Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/94269
CHANGING LANES Bloody KnucklesBy Peter D. DuPre Although I am old enough to remember when heaters were considered optional equipment in cars and pickups, it has been many a long year since I have had to do without one. Thankfully, Ol' Red, my aging Jeep Wrangler has a working heater that delivers enough warmth to keep reasonably comfortable on cold winter days – provided that the outside temperature isn't too much below the freezing level. However, Ol' Red isn't my only vehicle, although it is my favorite and my most reliable. Regular readers of this column may also remember that deep in the bowels of my dusty garage (better known as King Tut's Tomb) is a mid-1970s MGB in mid restoration. It had been my plan to get the roadster up and running for this past summer, but life once again got in the way. The car still sits on jack stands in the center of the tomb and surrounded by all the 34 HEAT IS WHAT I NEED necessaries that it will need in the next (Assuming that I live long enough!). In a way, I'm kind of glad that I didn't get the old roadster on the road this summer because I would be driving it in the cool autumn weather without a working heater. I was puttering around in the engine compartment a couple of months ago, getting the car ready to receive its newly rebuilt engine and decided to remove the heater box and repaint it as a part of the restoration. For some reason I hadn't bothered to check the condition of the box before and when it was removed I was shocked to discover that it was a corroded and rust- laden mess. Of course you couldn't see the damage until the box was removed from the car and then it was all too obvious. The heater core inside was toast and had leaked all over the box interior, creating a mess. DECEMBER 2012 // WWW.CHANGINGLANESDIGITAL.COM