The MGA With An Attitude
Saturday March 16, 2019:
 Then we opened up the PCV valve and found the rubber diaphragm wrinkled up and sucked down inside. So disassemble and reassemble it, bending the closure clip to be tighter, and the PCV valve was working again. 
 
 Final minor adjustments were easy, and then it purring like an MG should with Sparky grinning from ear to ear. We stopped for a late lunch then, but Sparky would get the car off the jacks later and would drive it to the club meeting in the evening. Getting out of Chicago in mid afternoon, we headed to Addison, IL in the western suburbs. We had enough time to drop navigator Elliot off, then go 8 miles extra to pick up daughter Honey and return. Killed about an hour with family, then another hour for dinner before the Chicagoland MG Club meeting where John Twist of University Motors was the guest speaker (with about 40 club members in attendance). Missing an HDMI cable to connect computer to projector, so someone ran out and bought one. Then had a party of experts to figure out how to enlarge the projected image in Power Point, followed by a downright entertaining presentation by John Twist. After the meeting Sparky was crowing to John Twist (typical prankster) about his nicely running MG Midget. I got a picture of Sparky's Midget in the dark as folks were leaving. Then ran daughter Honey home and returned to pick up son and navigator Elliot. 
 Generally cold in the Chicago area, and no more appointments here, so we headed south down IL-83 and I-55, stopping a little past Bloomington-Normal for the night. Tuesday March 19, 2019: After a very busy weekend we needed a day off, so spent the day on WiFi in Springfield, IL catching up with BBS and email tech questions, and posting these photos and notes from the past couple of days. Now is time for more firm plans on what we do next. Spent most of the evening listing shops we still need to visit, tentatively heading west from Saint Louis, MO into the plains states for several weeks. Wednesday March 20, 2019: Hanging out in Litchfield, IL, half a day on BBS and email, and rest of the day plotting our approach for storming St Louis, Missouri tomorrow. Thursday March 21, 2019:  As planned, we were rampaging through St Louis, MO area today, visiting 7 shops and 1 friend with an MGA Coupe. First up was Brooklands Restorations in Overland, MO who do restoration work on classic European cars (including pretty much anything British). Front of building, front lot, back of building. Meet the cheery faces, Christian Sora and Adam Key. My camera was not wide enough angle, but pretty sure at least nine service doors front and back. 
 One project currently on the front burner is a Riley Special, a highly modified 1931 model if I recall correctly. They hope to have it finished in time for The Great Race in late June. There were a fair number of additional cars currently in the shop, as well as a few open service bays if you need some work done. If you look in the right direction, there appears to be a rather large assortment of vintage restoration parts on hand. 
 Next up was All British Car Repair (formerly Hi-Tech Collision Repair). There was a little secret I had to ask about here, which makes this a two-fer. I knew from may years past about an organization named SLIME (Saint Louis Independent MG Enthusiasts), and had it posted in my Clubs list. As it turns out, it is a sort of ghost club, like in name only, but it is also real (go figure). It originated sometime back in the 90's as a protest when some folks became disenchanted with then current management of the local MG club. I met someone with a SLIME T-shirt at one of the Missouri Endurance Rallies in the mid 90's. I think the ruffled feathers have long since been smoothed out. These days the SLIME guys are more of a private type friendship group who meet for natter on Monday nights at All British Car Repair. I recon you need to be invited to get in on that gig. 
 So meet the owner of All British Car Repair, John Mangles, "The MG Doc", and his pride and joy, the MGA with V8 engine, converted around 2004. 
 Walking into the shop, first thing I ran into was this nice MG Coupe which was in for front suspension rebuild (and I don't remember what else). Got a few more pics out front as we were leaving. 
 Then we were off to visit Custom Auto Center in Maryland Heights, MO. They do great body work and classic car restoration. They seem to be heavy into Mustangs today, but do lots of other vintage cars (including vintage British cars). There was a '55 T-bird on the hoist, and a rare Shelby just out of the paint booth in final assembly. 
