Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 23:22:00 -0700
Reply-To: Ari Ollikainen <Ari@OLTECO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Ari Ollikainen <Ari@OLTECO.COM>
Subject: How MGs lead to VWs (was Re: VW Hats)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
At 9:09 PM 7/29/98, Austin wrote:
>Naawww - the SU's turned me into a simpering wimp;
>>
>>and at the time, it was a helluva lot "cooler" than those damned hot rods!
>>;)
>>
SUs required a fine touch and UniSyn to sychronize and balance.
The inept soon tired of playing with them and eventually beat on their
steed with the so-fine Wentworth tools (if they had any...others
just used adjustable wrenches and eventually rounded each bolt head
and nut...;-0).
>Sooo coool - really impressed the ladies with the 8" crescent wrench I kept
>handy for whacking the fuel pump when it decided to take a nap (located
>between the seats - in the cab, next to the battery!!!).
>
My father used to watch me diddle with my MG-TF's carbs and shake
his head as he climbed into his '59 SportFury with the two outboard
mounted 4barrel carbs at the ends of the crossed runners of the
Sonoramic Commando ram induction manifold. I was able to get high
12s at 94mph out of his car at the 'strip...;^) but I preferred
working on the '55TF that I restored from Garage Queen status to a
Concours winner.
The TF had languished for a year and a half in a garage up the alley
from us before I got up my courage to go and knock on their door
and ask when the owner would be back from his Army tour. As it turned
out, the owner had just been re-upped and been sent to Korea, his
sister had driven the TF while he was gone and ruined the
transmission...he had suggested that his sister pay a reasonable price
for the car and then could do anything she wished with the remains!
I spent some time soul searching and tallying my savings and money
I could make while working after school and on weekends, drove my
parents nuts begging for permission and made what seemed like an
outrageously low-ball offer that, shockingly, was instantly accepted!
I was now the proud owner (in the summer of 1959) of a 4 year old
British sports car with a broken transmission, badly faded paint
job, rotting tyres, rusted wire wheels, rusted chrome, and cracking
leather seats along with crazed and weathered plastic sidecurtains
and rear window in the top. I was later to find out about the Lucas
electrics...the dry differential, and the silly suspension system.
My project of restoration: rebuilding the transmission, new tires,
rebuilding the wire wheels and tuning them, de-rusting the chrome,
renewing the leather interior, repainting the entire vehicle and
handrubbing the seemingly infinite coats of black lacquer until
I could no longer move my arm was completed after two summers during
high school. I learned the secrets of the SUs and discovered that
Lucas, the Prince of Darkness, didn't like to go out of the garage on
a cold, damp night...which was okay by me since I could always find
something else to polish or clean or rub. Since I lived in
SantaMonica, the cold low overcast and sometime peasoup fogs were more
frequent than elsewhere in Southern California. I got to drive my
BlackBeauty finally during my senior year and could often be found at
SCCA races dreaming about winning...someday. I was approached at one
of these events when about to leave by a guy who offered to buy my car
on the spot! I turned him down...but took his number in a moment of
weakness and promised that I'd give him first right of refusal.
I yearned to travel and finally, as high school was about to end,
evolved a plan to take advantage of the Hollywood director's
seemingly insane offer. I sold him the TF and used the proceeds to
spend the end of summer in Europe doing a quick GrandTour of the great
cities of Europe in one of the first Tourist Delivery 1962 model year
VWs. Eventually, after driving north through Sweden to Finland to
visit with my relatives, I returned to Germany to ship the car back to
California where it served as my commute vehicle while I went to
school at UCLA.
This experience led to a long string of VWs and also 4 separate
European delivery experiences (all campers: '69, '71, '73, '85).
The director entered his newly acquired pristine 1955 MG-TF in a
Concours and won first prize in its class. I heard that he kept
winning and had some guy in his employ whose primary job was to
maintain his stable of collectors cars in competition condition.
He *never* drove my BlackBeauty!
>&, fwiw, 'it' *can* be done in an MGA - albeit on the passenger side!! btdt
>
Hmmm...I always thought that motorcycles were better all around
for the preliminaries...but the BSA650 and Triumph are other stories.
OLTECO Ari Ollikainen
P.O. BOX 3688 Networking Technology and Architecture
Stanford, CA Ari@OLTECO.com
94309-3688 415.517.3519
