V8 cylinder firing order

[vtsteam]

2 out of 3 Mike! But the last was missing and I was sure you would get it. To get into overdrive the shifter had to be down hard on the tunnel, and there was an ordinary toggle switch in the dash, that you flipped.

This vehicle was VERY low to the ground. So much so that just going over the entry ramp at a gas station would knock my exhaust off sometimes! I got used to reattaching it fairly quickly. But the embarrassment factor was fairly high.

It had twin pipes which were, stock flexible tube off of the manifold. I often had a hard time convincing state inspection station mechancs that this was original, since flexible exhaust pipe was banned here. It had unusual lever arm shock absorbers that sat on pillars atop the front springs. Very hard to find replacements in the States. All in all an extremely impractical car in a Vermont winter, and yet...... it was mine! And I was very proud of it. After all, it cost $500 in real money.......well it was used of course!

I believe that if I still had it the price has gone up some....

[RReid]

Although I was the weird kid in high school who drove a clapped out Italian sports car rather than a clapped out V8 muscle car or truck, I have owned two V8 powered cars over the years. One a Jeep CJ-5 that a buddy and I swapped a Chevy 283 into, and a V8 Cornbinder Scout that I only put gas into. Also had one British sports car, a 1960 Tr-3. Didn't get seriously involved in engines themselves until after retirement, when I built a 1776cc VW motor using almost all new parts. Then found a '67 bug to put it into. A corner of that car shows up occasionally in some of my pics.

[vtsteam]

Oh I remember building V-dub engines! Fond memories of the JC Whitney catalog. Jugs and distributors, cams. That was our bible. I at one point I in the early 70's made a VW dune buggy with an orange fiberglass body, purchased from a for sale ad in the local paper . Also a foolish car in VT winters!  But fun.

Okay Mike one more hint. You were close with the MGC. Except mine was a 1959 vintage vehicle.

[Vixen]

1959, I was still a schoolboy.

The Big Healeys (Squeeeeeleys) were fitted with BMC C series engines, twin SU carbs, Laycock? overdrive and Armstrong lever arm shocks. The earliest Healeys had a weak back axle which were prone to stripping the splines off the half shafts. The interim 'fix' was a plate over the gear shift which prevented the selection of first gear. 

Was yours a late 100-6 or an early 3000? Either would be a handful on snow and ice 

Mike

[vtsteam]

Mike, it was a 3000 Mark I with the horizontal wavy grille bars.

I was a schoolboy, too, when it was made. I first owned it ten years later. $500 was a lot of money at the time, to me, but they seem to have appreciated since then about 100 times, which puts it well above inflation. I of course sold it for less than I bought it for two years later, and bought another Vee-dub.