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Re: Do you carry a fire extinguisher

To: Reed Mideke <rmideke@interbase.com>
Subject: Re: Do you carry a fire extinguisher
From: Andrew Mace <amace@unix2.nysed.gov>
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 14:57:15 -0500 ()
On Fri, 5 Mar 1999, Reed Mideke wrote:

> Hello everybody,
>       Today as I was driving to work in the Z (the spit
> is still waiting for its tranny), I'd just put my foot down
> coming out of a particularly sharp corner,  when the engine
> sputtered and died.
>       A large plume of gray smoke was pouring out of the hood....

Wow. Deja vu all over again. :-)

I had a similar experience with my GT6+ back around 1976. I was on my way
to work, going through a city, when the cockpit began to fill with really
awful smoke and even traces of flame. To make a long story short, the
double choke cable had shorted out on the positive terminal of the old Die
Hard, and the rubber sheathing that covered the rest of the cable had
melted and caught fire.

Fortunately, I was stopped opposite a Naval recruiting center, and the guy
who came running out, extinguisher in hand, turned out to be an old high
school buddy from several years before!

The battery barely survived, with a cable-shaped channel melted into the
top of the case, and the choke cable itself was fried. Pretty hard to
start that car for a few weeks (sans chokes) until I could afford a new
cable.

Then there's the story of how my tachometer nearly locked up the steering
in that car...for another time. :-)

--Andy

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Andrew Mace, President and                *
*   10/Herald/Vitesse (Sports 6) Consultant *
* Vintage Triumph Register <www.vtr.org>    *
* amace@unix2.nysed.gov                     *
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