New Zealand Classic Car

EZ Electric Power Steering

M

-

ost of you will be familiar with the term ‘Armstrong steering’ — in all probabilit­y it’s responsibl­e for more classic cars sitting in the garage on a sunny Sunday afternoon rather than being taken for a fast drive in the country.

The thought of taking off that dusty car cover, climbing into a cockpit lined with plush leather and walnut, and turning the key in the ignition to hear the faint sound of the fuel pump whirring away somewhere in the bowels of the chassis — before a few final cranks and the engine splutters into life — is enough to give anyone a glorious feeling of anticipati­on as reverse gear is carefully selected, and the clutch is eased out: then the pain sets in. The very first yank on that classic, wood-rimmed tiller sends your upper deltoid muscles into spasm, which in turn throws sharp excruciati­ng bolts of pain into the biceps and triceps before your hand succumbs to total numbness.

It’s not pleasant, but in many cases we put up with it because, once out on the open road, the steering responds more readily to allow some degree of controllab­ility, the numbness abates, and we get to appreciate what our classic cars were built for — driving.

For those that recognize this familiar scenario and spend more time polishing their classic cars rather than driving them, all is not lost. EZ Electric Power Steering can be installed under the dash of any car, with absolutely no changes necessary to the mechanical aspects of the steering system lurking under the bonnet. The other good news is that the installati­on doesn’t involve any messy hydraulics and, of course, as it’s electrical­ly operated the engine does not need to be running to generate assistance, all that is required is a simple twist of the ignition key.

 ??  ??
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Australia