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An Easters tale with a moral.
I wanted to do work with seat covers so that in future I could recover seats without having to send them away and get others to do the job for me.
So having talked this over with my dearly beloved, we decided I could use her skills and her mothers old Frister & Rossmann 502, not a development of the well known Moto Morini 501 but a Japanese Sewing Machine with a European sounding name.
First off the machine runs slow, oh so slow . Looking inside, it appeared to be gunged up with old oil and material dust. What to clean it with. Carb Cleaner will do I thought.
So Christine toodles off to the shops and I decide to use my engineering skills to make the beast fly.
I got well prepared and even got newspaper and rags under the machine to catch the residue of my labours.
Stripped the casings off, whipped out the carb cleaner and got to work. So much mucky stuff came out but was aptly caught by rags. Replaced the casings and went to wash my hands before I cleaned the machine down and fired her up.
Whilst in the kitchen I saw a large pot that needed washing so left the tap on to fill the pot and went back to see my handy work.
Plugged the machine into the mains and let rip with the foot pedal, wow did she fly......... Whooomph. The carb cleaner ignited together with the rags and paper, don't panic, so I removed the plug lifted the machine off the rags and opened the door, Whoomph. Don't panic, grabbed the flames and all and shoved them outside and closed the door.
No problem there then. Cleaned the area down before the wife got back, quick, quick.
Hi! confessions abound, but your mothers machine is now fine dear look I'll show you. Whoomph! still a residue of carb cleaner in the motor I guess. No matter listen to her go.
Is that dripping I can hear, Dear?
Fire and water, fire and water......................................................

George;

And the moral of the tale? Boys don't multi-task... you just shouldn't have gone to put the tap on!

Nice story though,

CC

Next time make sure you always have an adult with you.

Moral of the story - never enter the female domain - stay in the man cave.... (hold on, a knock on the door, the police have come to arrest me)....

The moral I think to this one, is that she has traded the Frister for a 1958 Singer 185K, not being over enamoured with my engineering skills.
Lovely little machine, made in Scotland and strong enough for me NOT to break.
It's old enough not to have an MOT even. Just a little wary about the how flammable the wooden base may be.
Anyone for another, whilst I'm in the chair?

I had a Suzuki 185 -

That's not another Japanese sewing machine joke is it?
Just to mention that this is not going well, just ordered a new motor for the Singer. Hopefully it's just an in out job with no frame to powder coat.

Buy an Excalibur and put a 501 in it...

I didn't know if I should start a new thread here as the Frister has put in the attic. Oopps!

Anyway to put all your minds at rest, a new motor has arrived and has been fitted to the Singer, without incident.
The machine now has a healthier note and instant response.
So the cut down seat I got from Hans in Holland, "Hans across the sea", can now have it's new cover sewn, I think Red and Green vinyl will suit.
Watch this space for further photos of the new "easy reach" Camel seat.
Thanks for cutting the seat down for me Hans. When I stripped the old fabric off I saw someone must have had the same idea as me. Unfortunately they put the cover back on with tin tacks. These have now been removed and the seat repaired with fibre glass and a new bracket made for the rear.

Vinyl has become an issue now in the garage, I've taken to covering everything in it, even my 'C GT'. Now were is that Cooking Fat.

A C GT - the one that weighs 2 tons at the front because of the 3 litre truck engine and no room for real suspension?

That's her, Robertina, perhaps.
And I won't be putting photo up without her hat on! but I promise to show you her insides.
Not a Sports car, more a Grand Tourer. It reads 2 Kings 9 20.

My MG was Pre-Bologna Days, I did a lot of work to this car, the engine came out for a strip down when I got it, 5 years ago. That was no mean feat, the gearbox has to come out with the engine and on the end is the overdrive. The unfortunate part is that when I had finished her, 3rd gear failed and I had to the same again.
MGB Hive fixed the gearbox for me as I was not happy to rely upon my skills for that. Anyway we are all learning all the time.
This MG does 3K a year, last we went to Brittany in her, but you should know it's a long way to Dover from Cumbria, so a lot of last years was on the M'way south.
She has also been to the Assen TT, and been admired by lot of Dutch motorcyclists.
As usual it's something I could only dream about when I was a lad, but I've got one now.
Sorry about all the twaddle, but I normally talk like this in the pub.