The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (July 1 - July 15, 2018)
Sunday July 1, 2018:
Good morning Canada Day. Early morning text message informing us that the Tuesday tour and BBQ has been cancelled due to a new personal commitment. Since AC was shot at the WiFi spot, we headed east for an hour, cruising through open
country with sparse traffic, waving at the Chevy club cars going the other direction, landing in Harriston, ON for breakfast. Also Sunday is Canada Day, so Monday will be the official day off, and we have another one of those dead three day holiday week ends with no club activities and no shop hopping.
 Time to work on an update to a few web pages on front suspension rebuild, as a friend has sent a bunch of pictures. Also time to complain some more about undersize brake shoes from Moss Motors, as my parking brakes is not holding again after just two months and 7000 miles on new rear shoes, and beyond the limit of the adjusters. Turned out we overshot our next appointment a bit, so late night we headed southwest half an hour and landed in Wingham, ON.
Monday July 2, 2018:
Since Canada Day occurred on a Sunday, today would be the official day off. Casual time for some tech questions, and some re-scheduling, and to consider that we should be shopping for (better) brake shoes and replacement trailer tires (yeah, every 8 or 9 months). Sitting by a window we noticed a fair number of classic cars out taking advantage of the holiday and nice weather.
Tuesday July 3, 2018:
Holiday weekend past, time to go shop hopping again. First stop was The Olde Tyme Radio Centre in Belgrave, ON. This is known as an antique shop with radio sales, restoration and repairs, but radio restoration will be the bulk of the business, and vintage car radios are a huge part of it. Herein lies what must be the largest stash of vintage and antique radio tubes in Canada. Of course they must all be antique by now.
Rows of shelves of vintage car radios goes on and on, and the rafters are full of vintage radio speakers. If you need your vintage radio repaired or replaced, or you just want to buy one to complete your vintage car restoration, this place could be your answer.
I had to get this picture before I left. These things would be the "Gasoline Torch" the MGA Workshop Manual
refers to in the section about frame straightening. If you would use one of these things, it is highly recommended that you do it outdoors. Fill the can with gasoline, screw the manual pump up nice and tight, pump up the pressure, open the valve to dribble gasoline into the drip tray, and light it with a match. The resulting flame will heat up the torch head until the fuel begins to boil inside and spew out the front as a vapor which will then burn as a hot flame of the "blow torch". When finished, close the valve to shut it off, and wait for it to cool down before you try to bleed off the pressure from the canister. If you have never done this before, read the instructions ten times over before you strike the match.
Then we were off to visit Autofarm Ltd in Monkton, ON. Here we have three generations of Austin Healey restoration specialist, but they also work on other British cars. Just off the front office area we found a large inventory of new Austin Healey parts which will supply a large part of Canada on demand as well as the internal restoration projects.
Above is the new shop, been here a few years by now. The front garage space is primarily short term storage of customer cars in process. We found an assortment of Healeys of course, including a Jensen Healey and an MGB.
The larger rear garage space is filled with projects in waiting, a couple MGAs, more Healeys, a Chevy truck (resident here I suppose), and many racks parts new and used.
Across the drive is the older shop, which is where most of the work is done. I'm sure we spent too much time chatting and eating into their work day, but it was nice to know there is a healthy business that may be expected to be here for any years to come.
In the evening we had a dinner meeting in Etobicoke, ON with British Automobile Racing Club, founded in 1959 in the heyday of MGA racing. They are affiliated with Canadian Automobile Sport Clubs (Ontario Region), the official sanctioning body of motorsports in Ontario. We arrived at 6-pm as scheduled, finding no British cars in the parking lot, but thinking that maybe racing cars are not driven much on the streets. Upon inquiring inside we were directed to a dining area where we found just one old gent getting started on dinner.
But it wasn't long before others were arriving, and soon the place was filled with about 50 club members all chatting about racing while the food and drink was rolling in. The group was displaced from their normal private dining room upstairs due to failure of the air conditioning, and the lower open dining area was LOUD and full of echo sound. As a result, club executives decided not to hold a normal business meeting, taking care of business by committee on the side. This offered the opportunity to chat with a few new friends over dinner, but not able to meet many others. Interesting to chat a lot about vintage racing but not so much about the cars or tech stuff. With no business meeting, people mostly left after dinner, so the evening broke up early. I was busy chatting and dind't get any pictures. By the time we left the car park was mostly enpty, and again no British cars in sight.