 We were looking for British Cars Of America in St Louis, MO, but no-go here. Premises currently occupied by "Pickup Outfitters". BCOA is (or was) a member of BMTA. We stopped to visit Lindbergh Motorsport in St Ann, MO. Looks like nice place. I walked in and set off the door alarm loudly (twice), but no one came to the front counter. Pretty sure there was at least one person rummaging around in back. 
 There was a generous mix of German cars here, but also a number of classic British cars. The shop space continues to left of the drive-in door, so it's a pretty big place. Pitty I didn't get to chat with anyone here. 
 The next shop was "It's Alive" in Bridgeton, MO, which was new to us, coming as a referral from Brooklands Restorations. This place is huge, and I took too many pictures, but it was fun. 
 A short walk around outside gives a hint of how many vintage British cars may be here. Across the parking lot is another building just for storage of more cars. 
 One step into the shop space, and I ran smack into the owner, along with a mind boggling array of cars in service (and I tossed out half the pictures). Nice E-Type Coupe in the paint booth. 
 Moving toward the front the cars appeared to be mostly finished, possibly spill-over from the show room. 
 Finally into the front show room, cream of the crop, go ahead and drool. 
 
We did our best to visit Hye-Dra-Cyl L.L.C. in St Charles, MO, ending up in front of a residence. No one home, so we made the phone call. We got a call back later with details. Parts currently manufactured in
the New England area, the business is moving to Brooksville, Florida, breaking ground on a new building within a week, to be finished within a year (so we may catch them down there next winter). They are manufacturing stainless steel hydraulic system components, including brake calipers for Jaguar cars and MGA Twin Cam. One more appointment today. We made a call earlier to verify, and good that we did, because our friend
had moved. We made another call because we were actually running a few hours early (which never happens). In short order we stopped to visit Glen Fraska in Weldon Springs, MO (previously St Charles, MO). We missed him when he was busy in June 2015, finally caught him now. He has an interesting MGA Coupe the used to belong to his father. He drives it regularly to keep it in decent running condition as he is slowly fixing it up with an eye toward full restoration in the near future. The small mud guards on the front fenders seem to have helped protect the sills. 
 The car is a 1500 model with a 1600 engine (with MGB carburetors) and a spare 1600 engine. Seats were recovered with heavy vinyl some years past, still holding up quite well. Unfortunately the chassis frame has suffered a lot of corrosion, so Glen has procured a replacement frame that its in particularly solid condition. We spent some time looking at a few vintage replacement sheet metal parts, figuring such things were not so good in the 70's, so he might be better off making new panels rather than fighting with the vintage parts. 
 After a fair stint on WiFi we headed south late evening with about four hours drive ahead of us. Didn't make, only 2-1/2 hours before stopping for the night. Friday March 22, 2019: In spite of an early start, we had 1-1/2 hours more drive to our first appointment today, so in essence we had a late start. We were headed for MG Bits and Spares in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Not sure about this place at first sight, looking rather "inactive", but checking it out regardless. Locked up, two phone number on the front both disconnected, but a sign saying to make deliveries next door. Nice house, and immediately met by Don Bridger, the business owner, so we began the tour with the home garage shop. 
 First snap has a Leyland Mini, an MG VT, and an MG TA Tickford (hope I got all that right). Then we got through the gate to the larger shop out back. 
 First sight here was a sample of maybe 30 MGB overdrive gearboxes. And there was a passel of MGB, beginning with a factory MG MGB GT V8, soon followed by an MGC. All of these cars looked like you could dust them off and drive them away, but pretty sure they have been sitting for some years and will need some maintenance to be roadable. 
 A little deeper in the cave it is obvious that they used to restore a lot of MG T-types, and there are still several of them here begging for attention. And there are lots of parts available to do more restorations. 
 There is a rebuilt body tub reserved for one of the older cars. Back outside more MGs, more likely parts than projects I suppose. 
 Finally into the long building up front, it is filled with many isles with floor to ceiling shelving loaded with "vintage" new parts, tons of the stuff. Right there at my feet were a bunch of MGA restoration panels. 
