Hey Gang, Hey Laif-Man,
Well, I unlimbered the old Tiger yesterday for a few high speed runs up and
down the neighborhood streets... I can see right now I am going to have to fit
one of those ultrasonic whistles that is self powered at speed to scatter the
chickens a little more effectively. Take it from me, picking feathers out of
your eyebrows at 85 mph is not a sport for the frail of heart.
Speaking of the not-frail-at-heart reminds me that my bride of 32 years
finally got behind the wheel yesterday and ran up and down the road for a
while too... she had been refusing to drive it because as all Morganists know,
"only sissies drive sportscars with tops on." I think she liked the Tiger
pretty good but can't say for sure... the wrestling match to get the keys away
from her only went two out of three falls.
My good friends Jim the Crankster and David the Coxmeister came out to inspect
the Tiger for me yesterday morning. When they pulled Crankster's MGB up in
the driveway I was outside with the Tiger cleaning the wheels. Jim opened up
his trunk and extracted a hideous looking tester replete with hoses and
dials... he stuck one hose up onto the Tiger's tach and squeezed a little
"blood pressure bulb" while the Coxmeister studied the dial for readings.
After a brief discussion both technicians pronounced the tach clean of peanut
butter residue though, they tell me, the sniffer did detect faint traces of
grape jelly.
Yes, my friends had taken the trouble to unlimber the Crankster's custom made
Laif-Meter! (So LaifMan should be looking for a sizeable royalty check in the
mail.)
They also pronounced my ammeter DOA.
After me and the technicians ran down a few chickens and burros we unlimbered
the wire cutters and took off the hardtop. (Anybody know where I can get
proper mounting hardware?) Since we took the top off yesterday, today we get
snow. Yesterday it was shirt sleeves and top down motoring, today it is ice-
ball city. Go figger...
The big debate yesterday morning was about tires. The Tiger is currently
running two good Michelins and two not-so-good Pirellis, all big fat radials
of course. I will replace the tires in the next day or two and my thinking is
that I should go back to 6.00 X 13 bias ply (probably steel belted), as close
to what the car came stock with as possible. I will not race or autocross or
any of that stuff, I would like the handling to be as close as possible to
stock so don't particularly like the radials for a vintage car. Yes, I agree
that the radials look better. No, I do not agree that radials AUTOMATICALLY
improve handling. Anybody have any thoughts?
Another question is whether or not the slotted aluminum wheels are even
suitable for bias ply tires.
I also note that the trunk and door locks either are frozen or I do not have a
key. Did the Tiger use the same key for locks and ignition? Any suggestion
on freeing up frozen locks?
Snow is falling like crazy again and I gotta make the trek into town soon...
Gotta do Santa stuff and gotta find something to clean those aluminum wheels
better, gotta make 'em shine!
--Colin Cobb, Searching For Identical Snowflakes Outside Las Cruces, NM, USA
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