Or Trunk Tools (‘Merican), or Accoutrement
da Coffre de Voiture (French) or Thingos (Australian) – enough of that…
(By the way, I added a write up about
the Trunk Kit, um..., Boot Kit in the “More Stuff” column to the right of the blog
pages, check it out.)
As I was cleaning, powder coating and/or
painting the “tire tools” - the lifting jack, “wheel brace” and starting
handle – I wondered if any of the other tools were moldered at the bottom of
the several boxes that came with Alphie.
Turns out, some indeed moldered.
I found the “Box Spanner and Tommy Bar," two of the “spanners,” and,
lucky for me, the tool roll in remarkably good nick! I decided Alphie could not survive without the
rest of his kit.
The Bits Clipped to the Boot Wall: I bead blasted, painted and dipped all the
clips in Plasti Dip, just so you’ll know.
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| This stuff looks just like the clips' original coating |
Lifting Jack: (love this term!)
Here in the colonies, we “jack up” a car, the “lifting” is implied. Apparently one “lifts” a motor with a “lifting
jack” in England. Rootes gave us two
variations, both made by Shelly in England: Series V Alpines got a 19” version painted
grey, while Series I-IV got a 20” black version. Oddly enough, I have one of each.
I suspect that many-a new Alpine
owners stopped at a parts store on the way home from the dealership to grab a
jack that was up to the task because these rickety little gems are not! Both of mine were bent from probably doing
what they were intended to do.
It would take a truly trepidatious
roadside repair for me to trust a Rootes lifting jack. On a flat and level concrete car park (parking
lot), they are at best, wobbly. Never
get under a Sunbeam precariously teetering on a Roots lifting jack! Mine is strictly for show; buy yourself a scissor
jack at least.
I completely disassembled the black
one, bead blasted it, straightened it (more work than it sounds), powder coated
it, greased and reassembled it. It’s better
than it ever was, but still, don’t use these things!
Wheel Brace: A thoroughly British term for tire (tyre) iron
(pronounced “arn” in my neck of the holler) that I stumbled across that term while
researching this dribble. Yeah, I had never
heard it called a “wheel brace” before. Oh,
it also serves as the lifting jack crank.
Again, the Rootes crew gave us two versions:
the first had a smaller diameter. Later Alpines
got a thicker, presumably stronger one.
I have learned that some of the later ones were a bit longer too. Mine appears to be the later version, but I
don’t have an early version for comparison.
Starting Handle: Across the pond, no (American) car (that I
know of anyway) since the 1930’s included a starting handle for hand cranking/starting
a car. The Model T Ford famously would
break arms if a hapless sap locked an elbow during cranking operations and it
backfired. The Alpine handle has a
one-way engaging mechanism that releases if the crankshaft snaps backwards, but
still, be careful.
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| All clipped in. I'll update the pic with the hammer when it gets here. |
Wire Wheel Hammer: I have this on order from Classic Sunbeam,
but I will never use it (at least to loosen knock-off spinners). Made by Thor, the hammer either has two copper
striking surfaces or one copper and one raw hide. The variation seems to have been dictated more
by supply than specification. Early
Alpines seemed to have the copper/copper hammer while later got the copper/raw
hide ones. |
| I won't use it, but it's a nice banger |
I will make a wooden “wrench” for my
spinners. I refuse to bang away on new
(or re-chromed) spinners with a hammer!
Along with the kit clipped to the
back wall of the boot, Rootes included a handy tool roll with an assortment of trinkets
for your roadside emergencies.
The Tool (Kit) Roll: The tool roll itself deteriorated quickly in
many Alpine boots, so original ones in good nick are difficult to find. Mine, however, was nearly pristine. (Someone made reproductions in the past, and
mine may be one of them, hard to say since there are no markings on it or the
originals.)
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| Back with cotton tie strap |
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| Inside - It folds and rolls like a burrito |
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| A Tool Burrito |
It has four sleeves, one of which is
bisected by the heat weld for cotton tie strap on the back. The smaller bits, the distributor key, tyre
(tire) valve tool and valve gauge (feeler gauges to the Yanks) live in the
smaller pockets.
Per usual, early Alpines got canvas
tool rolls while later series got plastic ones, mine’s plastic.
Distributor Key: Lucas combined a screwdriver and points gap gauge
in a clever key shaped tool. Riveted to
the shank of the key is a pivoting gap gauge for gapping the points. My first thought was that each corner of the key’s
triangle top were different thicknesses, one .014” and the other .016” since
that is how they are marked, but my micrometer says that both corners are .006”
thick. Maybe the .014” and .016” is so we
can remember what the points gap and/or spark plug gap should be, dunno…
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| It's cute and clever, but not a great tool |
Maybe not a trepidations roadside
repair, but certainly a desperate one would see me reaching for the distributor
key. It’s cute, but not very effective,
maybe as a points gauge, but I replaced the points in Alphie, so now it’s cute
and obsolete.
