cornell University | For Wayward Sports Cars"
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