The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (October 16 - October 31, 2018)
Tuesday October 16, 2018:
With a morning phone call, out first appointment begged off, can't break away today, try again another time. So we headed north from Middletown, NY, paid a small toll to cross the Hudson River, and continued on to look for Britannic Autos in Poughkeepsie, NY. No longer there, the current shop (nothing to do with British cars) has been here for 15 years, and the owner was relating some odd story about the demise of the former British car shop. In any case, it is long gone.
 Then we were off to visit Michael's Euro Auto Services in Hopewell Junction, NY. Apparently the name has been changed to Michael's Vintage Racing to closer reflect current operations. And they may have the apostrophe in the wrong place, as this is a father and son operation, Micheal Clifford Sr and Michael Clifford Jr.
It began many years ago when the father was involved with Elva and later Lotus, and with time other people began to bring similar cars for service. By fate perhaps it evolved to be primarily the same cars with vintage race cars crowding out almost anything else. Today everything you see here is vintage race cars, mostly British by default, but not exclusively. They wouldn't be disappointed if a vintage Ferrari came in for service.
The Cortina up front has the Ford engine with Lotus twin cam head and Weber side draft carburetors, and of course it goes like stink. I'm not hip enough on race cars to name all of the tube frame chassis lined up here. The one in the middle gets mated to the body shell outside. I wouldn't mind driving the Cortina, but the other little guys are not my idea of a daily driver street car.
After several days of rain, and a few days crawling around heavy city traffic, it is more enjoyable today cruising around the more rural parkways of eastern New York state in cooler weather.
We had one more shop visit scheduled at Morgan Motors of New England in Copake, NY, also Morgan Spares which I suppose is the parts sales branch of the business. This is a registered Morgan dealer, importing and selling new Morgan cars. Unfortunately for several years now they only get the three wheelers, as Morgan has apparently given up trying to keep up with American government regulations. So most of the business now revolves around service of the vintage Morgan cars.
We had another tentative appointment this evening, but by coincidence the person would not be home, so we re-scheduled it for tomorrow morning, and ran off to find a WiFi spot to catch up some grunt work.
Wednesday October 17, 2018:
Sitting in Pittsfield, MA this morning, making a call in anticipation of meeting a friend, but the friend was not available (second time in as many weeks). Bummer, but it happens occasionally. Then happened to be verifying my bank balance when I noticed a sizeable duplicate charge from three weeks earlier. Of course the bank wants mo to take it up with, the retailer first. Long story, but that led to a 75 mile back track and return to visit the merchant in Brattleboro, Vermont for the correction. Not that I'd be particularly upset, except that it killed four hours out of the middle of what was suppose to be a busy shop hopping day.
Fuel fill up, one tire pressure adjustment, top up engine oil, and adjust ignition points, as they were closed up and hardly opening again. Seems like this has happened 3 times in 5 months, about 6000 mile intervals, since reinstalling the original Lucas distributor. Pretty sure the blame lies in wear down of the soft red plastic rubbing foot on the cheap Chinese points set. So to run trouble free I may need to readjust the points about as often as we change engine oil. The wish list just added a search for quality points with phenolic rubbing foot (like the ones I always had in the Mallory distributor that almost never needed points adjustment).
After the unscheduled run to Brattleboro, Vermont and back, we finally got to our first scheduled stop of the day, Dunbrook Ltd in Albany, NY. Yes it is a good "old fashion" service station. Business is brisk and busy with lots of satisfied repeat customers. The MG Midget out front was just finished and waiting for the owner to pick it up. Say hello to George Dunbrook. His brother James (not in today) is the avid British car mechanic.
George recommended another Brit car mechanic, Lester Figarski, also in Albany, NY. No answer to a phone call, so we will have to consider that one later.
We might have just enough time to get to the next shop before closing time, so we hustled up to visit Classic Car Performance (and British Wire Wheels) in Saratoga Springs, NY. This is a home run business, and we arrived a few minutes before the owner Dave Austin. Just a few personal toys in the garage, but this is not a car service shop. The business deals with upgrade gear reduction starters, wire wheels, and other performance parts. Check their web site(s) for that. Dave referred us to another shop nearby, and made a quick phone call to be sure the guy would hang in thee a few minutes past closing time so we could get there tonight. And we were off and running again.
A few minutes after 5-pm we arrived at KO Motosports in Schuylerville, NY. Count right and you will find at least ten garage doors here. The MGB out front is carrying a BMW 6-cylinder engine (because the BMW 4's are slugs).
I almost tripped over the vintage Triumph motorcycle just inside the door. The V-12 quad-cam Ferrari looks like fun (with LOTS of engine parts). And there was a chassis for a Lotus Europa, reminding us that Colin Chapman was fond of "building in lightness".
