Austin Healey in snowy Maine

[moremonkey]

Anyone know anything about a white Healey 100 with two big cool fog lights and no front bumper? Saw it today on a nasty cold snowy day near Wiscasset, Maine. First time in a long while I wasn't sorry to be driving something other than a Healey.

Jonathan

 

[HealeyRick]

Probably someone wanting to be first in line for a lobster roll at Red's.

 

[AN5Sprite]

That's insane. What the frost heaves could do to a 'hundred is unthinkable...

 

[moremonkey]

Frost heaves are bad news, so is the basting with salt and blasting with sand. The roads up here are treacherous for these little cars until things warm up, flatten out, and we get a couple good hard rains to wash the streets clean.

That white car has been spotted in lousy weather on other occasions, so it is clearly getting used. It's hard to fathom how uncomfortable and unpleasant it must have been to use these cars as daily drivers back when they were new and weren't fair-weather toys. Anyone who has driven with the top up and side curtains on in a rainstorm knows their protection is largely theoretical. The ones on my BN1 pretty much serve to channel all the water that hits the car right onto the driver's lap.

I had a TR-6 that need to be moved in from Boston to Maine one December. When it was finally parked for the rest of the winter, there was no way to hose it down, so in the spring the radiator disintegrated five miles into the first drive because the salt just ate it up. My kids complain because we don't have heated back seats in our daily drivers, and I know someone who almost didn't buy a new BMW because there was no steering wheel heat on the new model. (I used to think steering wheel heat was silly, but then I drove a car with it and was completely convinced of its necessity.) Despite all the progress and technological improvements, we do love these little machines.

-Jonathan

 

[HealeyRick]

Jonathan,

My first car in 1967 was a 59 Bugeye that I drove to high school through a Massachusetts winter. I guess it was well equipped for winter work since it had sliding plexiglass side curtains, a hardtop and snow tires. I used to keep a droplight under the bonnet at night to try to warm it up for the start in the morning, which still always took a few shots of starting fluid to coax it into life. Scraping the windshield was a necessity, because I couldn't count on the squirrel cage blower to have enough juice to defrost it . Once the car got up to temperature, which took forever, it actually got quite toasty. If it was snowing, the flakes would find a way to get between the side curtains and windscreen and land in my lap. And cleaning the windscreen on the fly was always an adventure with the hand operated windshield washer pump. After I got to school, I had to remember to take a can of spray deicer with me, otherwise I wasn't going to be able to open the sliding windows that had frozen up when I was in class. And since the only door handles were inside the car, if I couldn't get the windows open, I was walking home. I often think of these times when I try to decide whether the heated seats in our Outback should be set to high or low. Still, I also remember how much fun it was to pretend I was Paddy Hopkirk driving in the Monte Carlo while I was flinging the Bugeye through the snow-packed roads between the cranberry bogs.

 

[DrEntropy]

Nice, Rick! My first was a '66 MGB as a college freshman in '68. Western PA winters weren't much different than yours. The beastie served us well for over a decade and 250K miles. The road salt finally took its toll on the frame though. And some glorious road trips in the interim!

 

[judow]

Rick, thanks for the memories. I too lived in Massachusetts and did the side curtain thing, light on engine and when all else failed sprayed the starting fluid (I think it was pure ether). When it was really terrible, my brother-in-law would let me take his '56 Chevy station wagon with his go cart in the back and he would brave the ride in my Healey. As you say now the decision is shall I put the seat heaters just on my butt, my back or two and yes, what temp! I have been known to drive my Healey frequently in the winter, top down but only when the roads are dry and it's now below 45. I do have my priorities.