Wednesday July 4, 2018:
Happy Independence day in the States, but it's not a holiday in Canada. Spent much of the day processing photos and notes for the past two days, and answering some tech questions. Then it got to be a bit later than anticipated (4:30pm), and we were still sitting near Vaughan, ON, with an evening appointment in Kitchener, ON.
Fighting our way westward on 401 during rush hour, the 1-1/2 hour trip turned into 2-1/2 hours, so we arrived at our 6-pm meeting more like 7-pm. No problem, blame jet lag fom being in the wrong time zone. We missed dinner, but still had a nice chat with members of British Saloon Car Club of Canada (Westenders group). Nothing else happening tonight, but we have an appointment in Loretto, ON tomorrow morning, another hour and a half northeast, so off we go again.
Thursday July 5, 2018:
We had a morning appointment today with Headwaters British Car Club for a hill climb event, beginning with meet and greet at a school in Loretto, ON where we met up with more than 40 cars for the venture. This was HBCC's 7th Annual Hill Climb Re-Enactment.
The list of attendees was astounding. 3 MGA, 4 MGB, 1 Cobra clone, at least 8 Morgan, 1 Alfa Romeo, 4 Mercedes 190SL (all silver), 1 Mercedes 280SE, 2 TR Spitfires, a TR GT6 Plus,
a Jag E-type, a bug-eye Sprite, a flat bonnet Sprite, a Lotus 7, a few modern Jags, a London taxi, a Triumph Continental, and I'm sure I missed some.
One of the 190SL's was running rich and having hard time starting. One of the Morgans needed DOT4 brake fluid, leaking from the master cylinder (sorry I only had DOT5), someone made a quick run to the store.
By 11-am we were caravaning several miles west to "the hill" on 3rd Line Road Ehs, which was a well graded gravel road with nice firm surface and not many pot holes. This could be fun, so we unhitched the trailer.
I checked MapQuest later, showing the hill to be about 1 mile up, and calculating travel time at 4 minutes. Yeah, sure. They were sending the cars off at half minute intervals, but when it was my turn I held off a little to let the Spitfire ahead of me have a little longer head start, maybe 45 seconds or so. Firing it off with vigor up a moderate slope, were just about to hit 3rd gear when a curve revealed a utility truck stationary on the left side, so I eased off to get around it, hopefully without threatening the workers too much. Then I hammered it again as the slope increased. Navigator was supposed to be taking pictures, but on the first drifting turn tossing gravel over the edge he declared he didn't have enough hands, so screw the pictures, stay out of the ditches.
The incline increased to 18%, certainly not beyond the ability to accelerate a bit in 2nd gear. After a couple more tight turns with hard charging climb we ran up on the Spitfire rather briskly. Give him benefit of the doubt, as he was following closely another car in front, but that was in site of the top of the hill anyway, so just ease it off and collect a little breeze to the end. No one was timing the runs, but pretty sure we made the mile well under two minutes.
Up top, collecting cars, good time for a few pictures, I snapped a few of the MGs making it over the hill.
When everyone had their crack at the hill, it was time to crawl 13 miles over to a club members place for barbecue, and a bit of resite from the heat. Did I mention it was something like 33dC (92dF)today?
Half way along in a tiny little town of Hockley at a "T" intersection we ran across a Morgan (car not horse) dead on the road. Stopped to help push it off the road into a small parking area, and spent several minutes debugging.
It cranked well but no fire. Sprayed the carburetors externally with starting fluid to cool it down, then gave it a sniff of ether when cranking, but still no fire, so must be no spark. Other guys were trying to test the primary HT wire for spark. I had a test light on the coil terminals while cranking and got flashing, so the coil had continuity and the points were working. Grounded a known good condenser and jumpered it to the distributor input, but still no fire. Installed a new rotor in the distributor, but still no fire. Was looking for my spare ignition coil for a couple of minutes when the Morgan mysteriously fired up again. Have a suspicion it may be a coil failing when hot and recovering (marginally) when it cooled down a bit. But it was running, and folks were hot and heading for shade and cool drinks, so we were off again as soon as I could get the tools and parts packed up.
Nice barbecue with soft drinks, burgers and brats supplied by the host Marlies Sands. Also plenty of time for good chat, and a good time was had by all. By mid afternoon the sky was clouding over, the hot breeze was picking up, and thunder was rolling, so folks were packing up and hauling out. Not that much haste, we had plenty of time to find a good WiFi spot and settle in to air conditioning before the harsh rain hit. It didn't last too long, but did cool things off a little, and forecast for tomorrow is more moderate temperature (for one day).