Being me, I couldn't resist posting the MGA. The MGB here is a 2-liter big bore equipped with MegaSquirt electronic fuel injection. This is likely to be the first (and maybe only example) that is fully mapped for cold start in sub-freezing temperature. Hit the button and it pops right off on the first power stroke. The mapping was done with 12-foot long BNC cables from inside office to outside car in cold weather, allowing no more than 90 seconds to do the tests and mapping during start and warm up. Give that man a cigar.
The was a bug-eye Sprite restoration car getting a full-tricks package with race engine and 5-speed gearbox.
The MG TD was a peach, as well as the big Healey, and the spare tri-carb Healey engine that was rescued from under a tree behind a barn (really).
I couldn't stop snapping pictures of the various treasures, had to toss out some. Love the big Jaguar. The MGB GT had a nice assortment of trick high power stereo components, including hiding the large amplifier under the passenger side toe boards and carpet.
Well it turned out to be a pretty good day, considering the setbacks and late start. We even had time to do the photos and notes before midnight, although not caught up on a lot of other grunt work yet, and still two long days of shop hopping lined up ahead of us. Did I mention it's getting rather cold in upstate New York in late October? By chance we are almost back in Canada again. Headed off late night staging for next day's appointments.
Thursday October 18, 2018:
We were officially frosted this morning in Amsterdam, NY. - Brrrrr.
Off to a fairly early start with a lot of distance to cover, our first stop was for Kim's Import Motors in Amsterdam, NY.
No one home. The designated phone number was active, but no answer and no message machine. We tried calling again later in the evening, but still no answer. Don't want to write this one off yet, so we will try again later.
Then we headed due south 52 miles into the mountains taking an hour twenty minutes going to visit Roadtronics Automotive Technologies Co Inc (Rat-Co) in rural Windham, NY. We knew in advance this guy wasn't going to be home, just wanted to see the place and get the picture. This shop used to be on Long Island but escaped to the country a few years ago. He makes new frames for Triumps, has a two year backlog, and is not taking any new orders (trying to wind it down to close out the business).
Then we had a longer cruise, another 160 miles in three hours going northwest. For some time we have had a problem with fuel starvation when running full throttle up hills, and it was getting progressively worse. By chance there was a NAPA store next door to our lunch-on-the-fly stop, so I picked up a fuel filter (easier than looking in the magic trailer).
The next stop was European Midtown Auto Parts in Syracuse, NY. In years past it used to be known as Midtown Auto Body where they did repair work on the cars, and also Midtown Autobooks where they supplied lots of text books and workshop manuals, much of it institutional. No more auto repair work, but they may still supply some books on special request. The meat of their business these days is good used auto parts for vintage British (and some other European) cars, a huge supply all kept indoors. You know, the stuff that actually fits and works, none of the modern supply Chinese junk.
Just a few blocks away we were looking for Tom's Mechanical Emporium in Syracuse, NY. Rack this one up to urban renewal, as the shop has long since been replaced by a large commercial building, the phone number no longer works, and there is no information at all available on the internet.
When we needed a fuel stop it was a good time to fix the fuel filter, so jack it up to R&R the RR wheel long enough for the 10 minute installation of the new filter. Yeah, the old one was half clogged, so this was a good move. Seems like I've replaced this little filter a couple of times in the past few years, so if it happens again I might want to change to a larger filter.
With a little hustle we had time for one more stop. We were looking for Powder Plus powder coating shop in
Bernhards Bay, NY. Alas it is no more. Previously run by a husband and wife team, it may have been her passion. She ultimately succumbed to cancer in 2011, and the husband close the shop in 2012 (now an auto repair shop under a different owner).
Out of time today, too many miles and not as many stops as we had hoped for, but there should be more of them closer together tomorrow. Hey. If you think it was cold this morning, we have frost on the trailer at midnight, and we're heading 50 miles farther north tonight.
Friday October 19, 2018:
Say what? Waking up in Watertown, NY the wind changed direction, so at 7:30-am it was warmer with a south
wind, even though we were sitting almost on the Canadian border (well, at least the south side of Lake Ontario). This was going to be nice day. Shortly after 10-am we were heading 10 miles west to visit Mostly British in Chaumont, NY. It was a good day here as well, where we just missed the completion of a fully restored Jaguar E-type Series-1 as it was stowed away for the winter. Still in the shop were a TR6, and a Morgan hiding on the other side of the big Mercedes, and two big Healeys. Treasure all over, and more waiting in the queue.
Then back 60 miles south to near where we were last night, looking for Murphy's Professional Auto Repair in Fulton, NY where I think we just set a new record for being out of date. The place is now Charlie's Auto Repair, and it has been here for 20 years after taking over from Murphy's (but unfortunately nothing to do with British cars).
Another 15 minutes south we stopped to visit Pennellville Garage in Pennellville, NY. I was standing a bit too close thus time, needing two shots to catch the front of the building, but we knew right away we had found the right place with three LBCs out front and two more right inside. We found three guys busy tending to classics while the owner Dave Quintal was out for a test drive. This place has been running under current ownership since 1990, still going strong.
