Hi Paul,
I live in Los Angeles and last night I was watching a local news channel
covering the wildfires here and they cut to a shot of a house that had been
destroyed. The reporter's brief explanation was that not only the house was
gone but so was the detached four car garage that housed the owner's classic
car collection. There was a quick shot of the garage rubble and visible were
the burned shells of what looked like a cobra and next to it a Sunbeam of
some sort.
Also, this proves once and for all that it is possible to drive an old
convertible from the west coast to New York without a major break down:
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/latonyc.html
regards
Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Brownell" <>
To: <tigers@autox.team.net>
Subject: Hurricane Rita Finishes My Tiger
>I took my Tiger to a restoration shop last spring to get one of the rear
>leaf
> spring mounts redone. Al, the shop owner, does good work at a fair price,
> but
> he's old, tired, arthritic, and easily distracted by other jobs, so
> progess
> was slow.
>
> Along comes Rita, a category-5 monster hurricane bearing down on us from
> the
> Gulf of Mexico. Al doesn't want the potential liability of cars in his
> shop
> getting destroyed by the storm, so he finished my Tiger in a matter of
> hours.
>
> A major problem surfaced, however. After sitting for months, my rebuilt
> brake
> master cylinder needed pumping to work. We didn't see any brake fade, and
> all
> the air was out of the lines. I said I didn't mind pumping the brakes just
> to
> get home (it wouldn't be the first time!), but he didn't want that
> liability
> either.
>
> So I tried getting a new cylinder via overnight mail. Unfortunately, all
> deliveries were suspended due to the hurricane. The Tiger would have to
> ride
> out the storm at his shop. I didn't mind too much; the shop looked sturdy,
> and
> if I took the car home I'd have to banish my daily driver to the driveway
> where it would surely be pelted by pine cones, branches, hail, and other
> flying debris.
>
> At any rate, Rita decided to land many miles east of us. We didn't
> evacuate
> because we're pretty far inland and well out of range of a storm surge.
> I'm
> very glad I didn't try to evacuate and risk getting caught in massive
> gridlock
> and high temperatures while driving a Tiger with bad brakes!
>
> Three days later the master cylinder showed up, and my Tiger finally came
> home. It's too bad it took a major disaster for me to get my car back...
>
> Paul Brownell
> Houston, TX
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