DANMAS@aol.com wrote:
>
> I'm in total agreement with you on this point. When I look back over some of
> my books from the '50s, I pee my pants in fear from how crudely engineered
> and constructed some of those early hot rods were. We've come a long way
> since then.
My best example of this occurred on the air base my father was stationed
at in the `60s. A couple of yahoo airmen had found a `38 Olds sedan
(yeah, one of those with a rear seat like a small living room and
couch...) and proceeded, in the base auto hobby shop, to install a `54
Caddy engine with six Strombergs. They must have gotten the right trans
adapter, because they were able to actually install the engine, but that
was about all there was right about it. After they had fired it up, but
had not yet installed the carb to pedal linkage, they couldn't wait to
drive it. Unbent a coathanger and threaded that through the hole in the
firewall, connected it to the main throttle stud on the carb linkage,
and took off. Apparently, when they got onto it, the engine lunged over
on torque (indifferent motor mounts, it seems), bent the coathanger
wire, which locked the throttles wide open....
Oh, yes, they didn't have the ignition wired up, either, and had
hot-wired it to get it going, so they couldn't shut the engine off with
the key.... Lost control, went down into and out of a culvert at an
estimated 110 mph, and, upside-down, clipped off a wooden utility pole
thirteen feet off the ground. Needless to say, both of them expired
along with their creation. If there'd been Darwin awards in 1963, they
would have been contenders....
Yup, Dan, enough to make you pee your pants... or worse.
Cheers.
--
Michael D. Porter
Roswell, NM (yes, _that_ Roswell)
[mailto:mporter@zianet.com]
`70 GT6+ (being refurbished, slowly)
`72 GT6 Mk. III (organ donor)
`72 GT6 Mk. III (daily driver)
`64 TR4 (awaiting intensive care)
`80 TR7 (3.8 liter Buick-powered)
`86 Nissan 300ZX (the minimal-maintenance road car)
`68 VW Type II Camper (Lancia twin-cam powered, but feeling its age....)
Remember: Math and alcohol do not mix... do not drink and derive.
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