I took my Tiger to a restoration shop last spring to get one of the rear leaf
spring mounts redone. Al, the shop owner, does good work at a fair price, but
he's old, tired, arthritic, and easily distracted by other jobs, so progess
was slow.
Along comes Rita, a category-5 monster hurricane bearing down on us from the
Gulf of Mexico. Al doesn't want the potential liability of cars in his shop
getting destroyed by the storm, so he finished my Tiger in a matter of hours.
A major problem surfaced, however. After sitting for months, my rebuilt brake
master cylinder needed pumping to work. We didn't see any brake fade, and all
the air was out of the lines. I said I didn't mind pumping the brakes just to
get home (it wouldn't be the first time!), but he didn't want that liability
either.
So I tried getting a new cylinder via overnight mail. Unfortunately, all
deliveries were suspended due to the hurricane. The Tiger would have to ride
out the storm at his shop. I didn't mind too much; the shop looked sturdy, and
if I took the car home I'd have to banish my daily driver to the driveway
where it would surely be pelted by pine cones, branches, hail, and other
flying debris.
At any rate, Rita decided to land many miles east of us. We didn't evacuate
because we're pretty far inland and well out of range of a storm surge. I'm
very glad I didn't try to evacuate and risk getting caught in massive gridlock
and high temperatures while driving a Tiger with bad brakes!
Three days later the master cylinder showed up, and my Tiger finally came
home. It's too bad it took a major disaster for me to get my car back...
Paul Brownell
Houston, TX
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