"LWG" wrote in
:

My father bought an MGB for the family (mostly me) off the show room
floor. It wasn't new, but it was completely redone inside and out. I
had zero knowledge about auto mechanics. I learned quicky.

Yep, they are good for that!


Within a
month, it wouldn't start. Turned out to be a problem with the
ignition wires under the metal and wrinkle-coated dash.

One of my favorite stories was when it broke down by a stop light. I
usually carried a tool box in the boot, but that day I had nothing
with me. I quickly saw that the wire from the coil had popped out of
the top of the distributor. I check the boot, and since I had just
really cleaned out the car, there wasn't a thing in trunk except the
spare tire. The metal ferrule had fallen off the wire, and there was
enough spring to the wire that it wouldn't stay in.

In the old days, people smoked alot. The emptied their ashtrays at
stop lights. I looked at the curb, and saw a pile of cigarette butts.
I took one and wedged in between the ignition wire and the terminal
on the top of the distributor. It worked, and I was on my way. I
forgot about it for weeks. My family was sitting around the dinner
table one night and my brother said that the MG was running rough. I
asked him whether he had checked the cigarette butt in the
distributor. My father, who was a stickler for doing things

Excellent. You must have made at least one journey with someone beating
the fuel pump to keep it going! Everyone has. I had to have my wife kick
the firewall of my Morris Minor Traveller in the middle of London in
rush hour traffic to keep us moving once... And I was in charge of
thumping the rear wheel well in an MAG for about 200 miles to keep it
going.
Turns out it was good training. They work almost exactly the same was as
a shower of sparks wxciter box in a jet's starter ignition.
Machines are machines.

Bertie