Inspired by James May's (Captain Slow)The Reassembler tv show on Monday night when he put together a Suffolk Colt motor mower. I decided to pull out a spare engine for one of these I had in the shed & get it running. No spark, so off with flywheel & checked contact breaker & connections. After a bit of a clean up I got a spark but HT lead was a bit short & looking worse for wear so I decided to take a trip into town and buy a replacement.
Went first to my local Wilco car discount parts shop.
Me: One metre of HT lead please.
Assistant: Sorry sir we only do complete sets for cars, what make is yours?
Me: Its not for my car but a lawn mower, dont you keep this on a reel & sell it by the metre?
Assistant: No sir, no call for it like that these days
Me:What about the classic car & motorcycle owners, they want this stuff.
So left this shop & went 5 miles to the local branch of Ernest Doe the local horticultural/agricultural dealer. They must have it I thought, all those lawn mowers, strimmers chainsaws, hedgetrimmers etc.
Doe assistant: Sorry sir we only stock the replacement leads for individual machines.
Me: But surely you must get the occasional obsolete mower in for overhall & need to make up a lead.
At this point an old hand from the workshop came by & heard the conversation. "Think we have some out the back Fred"
Doe assistant: Hold on sir I think we may have some.
Couple of mins later he came back with half a roll of black HT cable, "Looks like we have some after all, Bert's been with us a long time & remembered that we had a roll for workshop use".
Me: How much is it?
Assistant: 70p per metre.
Me: Thanks ill have 2 metres please (never know when I might need some more for the Greeves or the engine on my mower).
What is the world coming to, all these classic cars, bikes & old lawn mowers out there yet no one stocks HT lead by the metre anymore. Yes I know you can buy it on line, but not long ago every garage stocked it.
Looking on line a replacement HT lead for a Suffolk engine only comes complete with coil & condenser at £48.48 http://www.gardenhirespares.co.uk/basket nuff said
Went first to my local Wilco car discount parts shop.
Me: One metre of HT lead please.
Assistant: Sorry sir we only do complete sets for cars, what make is yours?
Me: Its not for my car but a lawn mower, dont you keep this on a reel & sell it by the metre?
Assistant: No sir, no call for it like that these days
Me:What about the classic car & motorcycle owners, they want this stuff.
So left this shop & went 5 miles to the local branch of Ernest Doe the local horticultural/agricultural dealer. They must have it I thought, all those lawn mowers, strimmers chainsaws, hedgetrimmers etc.
Doe assistant: Sorry sir we only stock the replacement leads for individual machines.
Me: But surely you must get the occasional obsolete mower in for overhall & need to make up a lead.
At this point an old hand from the workshop came by & heard the conversation. "Think we have some out the back Fred"
Doe assistant: Hold on sir I think we may have some.
Couple of mins later he came back with half a roll of black HT cable, "Looks like we have some after all, Bert's been with us a long time & remembered that we had a roll for workshop use".
Me: How much is it?
Assistant: 70p per metre.
Me: Thanks ill have 2 metres please (never know when I might need some more for the Greeves or the engine on my mower).
What is the world coming to, all these classic cars, bikes & old lawn mowers out there yet no one stocks HT lead by the metre anymore. Yes I know you can buy it on line, but not long ago every garage stocked it.
Looking on line a replacement HT lead for a Suffolk engine only comes complete with coil & condenser at £48.48 http://www.gardenhirespares.co.uk/basket nuff said
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