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To Spare or not to Spare

To: mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: To Spare or not to Spare
From: Florrie & Allen Bachelder <bachldrs@swva.net>
Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 08:39:19 -0400
Jim -

Braving the blacktop without a spare in an LBC is tempting fate, IMHO.
Once those tires are installed on an LBC... well we all know what anything
on a British car does.  Your car HAS to leak something.  If you must travel
without a spare, at least leave some leak unrepaired so the Distinctive
Malady does not migrate to a tire.

My solution?  Besides a spare fan belt, spare radiator, fuel, and heater
hoses, spare heater control valve, ignition coil, distributor, water pump,
u-joint, wheel bearing..., I carry a Saab space-saver spare in my
disc-wheeled '73.  Since I use only a single 12-volt battery, I have one of
those plastic battery bins carrying a lot of the spare stuff and TOOLS.
Some other spare stuff nestles under... (where else...?) the spare tire.
On the wire-wheeled '76, the space-saver would be useless.  But on wire
wheeled cars, the spare tire is all the more imperative - even though I
haven't had a flat since buying those great British innertubes (which,
ironically, DON"T leak!).  Also, on wire-wheeled cars ,a tire pump is
essential.  If you're running generic American innertubes, at least a lot
of the failures I experienced were slow leaks.  A few minutes exercise with
the pump can often buy you  at least another hour of driving pleasure. '
Can't remember who suggested it, but a wire-wheeled spare can also be
bungeed outside on the luggage rack, leaving the whold trunk for spares
with hopefully enough room leftover for your girlfriend's detailing kit.

Otherwise, your girlfriend will have to learn a lesson from my wife:
hanging out with an LBC person means less stuff - and all packed in soft
luggage (not too tight near the taillights, please!).

Happy travels,

Allen

From: SpuriousV8@aol.com
>
>Hey All:
>             Fishing for opinions. I plan to start running to some events
>without a spare. I try to travel in a convoy when convenient too. Hopefully
>they have one. As I have a new girlfriend, she likes to bring things that
>make her look good, And I do like how she does it too. I already carry a
>compressor with me, a patch kit, Fix-aFlat, among a full tool box, a cell
>phone & AAA Card. I find I have less and less room for the tire which
>occupies most of the trunk. In eight years of driving my B's, I have never
>had a flat. Till tomorrow - that is as things go, Because I have brought the
>subject up.
>              So, does anyone else brave the blacktop in this manner too?
>
>Safety Faster
>Jim Brucato
>1980  MGB V8 Conversion,,,,, dreaming of a good season
>1964  MGB ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, sleeping,,, dreaming of new sheet metal
>

******************************************
         Allen H. Bachelder  =iii=<
         Sinking Creek Home for Wayward MGs
         New Castle, VA 24127
         USA
         540/544-7333
******************************************



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