An hour and a half farther west, not quite sure about the next place as we drove up, as there was no sign on the
building, but it was indeed the right place. This is British Tools and Fasteners in Lyons, NY. The business is as the name implies, a source for tools and fasteners for your vintage British car. They were too busy for inside photos, but visit their web site for the full scoop. They are also (alternately at the same address) Caswell Plating, supplying plating and anodizing kits, tank sealers, soldering rods, paints and other restoration aids, which you can buy through multiple dealers around the country.
Time was flying, and we were too. I was rather looking forward to the next one, another 30 miles south to visit EM Motors in Stanley, NY. The sign said "By Appointment", so naturally I drove in expecting the MGA with trailer to be a free pass, which it was. This is a long term vintage British car shop where the owner has been wrenching on cars since he was knee high to a grass hopper. The toys outside were a nice greeting card. For the curious, the little truck inside is a Datsun, early entry American import, quite rare. I'm posting pictures fom the shop here, while the company web site seems to be dedicated to the new generation British (style) sports car they have been building in kit form.
There were a couple big Healey's in process today, but there was something very red distracting my attention. That is one of the new tech British style kit cars that is (or was) a big market hit a few years back. Think "Corvette killer".
32 miles back north with a quick fuel stop, as we were running on fumes. Finding the appropriate post box, and negotiating our way along a somewhat coarse quarter mile drive in 1st gear, we arrived at British Auto Salvage, LLC in Walworth, NY. Say hello to Ben and his shop, and 800 vintage British cars in the overgrown fields out back. You need good used car parts, most likely you can find it here.
Then we were looking for Mini City Ltd in Webster, NY. Thought we struck out with this one. At the designated
street address we found about a square block of older frame style commercial buildings, all of them empty as far as I could see, the one pictured being one in better than average condition. However, a phone call connected to a working number with a recorder (after hours), so we will have to do a bit more investigation and check back later. -- Subsequent search turned up two more street addresses, one being a block down the street and the other being in a different town, and four different phone numbers. Check back later (after Monday).
Next stop was for Rochester Clutch and Brake Co in Rochester, NY, where we found an empty building with a note on the window for a new address. We looked this one up later and found not only the new location but also a web site (not previously known). As this is after hours on Friday, we will have to try the new location on Monday.
For the next one we didn't know if the street was north or south, so had to visit two different locations. Looking for The Wire Wheel service shop, we found a building currently occupied by a medical office. The given phone number was answered by the medical staff with information that they had bought the building two years ago. No idea why the same phone number was reassigned in such a short time, and to another business at the same address. But in any case, no more car shop here.
Not quite 5-pm, so time for one more stop, we rolled into Sutherland Service Center in Pittsford, NY. This shop is for general auto service and tires, rather generic in nature, nothing specifically for vintage British cars. I'm not sure why it's on our shops list, probably found an ad in a British car club newsletter.
Saturday October 20, 2018:
Catching up photos and notes and updates to the Shops list, some email and tech questions, and a little progress on the October CMGC newsletter.
Sunday October 21, 2018:
Finish uploading CMGC October newsletter to the club web site (way late). Crank out my October trip report for CMGC (everything but the attachments). Update the Planning list for Monday's travels.
Monday October 22, 2018:
Attach photo files to trip report and get it sent. Back to shop hopping, and let's see how far we can get today, and first for the unfinished business from last Friday.
A shop called Ziprrrz Paddock was too far to go Friday evening, and there was some question about validity of the street address. More searching found two more addresses for the same business, one being closest to our starting point today in Rochester, NY, so we went there first. Might be an occupied house, but didn't look like a shop, and no one home, so we made the phone call and left a voice message.
Still no reply from our Friday voice message, so off to check the second available street address for Mini City in Webster, NY. Three businesses in a strip front building with one street number. Someone saw us driving around a bit and asked if we were looking for Mini City, said they were previously in the store font on the left (now KAL), an that they had moved two years ago. He then referred us to the place down the street where we had already stopped on Friday.
So far no good, but we had one more place to check. Address for the next location in Fairport, NY turned out to be a non-existent building number in between these two buildings. That not working out either, we decided that three strikes and you're out. No visible place of business, and no return of our voice message equals out of business (until proven otherwise).
Better luck on our next stop, this time we found the new location for Rochester Clutch and Brake Co in Victor, NY. Meet "Friction Material Specialist" Samuel Damico. They will rebuild your old clutch disk or brake shoes, or can make new ones if you can provide a sample. Friction parts only, no power brake units or hydraulic cylinders.
No return of voice message yet, so we headed 27 miles south to visit the second address for Ziprrrz Paddock LLC in Livonia, NY. Good luck here too, except my camera chose a bad time for a dead battery. Inside we found "Ziprrrz" MG Midget race car and some stories to go with it. This is not a normal pro shop, but the owner has significant experience racing and maintaining the Midget, and he does offer advice and lend a hand occasionally to others when in need. Therefore it is billed as "MG Restoration & Performance Consulting". The first two pictures are his shop, and the third picture is his "barn" warehouse for storage a few blocks away.
