Quit sucking up to me @SlyPokerDog , your tyrannous(rex) days are numbered! Get it Tyrannous Rex...? T-Rex? Has double meaning...pun on Tyrannous, and Rex is a stereotypical name of a dog? Oooh shit, money has made me giddy.
I've done a lot of rev matching to change gears in my younger years. I always took pride in being able to do it and you should too. I learned it out of necessity. Can't remember what the necessity was although it may have had something to do with a faulty clutch.
First, thanks. I certainly am happy I was able to drive it back to my garage, I do have AAA which is the #1 tool an old car owner should have - but it is a lot more fun to make it in one piece on your own than wait for an hour for a tow truck to arrive. About the need to rev match - you need to do that with cars that do not have syncros in their gearboxes - but these have really gone the way of the dodo since the early 50s or so (other than maybe some heavy trucks). I have been fascinated by old cars for most of my life - and old cars, by virtue of being old, break a lot. I also used to race quite a bit, and in a move to reduce costs, I also raced vintage for years - so I had the combination of cars on a race track in extreme situations that are also old - so I am, unfortunately (and fortunately in this case), well versed in coaxing an old croak of a car to safety.
I’m the least mechanically inclined individual on the planet (fortunately, growing up I had a younger brother who was a mechanical genius who kept my vehicles running, God rest his soul). My first car was a 1958 English Ford Prefect that had seen much better days. It had a 3 speed on the floor, and the synchromesh for second gear was gone. I tried the rev matching game but was terrible at it and was worried I’d drop the rest of the transmission. What worked perfectly was double clutching before putting it into second. Like a hot knife through butter every time......though I was glad that little bro eventually rebuilt the tranny......I miss that car a lot.....and my brother so very much more.
As much as I loved my TR6's...the Miata is a better roadster/ragtop...love that short-throw stubby shifter
When I was a kid I had a friend whose brother had a Sunbeam Tiger and yeah, I believe it had a Ford Mustang 289 in it...and it would fly!
Carrol Shelby was also instrumental in the development of the Tiger as he took a Sunbeam Alpine and married it to the small block Ford to turn it into a Tiger. The 289 was a rather pedestrian version, but it didn't take much horsepower to make that little bugger scoot. The 289 was also an easy engine to build and add more horsepower.
let me guess....SS direct deposits like my wife and I? by the way, I noticed how you said "my date to receive our payments"....what's your strategy? I stupidly married a CPA so I can't get away with anything
Yeah, it's direct deposit. My date to receive our payments was merely just saying both mine and my wifes check will be deposited on that date as we filed jointly. No shenanigans, lol.
Hard to really compare them - they are from very different technological eras. Just about anything with electronic fuel injection is easier to live with than things with carburetors or even the exotics that had mechanical fuel injection. But, it is true that the Miata has been one of the greatest enthusiast cars created in the history of the automobile. Tons of fun, cheap to own, reliable and will run forever. Mine have been with me since the 90s and while it sure looks worse for wear (it lives outside) - it just keeps on going.
Many of the issues with the early sports cars was multi carburation and trying to get them properly adjusted and synced to work properly. When my dad first opened his shop he was taking in pretty much any car foreign and domestic and hated working on some of those cars. He eventually built up the business and was first able to go all domestic and eventaully pretty much only Fords which he was a dealer mechanic for Ford for many years.
Well, I will say that the TR6's raspy exhaust sounded soooo good as compared to the Miata. (German name for "reward")(American design/idea but built in Japan)...the guys who originally came up with the idea when to the US big 3 auto makers but got turned down, so they approached Mazda, and the rest is history. The engines/trannies and mechanical stuff on the TRs was great but thing like gauges, electronics, door handles, window cranks, etc., and those damned Stromberg carbs were abysmal...conversely, the Miatas are very likely the best built reasonably priced sports cars ever. I know, I worked for Rallye Mazda and sold the very first one in Albany, 1990. I've heard Miata's with an aftermarket exhaust on them but they sounded pretty much like other 4 cylinders like Honda civics with glass packs...the straight 6 in the TR6 was a different story. This still gives me chills;
Yeah, I use to race also. My racing was mostly on I5 against strangers tooling down the road. My greatest speed was 130 on a long downhill slope late late late at night on Hwy 26 headed East. I love old cars. That's why I watch Wheeler Dealer. They take cars between 25 to 50 years old and make them like new again.
My dad had a 64 Falcon Sprint with a 260 V8. I learned to drive in that right after he bought it! He also had a 56 Ford pick up that was bright yellow..
