Now that I have your attention, get your minds out of the gutter for a minute and answer the following question! This is inspired by Jon AKA sloromon and his recent "oops"! When was the first time that you twisted off a bolt? Mine was in 1967, at the tender age of 13. I spent the summer with my grandparents and worked at my grandfather's Gulf Station/garage. All summer long, my job was to pump gas, check the oil, clean the windshield, etc for $3 worth of gas! Then I got to do the oil changes, fix flats, and install exhaust systems. Pretty much grunt work. One day, my grandfather had a job checking out why a '56 Chevy station wagon kept eating batteries. Diagnosis: Bad generator. My grandfather's arthritis was hurting him too much that day to get on it and I volunteered to do it. After much debate, I won! (First and only time by the way). So I take the old generator off, clean off a few things and put the new gen on. Remember now, that '56 Chevy 265 V8's had the generator bracket as an intregal part the the exhaust manifold. Yeah, you guessed it! I twisted off one of two bolts that held the brackett on to the exhaust manifold. PANIC!! Danger, danger, Will Robinson! A 6 1/2 oz Coke later (with peanuts in it by the way), I got his drill, and his "EZ out", and backed that SOB out and almost got away with it, but I forgot to put the "EZ out" and drill back up before he came back from lunch. Darn the luck! Anyway, that's my story! Hope to hear some more!
A strapping 13 year old, ehh? Heck, if my daughter did that and knew enough about using EZ outs, the first thing I'd do is call my dad and then my brothers, and brag about my daughter! Or would I post it here FIRST, and then call my folks?! hmmmmmm.... Anyway, with my guns, I break bolts just by lookin' at'em!
yup, this was my first time. as you all know, i'm the guy who took computer class instead of auto shop in high school. i'm learning the hard way, but thanks to you guys, it's not so bad!! and at least i have the desire to get in there and learn it, huh? i don't think there's too many of us youngsters (family and friends of forum members excluded) that really want to learn this stuff. jon
I Dunno ...But it would have been in the early 1960's for certain . You brought back many wonderful meories of filling up 1929 Model 'A' F**ds for little old ladies and checking the oil in pre-war Caddilacs etc. in the gas station as a yoot....
Remember this? Late '60's. Gulf Oil Corp had a slogan "Our servicemen will greet you within 10 Seconds" and each dealer had to have this little guy with "running" legs displayed in the window. When the car run over the "ding, ding" hose, you ran over yourself to get there or get cursed out! I miss those days!
It was 1798 when we were building tower bridge in london, forgot how strong i was and just snapped that 3inch dia bolt clean off, didn't have ez outs then so just had to do it the old way, with my teeth! ________ Pop stocks
1972 17 years old with a Austin A35, bleed nipple on the slave cylinder yes slave clyinder it was in the middle of the car then converted to rod to the rear, useless brakes never worked, had to make a trip to the scrap yard for a new one to poor to by new in those days. Two people sitting side by touched shoulders with other and the doors as well. Small car with a whopping 55 cubic inch engine (down hill with the wind behind you might get 70 flat out) me and my girlfriend (wife now) loved it though. She still hates bleeding brakes
Speaking Of AUSTINS.... Last saturday I went to the Austin Bantam Club meeting , drive & picnic ~ there were several American Austin Bantams there ~ like the Chummy but smaller - only two people could fit and NOT fat ones ! . My buddy drove his 1932 Bantam Roadster , I'm allowed to work on it but I only get rides occasionally I'm a BIG fan of Austin A-55's..... (yes , I know I'm crazy)
A30 and A 35 can be really sorted with mg midget running gear, done it myself many years ago, turns it into a real pocket rocket, used to love sitting behind and waving at guys in lotus cortinas and jaguars in their rear view mirror as they floored it away from lights then out braking them and flying past at the first bend, handle like a go cart, soooo much fun, no good for dating tho lol ________ Thc
Uh , You might be surprised Neil ; I cannot go into detail on this public forum but I used to work a convertible pretty hard in the dating scene..... yes , it's snug in there untill you flop the top
I could be wrong but i dont think a rag top A35 was ever made, and believe me when i tell you, at 6ft2inch squeezed in one of those with a fine looking gal, you got to know her pretty quick but you couldnt........ahem! express you feelings for her shal we say, not unless you wanted the fire brigade to come and cut the roof off to get you out when your back snaps! if any of you guys havnt seen an Austin A35 before look some pics up on the net and try and find one with someone standing next to it to get a perspective of size, I used to own a 68?69? F*rd galaxy 500 4door and i swear if you laid the A35 on its side it would fit in the trunk ________ IOLITE VAPORIZER REVIEW
I have never seen a soft top A30/A35, perhaps it was made for the American market as a large persons motorised transport take the seats out put one large one in the middle and away you go http://www.gbclassiccars.co.uk/austin_a35.html
Heck- it sounds like anyone adept with a can opener could make a convertible out of one of these! That is, if you can find brit's trunk keys! brit~ you had a *&%# 5oo? You really DO need to hitch on over here to stay, yaknow?
Isn't She Lovely...... THANK YOU for that link ! I've never seen a two door A-35 . I know where TWO four doors are just sitting in the desert , waiting for me to come rescue them . It seems to me , an Austin 1500 with dual carbies should fit right in there , add an MGB G'box with Laycock overdrive and you'd have a 70 MPH screamer good for touring the U.S. of A. in...... You're right about the close confines but if you'd ever seen my psycho-b*tch ex girlfreind you'd understand , when she wanted to get " freindly " I said YES DEAR ! immediately no matter where we were at.... -Nate
Amazin the things you forget when you get older, i had a nicely sorted A35 and very soon after a 2 door A30 came along, nice original car an my mother fell in love with it, so i sold the number plate off of it for a real nice sum and gave it to her, she loved buzzing around town in it, a year or two later a guy came up to me at work and said 'fella, your ma's been in a car crash, hit a horse aparently' oh my god, i thought, i hope it was a pony not a horse! those old austins were so small that if you had a bad crash in one they didnt bother with a coffin, you were wrapped up in a tiny box anyway so they just stuck you in the ground in it! so i shot off to where the cops told me she had had the accident and hell, she had hit a big sucker at 55-60mph! almost t-boned it, just saw it at last second and started to turn, prolly saved her life those few degrees of turn. If you saw the car you would be amazed she stepped outta it, just bumps and bruises, big ones, but no broken bones, mind you she was a solid woman at the time my mother. I was 6,2 an about 240lbs an she used to scare the beejeebers outta me when she got angry anyway the car had the bell housing between the front seats and the engine under the dash, the prop was bent in two and one door window frame stuck out 2ft from the body even though the door was undamaged and the other frame on the other side was touching the headliner near the middle of the car! the body was that twisted. The fool who owned the horse had left the gate to the field open when he tried to get it in a horsebox and it bolted onto the main road just as she was passing, i got there just after the vet had put the horse down cos its back leg was busted and this fool came up all angry and got in my face about who was going to pay for his horse, my mum just took a swing and knocked the guy clean out and me and the cops just stood there open jawed! mum just said 'sod the horse, that was one of the best cars ive ever owned' ________ Shemale Thai
Awesome story, Brit! The only thing I can add is: I'm glad your mum and my mom live across the pond from one another. Mine is 76 and still scares the crap out of me. If you don't believe me, just ask Kevin!
