This year’s tinker day fell later in the year than usual. Our 2012 event calendar has been so full, that this annual event kept being pushed back all the way into late June. Summer had arrived, living up to its central Alabama reputation. Hamer’s garage provided much better shade than the best of shade trees, and the 8:00AM start helped, but it was still warm. Having done this a time or two before, Hamer had bottled water and Gatorade iced down for us.
If you’re new to the club, this is the day that Hamer Phillips generously opens his shop up to those members who need to do some minor repairs to their little British cars. This was my first visit to Hamer’s shop so he gave me a tour, including his works-in-progress, project cars, and his bone yard of parts cars. Lining the walls were scores of reusable parts neatly sorted by doors, windscreens, transmissions, steering wheels, bonnets and boot decks.
This year’s tinkerers included: Brandon, Andy, Russell, David, Bill, Blitz, James, Doc Peden, Pam, and of course, Hamer. Brandon was first in line for the lift to replace Iris’ reverse light switch — more by feel than sight. The old switch failed the bench test and the new switch passed, so in it went, reusing the washer/gasket from the original. Andy helped with the light.
Next in was James with his ’95 XJS. James used the shop’s compressed air to clear the radiator of a seventeen year accumulation of dirt, bugs, and other debris. He also mounted the front license plate he used while stationed in England. While James and Blitz were working on the Jag, Doc Peden arrived in his ’84 Rolls Royce Corniche. He had removed the plastic windscreen washer reservoir to repair a crack. The part had already been repaired with a liberal application of silicon. Doc’s problem was that the opening that it came out of had “shrunk” and he couldn’t get the bottle back into position. While Blitz diagnosed an exhaust leak, David went to work removing the Roll’s brackets and braces to refit the plastic bottle. Replacing the bolts, washers and nuts turned out to be a bit more difficult with the bottle back in place, but David persevered to complete the task. Since Pam wasn’t using her air allocation this year, Hamer inflated Doc’s front right tire to the correct pressure.
Pam had some more involved body and interior issues on her MGBGT, and was looking for some outsourcing suggestions. The rest of us were there to offer our free advice and consult on the most challenging project of the day — where to go for lunch. Bill first suggested “No Way, Jose’s”. Following a protracted discussion of alternate restaurants and how to get to each, we decided to go to … “No Way, Jose’s”. Lalage joined us there for lunch.
Special thanks to Hamer for the use of his shop, for sharing his expertise, and for replacing the tools it took us all morning to remove.
Russell