 Reason I spend the time and space for all this is because Don is retiring (or already retired), and he wants to liquidate pretty much everything seen here. If you might be interested, feel free to make an offer for all or part, and bring trucks. I suspect that part or all of the premises and buildings may also be up for grabs.  Then we were off to visit Blair's British Car Service in North Little Rock, AR. Bit of disappointment here, as he was deceased and the business closed in 2014. The place is currently occupied by a music instrument shop. One more stop today, a visit to rpMGroup and MarinaMan in Benton, AR. Story is that "RPM" stands for Restoration, Preservation, and Maintenance. On first pass he wasn't home, as his wife had an accident and ended up in the emergency room of the hospital for a few hours. But we had left a message, and we stayed in the neighborhood for a while, and eventually he called back and we got together in early evening. We were here primarily because Skip Harris is a member of BMTA, but also because he is likely to be the largest supplier of Marina specific parts in North America. The car out front is his daily driver or work car. The one inside is a current restoration project. 
 Late evening was time to depart, so we pointed it north and drove a about 90 minutes, stopping for a WiFi opportunity before it got too late. Then late night we drove another couple of hours, stopping in Harrison, AR for the night, about 30 miles shy of Branson, Missouri (as navigator wants to avoid the tourist trap if possible. Saturday March 23, 2019: Ah, finally the day off to catch up with all the photos and notes for the past few days. If nothing else was significant at least that was done, so you can enjoy the page above. Still no rest for the weary, as I need to compose my monthly trip report for CMGC newsletter, and also put together a large parts order to restore the magic to the magic trailer. And Monday we should get back to shop hopping again. Late night finished the monthly trip report and got it sent, so at least that's done. Sunday March 24, 2019: Spent much of the day perusing through the entire Moss Motors MGA parts catalog, putting into the Shopping Cart parts from nearly every page. So far 305 line items (540 pieces), and about 45 more part numbers we need to check to see if they are still in the trailer. That was a time consuming chore not over yet but when finished we should have a good inventory count (not very accurate for a long time now). Monday March 25, 2019: Such a long day, I'm surprised it's still the same day. Started with breakfast in Harrison, Arkansas, trying to decide a few days in advance where to ship parts (likely to the Kansas City area). Waiting for a call back from a friend. 
Running north, alighting briefly in Branson, Missouri, finding (as expected) that another Brits shop was out of business. Classic Sports Cars, LLC in Branson, MO apparently used to be within the last tall garage door on the left, just because it was unit "C" and there is no more unit C now, the space being taken over by the business in unit B, since 2014. 
Made two stops in Branson looking for aa Bank Of America facility. First one was closed, sold out, occupied by another business, Second was supposed to be an ATM inside Branson Mall, but the mall was also completely closed and locked with a for sale sign. Branson's on the slide? Killed a late lunch hour trying to send the parts order, had bad WiFi again, ran past 3-pm and didn't get it done. Had a target to the east and had to get moving while there were still business hours. Took some interesting diminishing gravel roads getting there (and people wonder how we get mud on the trailer). 
 We had no street address or box number, but had narrowed it down to a two mile stretch of road near Ava, MO (or Squires, MO depending on who you ask). Arrived about 6-pm, with about 50 percent expectation of finding our rural route objective with no box number, and 50 percent expectation of anyone being there if we found it. Got lucky and found the owner walking his dogs, and he graciously opened the shop for a tour. Meet Jon Thompson of Sports Car Specialties in Squires, MO. 
 I was most interested in the MGA Twin Cam body shell he was restoring, mounted on a heavy machined frame alignment jig. All of the repair patches are perfectly aligned, butt welded and ground flush, completely hiding the weld joints. Among the best body restoration work I have ever seen. 
 I think he was more excited about the big Healey. Absolutely phenomenal workmanship. 
 We had a long chat about some of the machinery and tools he has available to assist, like tons of the stuff. Then another look at the shop building, which is still growing. Two thirds of the center structure was early construction. Then one third added to the length along with the side expansion. Now in process of adding sixteen feet to the width, full length on the far side. All good stuff, but we have to move on. 
 Gas up in Ada, and haul on two plus hours west, looking for Basic British in Joplin, MO, where we expected to take a picture of a vacated business building in the dark (since the phone number was disconnected). 
