By Robert Emslie
Before there were Starbucks on every corner, British motorists had to fend for themselves when they wanted a spot of tea while zipping down the M4.
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Before there were Starbucks on every corner, British motorists had to fend for themselves when they wanted a spot of tea while zipping down the M4.
Jeff Glucker
Looks handy, but is it positive or negative ground? I mean, it is meant to work with old Lucas electrical systems, right?
I was wondering the same thing. I guess since it's a heater, it doesn't really matter…it's just a resistive element.
However, did they have to do extra testing to make it Lucas compliant? Does it only work when you only need cold tea?
Naval Gazing:
As Hooniverse lengthens its post history daily, I want to mention something that bothers me about all the other car blogs: lack of an easy way to browse through the archives, or go back to the beginning. Just the ability to skip back to a day in time, or review posts starting from the first on a subject will be something to consider as you go forward.
That said, excellent jobs all around. The site is a pleasure to read now, and will be a pleasure to re-read far down the road.
I'm guessing that this thing pre-dates the M4.
The irony being, of course, that trying to use this would blow every single fuse in the box and then set your wiring harness on fire. Attempting to make a warranty claim would result in your being mocked as a peasant for wanting to drink beverages in your motorcar. BAH! PEASANTS!!
The Lucas fog of failure effect occurred to me as well the second I realized what I was looking at.
Ironic? That's how this worked! Instead of a traditional heating coil, when you hooked this up to a battery, the <del>nightmarish tangle of wires</del> wiring harness in the lower compartment of the kettle would create enough heat to boil the water. Of course, you'd have to replace the wiring (Lucas part no. 318008) after each use, but it's still probably cheaper than Starbucks.
To this day, all British Army armoured vehicles have a built in "Boiling Vessel" for making tea…
If it plugged into today's current power outlet, I'd totally use this in the car. And now that Starbucks has their VIA packets, I never have to stop! Woohoo!! MOAR COFFEE!
I took a pack of VIA camping with me last fall. Hey, we were roughing it but we didn't have to live like animals!