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MG MGA - New (Joke) deal on Ebay

Remember the Replacement Smoke for the Lucas Wiring? Well this looks like the next one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Generator-Austin-English-Unusual-As-New-Please-Look_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ80735QQitemZ4568677014QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
(Ebay Item #4568677014)

This item was referred to in an another post but it has the same look as the Smoke auction. I hope it will generate the same humerous questions and answers on the auction that the "replacement smoke" did. The guy had a great sense of humor.

That replacement smoke thing bid up to over a $1,000 before the seller pulled the ad. It had about a hundred really thoughtful questions for those that read them. No bids so far on the generator.

(I have a copy of the questions and answers on the Smoke auction in "doc" format if anybody missed the show. I will email it.)

Jim
Jim Ferguson

Unfortunately I don't think it's a joke.
Steve Simmons

I don't think it's a joke. The number (see my answer on Bob Jeffer's thread - T board -for more about the numbers) supersedes to 22449, which fits a number of late 40's cars. I have a 100-4 fan that looks like a 4 blade version of the one shown, and the pulley/fan mount is clearly a real part, a casting with a number. There were a lot of cars still using thermosiphon cooling, so no water pump to mount the fan on.
FRM
FR Millmore

Yup - I had a 1926 Chrysler 4 that had the generator and fan mounted above the head. No water pump, just thermo syphon.

Or on the other hand - The electrics on early aircraft were powered by a propellor driven dynano.

Or on the other hand again - I seem to remember a BOAC (BA?) 747 that flew into a volcanic ash cloud at night near Indonesia (?) and suffered a complete flame out of all engines. The crew managed to get things going again by using the slip stream powered generator fitted to the plane that was able to be manually lowered.


Cheers
ian F





Ian Fraser

Yup, it's no joke. My J-3 cub had a similar type generator on the wing strut.
Sandy Sanders
conrad sanders

I'd guess the only joke is the suggestion of using it on an automobile, especially one without a magneto ignition. You sure wouldn't get much charging action tooling around town at 25 to 30 MPH!

I did especially appreciate the seller correcting the grammar on one of his questioners, though. Using the contraction of 'it is' for the possesive is one of my big hangups - and don't even get me started on those folks who use 'bring' when they should say 'take'.

"If you go to the Olympics, bring your Visa card." Puuhhhleeeeze!! When you 'go', you 'take'!! <grin> - - Alec
Alec Darnall

I had a Luscomb 8A that had a wind driven generator mounted on the strut and it had a brake on it that could be applied from inside the cabin. It worked very well.

Cheers - Dennis
Dennis Rainey

>>You sure wouldn't get much charging action tooling around town at 25 to 30 MPH!

Alec, It's not wind powered, there is belt to the crankshaft on these.

Regards,
Koen
Koen

You might be surprised at what a few mph wind can do for a genrator. Back when I was a kid--my grandparents had an old automobile generator on a windmill that charged a bank of batteries that provided the electric power to light the barn. They said that at one time, before the war--it was their only source of electricity. Grandpa could even do light welding with those batteries.
R. L Carleen

The Phantom F4 I used to fly had a ram air turbine (RAT) that you stuck out in the airflow if you had a 'double genny' failure. If you were going a bit fast at the time (above 1.2M) the blades would fly off!

Steve
Steve Gyles

It could be from an auto application where the radiator was not centered on the engine and the generator happened to provide the best line up with the off-to-the-side radiator mounting.

A friend had an old Bristol with a radiator fan that looked a lot like the one in the photo. Could be from an aero application, too, tho.
Bob Muenchausen

Steve--Back in my prime--I changed out a few of those RAT's that oversped and threw their blades. Messed up the fuselage a bit, too--but those F-4'w were so thick skinned that mostly it was just gouges. They only had two blades, so It wasn't too bad. (Early USN planes had a small hydraulic pump connected to it as well.)
R. L Carleen

All of my F-4 RAT blades were shed in the simulator!! I was trying to remember if it also ran the hydraulics - I last flew it in 1980. I used to fly the RAF's FG1 which was bought for the Navy. It did not even have a battery, so a double genny failure at night was a bit sporting until you got the RAT out. I used to carry a small torch velcroed to my knee pad and shining at the instruments so I could at least see which up I was until the RAT sped up!
Steve Gyles

Our Navy F4s were configured the same way electically. Batteries caused too much corrosion as the electrolyte really sloshed around on takeoff and landings aboard ship. The hyd pump was only on the early A and B models--it slowed the generator too much and was removed. Our catastrophic RAT failures were mostly in combat--when getting back out over the water was paramount. Total electric failure on a Phantom would always be exciting--they didn't fly all that well without stability augmentation. Phantom Phlyers and Phixers are getting to be a rare breed.
R. L Carleen

I was a phantom phixer with VF 114 in 63-66. I am still in contact with quite a few phixers

HTTP://www.vf-114.org
Stan

Me--VF-14 & the Blues. Likewise keep in touch. What ship were you on back then--I was on the Roosevelt--same time frame.
R. L Carleen

I take my hat off to you guys who used to operate the carriers... I had my moments on 9000ft of concrete, not a few hundred feet of pitching metal on a black starless night.

The F4 was not my favorite aircraft from a pure flying point of view but it did carry a lot of fuel and weaponary, and at the end of the day it was ordnance over the target area that that counted. It was also built like a ship, having a keel.

FWIW it was an F4 from which I departed company on take-off with an electrics transient. Hit the runway backside first only very shortly after the chute opened and smashed my back-up. I would liken the experience to jumping off a 15ft high wall and hitting the ground in a sitting position - ouch. I mended (sort of) in 4 months, as did my GIB (Guy In Back or Navigator over here in the UK). I went on to fly the Tornado for 8 years and he went on to command a Brit sqn in the first Gulf War.

Hey, this is an MGA thread, but it makes a change to talk something else for a change!

Steve
Steve Gyles

Steel deck or concrete--the Phantom was the primo fighter of it's day. Whether you were a pilot, GIB or wrench-bender--it was a very demanding mistress. Those who were associated with it wear their scars proudly and regardless of nationality or branch of service, have a special bond--knowing that they were associated with a very special plane. Sorry to hear you had to join the caterpillar club, Steve--the goal of aviation is that takeoffs should always equal landings. I nearly had to leave an old Grumman Cougar 2 seater once at 12,000 ft. Fortunately, the emergency backup systems worked and we were able to make a safe (arrested--love that tailhook) landing ashore. I know firsthand that fate doesn't always allow for that. Phantoms Phorever.
R. L Carleen

Bob (it is Bob isn't it?)

Yes, got my caterpillar brooch (to qualify you have to have used an Irvine chute in anger). Also got the Martin Baker Tie (Ejector seat). But I missed out on the dinghy and locator beacon qualifications as I could not get them deployed in time before the ambulance arrived on the runway!

Steve
Steve Gyles

I'm betting it's an air driven generator for a de Havilland Tiger Moth or other British plane of that era. I had a friend who used to have a Moth. I flew it a few times. There was no Gypsy Major engine driven generator, but it had a battery and lights for night flight. The generator was attached to the landing gear. So far, it is WELL WORTH the bid price, but the reserve is higher.
Chuck Asbury

This thread was discussed between 16/08/2005 and 22/08/2005

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