Instead we found ourselves in a residential neighborhood at 10-pm. By pure chance the resident was out with a trash can, so we asked him about the business. It was his wife's father who ran the business, now retired and moved to Springfield, MO, but we got his phone number. Called him the next day for a chat, and was pleased to find he has a web site that still works, and he is (or was) a specialist in AH Sprite and MG Midget (pre-1975 models), service and parts. Also verifying that he is indeed retired and not taking any more orders. Then we got lucky and found a WiFi spot open until Midnight, so a chance to check email and figure out where to ship the parts order so we could push the Order button next day. Tuesday March 26, 2019: Getting desperate to get the parts order sent in today, because we want delivery by Friday, don't want to hang around over the week end just waiting for delivery. Had to inventory the remaining contents of the trailer before final adjustment of the Shopping Cart. Identifying and counting of everything left took a couple hours. Then another hour struggling with slow WiFi to make some changes to the Shopping Cart. We will be having the order shipped to the Customer Counter at UPS main depot in Lenexa, Kansas for pickup there. Just in case the shipment may not arrive in time to be on Friday's delivery truck, arrival any time later in the day will still have it available for pick up before 7-pm Friday. About to order 250 line items, 450+ pieces, about $1,100 worth of stuff, not the largest value order ever, but the greatest number of parts I had ever ordered at one time. Then pending disaster just before the final key stroke to verify the order and charges. About to press the last button to authorize the change when the bottom line mysteriously changed to double the charge amount. Whoa, don't press that button yet. Just minutes before the tentative 3-pm deadline, I called Moss to beg for mercy. After serious discussion at both ends, we logged out and logged back in to my customer account, and that cleared up the double billing issue, sowe were able to verify the order around half past three. The folks there were understanding and promised to get the order picked and packed and out the door today, so I would not have to pay second day air charges for Friday delivery, so finally the heat was off. Sometime in the near future there will be more time required to update my internal inventory list, after which we will once again be able to keep track of what's in the Magic Trailer. For now, time allowing, spent the rest of the day catching up photos and notes for the past couple of days, so hope you're enjoying the entertainment. Moving north again late night, couple of hours on we stopped a bit shy of Kansas City close to our first programmed stop in the morning. Wednesday March 27, 2019:  Fairly early start today to see how far we might get with out Kansas City area shops list. Our first stop of the day was not what we expected, but then turned into a four-fer (sort of). We were looking for Original Technical Publications, which is listed as a member of BMTA. It is a good business, but is UK based using the Kansas City address for North American registration only. With no functional street address and no published phone number it is strictly internet sales only. The second business is actually resident here, and we didn't know about it until we arrived, making a new business to our Shops list. It is Euro-Asian Motors, specializing in British cars since 1981. You may have noticed the TR3 in the photo above, and we fond a couple TR6 inside. Say hello to Gary Gumminger who works on all things British (and some other cars on occasion). He was assembling some TR6 throttle linkage today, but had an MGA in the shop recently. He also referred us to the next two (new) shops below. 
 On referral from Gary, we stopped to visit George's Imports, Ltd, not far away also in Kansas City, MO. Once inside we were introduced to "Terry Sr" who is the guy working on "Exotic Auto Repair". In this case, that means anything vintage without a computer, including all vintage British cars. Good guy, knows the cars well. 
  Then we were looking for Empire Automotive, on the Boulevard, but had no street address so apparently drove past without finding it. Did an internet search later and did find it, so we will be returning to visit that shop later. Next up was Foreign Car Enterprise in Kansas City, MO. There was a TR6 in to "get it running" after being dormant for a while. The AH-3000 in back was in for full restoration (was a rusted mess to begin with). 
 In the middle was the MGA going for full concours show car restoration. Just for fun, see how many different cars you can identify from the parts sitting on the table. 
 Then just across the Missouri River we found Yorkie's Foreign Car Service in Kansas City, KS, claiming to be "Kansas City’s oldest import auto repair garage". They are heavy into vintage British cars, and modern ones as well. On one end of the shop is another sign for Anders Automotive, a friendly merger, and source for service on newer import cars (same address and same phone number). 
