Ummmm... Just out of curiosity, what is the altitude of Mount Washington?
Can't be much over 6000 feet. My house sits at 5000 feet and I have to
exceed 7000 feet just to have a chile relleno in Santa Fe. My Healey
performs well at this altitude and I've been near 12,000 feet in the Rockies
without any carburetor adjustment and experienced no ill effects except a
little bit of a rich mixture.
As for the brakes, try a little engine braking. No need to torture anything.
I don't worry much about straining my Healey. They are hell for stout.
The bumpy and dusty on the other hand I would probably shy away from. I
drove mine across Kebler pass (Paonia to Crested Butte, Colorado) after the
Glenwood rally last year and the 30 miles of dirt and washboards was just no
fun. The car shook so hard that it caused the rear brake adjusters to back
off. That panicked me for a while, but the car, although a quite dusty,
survived the trip impeccably.
When you have a Healey and a whole continent to knock around in (and
reasonably low fuel prices) you have to think big.
Can I get an amen from Michael Orrit? (Sorry if I misspelled that Mike.)
Bill Lawrence
On 2/2/05 12:53 PM, "Alex" <alexmm@adelphia.net> wrote:
> Thanks for your most cool message David. I'll have to look for that road next
> time I'm downeast here in Maine.
>
> As for Mount Washington, I prefer hiking it (by foot, natch), but the roads in
> its vicinity are excellent. I went up there last year for the Climb To The
> Clouds Centennial races and car show (http://www.climbtotheclouds.com/) and
> really enjoyed tooling around in my old BT7, hearkening back to the days when
> I did it in my BJ8 in the late 1960s and mid-1970s.
>
> To get up there, I took the nice hilly and windy Route-35 from Kennebunk (on
> the coast) to lake Sebago, and then North to Fryeburg (a straightaway for the
> most part), and then over to Rte.-16 into the White Mountain National Forest.
> The weather was superb, the views were great, and there was hardly anyone on
> the road (Sunday into Monday).
>
> Would love to hear from anyone who did the top on the old Auto Road.
> Personally, I wouldn't advise taking the road to the summit for any car. It
> just seems like it would be too bumpy, dusty, and stressful going up
> (especially as you ascend to higher altitudes where your carbs will get a lot
> less air), and torture to your brakes coming down. Just my opinion though.
>
> Man, I can hardly wait for Spring!
>
> Stay resonant.
>
> Regards, Alex in Maine
>
> 1960 BT7 3000 Mark 1 - "The Blue Mainie"
> Former owner of 1957 100-6, and 1967 3000 Mark III BJ8
> http://users.adelphia.net/~alexmm/ai2q.htm
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