Articles by Robert Morey

Greetings again, Jolly gang! It has been suggested to me by persons unnamed that my recent article “What Stops Us” was geared too much towards the possibilities of failure and that this circumstance is so rare (at least with the more handy side of our group!) I should focus now on what to carry in one’s cherished chariot, rumbler, love machine– whatever you call it– to enjoy a more complete motoring experience! Do I have suggestions for this, you query?  You bet your balaclava I do, so take notes– grab your Waterman fountain pen or your quill and well, let’s get started!

I’ve been asked many times by forward-thinking owners, “What tools and spare parts should I carry?” So, this morning I pulled all the invoices I could find in the rack that were marked “tow-in”, and here’s what I found. Modern cars (for my purposes those from the 90’s on), keeping in mind they represent about 1/3 to 1/2 of invoices depending on the season, actually are more likely to be towed in than classics! Why is that? I asked Dory the shop dog, and receiving  no intelligible answer beyond a suggestion that we play a little chase the ball, I read more deeply in the invoices. Starting with the modern cars I have 2 “wash downs” on 98 and 99 Jaguar sedans (this is a common failure on those cars that is easy to prevent, call if you need trick), […]

“What sayeth Robert to thou?” I sayeth, “There is great danger in the forum!” Caesar may have been the first guy you can think of that suffered in the forum, but that was Ancient Rome and we are more concerned with ancient grease!

I will, for the benefit of those with less than a master’s degree in mechanics, try to make this simple by breaking it down into categories by era… two very basic ones. All cars from the brass age (turn-of-the-century to about late-teens) until about the late 1960’s are of a simple enough nature that any part, no matter how complex by the standards of those bygone days, can be fashioned today by a competent small company if not by a talented individual. Those cars can — and often do — live forever! They are well supported in many cases by companies in the business of supplying those parts. Why? Because they can make them! The magazines are full of stories of epic mileages recorded by interesting cars (the 3 million mile Volvo, my 600 thousand mile TR4, the 900 thousand […]

Ok Let’s see… Random misfire and misfire on cylinder #11 … Looks like you need the basic ignition service. When would you like to do that? How much you ask? Oh, about $4,000. That was a nasty fall, can I help you up, get you some aspirin? Well of course I can break it down. Twelve spark plugs at $40.91 each, twelve coils at $157.56 each, a manifold gasket set at $407.36, and then around $900 labor …. How often?  Well, about every 25 or 30 thousand miles. Perhaps you should sit down again, you look faint. What I’m trying to point out here is that it’s possible to drive a spectacular car as your secondary “real car” for the kind of people that for instance left the 3 year old ‘Benz in the driveway this morning and drove the […]

Your “modern iron”, “rain car”, “grocery getter” or whatever you want to call it is turning you into a zombie! Yes it’s true, and a lazy one at that! Auto wipers, auto lights, seats that move at the touch of a button, navigation the responds to voice command! They even put controls right on the steering wheel so movement of your muscles is almost gone… Even the kids are not safe – the TV screens in your headrests are part of the evil plot. The kids won’t know what’s going on outside the car unless you feed the backup camera into the the TV headrests! And the list goes on. The start was the automatic transmission, and few took offense. But then they got the Zombie Plan up to speed – although electronically limited to prevent engine damage. Satellite navigation, […]

I’m sorry if this comes off as somewhat of a rant, but that’s because it is…. The act of diagnosing a running problem is not always simple; in fact, like a symphony it is most often NOT simple, and that very statement, “I’m sure it’s something simple,” made so many times by owners only serves to anger any mechanic. This statement belittles us and, if you must know, makes us more than a little upset! Imagine having someone tell you your job is simple! It’s like saying, “I could do this myself but I am taking pity on a wretch like you and will throw you a few sheckles from my lofty position, where I cannot be bothered with this trivial thing that is down at your level”… I am careful never to say this to anyone, not the computer […]

Once again we welcome Robert Morey of British Sports Car Consulting to our site with his story of The Wizard. Does this sound like someone familiar to us all? The Wizard sat still, trying to shake off the sluggish mind of sleep, trying to move slowly every little muscle starting at the toes and working up. This seemed the safest way to get all the old parts moving and prepare himself for a day of the new spells, “Ha the new spells!” What a far cry from the magic of his childhood, so sad an excuse for magic;  again he could not move. Sitting another 10 minutes and moving all the parts of his fingers, he finally got up for a small breakfast to stop the hunger. This simple act brought up the courage to get on with it; the […]

We welcome a new contributor today, Robert Morey of British Sports Car Consulting. Robert is a long time friend and car lover, and he brings us a remembrances of the old homestead and vintage cars. Hopefully Robert’s contributions will be a regular occurrence here, and your feedback and comments are both welcome and requested. There’s Always Better by Robert Morey I remember my great grandmother’s chairs. They were huge. Seemingly the size of a car, but perhaps this was due to my size as these are some of my earliest memories. The enormous overstuffed  chairs had comforters of the “grandma knitted them” variety draped over them in several layers, and this made the already over padded appearance even more inviting. Never mind the fact that those chairs were situated like the wagons of the Wild West around the also huge […]