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The engine is started with a hand crank,
and, unfortunately for Holcombe, he
seems to have the knack (that also
means muscle) for getting the 250-pound
flywheel rotating. Should braking be required, the high-gear lever is moved into neutral and then pushed forward. That tightens a band around a drum in the transmission that slows the car. There is also a foot pedal that does the same thing, except with the differential. Holcombe is the first to note that the Winton has anti-lock |
brakes, by which
he means the braking is so bad it is
impossible to lock
the brakes. The key
to successful stopping is to look far ahead
and try to anticipate. At intersections,
we wave to other vehicles to stay put
and then wave thanks as we trundle past. Near Colonie,N.Y., Wake has a bit too much, speed arriving at a light and we come within inches of ramming the rear of a Checker, a vehicle so substantial that its occupants would probably not have noticed the impact, until they saw us fiying over their |
windshield. We quickly develop a new appreciation of hills, which become the rulers of our motoring life. We have only 8 horsepower, one or two of which can be absent without leave at any time. The 1899 weighs about 1,200 pounds, and when you add two men, the slightest incline slows us. Uphill timing While some people are judges of horseflesh or used cars, we become experts at assessing upcoming hills and predicting whether we will be |
able to make it in high gear or
are likely to need a downshift. The
trick is to
time it just right so the
Winton is going slow enough that the lower
gear engages smoothly -- but not so slowly
that it stalls. A key to our uphill success is how well the 1899 is running each day. Like the people driving it, it has good days and baddays. Several times, I have to jump out to lighten the load. Somehow, it seems Wake is always driving when we need to lighten the load. Does he have this planned? |