After a long drive back north we were looking for Johnson Motorsports in Clarkson, NY. The building we found was two digits off on the street address, a car shop, but not the right one. The owner had rented out space
on the lower level in back, accessible from a separate drive on the side, with the other street address. This was now vacant two years, last occupied by an auto body shop. Sometime before that, within the past 20 yeas, it used to be Johnson Motorsports, but now long gone (scratch).
Just enough time for one more shop today, so we hustled west another hour plus to visit Classic Tube in
Lancaster, NY. They supply pre-bent hydraulic pipes for clutch, brakes, and fuel lines "bent on perfection", and hydraulic hose assemblies. It began with Mustangs 30 years ago and expanded into everything else hydraulic. They can do pre-bent tubing for anything for which they have the pattern. If they don't have it, but you can supply an original part, they can easily duplicate it, after which they will have the pattern for your part. They also supply the materials and tools for you to make your own hydraulic pipes and hoses. Say hello to Cliff Schultz, a sales rep, and some samples of their work.
Done by dinner time (because the shops were closing), so we had enough time to do the photos and notes before the WiFi spot closed. Sitting in Depew, NY, getting ready to attack Buffalo, NY tomorrow.
Tuesday October 23, 2018:
Top of the morning, looking for EuroTech in Buffalo, NY, but this didn't look like a car shop. Made the phone call, and got a working number with a friendly voice saying the place was closed a couple of years ago, but try this other business at another location just a mile away, which also works on vintage British cars. So we did.
Welcome to Artisan Autoworks in Buffalo, NY, and say hello to Greg Sampson. Nice to see a young face in the business. It turns out to be the same business as EuroTech, just changed names when it relocated a couple of years earlier.
Indeed they do work on vintage British cars, lots of them, and it is their specialty. Maintenance, repairs, and full restoration services available, mechanical work in the right side bay, with restoration, body and paint work in the left side bay.
Then we drove 40 miles south to find M.G.A Particles in West Valley, NY. This is a home shop out in the country, no one home when we arrived, but we made the phone call and left a message. Got a call back a short time later saying that restoration and service work has been curtailed, but the business is still selling parts and is a Moss Motors distributor.
Then we were cruising two hours to the east to visit Smalley's Garage in Watkins Glen, NY (while the GPS took us through some nifty short cuts along the way). There is a huge long history for this shop, having opened on Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 1941, now in the third generation of family ownership. Being in Watkins Glen for all these years there is a long history of servicing race cars that were competing at the Watkins Glen International race track, and yes I'm sorry we did not have time to visit the race track.
The racing venue was established on the streets of Watkins Glen, NY in 1948. A temporary course was built in 1953, and 2.3 mile permanent circuit was built in 1956. Smalley's Garage has always been there to service the race cars. About six months ago (early 2018) the prime mover in the business passed away leaving a huge void in the vintage car service business. Since then his wife has kept the place open, but the remaining techs are working on modern cars now with no more service for the vintage cars. Sad day, shed a tear as time moves on.
Just a shot hop later we were looking for Classic Auto Restoration in Montour, NY. Sorry folks, but this has been a muffler and bake shop for 16 years, and they remember a big equipment shop that was here for two years before them, after Classic Auto. So apparently our desired shop has been gone since turn of the century.
Then we were looking for The Car Works in Painted Post, NY. We stuck out here too with the building number
being two digits off from our target address. The businesses here were Erwin Motor Company and Michaels Used Cars. From historical records, pretty sure Michaels has been gone for several years, last record of them was a Carlisle swap meet vendor in 2010. Although the Erwin sign looks newer, there the only info on line is that this was also a car dealer, but the place looks vacant now and the phone number does not raise any response, so we presume closed as well. In any case, no trace of The Car Works shop, presumably long since defunct.
That being the last of our shop searching in New York, we were cruising an hour back northwest on a request to visit an MGA owner friend, Robert Ellis in rural Cohocton, NY. Late evening, but we did get a nice picture of a double rainbow. More tomorrow.
Wednesday October 24, 2018:
Today we get to tinker with a couple MGA. Our friend Robert Ellis has a nice MGA 1600 with some had starting and rough running issues, but it ran well enough to drive several miles to his brother's place where we had a heated work space. Brother also has an MGA Coupe getting on with restoration work, but a ways to go yet. It has some interesting modifications, like a custom wiring harness with 15 plug-in spade fuses and headlight relays.
There were a couple issues with body work, like rocker panels slightly misaligned and not welded along the top edges. After some discussion, not sure is it may eventually be fixed, or maybe left for a while longer before making that decision. There were some cute dash panel mods, like the white-faced instruments and push-button turn signal controls. Those are push-on, push-off toggle switches.
Then we were hard after Roberts carburetor issues, sticking chokes, maladjusted pull cables, and decided to remove the carburetors for bench service. We ended up disassembling everything but the throttle shafts, and spent time cleaning and polishing the jets, oiling the seals, and re-centering the jets so they can pull and return freely.
