Whatever happened to the good old days?
We’re losing skilled craftsmen — where are their replacements? Words: Greg Price
The Zephyr needed the left-hand tie rods replaced just before the Christmas holidays, so I did the work myself, and, on completion, I went to my usual place for a wheel-alignment check. For those of you who have never replaced one or both tie rods on an older vehicle, there is a relatively easy method to ensure that the toe-in / toe-out will be near enough to ensure that you can get to an alignment business safely, and without removing the inner or outer tread on your classic whitewalls. Years ago, some old guy told me to disconnect the tie rods from the vehicle, and then place the tie rod in a vice and count the number of complete turns required to remove each end, and then, when replacing the new parts, simply wind them on the same number of times. Having done this, I drove to the alignment place, which has a tyre-fitting business attached. While there, I noted a young fellow working away on a vintage beaded tyre, which he was removing from a split rim. Back in the day, these tyres were not stretched over the wheel like modern vehicles; rather, rims were in two pieces and were fitted to the tyre. This was a feature of very early cars — for example, on some early Ford Model Ts, the only way to replace a tyre was with the wheel still on the car! Those of you who read a lot will have probably noticed pictures of very early cars that had tyres only, as opposed to complete wheels, attached to the vehicle as spares.
This got me thinking, as the young fellow working on the tyre was interested enough to show me what he was doing, and thus I learned that the tyre and rim had been dropped in by that well-known vehicle-restoration business Auto Restorations of Christchurch — its expertise is world famous. I’ve mentioned it before, as I have used it to manufacture bits and pieces for me that can no longer be sourced anywhere. This is the outfit that made a complete working carburettor from a grainy picture! Obviously, Auto Restorations outsources its tyre work, but I never gave much, if any, thought to who might do it. Clearly, the tyre business owner had an eye for the future and was training up one of his apprentices so that this particular service could continue — providing that said business isn’t forced to close because yet another stupid Christchurch cycleway has been constructed to go past the business’s entrance, effectively closing off easy access to the workshop!
Little or no interest
Interestingly enough, I’ve been privy to a number of conversations, of late, about the lack of apprenticeships generally and, more particularly, in the motor industry — specifically in the area of classic car restoration/repair. The big question that not many people are concerning themselves with is, who will carry on doing the hard, complicated work that is currently being carried out by older tradesmen, who are approaching retirement or have already moved on to that big cloud-based restoration enterprise? Aside from those father-and-son combinations in the various car clubs, which generally ensure the interest and talent will be carried on at least to the next generation, there is seemingly little or no interest in working on ‘old stuff’ from today’s youngsters. In a lot of cases, even the prospect of working is a major put off!
A glance through the advertising sections of most car or motorcycle magazines will reveal an impressive list of companies and businesses that produce parts and accessories for your pride and joy, many of which are manufactured offshore. In the US, there are multiple companies that manufacture brand-new all-steel panels, bodies, and chassis for 1930s and ’40s Fords, and other makes. Not that long ago, it was possible to buy brand-new parts from which you could have built a complete Model T Ford — generating the saying that there are now more Model Ts on the road than were ever manufactured!
I guess I’ve been spoiled somewhat, in that, in the 1970s, I was offered the entire spare-parts range of (then-) available Ford Zephyr parts from a business that was changing owners/ names, for an incredibly low bargain price (the parts were a bargain, not the business). The idea was that when I needed a part I would simply go to my spare-parts store and grab what I wanted. In recent times, I ran out of wheel-hub seals. What I never got at the time was a stockpile of ignition coils, but then, arguably, one wouldn’t have needed maybe more than a couple for the lifetime of the car.
Stranded on the side of the road
Having had an annoying miss in the MKI convertible on occasion, I thought that maybe it was the coil. A quick check of the base revealed that it had been manufactured in 1967, so, 51 years on, it was probably time to replace it anyway. I had also recently learned how to test an ignition coil, but, stupidly, didn’t check this one before replacement! A quick trip to my local supplier of hard-to-find stuff saw me walk away with what I had been assured was a standard coil (as opposed to a ballast type). On starting the car up, it was apparent that the miss had gone, so, I assumed (incorrectly as it turned out) that I had fixed the problem. Not so, it would seem. While recent cruising was limited to trips for warrants, and having installed yet another set of brand-new spark plugs, it was off to the WOF place. As luck would have it, I had travelled a mere 32km when a couple of backfires and the engine cutting out completely saw me stranded on the side of the road. And this is when I found out that merely having the original tool kit was not the best thing to have when one needed to remove the points, condenser, etc. The nice fellow from the Automobile Association (AA) duly arrived and confirmed that I had no spark at the main HT lead when shorted to the motor. So, for the first time in my 40-plus years of its ownership, the Zephyr had an ignominious ride home on the back of a tow truck!
Establishing exactly what was wrong can be tricky if the rules are not followed. And guess what? I didn’t follow them. Having told everyone else to only fix one thing at a time, lest you inadvertently ‘fix’ the problem with one action and then create another with a subsequent action, I did exactly that. My mistake was assuming that the coil (being less than 645km old) was not the problem, when, in fact, it was. On checking the resistance across the terminals, the ohms resistance measured 1–1.5A (the reading for a ballast-type coil), whereas, if it had been a standard coil, the resistance reading would have been 3–3.5A! So, I had been sold a ballast-type coil instead of the standard coil. And after talking to a few other knowledgeable persons on a recent Vintage Car Club motorcycle ride, I learned that ballast coils will pack a sad around 480 to 645km (300– 400 miles) if used without the ballast resistor, and that said coils will get extremely hot (as mine did) and burn out the points, too.
So, it was back to my 1970s stash of new-oldstock (NOS), and, lo and behold, I found a brand-new standard coil dated 1972 (must’ve got one from them, after all), so, along with yet another set of points and condenser (and new HT leads), it was cruising time once again.
At least the Zephyr doesn’t have a computer system. But it does have an immobilizer as part of an anti-theft system, though I have never bothered to check out whether it could play up during a cruise and immobilize the car while I’m out and about. Maybe that’s a project for another day. In the meantime, keep encouraging young people to learn how to do simple repairs and maintenance on their cars, and who knows? Maybe they might just become tomorrow’s apprentices in the motor industry. It’s not too late — yet!