A best friend of my
brother had an old MG car. Looking back on it now it was a piece of junk, but I
thought it was beautiful. Eugene always had to fix and repair something on it.
One afternoon the front bumper that had been unattached on one side and was always
at an angle to the front of the car fell off.
Eugene said no problem, he would weld it back on, but he
needed me and my brother to help. The three of us hopped in the two-seater with
the bumper and went to his house. He got 3 six volt batteries out of their barn
and three sets of jumper cables and a brazing rod. Eugene disconnected the car
battery in his MG. He said he did not want to fry the wiring in the car any
more than it already was. (That’s a story in itself ) He used the jumper cables
to connect the six volt batteries in series, then attached one of the cables to
a metal part of the car for a ground and put the brazing rod in the clamp of
the jumper cable. He then had my brother and I hold the bumper in place. He did
give us heavy welder’s gloves, but that was only as a second thought. Then he
put on a welder’s eye shield and he tack welded the bumper back on the car.
I was totally impressed. I did not think that it would be
possible to weld with just batteries. He corrected me and said that what he had
done was brazing, not welding, but you could weld the same way. He said brazing
was not as strong, and he had the brazing rod.
He said that it was the all the amps the 3 batteries had together that
could produce enough heat to do the job.
About a week later Eugene’s Mom borrowed the MG to make a
quick run to the grocery store for something.
When she came home the bumper was in the passenger seat and she told
Eugene she did not know what had happened. She said when she got in the car and
shut the car door the bumper fell off. She said someone must have hit the car
when she was shopping and broke the bumper. She said she would pay to have it
put back on.
Eugene told us to keep our mouths shut!
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