View Single Post
Old 07-16-2019, 08:45 PM   #30
4port
Senior Member
 
4port's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Dallas TX
Posts: 112
Default Re: What roadside repairs have you made to keep your A going

Here are a few...

Muffler clamp fell off a car on a tour, no one had a spare clamp, rope or wire to strap up the muffler from dragging the ground. So they tied it up with a bra. How can you drive with all that noise? Don’t ever follow a Model A with the muffler disconnected. Can you run over your own muffler? I can’t remember but someone ran over it.

Then there was the guy that drove a phaeton through a self service carwash, taking a shortcut, and tore the top off.

On a tour in Bandera, Texas I pulled out from a roadside rest break and heard a squeaking noise from the engine. Sounded like the fan had cracked. Pulled over under a shade tree, it was 100* that day, and sure enough it was cracked. I asked someone to stay with me to help pull the hood. We then pulled the upper hose loose, tilted the radiator forward. Pulled the pump and fan and installed another from under the seat. There was a water faucet about 20 feet away in front of a church. What luck. I can now say I stole from the church. Was back on the road in about 20 minutes, pulled out a map, took a short cut, and was first in line to eat at the lunch stop on the tour. Everyone wanted to know how we left last, and got there first.

Have you ever changed a condenser on the side of a major highway with a blistering hot engine with semi’s blowing by? How about dropping that inner condenser screw in the grass? Guess you don’t get out much. I always carry a spare distributor. Now I carry a condenser with alligator clips on each end!

Another time someone had borrowed a roadster from another member to drive on a 1200 mile tour. We were driving about 300 miles to the hotel on the first day. This thing ran out of oil about 50 miles out. All the oil was being blown out of the engine, coming through the hood louvers and spraying down the quarter panel. We raised the hood, and it had a PCV valve connected to a late model oil filler cap by a rubber hose. We pulled all that off, filled it with oil, tied a rag on the filler pipe, and continued on our way. Some how we got split up from this car and something else broke and the car was left on the side of the road a few miles from the hotel. Everyone was asking what happened to that car with all the dirt and oil down the side outside of town. Later they trailered it in.

Then there was another member that stepped out of his car on the side of the road with his 4 speed overdrive transmission shift lever in his hand. Weld broke at top of housing. Vise Grips wouldn’t grab it, too short. I pulled out my National roster, first call was guy in an adjacent town that just happened to have the same transmission. He pulled his shifter housing from his car and brought it to us and installed it. What are the odds?
4port is offline   Reply With Quote