[Ray in La Mesa]

In 1964 coming home from college in the Mojave Desert to Big Bear Lake about midnight in my1930 Fordor I heard a loud thump & emmdiate sever vibration. pulled over to look & found one of my four fan blades had disappeared. Couldn't find it in the dark so drove on home, about 5 miles. Next morning I looked again & found the blade sitting on top of the firewall mounted battery, between the terminals, no sparks! Guess I got lucky. In 1973 while driving my 1928 roadster pickup across the U.S. (9,000 miles & 7 weeks. Trip article in Model A News Vol. 20, iss. 6. Photo of p/u & trailer w/ sleigh at 1973 Dearborn meet Vol. 20, iss. 5.) my water pump started leaking antifreeze & pealing paint off the firewall. Pulled into a rest stop to change pump but couldn't get it off w/o pulling the radiator due to the 4 blade fan. I sat there for a while on the gas tank with my feet in the engine compartment contemplating my delimma. I finally decided to bend one blade back and changed the pump. A fellow in the audience said I couldn't do that, little did he know. Used my foot to push the blade back straight and drove 1500 miles home. I replaced the fan when I got home. A bit older & wiser now, I run the new aluminum fans.