On 7/26/18, Angela van Breemen, HBCC Editor and Web Coordinator wrote:
Hi Barney, -- Thanks for your account of the Headwaters British Car Club’s 7th Annual Historic Hill Climb Re-enactment held this past July 5th, 2018. We are glad you enjoyed the Hill Climb!
This year, the Hill Climb was done in memory of our member Alan Sands who passed away in March of this year. Amongst the list of attendees which you mentioned, was the star of the show, Alan Sands’ rare Allard. The Allard was sold last fall to Larry Titchner, who took the Urn containing Alan’s ashes for one more final Climb up the Hill in the Allard. This was very meaningful to the Sands family and our members since Alan was heavily involved in racing up this very Hill during the 1950s. Until just two years ago, Alan was an active participant in the Hill Climb Re-enactments, and his driving prowess left passengers breathless as he navigated the tricky turns in record time.
Following the Hill Climb, HBCC members and guests headed over to the home of Marlies Sands where she and her family provided a splendid BBQ in memory of Alan.
As a point of interest, for your followers, in the early 1960s, the British Empire Motor Club, of whom Alan was a member, decided that racing on public roads might not be wise, and they purchased a plot of land near Bowmanville, Ontario, which later became the famous Mosport Racetrack. The Track is now owned by Canadian Tire and is known as the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
For anyone curious about Hill Climb History in Ontario, you can visit https://ontariohillclimbhistory.headwatersbritishcarclub.org
and view the historical information compiled by Historian and HBCC member Rupert Lloyd Thomas.
Barney, we wish you and your son safe travels as you journey across our beautiful country. Safety Fast!
Cheers,
Angela van Breemen
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Friday July 6, 2018:
Couple of shop visits today. First up was Cullingford Motors in Barrie, ON. Say hello to Brian Cullingford.
They sell and service modern and vintage British cars here, with few in the show room, a few in the service bay, and lots more outside. Being a service shop, they so have some parts in stock, just ask.
The second stop was at KM British Cars in Mono, ON. We drove right past this place the day before (on our way to the club hill climb and BBQ), but didn't have time to stop. Friday is supposed to be a slow-down day here, and just as well, as we parked between a couple other visitors. You may find British Classic Cars for sale here, and parts new and used. The service business is being scaled back these days, so customer auto service is limited to emergency break down service. No more employees, as the owner is finishing up cars in inventory in preparation for sale.
 The building with skylights in the side walls holds some interesting inventory. The silver AMX (390) caught my eye immediately, as I used to drool over a new one belonging to a college friend in 1968. You may notice that Jaguars are a staple here. Three MGB over in this corner.
Jaguar MK9 in process, a pair of Lotus Eclat, and parts of two Lotus Elan that may one day become one.
The large "modern barn" building was indeed a barn, in a past life, as the used to be horses here. Now converted to house British cars. Another MGB, and another Lotus Eclat (a bit much for a model I don't recall seeing before). Then another Jaguar MK9, not concours but quite nice.
Hiding back in the corner was another Lotus Elan, this one running a factory cylinder head with Weber carburetors (less common than Zenith-Stromberg version), running but needs a tune up. Nearby was an MGC, intentionally missing the factory fan that would blow air on the carburetors.
We ambled over to the garage which still sometimes serves as workshop. The E-type is next in line for clean up and minor trim fixings in preparation for car show. On the way out we caught a picture of what we missed on the way in, two cars for sale near the road, an MGA and a Spitfire, both looking like very nice daily drivers.
Saturday July 7, 2018:
This morning we were meeting folks from MG Car Club of Toronto at a place called Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ontario for a rally. Being an MG club there was a nice assortment of MGs, including some of the MG F/TF cars that we never had in the States (until just recently). There would be 22 contestant cars in the rally, with a few Morgans, a Lotus, a V-Dub and maybe a Miata tossed in the mix.
A kind of gimmick rally in this case. For the most part it was follow the route instructions (clear and concise), and answer some questions (mostly straightforward, assuming the rallymaster is allowed to overlook a few things). That part went over quite well, although I suspect "miniature horse" was not the intended answer for what was behind the big grey fence). There was a poker run card hand involved, but I think it was just for tie breaker that (probably) was not needed. There was a skill game (that I suck at but navigator was okay). And there was a page full of brain twister questions that may have been a secondary tie breaker, but carried separate trophies, for which we received 1st place (having filled in all of the answers before starting the rally route). At the end they read all of the answers to the brain teasers, but didn't reveal the answers to the rally route questions, so of course we have no idea why we were not in the top three trophy positions. But it was a nice 60 mile drive on some neat back roads that we would otherwise never have seen.
