Get a "Beater B"! But then I'm prejudiced. I drove 2 B-GTs over a total of
13 winters. The only problem was the occasional freeze-up in -30 def F
blizzards. They are _not_ warm, at least until one has been driving for
some 20 minutes, and then not very warm on the highway. (I fondly?
remember leaving here for a Xmas vacation in Los Angeles. The temp was
-17 deg F. We had to have a blanket on our knees to keep warm for the
first 200 miles south of here.)
A few more reminiscences about winter-driving a B (Hit the delete key
NOW!) :-)
The leather seats in the earlier cars were so cold when one first sat in
them, it was like sitting on a board. They _did_ eventually warm up. The
later cars, of course, had vinyl seats. These were even worse! They were
cold and hard when one sat down, and still cold and hard when one
arrived at one's destination. (And unbearably hot in the summer!)
I always carried a set of booster cables in case I had left the lights
on, or it got too cold to start the car. When it was that cold, the
tranny oil was so thick, it was a real pull to go from 1st to 2nd. Even
the wheel bearing grease used to get really stiff.
Except for a couple of winters when I used studded snow tires (that B
would go _anywhere_), the best tires I ever had were the original Dunlop
SP 68s, 165 X 14. Great in snow, ice, water and on dry roads. On that trip
to Calif, we ran into a snow storm in Idaho on the way back. The only
thing that slowed us down was that Monida Pass in Northern Idaho was
closed. The air horns I had added earlier also filled with snow and would
only emit a feeble beep.
If you really want to have some fun, put all season radials on the front
and studded bias-ply tires on the rear. 4-wheel drifts around any corner.
:-) !Not for the faint of heart, or neophyte B driver, however!
Sorry if I rambled too much!
--
Shel Bercovich '74 B-GT "Come Ride \/
sbercovich@cbe.ab.ca with Us /\
Former Social Studies teacher in Banff / \
"Free at last, free at last...." National / \
Calgary, AB, Canada Park" / /\ \
On Fri, 10 Nov 1995, The Warped Goat wrote:
> I was thinking about buying a used car of some sort for use in the winter
>when
> my '68 MGB is safely tucked in the garage. This car would be for commuting
>to
> and from work and school, and should therefore be "reliable". Any ideas on
> such a car? Something slightly eccentric would be nice...
> Or do you scoff at my perception of an MG as unreliable, and therefore
> recommend a beater MG? :)
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