"Why don't you park Thomas's car in our spare parking space, now that we have sold the Porsche?" asked H.I.'s daughter, knowing that the M.G. that he had driven all the way from Bremerhaven was a vulnerable soft-top which had been parked miles away on the fringes of civilisation, where the draconian parking restrictions imposed on the rest of the city had not yet reached. So we did.Then, that night, I got a call from her fiance saying that I had parked it in the wrong spot, and asking me to move it to the right one the following morning. So I did.
"Why don't you give me the keys to the M.G. and I'll move it the 15 feet when I go past in the morning? That way, you can spend the day doing what you like whilst I am at work." So he did.
"To unlock the door, it is one quarter turn to the left with this (holds it up) key, and this is the key (holds it up) for the ignition. You pull the choke out about this far (holds his fingers up) and press down with quite a lot of gas, then it should start quite easily." So I did.
How I hate M.G.s in particular, and vintage cars in general.
It did start quite easily, but I thought it sounded a bit rough. What he did not tell me (the most vital bit of information, as far as I am concerned) was that the ignition key did not always spring back from the start position unless you turned it back manually, and so it ran until it exploded, whereupon the engine sounded quite smooth again. I drove it to the right spot and switched off the engine.
It didn't start again until we (a mechanic and me) pushed it to bump-start, (I injured my leg quite badly during this manoeuvre) then drove it back to his workshop. It didn't start again after that until I had driven - in my car - up the M4 and M32 to Bristol, bought a new starter-motor, driven it back, and Thomas (shown in the act above) took the old one off and replaced it with the new one.
£120 later and the whole day wasted for three people, we were then able to drive it back into Bath, and he - 2 days later - drove it back to Bremerhaven.
How I hate M.G.s in particular and vintage cars in general.
I had a TR7, on which just about everything needed replacing.... but it did look very pretty.
ReplyDeleteI had an old Triumph Herald Coupe as my first motor which looked very retro in two-tone paint job, walnut dash and piped leather seats.
ReplyDeleteIt did get admiring looks from the opposite sex - the one good thing about vintage cars.
It sounded like John farting in unison with his pigs.
cars old...new.........shiny..........expensive......
ReplyDeletewhatever!
they bore me rigid...
Spoken like a Berlingo driver!
ReplyDeleteI dislike any kind of machinery that doesn't work.
ReplyDeleteeyyyyyyyeeeeee thank you!!!!
ReplyDeleteTrust the mere mention of old cars to get all the hetero old boys to start waxing lyrical - totally missed the point. I'm on Jacqueline and John's side with this one, but I wouldn't want to be stuck in a lay-by on a dark, wet night with either of them (that didn't sound too good, did it?)
ReplyDeleteWell you know I like vintage cars, but only if they start. I also know that most cars labeled "vintage" are really just shells with all new parts and sometimes interior. Kind of a bummer.
ReplyDeleteI must say that I have never quite seen the attraction either Tom - but then we all have our little idiosyncracies (even if we might spell them wrong.)
ReplyDeleteI like vintage cars too - but only if someone else starts them, and guarantees that they will get me from London to Brighton without the need for a back-up vehicle.
ReplyDeleteI suppose that I am glad that people tolerate me too, Weaver, but then again I do not give them a piggy-back to work every day, so they can afford to.