[Healeys] driving Healeys in winter!

[Jackson Krall]

--- On Tue, 1/13/09, Randy Dickson <rdickson at midwestarchaeology.com> wrote:

> Are we all becoming soft here in our old age?  

Yeah Randy, while it's not difficult to understand the rational for Richards comment, I too drove my first Healeys all year round back in the 60's in Wisconsin. By the time I got my first, a $600 '58 100/6 in 1966 at age 16, my mom was a single parent and that Healey was our family car. By the time I was a senior in HS I had a '65 brg BJ8 that I used to ice race with the Madison Sports Car Club on a small frozen lake west of Madison. Early winter of '67 I was driving into a DIY car wash on S.Park st. when the overhead door fell and caught the top just above the windshield and ripped the top and frame clear off and nearly decapitated me. It took some time to get the situation straightened out with insurance co. and parts supplier but I continued to drive all winter long, sans top. I got plenty of comments from people on the street as I motored along("you crazy b@#*?rd!"). Another time, a year or two later, I was making a sharp right on a county road south
 of Madison during a snow storm when the left front shock came undone and I ended up in a snow bank on the other side of the road. At night I would throw a blanket over the engine and take the battery indoors and of course a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator was obligatory when driving in sub freezing weather, also don't forget to keep jumper cables in the boot! Ah, the good old days.
Speaking of that BJ8, I've been trying to find the vin for it. I know what the plate number was at the time but records have been purged at DMV. Just yesterday I contacted the the UW Credit Union where I had used the car as collateral on a loan I got in order to fix it after another accident, but to no avail as their records also purged. The lady I spoke to suggested I contact the insurance co. I had at the time. Not sure what co. it was, I decided to call Haggerty and pick their minds, only to find I was s**t out of luck. Their concierge, with total seriousness, suggested I try hypnosis, and I might just do that!   
All The Best
JK
NYC

--- On Tue, 1/13/09, Randy Dickson <rdickson at midwestarchaeology.com> wrote:

> Are we all becoming soft here in our old age?