I had been looking forward to this thing since my first trip last year. What
a great event. The organizers even put a picture of a Morgan +4 on the front
page of the literature so I knew this would be a memorable day. I got out of
bed at 5.30am. My wife was in South Carolina and the dog was at the
neighbors so this was going to be a great weekend. The trip is about 160
miles for me from Cincinnati. 10 rolls of film and my 300mm lens would make
some great action shots not to mention being able to up close to such exotic
machinery.
Shrugging off any suggestion from the British car club about caravanning
(Real men drive Morgans) I set off alone.
Anyway 48 miles out I was cruising up Interstste 71 with the sun shining and
not a care in the world when I was jolted out of my euphoria by the loudest
bang I've heard in a long time. Assuming that the truck I had just passed
had blown a tire, I just carried on. (At this point you will realize that I
am a mechanically challenged novice when it comes to ancient British
machinery).
At this point the ammeter started to gyrate wildly so I thought perhaps that
the generator had fallen off or maybe even the battery (off that shelf
underneath the boot out of sight out of mind). This could well be another
separate incident to be reckoned with at some future time.
I paid no attention and dismissed the whole incident from my mind as being
of no importance. I was going to have a good day. After about another 20
miles I knew it was time for coffee so pulled off. Coming off the exit ramp
and putting my left foot down where the clutch used to be, I realized
something was wrong.
A very friendly passing motorist helped me push the car to the nearest
refuge, a truck stop.
My head is wider than the ground clearance on a Morgan so I couldn't get
underneath and didn't really know what was under there. The Walmart jack I
carry with me does not instill confidence to actually use it and certainly
not in an application like this. I always carry with me a Morgan Spares
catalogue with those splendid exploded diagrams and there right on page 25
was the clutch linkage. It didn't look too complicated but I couldn't get to
it. Even thought of taking the floorboards up. After eliminating all of the
immediate options (Yeah, I know a guy down the road who can fix your car) I
decided on the last resort.
A cell phone and a paid up AAA membership.
The guy showed up about an hour later with a flat bed. He knew that knock off
wheels would wind off if towed backwards - "I towed a Morgan only last week"
I also remembered that Fred Sisson told us never to tow a Morgan from the
front because it lifts half the Moss box internals above the oil level ( or
something like that) and preservation of Moss boxes is more important than
Stradivarius violins.
Anyway to cut a long story short the Morgan was back in My driveway five
hours after I had originally started.
Now, being able to get it up on stands (getting underneath still makes me
nervous) I realized that all that was needed was a grade 5 half inch bolt
which I got from the local hardware store together with a couple of lock
nuts. Whatever was there before has now gone so somebody tell me if I have
over simplified the remedy.
Look forwad to making it next year.
John Rogers (whose Morgan experiences are more perilous than day trading
internet stocks which I also enjoy)
|