21-05-2019, 08:27 PM
In 1974 I stopped at services on the M5 (Frankley just S of Birmingham I think) and checked the wheel nuts on my RP, to have a stud on the rear break. As I was on the way to Weymouth to join the Bristol Club holiday to the Gorges of Tarn in France and I had no spare with me this was a bit inconvenient. An interested AA man wandered over and offered membership and rescue which I of course refused. Instead I phoned my father at home in Walsall and gave him instructions as to where a wheel hub complete with studs could be found amongst the stock of spares and in due course he arrived with this. Meanwhile to the interest of the AA man I striped the offending hub off the car and refitted the replacement parts on their arrival. The AA man I remember told my father that he never thought I would fix that as he certainly couldn't have. But then nothing can stop you when you are 19. We made it down to the Med at Agde on that holiday and it was I think Ruairidh's first major Austin trip abroad. On this trip a a gearbox (not mine) was rebuilt by the roadside but that's not my story.