Ed Huntress wrote:
"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:41:44 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm,
clare at snyder dot ontario dot canada quickly quoth:

On Sat, 29 Mar 2008 10:00:20 -0400, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:

When I first drove one of those things I'd almost come to a stop,
in neutral, while my brain re-adjusted.

Or like the old International Fire Truck I used to service a
lifetime ago. Belonged to the Naugatuk Chemical plant in Elmira
Ontario - 1937 or something like that. EVERY shift was complicated,
with adjacent gears next to each other and, IIRC, one a reverse
step. All straight cut (crash box) too. Thankfully the engine was
large enough that 1st and 3rd were not necessary unless starting
uphill. Start in second, jump to 4th, and in town 5th and 6th
(IIRC) were not needed.

You sure learn how to drive with your own synchros on a crash box,
don't you? I did that with my old Corvair and impressed lots of
friends, both male and girl-. Sync the engine with the box and not
ever touch the clutch, except for stop signs and lights. Ah, the good
old days...

Jeez, how did you wind up with a crash box in a Corvair? Did you just
let your synchro rings wear out? g (I had a '63 John Fitch GT
Monza, BTW.)


Hey Ed,
Monza wasn't a GM name on this vehicle, was it? They wanted it, and even ran
the tooling, in Syracuse BTW, to plaque them but couldn't get the name free
and clear.
What you eally had was a John Fitch Spyder GT, as did my mother. A
convertible.
I could be remembering this wrong so feel free to correct me.

Here is something you might be interested in. The Vega GT was to have been
branded with the "Chaparral" name.
I tagged along with mu old man to that meeting, not with Hall but
internally. You see, GM had once again run tooling in advance of approval.

I've got a couple of Dolly Cole stories I'll tell one day, and while pops is
dead, I'll want to be a little closer first.
LOL

--

John R. Carroll
www.machiningsolution.com