Because I like to travel on Healey trips with my wife, and that mean one more
standard-sized suitcase in order to keep everyone happy, but I don't like the
looks of the factory luggage rack as it is normally mounted (bed of rack
parallel with the ground, brackets resting on the bumper, and bracket fasteners
screwed to the trunk lid), I came up with a solution:
Take the normal factory-style luggage rack, as sold by Moss. Fasten it on to
the hinges, using the bolts which fit through the hinges in place of the hinge
pins. Put the little hinge pins in a small plastic bag in your hand-tool kit
which you keep in your driver-side door pocket.
Reverse the legs so that they go down and then bend outward to the rear,
instead of going out to the rear and then down.
You will discover that the legs will fit into the rear overriders, with their
rubber feet resting against the inside of the overriders. The bed of the
luggage rack will be slanted back, roughly parallel with the deck lid.
Use a bungee cord to hold the luggage rack securely in place, running the
bungee cord from the center of the rear of the luggage rack and hooking the two
hooks under the bottom of the rar bumper.
Now, pack your trunk, fasten the luggage rack down, and fasten your suitcase
to the luggage rack. You're ready to go.
When you need to get into the trunk, you will need to unfasten the bungee
cord and lift up the luggage rack to open the trunk, but this isn't difficult.
Normally, you don't need to get into the trunk until the end of the day, when
you have the suitcase off the rack, anyhow.
When you don't need the luggage rack, or want to remove it for the show,
simply slide out the bolts at the hinges, put the hinge pins back in, and put
away
the luggage rack. That takes approximately five minutes. When you're ready to
get back on the road, reverse the process; that also takes approximately five
minutes.
And, bottom line, no drilling, the luggage rack is not permanently in place,
but when you need the extra luggage space, you'll be all set.
Buy the luggage rack, try it out, and this will all become very clear.
Cheers
gary
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