Hi, listers;
Do these guys know us or what? In the Eastwood info on their new powder
coating system they warn " The HotCoat Powder Coating system should only be
used in a clean, dry, well ventilated work area. (Here comes the good part) An
oven or toaster oven which is used for preparing food or is located in the
living area of a house should not be used." :-) Reminds me of the time I
waiteduntil my mom was away for the day and I baked the high temp coating on
the exhaust manifold of my 1969 GT6+! That was a real feat because I had to
getthe %$#* thing off the car, paint it and bake it before she returned. The
next time she baked she complained to my dad that there was something wrong
with the oven because it smalled funny. Maybe she found out what happened and
put outthe word on the MOMNET which eventually reached Eastwood's
mom........therefore the notice in the Eastwood catalog.
I can't believe that they would actually suggest that grown men might attempt
such a thing! Humm, I wonder if the self-cleaning cycle would be hot enough to
do some heat treating?!!! Just kidding guys.....I'm still in trouble for using
infant washcloths that hadbeen sitting in the laundry for years to clean
gearbox parts :-( How was I supposed to know she was saving them in case her
sister had a baby?
Also, under the topic of idiots. When I was 16 I begged and pleaded until my
mom agreed that I could drive her 1963 Sprite the two blocks to school. I was
down in the garage trying to back out and couldn't see out the fogged rear
window. Opened the door to see, backed up and ran the door into the trash
cans!!! No paint damage but the sliding window assembly fell off the door and
madeone hell of a racket. Mom yelled "What's going on down there?" I picked up
the window, threw it in the passenger's seat and drove off before she could
investigate! Minor idiocy but I was just getting started.
Several years later. After a day long tour of New Jersey and Philadelphia I
and my recent bride were on our way home. Crossing the Walt Whitman bridge I
noticed a little miss as we came out of the toll booth but it cleared. At this
point I had two choices. #1- I could take the Schulykill Expressway and Pa
Turnpike to Reading (that's pronounced Redding not Reeding as any of the UK
listers would know) which was the most direct route....or #2- I could take the
twisty turny backroads. I picked #2 and as soon as I was committed to this
course it started to rain. Ahhh, the perfect scenario for LBC driving
adventures (or a Rocky Horror Picture Show) back country roads, rain and a
reliable (NOT) LBC. To make a long story short...the more it rained the more
the engine missed until it died. I lifted the bonnet and made like I could fix
it (heck, I could if I'd had a new distributor cap, points, wires and a rotor.
We tried push starting it but my bride couldn't grasp the intricacies of
letting out hte clutch to jump start it or pushing a GT in the rain. A
friendly policeman (they were in those days BF (before Radar) gave us a lift
to a gas station. The owner asked if he could help as we stood soaking wet and
shivering in the unheated office area. I reluctantly expalined what had
happened and then he asked "What kind of Triumph do you have?" I couldn't
believe my luck. here in the middle of nowhere was a compadre....a Triumph
enthusiast. I have been known to draw these kinds of exuberant
conclusions.....right before the light at the end of the tunnel turns into the
train that is about to flatten me!! In spite of my doubts he insisted that
there was a GT6 right across the street and that I could borrow the cap, etc
since the motor was burned out. It turned out to be a Spitfire...of course.
The end of this story has our hero calling his father at 1 AM, having him
bring the cap, rotor, wires, etc from mother's GT6+ and rescuing his stranded
son for the umpteenth time. (Oh, the stories I could tell about my adventures
in the Renault Dauphine, but I'll save that for the Dauphine list :-) To add
insult to injury my wife rode back with my dad in the comfy (and warm)
Lincoln. That's how I learned to carry a complete set of ignition components
from that point on.
Next installment: rebuilding a GT6+ in an unheate dgarage in February!
Memories !
Greg Wolf
1970 GT6+ "Ian"
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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