>British Cars Digest #1388 Mon Oct 3 21:47:14 MDT 1994
> I guess I feel a little silly to be driving around with the top
>down with a winter jacket and tuque. Maybe it's a young, macho, college
>guy thing.... My limit seems to be around 8 degrees sans chapeau.
>
>Any cold weather, top down stories out there (you gues that don't even
>have a top don't count! ;> )
>
>from the GREAT WHITE NORTH..
>
>Greg
Hmmm, sounds like an interesting thread....hear are a couple;
Before My brother got too big to sit on mum's lap, we went EVERYWHERE
with our '50 Riley Roadster, Pa's had it longer than us. The general feeling
is the top stays down...when it gets cold, dress in layers! The car is a
RHD 2-seater model with the bench seat from a 3-seater. This means it has the
floor shift and the steering wheel is further inboard than on the 3-seaters;
read: REAL cozy! I sat in the middle, mum on the left with lil' bro, and
dad drove.....talk about stares from others! Once at a cop pulled us over,
he came up and started to lecture mum about the dangers and legality of driving
with a clid on her lap. When he finally looked up from his ticket book he turned
bright red...."S-sorry, have a nice day!", and left. This was late October,
we must've looked like Nanook of the North's kin!
Not countable no top story:
The first outing with the '33 Riley was before we had a top for it, or
tournue cover! We went to a small hillclimb in Wellsley, Mass. The weather
started sunny but by 2:00 had turned to dark clouds..this was May, so it
was still on the coolish side. As we headed for home the skies opened up. We
put on rain coats under a bridge and toyed with the idea of erecting the freshly
painted though canvas-free bows...just as a gag. We didn't but kept driving.
Amid the buckets of rain it then hailed. This stuff hurt when it hit! As New
England would have it, it was nice and sunny again by the time we got home.
By then our torsos had "blown" dry....but we were still sitting in puddles!
It was great fun, on car we passed was a shiny XKE....turned out he
didn't want the hail to harm his paint!
> Tue, 4 Oct 1994 WILSONHB@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu
>
> What can we expect for parts supplies in the next 10-20 years?
> It seems possible that British sports cars could become what the old
> Ford 30s-40s roadster/coupes have become: cars enjoyed by their generation
> but virtually undriven today.
I don't know about your area but I see MANY 30's-40's Fords on the
road. While they are not daily drivers, I'd hardly call them "virtually
undriven". And I don't mean just Plastic Fantastic hot rods with new every
thing, either. I live in Ballard Vale, Mass. and have gone to old car shows
and rallyes since month 1 (I was born in January, but the VMCCA ran their
"Frostbite Run" in January back then). These cars *still* have wide spread
sources for new, used, and NOS parts.(yes it IS possible to find NOS stuff
thats 50-60 yrs old.....we have a box of NOS '39 chevy hood ornements...still
wrapped up.)
As long as there is a demand, some one will make parts. The thing to
do is encourage others to USE there cars. For instance, It used to be
impossible to get bearings for RM Rileys...but now that there are more and more
people using the cars, they've been made avalible through the RM club in
England. The same for Pre-war Riley mechanicles...at least for the 9's.
While we don't use our BC's as daily drivers(we use older Merican cars/
trucks) it's not uncommon to use them when the wether is good...ie: no snow..
see stories above.
I saw a 'B-GT and a TVR on the way to school today...and a Heally 3000
on the way home yesterday. It's getteing colder out there.....snow by November?
Good Evening and Good Sprite!
Craig "time to service/winterize the Farmall" Milligan
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