>It is, however, a well known fact that whenever potential customers wanted
to
>test drive both the Midget and the MGB, they were required to drive the
>Midget first for safety reasons. Drivers switching from the MGB to the
>Midget were wont to steer completely off the round due to the incredible
>responsiveness of the Midget. It was really only the people who drove both
>cars on the same day who were likely to comment that the MGB drove like a
>truck.
This brought back a scary memory from my very first LBC. A Sprite.. I can't
remember the year of the old girl but it was the first year AFTER the bugeye
('62?)
I was driving home one late evening in the late 60s (1967?) and doing
about 40 mph.. (or so..) I happened to be holding the steering wheel at
direct bottom as I leaned forward off the seat for some forgotten purpose
(probably trying to regain blood flow to my leg..) . The car swerved to the
right, and my shifting body weight (while holding the BOTTOM of the wheel)
enhanced an amazingly tight partial right turn across 2 lanes (luckily
empty).. Instantly my reaction was to yank the wheel to the left! This bit
of activity caused the lady to swerve back to the left and (again!) my
bodyweight overcorrected to the point of spinning across all 4 lanes of dry
highway (again..no oncoming traffic. God must protect us fools..) over a
curb, across a lawn, and hitting a tree...backwards.
Summary.. The tree was OK.. apparently the sliding/spinning scrubbed off
most of my velocity. The lawn was OK.. (someone mentioned it looked like I
was airborn from the curb to the tree..) The Spridget had a small
tree-shaped dent in the bumper. And I was one wiser 19 year old.
Oddly enough, although I drove away thinking there was unbelievably no
damage...both rear axles failed within the next 3 months... Although being a
LBC that didn't seem too unusual at the time ;-)
This whole thing transpired in mere seconds.. It was over before I knew it!
yes...the Sprite/Midget steering is tight....
Tony B. de N8CNO
'78 Spit
abauman@MSN.COM
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