On Sat, 26 Nov 2016 14:52:56 +0000, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

On 26/11/16 14:38, Cursitor Doom wrote:
On Sat, 26 Nov 2016 11:37:15 +0000, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

The first car I owned was a 1954 MG Magnette. Which had a battery clamp.
And all the many I've owned since have a method of securing the battery
too.

I've had scores of cars over the decades and most of them had unsecured
batteries for whatever reason. It has never caused me the slightest
difficulty.

Well yes and no., They do flap around if you are an enthusiastic driver,
and I did have one short itself momentarily and cut the engine..


Circa 1979 some mates and I hired a Petrol Transit Mini bus from some
rent a wreck type outfit.
Mates went up to walk a up a mountain which I considered to be too
energetic practice that day and decided to head for a bar instead.
The mountain was Carrauntoohil in Ireland and I dropped my mates off
at some point up a road then looked at the map and noticed the track
continued to Killarney by way of somewhere called the Gap of Dunloe so
off I went. The road soon became fairly rough and mainly gravel and
very bumpy and after one particularly severe bump the engine stopped.
Tried to restart but after a couple of fruitless attempts and that
sound that shows the battery wasn't as healthy as you hoped as the
cranking slowed it dawned on me I was miles from a phone box up a
mountain pass and on a different Island to the owners of the vehicle.
Lifted the bonnet and though I couldn't put my finger on it something
was missing till it occurred to me there was no battery where it
should be, closer examination found it hanging upside down from its
leads with the electrolyte dripping from a loose cap like blood from
a wound.
Placed the battery back where it should be and refilled it with water
from a nearby lake. Turned key and still no go and the cranking now
very slow, looking again I then noticed the distributor looked wet and
realised some of the electrolyte had poured over it so set forth with
some loo roll to clean it. Like that last cartridge start in " Flight
of the Phoenix" there was probably only enough life left in the
battery for one attempt and it cranked agonisingly slowly
before the engine fired though only on 3 cylinders. That was good
enough and I briskly but roughly pushed on to Killarney upsetting a
load of Jaunting carts full of fat Americans wearing strangely
patterned trousers coming the other way some operators waved their
whips at a sign whose counterpart was missing at the other end of the
pass that suggested motor vehicles unconnected with the farms along
the pass were prohibited.
There I re cleaned the distributor, got the fourth cylinder back and
retired to a bar which turned out to have a small cinema in the back
where the film being shown was a pirate copy of The Boys From Brazil .

Since that I have always made sure a battery is held firmly.

G.Harman