Some electrified lines were 6.25kV AC instead of 25kV (due to bridge clearance issues) and the trains had to switch voltage very quickly when they transitioned. I think they are all 25kV (for overhead lines) now, so they must have changed something: perhaps they lowered the tracks.
This is only going to get worse with the promotion of somatic gene splicing, where an individual with a lethal genetic defect is "corrected" with, for example, modified bone marrow. Their offspring will have the original condition.
My MG Midget lost its hydraulic clutch way up on Mount Tamalpias. I had to drive all the way home, across the Golden Gate Bridge and into the city, with no clutch. Every stop, I put it in 1st gear and started it, and hot shifted after that. My Filipino gf was impressed that I got her home alive.
Given a working clutch, one person alone could push-start a Midget or a Sprite. A couple of husky guys could pick up either end and walk it out of sand or whatever.
I drove the Midget nonstop from New Orleans to Aspen in the winter. We couldn't use the heater because it cooled off the engine too much.
They were primitive, barbaric, dangerous, leaky, unreliable, and great fun.
I expect most modern log cabins cheat that way, with insulation between.
Mine were pretty reliable, But then I spent most saturdays fixing them.
The worst drive was my Spitfire when the additional power brake unit fractured a brake pipe and I had to drive it across England with no foot brakes and people overtaking me cutting in and slamming on their brakes. All I had was the hand brake.
I had to start in gear the other year. clutch plate frozen to flywheel. once started slam on brakes and clutch.
Partly a result of having to dig tunnels through rock by hand, with only gunpowder available for blasting.
We had a turntable like that, and we had a one 16 rpm disk. I liked that disk, it had a collection of worthy classicals, like "In a Persian market".
Unfortunately, the thing broke down in storage: the rubber parts corroded, got sticky. And one metal + rubber disk got a dent where the motor spindle was applied.
Writers of laws and regulations.
He was lucky. Here the last one I heard, died. Or the other person in the other front seat.
Different country, different language :-)
I had a '82 AH Sprite, essentially the same as a Midget. The gas gauge didn't work and one evening I ran out about three blocks from home. It was level ground so I could easily walk beside it. The plan was going good until I came to an intersection with a cop directing traffic. "Do you always take your car for a walk?"
I think it had a top speed of 80 mph on a good day. The '62 had a slightly larger engine than the Bugeye but the same inadequate brakes which made life interesting. To put the top up, you got a frame, the side curtains, and the canvas out of the trunk, erected the frame, put the canvas over it, snapped it down around the perimeter, put the side curtains in place, and tightened the thumbscrews.
That was the theory. In sudden rain storms you motored on and got soaked because you were going to anyway.
I bought a tonneau cover where you had to install the snaps to fit. I did the job on a hot summer day and you could bounce a quarter off it. Come fall and colder weather I could just about push the car down the driveway trying to get it zipped and snapped.
My brother in law asked how the thing handled in a sarcastic tone. I did a bootlegger turn. 'Oh' he said, very quietly.
That was part of the fun. Work on them Saturday afternoon and go to the dirt track races Saturday night.
I always carried a tool kit and a gallon of gasoline in the trunk.
I had an 1100cc Sprite that got totalled, crushed between two giant American cars, to about half its original length. I took the insurance money and got a 1275 Midget.
I sold it to an artist. It's the Rolling Surf car near the end of this page:
Drive fast enough and only your hair gets wet.
Radical oversteer.
I can multitask.
Until the place warms up and the insects come out to dance.
I recently bought an airbrush. The instruction manual has a few phrases like 'remove all makeup buildup around the nozzle'. Rather scary to contemplate.
Now that's impressive. When a tractor trailer drives under a low overpass it doesn't have the horsepower or momentum to peel back more than half of the trailer.
It's a beautiful ride, but don't scrimp on the light.
Fun until you get older and just want the comfort :)
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