 Meet the owner Hardy Christensen, a bona fide member of the younger generation. I recon he bought the business a few years ago, and it is doing well, so they are now constructing a new addition on the back of the building to expand the business. Good news for the customers as well. 
 
We were looking for Hicks British Repair in Merriam, Kansas. At first we struck out here, as the current building is Interstate Battery. On inquiry it seems the Brit car shop has been gone for about 15 years. But then the nice lady at the front counter was chatting about two more shops nearby that may service vintage British cars. She looked up the names and addresses, but after 15 minutes of searching it turned out both of those shops were also long gone, no joy. Looking for Geoff Rood Engines in Merriam, KS, all we know about this one is that it is no longer there. Time for one more shop today, so we stopped in to visit Victoria British, Ltd at their new location, where they moved about two years ago (but was news to me). Sign on the building says "LMC", as in Long Motors Corporation. The larger part of their business is in truck parts. 
I think they missed a good bet not putting the V.B. sign outside. Plenty of evidence inside. That's an MGA grille hanging on the wall with lots of accessory parts. One third of the catalog rack is for the vintage British car stuff, the rest for the larger business of truck parts. I think they have discontinued Datsun Z-car and Mazda RX7 parts. 
 Rest of the day catching up BBS and email, answering tech questions. Thursday March 28, 2019: Caught up with photos and notes for the past couple days. Enjoy the stories above. Then I had a startling discovery that would turn into a very bad day in Kansas. I received the order confirmation with tracking information for my large parts order, and was suddenly shocked. The order was not shipped on Tuesday, but went out Wednesday evening, due to be delivered in three working days. Unfortunately, UPS ground delivery does not deliver on weekends, and the Customer Service Counter at the UPS facility in Lenexa, KS is also closed on weekends, so there will be no way to pick up the parts before Monday. So now I'm royally PO'd, because I was willing to pay air shipping cost if needed for Friday delivery, but was promised the parts would be shipped Tuesday to arrive Friday, and advised that I did not need to pay for air shipping. To make matters worse, we are scheduled to attend Spring Tune-Up Day with Lawrence All British Car Club in Lawrence, KS on Saturday, and we will not have received the parts as intended. And we were planning (likely) on leaving town Saturday night heading for Wichita and Oklahoma and Texas and Arizona. But now we will be held up in Kansas City over the weekend (with some freezing temperatures at night) before we can leave. That's another 2 or 3 days ripped out of our busy schedule where we will not be doing much of anything useful. Please excuse me for venting. So I felt obligated to call Moss to inform them and to discuss the situation, to figure out how this happens, and how to prevent it from happening again. We landed on two different problems. First, they have east and west coast warehouses and could ship from either location. But which shipping warehouse is determined (in their computer) by the customers home address, ignoring location of the shipping destination. So if I am in California and order parts to be shipped to California, they would be shipped from Virginia, because that is normal for my Illinois residence address. That means about five days shipping rather than one day, and increased shipping cost. This is a new suggestion to Moss to add another branch in the software to chose the shipping warehouse based on shipping destination rather than on the customer's home address. That exact problem bit me once three years ago, but that is not today's issue. The second problem arises because this is the first time I have used the on-line Shopping Cart to place the order. Apparently this process does not place the order directly into their order picking system, but spits out a print-out of the order, requiring someone to manually enter the order into the computer, vary similar to if they had received a mail-in order form. That (redundant) process delayed the order by a couple of hours, throwing shipping over to the next day. So this is likely a misstep on the part of the Moss folks I was chatting with on the phone, not understanding that my Shopping Cart order would be delayed by requirement of additional manual order entry, voiding the promise of getting it shipped out the same day. Live and learn. That spawned the next suggestion for improvement in the Moss computer software to have the Shopping Cart orders dumped directly into the order picking line (and billing system) without need for manual re-entry of all of the data. That would be a customer service improvement as well as a significant cost savings for Moss. Meanwhile, with all this mucking around we did not get out to visit Empire Automotive (yet). And I still have some data entry work to update my magic trailer parts inventory list. Friday March 29, 2019: If nothing else happens today, at least we got to visit Empire Automotive in Kansas City, KS. Meet David Henderson 
(his partner Matt Pluff being out at the time). The second impression was that the place must be somewhat larger than the first impression. What appears to be the front door is a fresh renovation for the "new office" that was previously used as a store room. A little to the left is another front door, and around the corner a set back face of the rear shop space. Aside from the "new office" in front, the shop space extends through the whole building end to end. Reason we missed the place with slow roll-by on Wednesday was because there is no sign on the building. The new sign is in the paint shop, and the light box needs repair, but soon to be installed. 
