Re: 16 November 1965


"Peter Clarke" <peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:dleqjm$48r$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> This was the coldest mid- November day that I can remember. The easterly
> wind was blowing at almost gale force, whistling round the office building
> where I worked, the temperature hovered around freezing point all day and
> occasional snow flurries descended from an overcast sky. A few days later
> ,on 22 November, snow fell heavily in the afternoon for about 2 hours,
> producing a good snowcover - a rare event for November in this part of
> England. The winter which followed was fairly uneventful apart from a
> freezing rain event on 20 January 1966.
> All this would have produced plenty of comment on the NG if it had
> occurred now.
>
> Peter Clarke
> Ewell, Epsom 55m

Peter I remember parts of that snowfall well. My dad had a Morris Minor
(split windscreen version ) and the battery had gone flat - we tend to
forget how unreliable cars were those days. Anyhow the car had broken down
about a mile away from the house so my job was to go and collect the battery
and then take it back when charged.
My over riding memories are how exciting it was to have snow before
Christmas, how bloody cold it was with my hands becoming numb very readily,
the slate grey sky on a freezing cold day and finally my Dad cursing as he
kept dropping his spanner into the snow. Those batteries not only had to
turn the engine but the fan as well, add to that the old style distributors
it was a miracle the car started under such conditions. In fact, once
started it would take twenty minutes with the choke out just the warm the
thing up whilst crossing your fingers in hope.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Question about Auto batteries
    ... Looking around on the net, the freezing point of sulphuric acid, seems to be around the -20C mark depending on concentration, so that might be why batteries don't typically freeze here, but what happens when these things are in use up in the north of Canada or wherever? ... Does a frozen battery cease to produce any current at all, and does it recover if left to unfreeze? ... Also pertinent to your question - when a battery gets cold, its terminal voltage drops, so it won't crank a car engine as well. ... Unfortunately a car engine is harder to crank when it is cold, so these two things are moving in opposite directions, with the result that a car can be very hard to start on a cold morning. ...
    (sci.electronics.repair)
  • My Own Personal Grocery Angel (OT, but no politics)
    ... stopped at Macaroni Grill to pick up dinner. ... I returned to the car, only to discover that it wouldn't start. ... use her battery for a jump with my cables that I keep in the back of the ... I spotted an abandoned shopping cart that was resting against the curb ...
    (rec.sport.golf)
  • Re: My Own Personal Grocery Angel (OT, but no politics)
    ... bare cupboards, and had a whole carload of groceries, many of them ... stopped at Macaroni Grill to pick up dinner. ... I returned to the car, only to discover that it wouldn't start. ... use her battery for a jump with my cables that I keep in the back of the ...
    (rec.sport.golf)
  • Re: My Own Personal Grocery Angel (OT, but no politics)
    ... Tonight Mulligan and I went to Kroger to replenish what had become mostly ... You might think that my having a car full of fresh groceries ... I returned to the car, only to discover that it wouldn't start. ... use her battery for a jump with my cables that I keep in the back of the ...
    (rec.sport.golf)
  • Re: OT: More on gas prices
    ... was working on an interesting sort of hybrid car. ... electricity for the electric engine. ... EV-1 motors (from the first production electric car in the mid-90's) ... And another downside is the enormous cost of replacing a battery. ...
    (alt.sports.baseball.bos-redsox)
Loading