This is the Triumph Herald 13/60 based Midge, seen on the left here as I got it. The journey up from Somerset to Lanarkshire went quite well, the only problem being a difficulty in re-starting after half an hour or so of parking. The fault, found later, was the lack of an air vent to the petrol tank, which meant the vacuum in the tank pulled the petrol back from the carburator and left air in the fuel line. There was also an air leak into the petrol pump and the oil filter was loose, neither caused any real problem, I've had worse problems in 3 year old cars bought from official dealers. All sorted in a week or so.
I've taken off the spare wheel and its shelf, replaced the 13" Herald wheels and replaced them with 15" wire wheels and high profile tyres. That meant re-arranging the headlights and mudguards, and they're still not quite right. This kind are fixed to the bodywork, so they have to have room to allow the wheels to bounce around. I prefer the mudguard style that mount on the brake-drum so that they turn with the steering and can be closer to the wheels. That is harder in engineering terms, but looks better.
I'll re-shape the back end so that I can fit the now larger spare wheel, but I'll need to decide what to do about the rather small petrol tank. In the meantime it goes well enough, and as the weather gets warmer I can go further.
The tyres work well enough in the snow, and go faster than the 13" ones, not that this would be the best time to prove that. Some snow tyres would be nice. These produce a nice fan-tail of mud and snow, but that's not the most effective way of getting out of a hole. Winter tyres would mean a spare set of wire wheels, not wanting to change tyres twice a year. I'm going to need some really big stockings and a reinforced mantlepiece for next Christmas Eve.
The snow adds a bit of fun, but I'll need to lower the chair a bit to get the look right, and to get the cold air blast off my face. There don't seem to be many small low chairs in the scrap yard cars, so maybe I'll need to cut these ones down, or go for a complete design and build. Building is not too difficult, but upholstery is not my strong suit, and I'd probably need a stronger sewing machine.
And so off into the sunset, well it's in about that direction, although instead of the horizon I'm heading for the garage. This is part of the drive, or rather part of the track through the wood that leads to the garage at the other end of the garden. There's a flatter, drier, shorter route, but where's the fun in that? Spring 2013
Hand Built Car 3 The Triumph 13/60 JC Midge.
