idiot proof

I'll admit that lately I've been running on fumes.
There are a couple simple things I've spaced out on.

CHIEF
1929 ford roadster pickup

Nothing major like walking around with no clothes on,
or forgetting to wipe my ass.
It's little things that have the potential for bad consequences.

ford 8ba flathead

Yesterday I decided to drive the roadster pickup to the shop.
It was a nice day and the light drizzles of the week had stopped.
Well I go to start it up,
and notice immediately the ignition switch was on.
HOLEY CHIT...

chief on dash

I'm not a big fan of keys,
so there's a series of toggle switches to start the car - fuel, ignition ...

The other day when I was screwing with the 40 engine fiasco,
I had noticed what I thought was a cracked spark plug.
It was easy to throw it on the pickups wire and crank it to see if it worked.
Of course I forgot to shut off the switch.

mallory ignition system
cheesy spark plug wires

The ignition is an old hot rod setup,
a Mallory dual point distributor and a Mallory BEST coil.
Anyone that's done a genius maneuver like this,
will know that something burns up - coil, points, condenser...

charging dual 6-volt optimas

This is a 6-volt system using dual Optima batteries,
and this wasn't the first time I've killed them.
so I wasn't too worried about them coming back.

The nagging worry all day yesterday was hoping I didn't ruin the ignition system.

chief lives

This morning I went out expecting the worst.
(I had already imagined cutting up the coil and putting a new 6-volt one inside.)

I got lucky.
It ran!
What a relief.

TP