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Was this an
isolated incident or should I expect these odd occurrences on a regular
basis?
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Ned:
I put over 80,000 on my 64 BJ8 from 65 to 69 until it was stolen at USC.
It was my daily Calif. driver in the sun, rain and snow in both high school
and college.
Nothing ever went wrong with it except for a flat--in the garage.
But that was a new car. My current 67 BJ8 (build 66) is now coming up on
40yrs in November.
It is usual for cars this old (experienced) to begin to fail here and there
so we all carry lots of misc spare parts that might break, crack, split or
fling off the car. I wouldn't think of traveling without my cell phone. AAA
also has flatbeds. That said my Healey seems to be more reliable than my
friends' brand new BMW "I" drives.
When I first bought my current '67 in 2002, it stopped running twice on the
freeway(bad fuel), wouldn't start once (battery), three flats (bad
spokes)several bulbs gave up as well as the alternator. The throttle linkage
came loose on the FWY so that was another glide to the right shoulder.
Nothing expensive, just annoying.
Knock on wood, but the more I drive the less something fails. No problems
for the last 2,500 miles and 2 years. (Overdrive stopped working for one day
but came back). The best advice I can give is to have a good mechanic go
over the car every year, do plenty of walk-arounds and "pre-flights"
yourself and drive the car like you would a motocycle. IE no one sees you
and it's going to break down any second so where is your "out"? Do that and
breakdowns are just an annoying adventure that we get to talk about over a
beer at California Healey Week. Heck, CHW even gives an award to the car
that has the most mechanical problems getting there. That about sums it up.
Sincerely,
Ron Davies
67 BJ8
97 DB7
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