After reassembly and all the proper adjustments, the carbs were soon back in the car, tuned up and running properly. Good idle and good throttle response, and the choke cable properly adjusted to the choke should work properly for cold start. There were a couple issues with a new cable trunnion with hardware, like the anti-rattle Thackeray washer with too small ID that wouldn't fit onto the shaft, and a cotter pin too large to fit through the hole (or maybe the hole was too small). All that aside, the car ran much better on the return home.
Thursday October 25, 2018:
Goodbye New York, hello Pennsylvania. We began with a phone call to Ed Woodruff, Classic and Collectible Street Rods in Waymart, PA, because we only had a road name and needed a street address. Turned out the phone number was discontinued, and there is precious little information about him on the internet. We did find a high end street rod auction car that was built by him sometime earlier, but if there is no current contact information we can only conclude that he is out of business.
Then we had a brisk two hour run east on the expressway to visit Joel Constantino Auto Body in Waymart, PA. He does restorations and custom body work, and had some interesting vehicles in the shop. The '47 Ford truck (hot rod) is his daily driver. The '68 Corvette is customer car that began as a full original restoration and soon changed to a resto-mod with a modern Corvette chassis underneath. But Joel has a passion for vintage cars as well, and has a photo album with lots of classic British cars that he has restored over the years.
Then we were off to visit Jack Deren Racing Enterprises in Carbondale, PA. Big building, no signage, but appears to be occupied, with business stuff in the front office and cars (or such) in the rear shop area. Locked up, no one there, but it was lunch time. We made a call and left a message, but so far no call back.
P.S. -- Next day we got word from another shop that JDRE is definitely still in business, having sent an AH 100 there for painting during restoration.
Next was a visit to David Hopkins at Dalton Garage in Dalton, PA. This place was established in 1976, engaged in general auto service, but he also does service and mechanical restoration on vintage cars. We have been in and out of this drive a few times now, and the T3 out front is still there, so I recon it belongs to one of the resident techs. The rear axle is a Dana unit from a Jeep I think, happens to be suitable track width for an MG and has lower final drive ratio suitable for a lager engine conversion (which they have apparently done more than once).
If I get this right, that is a vintage Studebaker converted with more modern chassis parts including a 300-CID 6-cylinder Ford engine (Econoline van). David and made the wheel adapters to be able to use the original wood spoke wheels. I asked how fast it goes with the big engine? The answer was, "About 15-mph on the wood wheels".
David had also done a lot of work on the MG ZB Magnette for Dick and Carol Shamonsky, prior chairman of NAMGAR (both now deceased). Here we have the adapters for installing front disc brakes on the Magnette.
By this time it was mid afternoon, and we had a few more places to go, so we were leaving. We dove half a block, just short of the first stop sign, when we lost drive. It took about three seconds to double check the situation, and the first thought was, "broken halfshaft". Don't guess, just check it. To get out of the street we pushed the car and tailer back enough to turn it around, and pushed it (mostly down grade) back to Dalton Garage. Surprise, we're back.
First, it's nice to have friends when "stuff" happens. Second, it's nice when it happens in a convenient
location. We collectively couldn't push the car up grade onto the lift rack, so there was a slight delay waiting for a tow truck to come and reposition the car onto the rack. Third, it's nice when your friend has easy access to the part you need. While I began pulling halfshafts and removing the differential, David ran home to remove a halfshaft from an MGA rear axle he just happen to have lying around home. That came out of a car that was recently converted to V8 engine and different rear axle, so it was spare. How's that for a nice series of coincidences?
I had the gear oil drained, the wheels off and the halfshafts out and was pulling the differential by the time David returned with the replacement part. There was a bit of difficulty extracting the broken male spline from the differential sun gear (kind of stuck), so I removed one carrier bearing cap for access to punch out the pinion shaft retaining pin, push out the pinion shaft, and remove the planet gears and the offending sun gear. Then the broken shaft just fell out, go figure. Just a few minutes to reassemble the differential bevel gears and pinion shaft and retaining pin (with a center pinch tap to hold the small pin in place, and the one carrier bearing cap. Meanwhile David had cleaned the crumbled marbles out of the axle housing, and the pumpkin was back in place with ten hex nuts. New paper gasket not required, because I had done a nice job with it the last time I was in there. While I was reconnecting the propshaft David was reinstalling the halfshafts, also no new gaskets or O-rings required because the not very old ones were still in good condition. Then a few minutes to refill the gear oil, and the fussy stuff was done.
Then navigator opened his mouth an declared this would be a good time to install the new brake shoes. He's learning, and he got this one spot on at the right time, go get the new shoes out of the magic trailer trailer. These new shoes were not only large enough, but just a smidge too large so it was hard to install the brake drums, and they would drag badly. This only needed to grind 1/16-inch off of one end of each brake shoe center web, and all was right with the world. The new shoes then came into firm contact with the drum with only 2 or 3 clicks of the adjuster, and now the parking brake and rear hydraulic brakes work again. The last couple of pictures show lining up the inferior too-short shoes along side of the new good ones to show how much too short the bad ones are, at least 1/4-inch too short on each of the four shoes.
