Well, Ed, it's only quiet up here in Massachusetts because of a busy
weekend of grunt work on the 4/4. Ol' #1247 has been idled ever since I
got the DHC, with many winter plans put on ice for other pursuits. Well,
this past weekend was different!
In a solid half day of work [who said Sunday was a day of rest!], with the
aid of the omni-skilled Bill Mancini and Dave Root, fellow Mass 3/4
crazies, we de-winged the little beauty; snatched the tub [wow, a Sawzall
makes short work of those bolts!], complete w/ rotten sill boards, off the
chassis; pulled the engine and tranny [didn't know you had to remove the
gearbox fill plug to fit it through the firewall; the Wooler shifter was no
problem]; and stepped back to survey the carnage. Now I've reduced a
driveable if frightfully tatty RHD Series 5 4/4 to a pile of parts w/
consequent reduction in value [except to me].
Ah, but now I have a real incentive to get serious!
Of course, I've got one big problem: looks like a new tub is the way to go
even though I've got new wheel arches, skinned doors, door posts, sill
boards, quarter panels, rear fenders, etc.
***So,does anybody out there have a spare lowline 4/4 tub in aluminum
sitting around?***
This car left the Works as an ostensibly aluminum bodied car. In reality,
besides the "always steel, though I saw the first ally one when at the
Works in August, scuttle", the doors and quarter panels were also steel.
Since I want to end up w/ as light a car as possible to go w/ the
competition engine I got from Don Burrows in CA, the steel's gotta go! At
least that's my current position, though Linda Eckler has counseled caution
on going the ally route. Other views welcome.
Basking in the settling dust of a productive Sunday, I paused to praise
buddy, Bill Mancini. This wonderful guy has restored two Morgans with his
own paws, his latest pristine +4 capturing the first Morgan Spares award
for owner-restored cars [and available for a price since Bill has a
beautiful 4-seater that he fits in just a tad better. Contact me for
details.] Bill is one of those people who restores your faith in humanity.
It's not like we live next door to each other and, even though Bill's
beautiful "babe de jour" [credit to Scott Willoughby] Deb came along for
moral support and wields a mean screwdriver, he had to give up his only off
day to help me out. A truly sweet man and a testament to the good
heartedness of Morgan owners everywhere.
And, that's the rest of the story from this quiet corner of Massachusetts.
Keep on truckin' all, David
At 08:13 AM 2/8/00 -0500, Ed Herman wrote:
>Lorne,
> Have you noticed the Morgan list is very quiet. The MSCC people
>seem to going strong, but the local guys have gone to sleep.
>Ed.
>
>
David P. Crandall
Rowley Massachusetts
1963 +4 DHC 1966 4/4 1966 Volvo 122S
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