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If Austin Healeys could talk...

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H

homebeforedark

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...then I could ask: "Who did this to you?" I have been servicing,repairing,and restoring BMC automobiles from 1977 to the final day at the British Leyland/JRT Dealer and my own shop since then. One thing I have learned is never think you have seen it all. A few days ago , I was going to do a routine Tachometer removal from a BJ8 and reached around to remove the thumb screws and could not feel them or the studs. Someone glued the tach and the speedo in place with what looks like JB Weld. I had to unscrew the guts from the case to send out for repair. Amazing.

Alan T
 
I once had to do a rust repair job to a Healey chassis that consisted of first ripping out the duct-taped-on hammered-flat Italian cookie (biscuit) tins covered with undercoating that covered the holes!
 
AH100M said:
I once had to do a rust repair job to a Healey chassis that consisted of first ripping out the duct-taped-on hammered-flat Italian cookie (biscuit) tins covered with undercoating that covered the holes!
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I helped a guy do his floorboard that had roofing shingles on both sides(puts a whole new perspective of dealing with "shingles"...).
 
I remember back in the seventy's my crazy brother driving from Chicago to The Florida keys in his old white ford station wagon in the dead of winter without the heater working...so he placed a full size weber BBQ grill in the back of the station wagon lighted the coals and drove off with black smoke bellowing out the back window...I still have that image in my mind! He also could not afford a gallon of new anti freeze so he just added a jug of windshield washer fluid to the radiator. He made it in fine fashion. however, shortly after moving to the Florida Keys the police deemed his car to unsafe because of the overall bad condition of the car and made him take it off the road! According to my brother it ran perfectly!:eagerness:
 
drambuie said:
I remember back in the seventy's my crazy brother driving from Chicago to The Florida keys in his old white ford station wagon in the dead of winter without the heater working...so he placed a full size weber BBQ grill in the back of the station wagon lighted the coals and drove off with black smoke bellowing out the back window...I still have that image in my mind! He also could not afford a gallon of new anti freeze so he just added a jug of windshield washer fluid to the radiator. He made it in fine fashion. however, shortly after moving to the Florida Keys the police deemed his car to unsafe because of the overall bad condition of the car and made him take it off the road! According to my brother it ran perfectly!:eagerness:
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Could he have possibly been "dropped" at a young tender age? I do think the Grill is short of genius and this comes from exposure to severe Antarctic conditions.
 
Patrick67BJ8 said:
Could he have possibly been "dropped" at a young tender age? I do think the Grill is short of genius and this comes from exposure to severe Antarctic conditions.
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I also remember he said the BBQ grill would not only provide heat, but he planned on putting some meat on the grill at rest stops which in fact he did! It was only after arriving in the Florida keys did it dawn on him that the Fuel tank was under the BBQ Grill....but marveled how one bag of coal can go such a long way! I'm not joking...
 
drambuie said:
I also remember he said the BBQ grill would not only provide heat, but he planned on putting some meat on the grill at rest stops which in fact he did! It was only after arriving in the Florida keys did it dawn on him that the Fuel tank was under the BBQ Grill....but marveled how one bag of coal can go such a long way! I'm not joking...
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Was he ever a guest on Click & Clack? Sounds like he would fit right in!
 
We had a customer with an MGBGT that used a propane heater in the passenger seat for the winter months. That hardly measures up to a charcoal grill , though.
 
Not a Healey story but I was looking to buy a 1966 Porsche 911 in the late 70's when they were not worth much. Looked okay and was feeling pretty good about it until I went over a large speed bump and the entire floor pan moved/flexed with the speed bump. It was so rusty that I was afraid I might not get it back to the dealer's lot. Kind of like the Healey's that we have heard or seen that the chassis is so rusted that the whole thing bends in the middle when you open the doors.
 
A great quote from an older gentleman. "You just can't fix stupid" ..... But, I guess we all you done questionable things in the past.
 
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