Valve and Spark Plug Gauge: Since the distributor keys is no good for
gapping the spark plugs, Rootes tossed in a gauge for gapping spark plugs and
valves. It has three gauges, presumably,
since I don’t have one and can’t check, the third gauge is the same as the
points gap gauge.
I tossed in a small extra set of
feeler gauges I had to fill in until I can find an original set. I hear they are hard to find.
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| Not original, but it will do for now |
Tyre Valve Key: A little brass
doohickey for unscrewing the Schrader valve in the tire valve. Early Alpines were lucky enough to get a
brass one, while later ones only merited a plastic one. I got the brass one because, it’s brass and
less likely to break or dry rot, besides, only the best for Alphie.
 |
| These are EASILY lost! |
Spanner (Adjustable): The brand is “King Dick,” that’s enough
for me, Alphie needs a King Dick! Mine
is 6” long and apparently the Rootes kit had a less impressive 4” one, but like
I said, Alphie needs a King Dick! |
| Six inches of KING DICK! |
Pliers: The TW (brand apparently) pliers has built-in
wire cutters because there is a more than passing chance that Alpine drivers
will need to do electrical repairs on the side of the road. |
| With the all-important wire cutters |
Spanners: There is some debate as to whether the kit
had four or five spanners, four was apparently more common. The “Superslim”
(brand) spanners came in a bewildering array of sizes: British Standard Whitworth
(BSW), British Standard Fine (BSF) (sized for the thread count fer cryin’ out
loud), British Association (BA) and “Across Flats” (AF), sized by the distance
between the flat areas of the wrench’s mouth, the American Way!
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| SUPERSLIM spanners with all manner of size designations |
Can you imagine screaming at someone
to fetch you a 5/16 BSW 3/8 BSF (which are the same size, by the way) from
under a car whilst shakily keeping the starter from smashing your nose? Sheez!
The ones in the kits were AF: 13/16"
x 11/16" - 3/4" x 5/8" - 11/16" x 19/32" - 9/16"
x 1/2". Two of mine are marked with
BSW and BSF fractions (which I still have no idea which is the actual size!) so
they are not original, but close enough.
Box Spanner & Tommy Bar: The
box spanner is for removing and installing sparkplugs. It’s a serviceable tool, but if not on the
side of the road somewhere, use a regular spark plug socket. The Tommy Bar is the little piece of steel
rod used to twist the box spanner.
Gratuitous British Slang Tidbit: The name “Tommy” came from German soldiers
calling out “Tommy” across the trenches when they talked to a British soldier during
WWI. The name could have also adhered to
the British from a Private named Tommy Atkins who after being terribly wounded supposedly
said, "It's all right, sir. It's all in a day's work" and died
shortly after.
 |
Box spanner with a Tommy Bar
(short for British bar, apparently) |
Screwdriver: The kit came with a 10” wooden handled flat
head screwdriver, much more effective for diddling with the distributor and
points. There was no brand name, and
mine is neither the right size nor handle shape, but it will do until I find
one that looks right. |
| My stand-in wooden handled screwdriver |
The Strap: I bought the stuff for a new strap, the cotton webbing, slide buckle and finishing clip. I have the stuff for a 1 1/2" strap, but from the pics I've seen on the internet, it looks like 1" webbing. More later.
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| The buckle is the wrong shape and the strap may be too wide, but... |
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| Change of Plans |
Change of Plans, at least for the strap. After looking at many boot pics in the interweb, I decided the original strap was probably a 1 inch strap. So, I found some 1 inch end clips, a 1 inch buckle and rethought the strap. The buckle is still wrong, the original is a weird "H" shape deal and i have no idea what color the strap is. A reproduction strap (no long available) I found online, is blacl, but the pics of (what I think are) original straps, they are dirty, but clearly not black. The buckles and end clips are usually rusty, so I can't be sure if they were chrome, black or some other color.
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| A strapping young strap! (sorry:( |
Other gadgets that came in some
Sunbeam kits: Differently equipped cars
came with different tools.
Nave Plate Extractor: A pretentious name for a piece of flat steel
with a lip to remove the chrome wheel surrounds and hub caps. Alphie had wire wheels so didn’t get one of
these.
Oil Sump (plug) Wrench: It’s just a ½” Allen wrench. Some Alpines had recessed oil pan plugs.
Knock-Off Spanner: Some wire
wheels had octagonal hub nuts (as opposed to winged hub nuts).
Grease Gun: Yep, Series I & II’s got a grease gun to
spread goo all over whatever was in the boot, in case, you know, you wanted to
stop on the road somewhere for a quick regrease of the front suspension. Makes you wonder why they stopped including
these in the kits.
Stuff I Added: To recreate
the authentic booty kit of 60 years ago, I threw in an extra set of points
(because a bad set of points was often why you found yourself on the side of the
road) and a spare spark plug, mainly because I had a 40+-year-old brand new
one.
