New Gearshift Knob
I replaced the factory gear shift knob with something more appropriate for Pearline.
A week or so ago, I was reading a Reddit post about the Old Speckled Hen. If you have ever searched out British beers at your local store or been in a pub that features British cuisine, you might’ve come across this brew. I’ve purchased it in cans and on draft for years. Reddish-brown in color, it’s a ‘Bitter’ style. In this case, ‘bitter’ means it has noticeable hops, but not as strong as a ‘Pale Ale’. Certainly not whatever Americans refer to as a Pale Ale these days.
What I wasn’t aware of until a few days ago was it’s association with my favorite motor vehicle marque. I’ve seen the cans for years and never connected the octagon on the label to the MG logo. Now, I can’t unsee it. Kinda like the arrow in the FedEx logo.
Old Speckled Hen (hereon out referred to as OSH to save wear on my keyboard) was created by the Morland brewery of Abingdon-on-Thames, where the MG factory was located. OSH was specifically brewed in 1979 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Morris Garage in 1929.
An original bottle of OSH from 1979 (courtesy Wikipedia)
The name of the beer was taken from the name the locals had for an old MG touring car that was used for hauling and delivering supplies to and from the factory.
The Old Speckled Hen herself
Wikipedia has a long and interesting article about the beer and it’s association with the Abingdon factory.
Off to Ebay
Naturally, learning of this association to MG, I sought out some sort of relic depicting OSH. I thought I might find a replica metal sign, like you so often will see for Guinness. What I found was even better.
Someone had a vintage OSH beer tap handle on Ebay. I haven’t used Ebay in ages and my account was no longer active. After going through the account activation steps, I happily plopped down $35 plus shipping from an antique shop in Ohio. I bought some OSH from the local liquor store and figured I would take them all to Brits in the Ozarks next month.
While working on the car, I had a moment of brilliance. I wondered what the thread pattern was for a beer tap handle. Off to Google, where I discovered that the most common threads used in the US for beer taps is 3/8” with 16 threads per inch. As it so happens, that’s the exact thread pitch of the gear shift for my car. What a happy coincidence.
Of course, I'm going to drive her like this...
To be honest, it’s on there solidly and shifts just fine. I might need a counter-locking screw on the collar to keep the handle from turning further.
I wonder what some State Trooper would say if he saw me driving with a beer tap handle.