In the end replacing the broken half shaft and changing brake shoes set us back maybe four hours, so we pushed off one or two shop visits for the next day. It was an interesting experience with a new story and new friends. In retrospect, this is not the first time I have to think the MGA with an attitude has a friendly failure mode, dropping a problem on us at a time and place least inconvenient. Maybe the car also chose this particular instant to coerce us into stopping to installing the new brake shoes. Good thought anyway. I would also like to publicly thank David Hopkins and his wrench tech Dave Beckish for sticking around a bit past closing time to help us get the job done. But I have to say again, it's just maintenance. When something breaks, just fix it and go on.
This broken halfshaft pissed me off some, because just 19 months ago (62K miles) I had replaced the sun gears and the halfshafts to have better (less worn) splines as preventative maintenance to reduce backlash, and figuring it should last longer. When something like this goes crunch, there is an instant sinking feeling, but once it's fixed it is just another story for the book.
Friday October 26, 2018:
First stop today was at Affordable Auto Trim in Scranton, PA. Just a little tricky, around in the back accessible from a side street. Closed on Friday, call back on Monday, but at least they are still in business. Will call later.
P.S. - Got a call back on Monday morning to verify they are still in business, and they service cars all the way back to the 1920's (which includes all MGs). Any auto fabrics are fair game here.
Then a visit to A.I.T. Automotive Parts, Inc in Scranton, PA. This looked real promising when I walked in, a real old time parts store, and I was about to ask for distributor points. Alas, no such luck. They have liquidated all of the vintage parts, so nothing left for vintage cars (although they could probably order something for you if you didn't mind the wait).
Next stop was Dom's Automotive Works in Scranton, PA. Meet Don Rinaldi, been here for decades, and he likes British cars. That would be a Jaguar in the back of his shop today.
We stopped to visit Cross Valley Auto in Plains, PA. Looks good right out front.
Say hello to the owner Ted Jancewicz. He services almost exclusively British cars, just brought two of the Jaguars and the Healey back to life after long slumber.
Addendum Oct 19. 2024: Cross Valley Auto is no longer in service, so scratching this one off thelist.
Just a brief stop at Durland Auto Body and Repair Shop in Swoyersville, PA. I had high hopes here, 4th generation mechanics, 3rd generation at this location. Alas, the grandfather who loved vintage British cars retired ten years ago (and died a few months ago), and the current generation works mostly on older Corvettes, actually doesn't like the British cars), so scratch this one off the list.
Hustling right along, we stopped to visit Joe Pace at Auto Upholstery Plus in Luzerne, PA. Any kind of fabrics on vintage cars is no problem. The real problem is that this is a little two-bay shop downtown where Joe has been in business for years, and not enough space to grow. So come next spring he will be moving into a new much larger building on his home property. The phone number will not change, so check back later for the new address.
Then we made a stop at Cicioni Radiator Service in Hazleton, PA. This place is a lot larger than it looks in these pictures, spanning four street addresses in a wrap around building with trucks parked inside. I used to think that radiator shops were generic and all over the place, maybe not worth the time to look. But in recent years they have been falling like dead flies with very few of them left, like maybe only a thousand of them left all across the USA. These guys not only know what a cell core radiator is but they had one of the vintage style cores in the shop today. Score one for the good guys.
Our last stop for the day would be Knorr's Foreign Car Service in Bloomsburg, PA. It was an impressively large
building with the correct sign on it, but was locked up, maybe after hours in the evening. A sign said "Sales Office", so I took a chance and knocked on a door that looked like a house front, got lucky and raised someone. The business owner who had worked on vintage cars had retired nearly 20 years ago. The current resident used to be an employee, and used to do some of the work on vintage British cars (among other things). He took over the building and the business, and still runs a car shop here, but no longer services vintage British cars. Shed a tear, but such is life.
As we were about to settle into our WiFi spot to get some work done this evening, I noticed the navigator got shanghaied in the car park answering questions about the MGA and trailer and the mission statement, for about five minutes. I think he's getting the hang of this stuff. He's getting better about making the inquiring phone calls as well. You never know what this might come to.
Saturday October 27, 2018:
Ah, the week end, no shop hopping, so day off to catch up grunt work. Aside from catching up photos and notes, tally sheets and email, I finally had time to list the rest of the shops in Pennsylvania, put them on the map, plot the short route for next week, and rearrange the Planning spread sheet. Looks like 44 more shops in Pennsylvania, and a dozen more friends and maybe a couple of clubs we haven't caught up with yet. Fingers crossed hoping we can at least finish the PA shops in five days.
Sunday October 28, 2018:
The day went away with more grunt work. How long does it take to write names, addresses and phone numbers on a steno pad for the next 55 planned stops? Sitting in Danville, PA, primed for first Monday morning appointment.
