Yeah Michael,
But you're only saying that because your LBC is a '78 MG Midget, not a
SPITFIRE! All kidding aside, I pretty much agree with you, I think. Though
Spitfires have been proven to be quite reliable for their daily driving
owners IF they are in reasonably good shape to begin with and properly
maintained.
I simply wouldn't feel comfortable using my Spitfire as my only source of
transportation because that would mean I'd have to drive it a lot on the
freeways -- and in Southern California (Laura G's pending disagreement
notwithstanding) that WOULDN'T be my preference, considering the traffic and
much LARGER vehicles out there.
Still, I find myself tooling around locally in Mrs. Jones a lot more often
than I originally envisioned.
Interesting thread you've started here. It'll be interesting to see where
it goes from here.
Best wishes,
Jeff in San Diego
'67 RHD Spitfire Mk3 aka "Mrs. Jones"
'68 LHD Spitfire Mk3 frame-off resto project
Jeff's Classic '67 Spitfire Mk3 site & Vintage Spitfire Webring
http://www.ohms.com/spitfire/spitfire.shtml
home of the NEW Totally Triumph Auction
"By Triumph enthusiasts, for Triumph enthusiasts"
http://www.ohms.com/cgi-bin/TRauction.cgi
and..The Totally Triumph Garage forums -- moderated, focused, friendly!
http://www.ohms.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi
...plus a few other surprises!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
----- Original Message -----
From: "Graziano, Michael" <michael.graziano@csfb.com>
To: <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2001 10:55 AM
Subject: RE: Magic Cure In A Bottle
>
> As much as I love my LBC, I still shake my head when I hear of people
using
> these cars as their only vehicle. I would be a nervous wreck any time I
had
> to go somewhere if this was my only car. THey aren't exactly the most
> reliable cars on the planet....
>
> <grin>
>
> Mike
> '78 Midget
> '87 300ZX
> '96 Probe
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ken Strayhorn [mailto:ken@dukecomm.duke.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2001 1:28 PM
> To: spitfires@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: Magic Cure In A Bottle
>
>
>
> Dave, on Stop Leak:
>
> > I used a similar product on my first car (many years ago), a 76 Honda
> Civic.
> > I was getting white smoke from the tail pipe, and the car was already
> over
> > 10 years old and has rusted through floors. I put in a bottle of
> radiator
> > stop leak and it stop the coolant from getting into the combustion
> >chamber.
> > That lasted for about 2 years till the timming belt broke. My little
> Civic
> > was a great little car, I still miss it :(.
>
>
> Just the other day I was wondering: "It once seemed like every other car
> was a Civic, and now you hardly see them at all. Wonder where they
> all went?" They _were_ nice little cars.
>
> I used a bottle of Stop Leak on my '72 Spit once. Now that the gasps
> from the gallery have subsided, I'll explain - I was in the middle
> of nowhere headed north up through the rolling hills of the
> central NC/VA borderlands when I got a wiff of the unmistakable
> smell of hot coolant. Sure enough, when I checked there was a small
> hairline crack where the top pipe joins the radiator. I limped
> into a rural gas/bait/ammo store and the owner handed me a small
> bottle of copper-colored liquid with a lable that proclaimed it
> would "stop any leak in any car!"
>
> Now, I wondered if this would ruin anything, or - worse yet - plug
> up the heater element, something which had happened when I used
> a sealer on another car. I pondered my choices, which didn't
> seem very promising on a Friday night in rural Virginia. That,
> plus the fact that I was on the way to a hot date with a woman
> who was teaching for a year in an underserved community, made
> me dump the contents of the bottle in the radiator.
>
> Lo and behold, it worked. And it didn't plug up the heater
> radiator, either. It kept the crack closed for the remainder
> of the weekend and all the next week as well (the Spit was
> my only transportation at the time) until I had time to
> flush the system and take the radiator to a shop for a proper
> soldering job.
>
> I've kept a bottle in my emergency kit ever since.
>
> Ken Strayhorn
> Hillsborough NC
>
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