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julian67
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« on: 07 December, 2024, 03:48:05 PM » |
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Firstly, a big THANK YOU to Francesco who kindly rescued me!
At 6.30am, on a dark, rainy stormy December, I left Cheltenham in my lhd, '71 Fulvia coupe. My mission: To pick up a rare S1 Fulvia Zagato cylinder head in Warwick, some 43 miles away. Why? A broken exhaust valve had badly damaged the head cylinder and one piston.
A few miles out of Burton-on-Water, my dim headlight switch packed in and all I had were full lights. Cars and truckers continually flashed me "Sorry," I cried out. On I drove, wipers on. All I needed now was for them to pack in too. If they did, I'd have to stop and bang on someone's door asking " Sorry, but would you have a potato?" A trick I learnt a long time ago; that if you split a potato, and smeared it on your windscreen, you could see out!
After ten minutes driving in the howling wind & rain around a bend, without warning, I ran over a huge tree branch. Bang! I slowed down, thinking my car was damaged but luckily, my trusty Fulvia was undamaged. Coming into Halford, I aquaplaned in a large dip on the road. Sprayed by water, the engine died. I was only on 2 cylinders. I tried revving the engine all to no avail and tried to get up the hill but I was stuck. I didn't want to kill the engine for fear it wouldn't start up. After a few minutes, my engine was still on 2 cylinders. Cars sped past and all I could do was turn on my left indicator. I hadn't even had time to get out and find my emergency warning triangle in the boot.
Just then, in my rear view mirror, I could see a large 4x4 coming closer with emergency lights flashing. Thinking he was going to hit me, I jumped out. The owner ran up and said "the same thing happened to me". Can I help?". "Yes please, could you tow me up the hill to somewhere safe where I can park?" "Sure," he said. We hooked up my tow rope as quick as lightning. Visions of another car crashing into the back of his car leapt into my mind. A few minutes later, my car was moving but suddenly, my car was heading across the road, right in the path of the oncoming cars. "brown stuff, my steering is locked and the key is in my pocket". Frantically, I waved my hand out of my lhd door but, as his car was a rhd, he didn't see me in the darkness. Luckily, because it was so early, there were no cars coming towards me. Suddenly, I found the ignition key and stuck it in my ignition and wrenched the steering wheel back behind the 4x4. "Phew that was close," I thought to myself.
We got to the top of the hill and parked up. The 4x4 owner jumped out. "Are you ok? I have a Monte Carlo, so I know what it's like to agualplane in such a low car." I could tell from his accent he was American. "Where are you from?". "Virginia but live nearby" We bid farewell and he disappeared. I lifted the bonnet and saw that 2 spark plug holes were drowned in water. I dried both and in 10 minutes I was on the road albeit spluttering on 3 cylinders. A few miles on, and I was back on 4. But then, horrified, I could see my bonnet lift up in the howling wind. I stopped and discovered the bonnet catch was broken. All I had was the safety catch. The only thing to do was to tie my tow rope over the bonnet to both wings. I arrived in Warwick, phew! picked up a complete S1 cylinder head and headed home. All I have to do now is fix up my '68 Zagato. Indeed, a VERY hairy Fulvia Christmas adventure!
Again, a HUGE THANK YOU to Francesco. If you're reading this, drop me a line!
Slan
"T'is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt!
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