Monday October 29, 2018:
Map points spread out, so couple hundred miles to run today. First stop was Sports Car Haven in Danville, PA, with a few interesting approach shots outside. The store has tons of parts in stock.
Inside, meet the owner Lorne Fritz with one of his favorite toys, a TVR 2500M (with original Triumph 2.5-liter 6-cylinder engine). Tucked into the paint room for temporary stowage, a couple of his race cars, along with his Ford Falcon delivery. He has been working on a customer's TR3 hot rod with V8 engine and very fat tires.
There is an MGB getting a more modern fuel injected in-line 6-cylinder engine. The TR6 in restoration was a horrible rust bucket, but it is a customer's long term family car that has to be restored.
Then we had to run 75 miles north to visit Harry Kinsman in Ulster, PA. We had a long crawl up View Lane, and then we found out how it got it's name.
Harry has a slightly customized MGA 1500 Coupe in which he has installed Cipher Auto high back seats. I think there are details of those seats somewhere on my web site.
The real reason for today's side trip was to give the carbs and ignition a little tweak, as it had been running somewhat below par for quite a while. Now that it runs well he may forego his prior half-heated attempts to sell the car. Then we had to run, lots more places to go.
Another 70 miles southeast through some nifty mountain roads bought us to Ron's Auto in Avoca, PA. This place
has all the trappings of a going concern MG service shop, but no one here at the moment, and then the phone number came up out of service. Not ready to write this one off yet, so will have to do some more research. First two stops just killed four hours.
SWU Automotive in Moosic, PA may be variously called SWU engine rebuilding or Service World Unlimited. I had them down for "Complete custom engine building and machine work", and indeed they have compete engine machining facilities on hand. But they will also R&R the engine from the car as well as other repairs. Today they had two Triumph Stag in process.
We stopped briefly at Superior Welding Co in Scranton, PA. Here for decades, a good welding shop doing lots of work on cars, commonly welding frame and chassis parts.
Then we found Meoni's Auto Service Center in Olyphant, PA. Also here for decades, six techs busy all the time, one of them specializing in vintage cars. They referred us to the next shop.
On the prior recommendation, we drove 11 miles our of our way to find Euromoto in La Plume, PA. This guy has an MGA and and MGB, but he makes his living working on Subaru and has no time for the vintage stuff, so this one will not make our Shops list for vintage British cars.
Out of business hours today, so head off in the direction of tomorrow's first shop stop and find a good WiFi spot to catch up.
Tuesday October 30, 2018:
Short run this morning to visit Falls Garage in Falls, PA. Not only is this place still in business, but the owner has been servicing vintage British cars since they weren't vintage. Score one for the good guys.
Not far away we stopped at Pocono Autowerks in Reeders, PA. Meet Phil Sardinha. In spite of the company name spelling, they work on more than just German cars, including many vintage cars, and a specialty in Vintage British. In the shop today were a vintage Dodge, a Mercedes, a WV bus, but nothing British on the floor at the time. They will be moving in about a year, so we will want to check back later for their new address.
Next up was Motts Auto Repair & Radiator in Stroudsburg, PA. Say hello to Jeff Hunsberger. They do general auto repair, not specifically vintage British, but can do repairs on those in a pinch. Radiators are a cinch, and cell cores are okay when they can find a manufacturing source for the core in the needed size.
We apparently wasted a lot of time (and mileage) looking for Restore Auto, which was supposed to be in Dalton, PA. The given address was 118 N Rte-611 in Dalton, which agrees with many internet references. But many mapping programs shift to a different town, and Garmin GPS brings up PA-611 in Delaware Water Gap, which is a national park on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River. Got the picture of a picket guard between the road and a rail track next to the river at that location.
We tried the call and got a disconnected phone number, so we gave up and moved on. With lots of net searching later we figured out that the road is US-6 and/or US-11 (not referenced like that anywhere on the internet), with a local name of Lackawassa Trail. Go figure. We also found this street level picture on Google Maps, complete with the business name and phone number on the building, but the picture was six yeas old (2012). Since the phone number is now dead, and there is no reference to any other contact information anywhere on the internet, I recon we will write this one off as being closed.
Looking for K&T Vintage Sports Cars, LLC in Allentown, PA. Different business now, said that
K&T moved eight months ago
(early 2018), and the old phone number was disconnected. No WiFi handy, so had to look them up later to find them in Colony Drive Industrial Park in Bethlehem, PA, and they do have a nice web site.
Then we had an entertainment stop to visit Ragtops & Roadsters, Inc in Perkasie, PA. You just have to walk around and drool for while.
The black car in the middle is an Italia 2000. Farther back an MGA flanked by a big Healey and a bigger Jaguar. On the lower level more, including a Toyota Range Rover, recently coming into the collector market.
Couple of T-types, a TR-6 and a Lotus. Not always easy to recognize a car in the nude, the last one is a Jaguar XJ6C ("C" as in Coupe, 2-door).
