Antique & Classic Cars Blog

A lot of people sell their classics because they don’t use them. But use is the whole point of an invention designed to transport you faster and farther than you can go unmotorized. If you reserve your classic for special trips–things you rarely have time for–it will become a 3,000 pound storage problem rather than a unique machine you love to drive and listen to, park and admire, and let others admire.

Of course one of the risks of getting casual with your classic is forgetting that it might be five inches lower than today’s average pavement prowler. You could, for example, go to the downtown Target, park in the ramp, get a bunch of stuff and not notice the way the pavement crests where the inclined exit ramp transitions into the downward sloping sidewalk.

Don’t worry. If the bolts on the forward exhaust clamp point straight down like a pair of sidewalk picks–as they did on my MGB GT–the “CHUNK” when they bite in and jettison the exhaust sytem will be an abrupt and embarrassing reminder.

The upside to this story (classics owners and upside seekers have extensive joint membership) is that the hatchback GT swallowed the whole amputated assembly between a few bags of groceries and the front seats. Didn’t even crowd my wife’s footwell that much.

I think the only other people to see this little display of underside oversight were the couple in the towering SUV behind us, who patiently waited while I collected the big exhaust-dropping and got out of their way. Only two people saw it, but everybody heard the results–that is everybody within a mile of us on 35W south. If you’re wondering what a ‘69 MGB sounds like going down the highway with just the downpipe, then flip on PBS. They’ll have a war show on and any ’40s-era propellor plane makes a comparable roar.

So upside number two is that if you knock the exhaust system off your humble British sports car, you can at least pretend on the way home that you’re a daring WWII pilot at the controls of your P40 Warhawk or P-51 Mustang, instead of the dufus at Target who bottomed out leaving the parking ramp.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 at 1:09 pm and is filed under Car parts, Car stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.