 Inside it is immediately in your face full of cars in process. The shell on the rack is a Volvo 122, while the sweet thing on eth floor is easily a Morgan Plus 4. 
 The MG Midget is just finishing a ground-up restoration at great expense. I was just six when that '55 T-Bird rolled out the door. The TR3 in late model Jaguar green (2-pack and clear coat) with tan interior is a concours car to drool over. 
 The BGT is waiting for paint. The E-type covered in dust may be under mechanic's lien due to not being able to contact the owner for a long time. The American iron from 1926 spent 12 years on the road followed by 80 years in storage, mostly original, just the rag top and a seat cushion have been refreshed once. 
 One of my favorite kinds of shop, taken over by employees a few years ago, now managed by the "younger generation", being successful with renovation, and likely to be around for many years come. Saturday March 30, 2019: Back to doing "normal" things today. There was a Spring Tune Up Party scheduled by Lawrence All British Car Club in Lawrence KS. Someone looked at the weather forecast last night and no one was responding about coming to the party, so it was officially cancelled. Moderate rain last night, and woke up this morning to 34dF, followed by a few snow flakes in mid morning. But we were personally invited anyway, so we wandered over to visit Allan and Vickie Miller in Baldwin City, KS a little after 11-am. We started with a nice long chat about lots of things British, cars, clubs and travels. 
 
Then we wandered out to his workshop, down the hill from the house. Oh, drool. This is where the club tech session would have been held (if it wasn't so cold). There was that big yellow TR7 up there in the rafters (well, just on a hoist), and the yellow dune buggy (don't recall the model name, but I don't think it was British). Guess I didn't mention yet that he likes Lotus, with a nice story about how he spent half a life time chasing after the vintage Elite before he caught it, and also has a modern Elise (with Honda engine I think). There is also a (flat bonnet) MG Midget with a swing forward bonnet, similar to a Bug-eye Sprite), and carrying a Toyota engine.
 Back in the corner obviously a Mini under the tarp. In the paint booth, a Spitfire with Weber carburetor, very close to finish paint and soon to be looking very new. 
 We had a little maintenance to do on my MGA, nothing big, so just pulled it into the center bay of the garage. Began by installing new ignition points, as the prior set had worn down the rubbing foot so far that they could no longer be adjusted. Then jacked up the rear end to change oil in the differential, followed by chassis grease job, brake shoe adjustment, and a minor mod (crush with Vice-Grip) to the replacement wiper wheel box to stop the drive pipe from slipping out (aftermarket part defect). Nice to have all that done. If no one else was coming, at least we could stage our own tech session. Sorry, too busy to take pictures in process, but just simple stuff. 
 We were out of there about 5:30-ish, off to find a better WiFi spot that the last couple. Got lucky and found a good one in Gardner, KS, sitting here late night catching up email and BBS and posting these photos and notes. Sunday March 31, 2019: Pretty much the entire day was spent creating a new parts inventory list in spread sheet format (at least a good start on it). My old parts list in a text file (word processor format), up to 30 pages, has served me well since the early 90's, but has become somewhat out of date an inaccurate in the past few years (negligence). Bringing it up to date to be accurate and useful again would require an inventory count of what's in the trailer anyway, so I figured this would be a good time to reconstruct the list in spreadsheet format at the same time. The initial construction involved listing the 250 line items we just bought on the recent parts order, along with full descriptions of each item. That ate the whole day pushing midnight, but it felt good to get that much done. |