We made a little side trip to take a second shot at Clarke Spares & Restorations in Chalfont, PA. Been here before, a couple years earlier with same results, no one here when we arrived. But we're pesistent, maybe drop in again later, next time we're in the neighborhood again.
Next stop was a visit to Leydon Restorations in Lahaska, PA, where they do high end restoration work. Very busy here, so trying not to distract them too much, but on the way out I was cornered for another five minute chat.
Getting late, but at 4:20pm we rolled into British Miles in Moorsville, PA, just as they were closing the gates. Yes they are still here, and they provide new, used, and remanufactured parts for vintage British cars
Last chance for the day, 15 minutes later we were looking for DSA Auto Sales & Service in Levittown, PA. After hours, closed up, and the sign says "B&B Classic Auto Sales (different name), sales, service, restoration, Since 1989". Really? From the looks of the inventory, there must be a difference these days between Classic and Vintage. Will have to call this one again duing buiness hours.
Wednesday October 31, 2018:
A bit of somewhat urgent business this morning. Since we lost a Bearing Buddy with dirt damaging a trailer wheel bearing on the Trans Labrador Highway last month, the trailer tires have taken a lot of chewing and need to be replaced. We found Tire City in Bristol, PA with the little tires in stock, and not long to swap out a couple of tires and get us back on the road.
From there not too far to find Roadster Works Ltd in Trevose, PA. Looks like a home shop with an MG sign on the garage door. No one here today, and no ring on the phone with repeated tries. Very puzzling phone failure, have to try the phone call again later.
Muddling through city traffic to visit British Motor Corporation in Philadelphia, PA. Having squeezed our way into an alley style entrance drive too narrow to turn the trailer around, we found a few rows of older industrial buildings, many with no name so we couldn't find BMC. Also the phone wasn't working at the time, so we would investigate a bit more later.
P.S. - Nearly a week later we got a call through to British Motor Corporation. The shop is in fact still there, on the right at far end of the drive that can be seen in the pictue at left. There will be minimal sinage, as they like to keep a low profile. Turns out place was sold and passed on to prior empoyees when the owner retired a few years ago. At time of this witing he is still involved as an occasional consultant to the business. The new business name is British Restoration Corp, still essentially the same business run by the same people. They do high end restoration work on Vintage Bitish cars, especially keen on big Healeys.
|
Then looking for Circus 67 in Glenside, PA we found more vintage industrial buildings, this one with the specified building number, locked up, no name, and our phone once again producing no ring after repeated attempts. Very puzzling, will try the phone again later, but guessing this business is also gone.
We stopped to visit Dick Moritz in Flourtown, PA. No answer to the door, had to call on the phone to roust him out, after which he was glad to see us. He builds a lot of MG engines primarily for street use, not for racing (except for himself). He also rebuilds gearboxes, preferably overdrive units, and much prefers the later more durable 4-synchro gearboxes.
A quick tour of anther level introduced us to some of his personal toys. The yellow car in back is a Camaro Rally Sport that was his mother's car. Hiding on the far right is a '57 T-bird that was his father's car. He restored the E-type to be his wife's car. The MGB race car is his personal toy. There are a couple more classics somewhere in there. And he has a fairly large collection of MG engines and gearboxes saved as spares, in case you need one but don't have a core to rebuild.
We had a short stop at Turchi Enterprises, Inc in Lafayette Hill, PA. Good show with a TR6 right up front in for service today. Jolly good soul with plenty of experience servicing vintage British cars.
Looking for Power British in Norristown, PA, we found a different name on the post box. The building looked the part, but no British cars in a very empty side lot. The phone repeatedly came up "not available". - P.S. Tried the phone again, still "not available" on 11/9/18. Going to write this one off (until otherwise proven).
We wanted to visit a friend, Paul Bookman in Villanova, PA. He has a 1959 MGA Roadster purchased Bloomington, Illinois in May 2018. I don't recall exactly, but I suspect we had some email exchange at the time. Not home today, left a voice message, but no call back yet.
One more shop scheduled today, and we easily got this one in before closing time, a visit to Cloverleaf Auto Services Inc in Malvern, PA. The name comes from being founded next to the fist cloverleaf interchange built in America, somewhere back around 1950-ish. But these days they mostly like vintage British cars.
Inside they have a very nice assortment of cars to keep them busy with restoration work.
Outside some nice driver cars in for service, and a few diamonds in the rough waiting their turn.
After a late lunch break and email check it was time for a little sprint about 50 miles south to North East, Maryland (that is a city name) to visit fiends, Ted and JoAnn Dawson. They have been on our case to stop in for a while now, since we were in eastern Canada, and we have been working around some scheduling problems to get together. Apparently JoAnn bought Ted an MGA 1600-MK-II a couple months ago, and they would like my opinion and input on a few issues with the car. Kind of late tonight, but I recon we will get to it tomorrow.
|
