[B]Why You ALWAYS Use the ACC Position On The Ignition Switch [/B]
To tfreeman 84 and the rest of the group;
As I sat around today and thought about the burned points in the CJ-2, I remembered something that happened in my youth that really does tie into your point problem. It is a good story, and while it really isn't a Jeep story - maybe folks will enjoy it.
Way back in the spring of 1963, Senior year of high school, a young couple; let’s call them Leroy and Betty Sue (so no gets too embarrassed) decided to go out on a beautiful Saturday evening. The honeysuckles were blooming, the air was soft and warm and it was a great time to go out for a little teenage time together.
Leroy and Betty Sue decided to go out and watch the lake. The lake was about 30 miles, but Leroy’s old Ford made that just about next door. They took off down highway 70, out onto Birdsong Creek Road, then onto the gravel at Adams Lane Cutoff. A couple of miles down Adams Lane Cutoff was a little turnout, overlooking Kentucky Lake – ‘way off the road.
Leroy and Betty Sue settled in for an evening of watching the submarine races. They turned on the radio and listened to WLS Chicago (“The Might 890”); Tennessee’s most popular evening radio station. They watched the heat races, they watched the elimination races and after the evening feature race, about 11:30 – it was time to get Betty Sue home by midnight.
Leroy cranked the old Ford. It cranked and cranked, but wouldn’t start. Now that old flathead V-8 took a lot of amps to turn it over, and the old 6-volt system didn’t have all that much cranking reserve in it. Pretty soon, all that was left in the battery was just enough juice to make the lights glow just a little.
Betty Sue asked, “What are we going to do. Daddy is going to kill me”.
Leroy suggested “You stay here and I’ll go find someone to give us a ride”.
As you might suspect, Betty Sue wasn’t about to stay in a dark car out by the lake while Leroy wandered who knows where trying to find a ride. So, they took off walking. What had seemed to be just a short ride on the way in was a long walk in the dark going back. Thirty miles is a long way from home when you’re walking. And, after midnight on an early Sunday morning, there just aren’t people out and about on West Tennessee backroads.
They actually walked for about an hour and a half and got back to Birdsong Road about 1:30 in the morning. For another 30 minutes, no cars passed – Leroy really wanted to get a ride somehow. Then, about 2:00 AM, a set of lights appeared. Leroy stood out in the road and waved the car down. About a quarter mile away, the bubble gum light on top of the car lit off – it was a Sheriff’s car.
The deputy pulled up and asked, “Are you Leroy and Betty Sue”.
“Yep”, was the answer.
“Well, your folks have had us looking for you for the last hour or so. Get in the back”.
The Deputy radioed into the dispatcher and reported that “I found those two kids”. Dispatch told the deputy to take them to Betty Sue’s house; both families were waiting there until they were found.
When the car pulled into Betty Sue’s lane, there were both sets of parents and Betty Sue’s two brothers standing on the porch. The deputy let them out of the car and told them “Y’all have a nice morning now”. It’s beyond the scope of this story to describe the next couple of hours, but “… have a nice morning …” was a real unlikely way to describe them.
Everyone finally went home. About 6:30 Leroy’s dad pulled him (almost literally) out of bed and said “Get some clothes on and let’s go get that car”. The truck ride out to the submarine racetrack was pretty quiet – kind of strained even. Leroy drove the car back on the end of a log chain and even managed not to ram Dad’s truck in the rear end on the way home.
When they got the Ford home, Dad said “Let’s see what you did to it”. It only took Dad about fifteen minutes to find the points welded together. Of course Leroy had just shut off the ignition and they had sat there listening to the radio, with the points closed, for an hour or so.
Now, Leroy shared the technical information he learned from that experience with a lot of us, and afterwards we were VERY careful how we shut things down, even if we were just sitting behind the local teenage hangout after the ballgame.
Technology has progressed and most people, even like me, have forgotten little tricks like that. But, to this day I’ll bet Leroy always looks for the accessory position when he just wants to listen to the radio. (Oh, by the way, Leroy and Betty Sue will soon celebrate their 50th Anniversary).
And, that’s a fact.
Y’all have a nice day.
