The things we used to do...

Contributing to another thread the other day reminded me of the things we used to do to keep our our elderly cars running when MoTs were gentler and the world was a lot less serious.

Contributions please, and although not necessarily MG-related I'll start with...

When my MGA was just a cheap secondhand sportscar its dodgy SU petrol pump was kept going by leaping out at every other traffic light and whacking the wood bulkhead behind the driver's seat with the spare wheel bracket - which was kept handy in the cockpit. Never occurred to me that this was unusual.

Morris thread: My friend executed a very accomplished double-declutch gear change from third to second on his column change Morris Oxford and then handed me the gearlever in one smooth movement. I took it from him without a pause in our conversation...

Ford thread: Selector problems on a 105E Anglia didn't prevent some friends getting back to work from Dorset to London. Mate one steered and worked the clutch, mate two crouched in the foot well with the cover off the selectors armed with with a large screwdriver. 'Third!' yelled the man in charge of wheel and clutch, while the wizard with the screwdriver worked the selectors.

Over to you...

I drove a iveco turbo daily pickup.......the throttle linkages were in the drivers side wheelarch........after delivering a engine in luton i headed back home.....the throttle started to stick untill finally i came off the m1 at kegworth and as i got on the a50 the peddle went to the floor......the linkages were worn,rotten and had snaped off......not wanting to be stranded and in no breakdown recovery my mind started to wander............if it was a case of pulling on the linkages it would of been easy being on the drivers side......but they needed to be pulled from the front of the vehicle,away from the driver..........so off came my boot laces........tied to the linkage and up through the engine bay out of the grille....i then tied the laces to a bit of rope which went over the bonnet and to the passenger side window.....not long enough so this was then tied to a ratchet strap.........hey i could get throttle........it was full on with the pull of the rope and off when i let go.......not advised but to change gear i had to let go of the steering wheel with my right hand.....has my left was operating the throttle.....my right hand changing gear has i tried to reduce the revs with the left and correct the steering with my knee...........funny looking back...but a hideous repair :coat:

Mine involves a series 1 land rover. Whilst going on a fishing trip when I was 15 my 18 year old mate who was driving informed me that it was my turn to drive at which point he pulled the steering wheel from the column and past it to me. He sat there with his arms crossed as if this was normal. We were doing 40 plus mph and It scared the s++t out of me. I laugh about it now but then :nonod:


:beer: :beer: Steve

Caught out on xmas day back in 1986 when my throttle cable snapped on my well battered Spitfire. Had some bell wire in the boot, from a telephone installation I had done for a mate, hence a quick hook-up to the twin SU carbs and I had an instant hand throttle...got me home and fortunately as it was Christmas day, not much traffic on the roads.
Felt weird pulling a cable with my hand to make the car go faster!

Sundance

Having a good laugh at al these.
And after driving for 45 years, I have a few tales of my own.

First one I was thinking of adding to another thread but anyway...

Driving down an unlit country road around midnight, taking my girlfriend home, I hit a bump in the road and all electrics just failed, all lights, engine, the lot.

The sudden change in volume from the normally rackety 1956 Standard 10 with rock music playing loudly on the cassette player, to the simple sound of the wind whistling gently passed as we hurtled along at 50 mph in total darkness allowed me to clearly hear the sharp intake of breath from the direction of the passenger seat.

Luckily I knew the road and was aware that we were approaching a largish area of grass on the left I steered slightly left and felt the bump as the nearside went over the kerb and gently applied the brakes without saying a word until we stopped moving. Feigning 'king of cool' I just said, 'that was fun!' Luckily my girlfriend didn't appear to hear the shaking in my voice!
I gained massive kudos from the incident as my girlfriend repeatedly told friends how cool and composed I had been saving her life!

In that car all the live cables were held into the back of the ignition with a simple brass grub screw (A bit like a standard 240v plug) It had worked loose and the bump had shaken the wires free! Incidentally that car had a separate ignition switch and a pull starter!

Another tale tomorrow...

In the early 80s my car of the day was a escort mk2.......one friday night my girlfriend rang to say she wanted to go out.........within 1 hour i was driving down her narrow street.........i could see her fathers blue austin princess parked on there drive......i was a bit of a racer in those days.....wasnt everyone ?...........anyway as i aproached i thought it would be cool to speed down the street and arrive with a lombard rac style of driving technique ....silly now but when your 18 this type of thing is normal behaviour.......i swerved into the drive and misjudged the distance and hit her fathers car......shocked with disbelief i went to knock on the door to tell of my sins..........then a eureka moment came and i decided to drive away.......i started my car and selected reverse.....i then released the clutch and my car just stalled..........i was hooked by my bumper to his ruddy towbar..........3000 revs and another release of my clutch ripped my bumper clean off....i shoved the bumper in the back and drove home hoping i hadnt been seen..........my stomach wrenched with gilt i phoned my girlfriend to say i couldnt make it has i needed to repair my car and i would see her tomorrow.................dont bother she said .......dads giong to kill you.....hes seen you drive into his car and drive away......goodbye.. :spank:

My first car was a Moggy Minor - one of the early one piece windscreen models. My mate & I were setting off to the coast first thing in the morning - a bigger event than now, no motorways! Car packed the night before, out @ 7.00am only to find the full exhaust system sitting on the ground! No problem, several bits of wire later we were off! The downpipe almost touched the manifold, near enough for us - sounded like a tractor, nearly choked us to death but went like a train - happy days!! :hgf:

Great stories folks!
I only had a suddenly complete failing ignition in a citroen ax when driving far left on a busy 3 lane highway (fast lane in holland)...had to let pass 2 lorries when rolling to the right side of the road..

The lock on the fuel cap seized in Nice, a squirt of sun tan oil on the key and in the lock resolved the problem.

Silver paper from a fag packet across the fuse terminals was always a favourite.

COMMANDER wrote: Silver paper from a fag packet across the fuse terminals was always a favourite.

Made me laugh that one..ive just had a look at a 110v transformer for someone...checked the fuse first...it had some m6 brass rod for a fuse :bat:

:omg: At least the silver paper trick still would act like fuse and blow if too much current went through it!