23-04-2022, 03:12 PM
My father had an A30 and I remember him leaning forward earnestly with both hands gripping the top of the steering wheel when going up an notorious and particularly steep local hill. His technique didn’t seem to have any effect on the performance of the engine! Mind you, the hill is hardly a breeze in my modern 1.4 jalopy and I tend to take the slightly longer but kinder route now available.
My first car was a 997cc MIni. It was a complete and utter shed. I learned to double de-clutch (I read up on the technique in an old AA Book of the Road) as the gearbox had lost all its mesh. The engine used more oil than petrol and to change down up a steep hill meant almost coming to a stop whilst going through the double procedure. There were certain roads on which I never took it – including motorways (and in those days you could get away with cruising at 50mph).
The box in a later Morris Ital eventually lost its mesh so the technique came in handy once more, but ‘better’ than that the hydraulic system persistently lost fluid. Despite changing the master and slave cyclinders I never figured out where it went. I used to carry a can of discarded brake fluid and got into the habit of regularly topping it up. Occasionally, I would forget and get a warning when the clutch pedal went a bit soft. Cue a bit of pumping. One day this happened and I had no fluid with me. I was about fifteen miles from home, the other side of the conurbation, and drove all the way back without using the clutch listening for the revs and slipping in the particular gear. Fortunately it was evening and I only had to make a couple of stops. Sometimes I would change without clutch as a party trick to impress a passenger.
My first car was a 997cc MIni. It was a complete and utter shed. I learned to double de-clutch (I read up on the technique in an old AA Book of the Road) as the gearbox had lost all its mesh. The engine used more oil than petrol and to change down up a steep hill meant almost coming to a stop whilst going through the double procedure. There were certain roads on which I never took it – including motorways (and in those days you could get away with cruising at 50mph).
The box in a later Morris Ital eventually lost its mesh so the technique came in handy once more, but ‘better’ than that the hydraulic system persistently lost fluid. Despite changing the master and slave cyclinders I never figured out where it went. I used to carry a can of discarded brake fluid and got into the habit of regularly topping it up. Occasionally, I would forget and get a warning when the clutch pedal went a bit soft. Cue a bit of pumping. One day this happened and I had no fluid with me. I was about fifteen miles from home, the other side of the conurbation, and drove all the way back without using the clutch listening for the revs and slipping in the particular gear. Fortunately it was evening and I only had to make a couple of stops. Sometimes I would change without clutch as a party trick to impress a passenger.
Nick
