[Leica] PESO: Turn The Crank

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

>This picture reminded me of the first thing I had to learn about attempting
>to start an automobile with the crank: keep the thumb out of the way. And
>how to set the ignition advance and choke; and if a diesel, warm up the
>glow-plugs, not to mention some fairly risky methods for warming up the fuel
>on really cold days.
>Oliver
>

When my parents and I came to Canada in the early 50's, one of the 
first new cars my dad got was a Morris Minor. Not really made for 
Alberta winters.

We lived NW of Edmonton at that time, in an area where my mom could 
teach school. My dad (a doctor) had to redo his internship in 
Edmonton, and was away most of the week and needed the car. The 
experiment with the motorcycle didn't work. He was an excellent 
motorcyclist, but mud up to your eyeballs and deep snow weren't the 
best conditions for a motorcycle in the 50's. Nor for a Morris Minor, 
really.

Anyway, when it got really cold (-40) the Morris had little hope of 
starting the normal way. We lived out in the country near the one 
room school, grades 1-9, that my mother taught in. No telephones, no 
running water, no electricity.

About an hour before my dad wanted to get going, we put a Coleman 
campstove burning white gas under the engine block, and then when 
that was done well but not overcooked, we winched the car to the top 
of the nearest hill and my mother and I shoved the car down the hill 
and my dad started it and drove off to Edmonton. Mostly this worked.

We never did set that Morris on fire, but we should have.

We got a VW Beetle in 1953, and that was a huge improvement.

-- 
    *            Henning J. Wulff
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