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Tow Bar Ideas
When I first started working on Lazarus I discovered that I needed to resolve the issue of "Mohammed to the mountain, or the mountain to Mohammed". I had some rotted tub wood that needed to be replaced and I was too new at TD'ing to even think of Attacking the job myself. I located someone in New York state who was highly recommended for the job. My experience with trailering Lazarus from Virginia to Massachusetts was not something that I was looking forward to repeating. I discovered that I could obtain a antique vehicle license plate for very little money. It cost me about $100, as I recall, to buy a tow bar and adapt it to the front of the TD. I picked up a set of trailer lights that I was able to easily hook up onto the rear of the TD's frame and attached my license plate. With this arrangement I was able to flat-tow Lazarus around for a couple of years, going to various shops. A few years later I bought a 1977 MGB from a seller in the middle of Vermont. Would you believe that the tow bar adapted easily to the front of the rubber bumper B? More recently I've used the rig to transport 'the53'.
I certainly can't suggest that others follow my lead in doing this. I'm just passing this information on for those who enjoy reading about TD adventures. Here are a number of images of items of interest. They're probably all thumbnail images, so just click on them to enlarge them.
Attached to front of TD
Attached to tow car
Bracket that attaches to bar to TD
Tow Bar ID
The technique for attaching the towbar to the TD is to drill
a couple of 7/16" holes in the front bumper backing bar. This is not an
easy task. The backing bar is piece of spring steel. You'll go
through a few drill bits. In discussions with Reese, the manufacture of
the towbar, I learned that the mounting points on the vehicle being towed must
be at least 24" apart in order for the towed vehicle to track the towing
vehicle. I settle upon 30"
(actual measurement is about 29.75') by drilling the mounting holes 3 inches
outboard from the front bumper bracket mounting holes
Here's a shot of the towbar on the front of 'the53'
Expanding this image makes it fairly easy to see the mounting of the bracket to
the bumper backing bar.
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