Tom,
I too have covetously admired those luggage racks at past Celina
gatherings, and a wide variety of sizes and shapes are available as used
original/aftermarket and new aftermarket items for British sportscars
like MGs and Triumph Spitfires from a number of firms specializing in
classic British car parts and accessories, through eBay, and also from
the J.C. Whitney catalog, if memory serves. The reason I specifically
mention "used" ones is that if you can find a really nice old one, say
on eBay, the quality of its chrome will typically tend to be far
robuster on those bolt-on accessories of yore than on today's buffet of
thin-skinned Hunan Delights, which'll happily rust away right in the
box, let alone riding on your dripping Amphi's rump. (Yeah, I know:
"ewwww!...Damn, Bilgey!")
On a related note, and with reference to a recent previous discussion on
the matter of spare tires that appeared on this list, I have pleasure in
attaching a photo I took yesterday here in Germany of Ren? Pohl's own
super-elegant space-saving spare solution, which affords far more
luggage space. He has essentially ground off the welds of an original
Amphicar wheel that held the center to the rim, and then welded that
center onto the rim of an old Renault A4 "donut tire spare" from a junk
yard whose center had also been removed. Naturally, Renault donut
spares are not the only ones that'll work. The choice at the junkyard
was just sort of "eyeballed" by him for fit. Ren? also advises that the
resulting spare should really be used ONLY on the front, since your
differential won't like that smaller diameter wheel back there at all.
So, if you had a flat in the rear, you'd want to swap the front tire on
that side back there, and then use the donut spare for the front. Not a
big deal, if you think about it, since the jack raises that whole side
of the Amphi anyhow. Sure, it's a little odd...a little bit "Hunchback
of Notre Dame on a Road Trip" (as in, "I loved the fair Esmerelda, but
she didn't like my hump!"), but it'll get you home when a spray can (or
two...or five) of fix-a-flat won't, weighs a bit less than the original
spare, and will give you a LOT more room for your gear up front, as you
can see in the pic.
Among the many many other sensible little refinements of Ren?'s Amphi
that pertain just to the front luggage area, as shown in the second
attached photo, you'll also find that he has welded up that always-leaky
gas tank filler cap and instead has run a fill spout out to the top of
the fender outside, just forward of the windshield, with a very tidy
looking marine screw-in-cap type fill port; and even more interestingly,
has somehow fitted a sort of Euro-style bicycle tire valve (called, I
believe, a "Presta valve"?) to a rubber tube that runs right into the
top deck lid (i.e. hood) seal. He can then lightly inflate this seal,
which in Ren?'s car's case, like some others (but not mine). is after
all just a long flattened hollow rubber tube, kinda like you'd find in a
bicycle tire, but just longer. So, between the exterior gas fill, the
sealed one within that simply cannot leak and the inflatable
super-sealing pneumatic hood seal, Ren? and family can show up after a
long drive to Maibeerensee (i.e. Mayberry Lake), take a little Amphi dip
in the lake, arrive at the hotel, grab their luggage--more than you or I
can haul--and all their clothes within will NOT be damp and smell like
Goober's gasoline-washed shorts.
It never ceases to amaze me how well these German Amphi Club folks like
Ren? have it all down cold technically and practically speaking with
these rides we love. I mean, by a show of hands, how many of YOU North
American types have made your own donut spare tire or have little
inflatable tire valves inserted provocatively into your rubber thingees?
Eh? Well yeah OK, except for you Dave the Wave....That's what I
thought.
I'll be meeting again next weekend with other German club members to
experience new wonders. Full report to follow in a forthcoming issue of
Wheels-n-Waves.
Enjoy!
Bilgey ("Der Kielraummeister")
On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 5:38 am, Thomas Laferriere wrote:
> Anyone using luggage racks on the engine cover? If so, what is it
> from? I have seen them in photos. I need the room.
>
> I did a search on this and didnt see anything.
>
> Thanks,
> Tom Laferriere
>
>
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