[rosenkranswa]

Just incredibly bad luck, or have I offended the Model A Gremlins somehow?

Just finished "refreshing" a 1928 Phaeton for a friend to sell, major tune with new ignition, rebuilt brakes, cleaned a ton of crud off the underside. Running and stopping really well and took it for its first higher speed run after coming out of the shop (45). Horror of horrors, milkey oil leaking out of the engine like a garden hose, coolant level down, milkey oil on the dipstick. For sure a blown head gasket that didn't appear until the high-speed run. When installing a new ignition cable (old one was toast and the wrong one anyway) I removed that head bolt for the clamp and then retorqued the whole head. Could the gasket not have seated properly and blown out after that?

To console myself, I took my always ready 1929 Roadster out for a spin. Its never had any kind of serious issue since we've had it, almost 27 years, just routine, but thorough maintenance. Half-way through the drive I smelled hot coolant. Got it back home and expected to find coolant leaking somewhere, but didn't. Perplexed, I started looking around and again, horror of horrors, milkey engine oil. Two blown head gaskets in one afternoon! I'm sure I saw a small green creature scurrying away.