In 2000, I drove my TR3A from Montreal to VTR in Portland Oregon - 3434
miles out - 7220 miles total) . I teamed up with Garry Altwasser in
Windsor/Detroit (very fast and lower slung red TR3A with white racing
stripes that was featured in "Motorsports" in 1999) on the way out west.
Leaving Yellowstone Nat'l Park at 6 in the morning, I noticed my generator
wasn't working. It may have been like that for a day or two before I
noticed. At the west gate, we filled up with gas but my battery was dead.
It wouldn't start.
Trivia question - What would you have done ?
That's right, we swapped batteries and were back on the road in 5 minutes.
Two days later (over 1000 miles of day-time driving) we got to Portland. I
bought Bob Reinhold's (Laguna Hills. Calif.) spare generator, installed it
and we swapped batteries back.
Don Elliott, 1958 TR3A
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Sohl" <billsohl@mindspring.com>
To: <WEmery7451@aol.com>; <Malaboge@aol.com>; <fot@autox.team.net>;
<vintage-race@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 10:56 PM
Subject: Running on the battery...Re: Cranks
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <WEmery7451@aol.com>
> To: <Malaboge@aol.com>; <fot@autox.team.net>;
<vintage-race@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 1:01 PM
> Subject: Re: Cranks
>
>
> > In a message dated 11/18/02 9:47:07 AM Pacific Standard Time,
> > Malaboge@aol.com writes:
> >
> > << Did you know that with a good battery and no alternator, you can
drive
> for
> > an hour with the low beams on and the voltage will only drop to 11. It
> will
> > take almost another hour to drop another volt. BUT, after that it will
> only
> > take another 7 minutes to get so dark out in front of you that you can't
> see
> > and the motor will stop!
> >
> > In 1963, I was still driving the 1959 TR-3 on the highway. I had to
drive
> > from Washington, PA to Beaver, PA in the dark (about 40 miles) with a
> > non-working generator. I got about half way there when it became too
dark
> to
> > drive. Fortunately, I was able to pull into a gas station to charge the
> > battery. I was then able to drive the rest of the way, and get the
> generator
> > fixed the next day.
>
> Here's three more examples...
>
> 1. 1967, traveling back from Norfolk, VA to Charleston, SC with two Navy
> shipmates
> in the TR-3 we lost the generator about 10 miles before we reached the
NC/SC
> border at about 4am. We drove the 10 miles to the border, stopped and had
> coffee
> at Pedro's (i.e. Soth of de Border) until daybreak and then drove the
> remaining
> 150 miles or so to Charleston on the battery only. Once in Charleston,
> I pulled the generator, the bruches were shot, and actually then found a
set
> of bruches in an auto electric shop which I bought and then fixed the
> generator and was back in business.
>
> 2. 1988 - Driving in the One Lap of America, Charles Runyan and I were on
> the final night transit when we lost the alternator in the TR-250 on US17
> driving from CT to the next morning starting point (Erie, PA). Efforts to
> fix (we had a spare) didn't work, so we went back onto US17 and fell
> in behind an 18 wheeler. We called the 18 wheeler on CB channel 19,
> told him of our problem and asked if we could hand behind him with our
> lights off. He was cool with that and we did. Drove most of the next day
> and the battery lasted until 20 miles before the finish. Jumped the
battery
> by a fellow One-Lap car and we made it to within visual site of the
> finish...
> jumped again by passing motorist and we limped in to the finish.
>
> 3. Driving home from the SouthEast VTR regional in our TR3 a few
> weeks ago, we lost
> the generator about 100 miles after leaving Jeykll Island, GA. We drve
> all day on the battery...picked up a charger and 25 foot extension cord
> at a WalMart in SC, stopped north of Charlotte, NC for the night...
> charged the battery and probably coukld have gotten by all the
> way home to NJ, but Vern Brannon lives in Charlotte and he had a
> spare generator which we installed the next day and we were good
> the rest of the way home.
>
> Cheers,
> Bill Sohl
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