Weather was only moderately hot and sunny, so most of the cars went topless, but air conditioning at the restaurant at end of rally was certainly welcome. Pretty sure a good time was had by all.
Sunday July 8, 2018:
Day off, I think. Three days in arrears, can't remember what we did, likely nothing of interest.
Monday July 9, 2018:
Made our way north for an evening meeting with Georgian Bay British Car Club in Collingwood, ON. Arriving a bit early, maybe 10 LBC in the car park, but lots more came later. Must have been at least 40 people, and apparently they knew we were coming. Featured history slide show for the evening was info on the MGA. Then the MGA guru got to do the pony show for a while, extending to at least 20 minutes when folks kept asking questions. Good time here, but then had to blow town for points west.
Tuesday July 10, 2018:
Meeting tonight with Waterloo British Car Club in Saint Agatha, ON. Drop in at 5:30 for a little tire kicking before dinner. First thing we noticed is that the Lotus 23 has to get home before dark (no headlights). There were a bunch of modern Jaguar, although I don't understand way a new Jag has to look like a Mustang.
Nice assortment of vintage British cars though, at least 25 cars filling the small lot.
This one is an Intermeccanica Squire SS100 (#37 of 50 produced), a copy of a 1937-1939 Jaguar SS-100. It was commissioned by Auto Sport Importers, Inc. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and made by Automobilli Intermeccanica in Trofarello, Italy between 1970 and 1975 (reportedly by Fiat technicians who were moonlighting evenings and weekends). All were built as left hand drive and shipped to the United States. Body is hand laid fiberglass, radiator shell and headlights are hand formed metal, so not likely any replacement parts available. But it is a production car, not a kit car. Engines are Ford 250 cubic inch straight six OHV, manual or automatic gearboxes, Ford 9 inch rear axle, Ford A-arms but torsion bar springs up front, and four wheel drum brakes. So it is actually an American car built in Italy, just looks British. These cars have been appreciating considerably in value (yeah, collectors an be nuts).
Around 60 people stuffed the dining room, about as well as the cars stuffed the parking lot. A club meeting followed dinner, then after the formalities the meandered out to the parking lot for an extended tire kicking session. A young new member was particularly interested in the MGB GT, because he is currently restoring one.
The MGB with V8 engine was a curiosity, except that they have been getting more common in recent years. The Bentley Arnage (1998 to 2009) was more entertaining, as it carries a BMW 4.4-liter engine with Cosworth twin turbos as original issue. It has a Rolls-Royce-branded sibling, the Silver Seraph with a BMW V12 engine.
Wednesday July 11, 2018:
Another club meeting, three nights in a row, this time with Bluewater British Car Club from Sarnia, Ontario, but meeting across the river in Port Huron, Michigan (a true country crossing club). We parked next to a Triumph 1800 Roadster (1946-1948), or maybe it was 2000 Roadster (1948-1949), complete with rumble seat.
Smaller group this time, a dozen club members not counting ourselves, but a very friendly bunch. The restaurant owner was a British car enthusiast, relating to us a fascinating story about his Jaguar XK150 that was stolen last year, and eventually recovered. Then some history about Irish Immigrant soldiers during the American civil war, eventually trying to invade Canada with some small success but in the end not. The food at the Atrium was absolutely wonderful, so we all called out the chef with a huge round of applause.
The street out front was barricaded for about a mile, and the International Rotary Day Parade was passing by for much of the time we were here, part of The Blue Water Fest 2018 in Port Huron. It was not too disruptive, so we could continue chat, and the Guru was asked to relate a bit about the four year tour (which was received with great interest).
Thursday July 12, 2018:
Time for new trailer tires, again. Discount Tire in Chesterfield, Michigan was handy. They only had one of the Carlisle Sport Trail tires I like, so we settled for Taskmaster Contender QH-502 (4.80-8 2-ply with 6-ply rating). I can't find any information at all about these tires on the internet, so they may be a new model (build date November 2017). I guess we get to do the Beta testing.
I'm always miffed that there are no small trailer tires available with more than 1/8-inch of usable tread depth. Measured depth when new is 6/32", but that includes the 2/32" wear bars. Bummer, but such is life I guess. Keep looking. Needed to convert some US$ into Canadian currency, bank said it will take a day for delivery, so wil will bd here another day. Spent most of the day posting the July issue of the CMGC newsletter on the club web site.
