MG Car Club of South Australia
SHORT STORIES
From ...Bob Schapel
Getting an Extra Gear Crank-Handle in a Tree
My father, Lou, once owned a Lea
Francis car. One day, when he went
back to where it was parked, there was
an English gentleman standing nearby,
admiring it. In the ensuing conversation
the Englishman made a comment that
Lea Francis had “a lovely four-speed
gearbox”. Dad told him that this one
only had a three-speed, to which the
Englishman replied, “Well, if it hasn’t
got a four speed gearbox, it isn’t a Lea
Francis!” When Dad got home, he did a
bit of investigating and cut the floor-
board out a bit … and found he had
another gear! A crank handle is embedded in a tree
on the corner of McKenna Street and
Beulah Road, Kensington Park. I first
saw it when my family moved to the
area fifty-six years ago, and it is still
there now. Even back then, it had obvi-
ously been there for a very long time.
Neighbours told me the story that a
young chap borrowed his father’s car
and lost control while driving west along
Beulah Road. The front of the car em-
bedded itself in the tree and part of the
car remained there, even when the rest
was removed. As you can see in the
photo, the tree has grown around the
remains. From its appearance, the
crank must be approaching 100 years
old.
Traction Control in a TC.
I have used Traction Control in my TC
special! Several years ago, I had a
problem with excessive inside wheel-
spin through the left-hander in the
“esses” at the top of Collingrove Hill-
climb. I always had to lift off the throttle
around that last corner, to prevent the
“unloaded” wheel from spinning madly
and over-revving the engine. Because I
did not have a limited slip diff, I needed
traction control! After some thought, I
realized that traction control was al-
ready fitted, but needed some tinkering.
I loosened the right-hand-side hand-
brake cable so only the left one worked.
I could then use full throttle around the
problem corner, while keeping the revs
under control with the handbrake lever.
It was manual traction control and it
worked well, although only on left-
handers. However, there are more con-
ventional ways of solving such prob-
lems, and they work in right-handers
too!
16