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1^st Gear – Shift or Crunch  Until the late 1960s, most British cars had no synchronizer on first gear. This usually means a lot of loud (expensive!) noises as the driver tries to shift from neutral to first gear after a stop. When sitting at a traffic light, your foot off the clutch, the transmission in neutral, the tendency, when the light turns green, is to depress the clutch pedal and quickly move the shift lever into first gear. Unless you wait several seconds between the time you depress the clutch and the time you move the shift lever, to allow the transmission gears to stop rotating, you will cause those loud and eventually expensive noises.

There is a way to prevent both the gear noises from your car and the impatient horn from the chap behind you. Assuming the your second gear synchronizer in good condition, shift as follows:

• Depress the clutch
• Just touch second gear
• Then shift into first and drive away

It takes a little practice to master this technique, but it’s not hard at all and you will soon find yourself off and running, silently in all respects.

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Wiper Blades - How many windscreens have you seen with an arc engraved in the glass by defective wiper blades? Wiper blades for the MGB (10") and Spridget (9") are both expensive and difficult to find. A refill solution is available from Bosch. Part number 43111 is an 11" refill blade and will fit the MG and Austin wiper assemblies. By using the metal end clip in the package, the refill will slide easily into the metal frame and the excess length can be cut off as required.

Bosch also makes wiper refills in 13" through 20", so no matter what the length of the wiper blades on your English car, you can probably find one to fit and these rubber refills are much cheaper than the replacement assemblies from our favorite catalogue parts vendors.