Friday July 13, 2018:
Finally catching up photos an notes from three club meeting in three days, a few days in arrears. Also scheduling things for the newt few days. Quick trip to the bank to pick up the Canadian currency delivery. Losing daylight, time to head east. A little delay just before the Sarina border crossing when stuck in creeping traffic for a while, the cooling system was getting a bit too warm, so we stopped momentarioy on the side of the road to top up the radiator. Thought a core plug was leaking slightly, having noticed a bit of wet some time earlier, so thinking we will need to change the core plug sometime soon. Not a big deal, so drive on. Back into Canada by 10-pm, keep driving east then north, got a little rain for the last half hour, landing in Kincardine, ON at 1-am.
Saturday July 14, 2018:
All British car show today in conjunction with Lighthouse Blues Festival. More than 20 cars, mostly from Kincardine And Area British Car Club, a couple from Michigan, and one incidentally from Illinois. Light sprinkles on and off but a generally tolerable day. It was a family day with most of the visitors coming for the music, but some interest in the small cars. Had chats with a few of the club members and several visitors.
We pulled out by mid afternoon to find a WiFi spot. Getting late but still daylight, time to be moving on, as we have maybe five hours to drive for tomorrow's appointment.
Sunday July 15, 2018:
Today we paid a visit to the Canadian Transportation Museum & Heritage Village near Essex, ON. Purpose was for the All British Car & Bike Show. I didn't find time to go into the museum (rats). The prompt to go out of our way to get here was being a major event for the Windsor-Detroit MG Club. Arriving fairly early, I had time to take a stroll around the village while the cars were still rolling in. We can start with the train station, school (1907) and church (1885), all or which were newer than most of the rest of the village.
Town Hall (1874), a stationary engine with a restored business store, and the police station/jail (1895).
Turning the clocks back a bit, doctors office 1892, and the general store (1840). Gossen Motors didn't need to be too big, as there were not many cars back then. The red building to the left may have been the auto service shop, as the sign reads "British American Gasolene and Autolene Oils". There was some vintage horse and wagon tack over the door. The grey building on far left may have been the black smith shop or stable (or both).
We found the shoe repair and barber shop (1930) to be a going concern, and haircuts really were $5 (but couldn't talk navigator into getting one). The Maggot house (1869) was one of the earliest clapboard buildings before running into earlier log cabins (1835-1826). Enough of that, let's get back to the car show.
Beginning in the covered pavilion we found British motorcycles, one of which won Best Of Show award (surprise). There were a few race cars here as well, an MGB, MG Midget, and a TR3 in the trailer.
We found a table for Old English Car Repairs shop displaying a worn camshaft to bring attention to Lucas motor oil with high zinc content. Also a set of MGA carburetors and a dwell tester on an ignition test set-up, including four spark plugs in a compression chamber subject to 150 psi compressed air to emulate engine cylinder compression. The green MGA was shuffling around a bit during the show. The 1965 Mercury was pedaling raffle tickets, but no idea when it was to be given away.
The Austin A105 Westminster we have seen before. Skip the cars for sale, but the TR8 was a treat.
This little beast was a 1949 Ford Prefect, totally hot-rodded with V8 engine, custom frame, narrowed rear axle, Mustang-II rack and pinion steering, Chrysler ball joints, the list of special parts goes on forever, and not much original here (but I can certainly appreciate the work required to do it).
About 55 British cars on display today, but only one modern Jaguar. There was a nice Rolls Royce parked next to a Lotus Elan, for a little size comparison. Couple of newer Range Rovers and one older Land Rover.
Getting into the meat and potatoes, the LBC's we all like to smile at. Austin Healey 3000, TR6 (time two), Morgan 4-4 and Plus-4, MGB and Midget, four MGA, at leas a dozen MGB, and a Morris Minor hiding back there.
More Morgans (running out of fingers), couple of Midgets, some more TR's and Healey's, and one vintage Mini.
One triumph GT6+ with another "big" Healey. I was running out of foot stamina as the show was winding down. I had plenty of time to chat with a few members of Windsor Detroit MG Club, losing the shade with the hot sun overhead, and I think most people were glad when it was over and we we could go make our own breeze. We were anxious to find some AC and WiFi, and the rest of the day was consumed with email, tech questions, and finally posting the photos and notes for your entertainment. New plans for tomorrow.
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