Well, Having finished the Herald officially Friday, with the final touches
on the convertible hood being in place, I took the little car for its first 100
mile + road trip. Itinerary was Medford, NJ via main roads and highways to
Baltimore, MD, then down to Mitchelville, MD(outside of DC) and back- staying
overnight at my friends in Baltimore to help with their 1948 Frances Barnett
"Merlin 51" motorcycle.(Side note- from a box of parts to what now looks like a
M.C. Wish I could get the thing to do more than the occasional pop...lol) The
following day Baltimore to Medford- total mileage of about 365 miles.
The majority of the trip was Rt I-95(Interstate Highway- this is a 4 or more
lane divided , limited access highway) Average speed was really unknown, (I
have a suspect speedo- but may be the cable is also in need of replacement) but
I had the needle pegged(over 90) at times- usually running 4,000 RPM in 4th
gear. She was probably above 70 for most of the trip. She handled and ran like
a new little sports car. I had plenty of power for traveling, and passing, as
well as no noticeable hill problems. She just purred along the whole time!
I had one small heart thump coming back, when I felt a little loss of power,
and noticed oil smoke at the back of the car... Turned out to be two separate
insignifigancies: The loss of power was my fault- I relaxed a little too much
on the pedal without realizing. (I was driving very late at night) And the oil
smoke- oil sucking out of the dipstick hole in the block- I have never found a
decent seal setup for it. I will probably adapt something in there raising the
hold with an extension tube, I imagine... The oil was naturally hitting the
exhaust pipe- you get the picture.
Anyway, the purpose of such a fun ride was to show one of the previous owners
the car- And she loved it. She and her late husband had owned 4 Heralds at one
time, and she still has one- her daughter has the 13/60, and my friend got the
one I now have, and another, which as been sold. The trip was well worth it to
see the look on Rosemary's face, and listen to her talk about the car. She was
quite happy.
I drove down on Saturday, with overcast clouds- and waiting for rain. So the
top was up, and windows shut. I discovered that is a very noisy little car. I
think I will add some extra sound insulation... I drove(with my friend) to DC
with the top down, as the sky had cleared a bit. On the way back, sunshine out
the wazoo... And top down... The ride home, between 10PM and 1AM was top down,
starry last quarter moon night, and a bit nippy... But I drove the 100+ miles
with the top down!(And the heater full tilt...lol)
I am very happy with the performance- much more than I'd thought. The fuel
economy is not where I'd like it- but that is probably my driving habits, and
the dual SU HS2's ala Spitfire Mk2. If anyone has any idea, I'd love to know
about my engine performance based on the construction: It is a 12/50 engine and
head, which has the large valves, and the spitfire 2 camshaft(as I understand
it) with the 2 HS2's, which would normally have had small valves... I think
this is a rocket car- as it hauls out!
Scott
Now more impressed with the car, and happy...
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