The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (July 16 - July 31, 2019)
Tuesday July 16 2019:
Finally a day to catch up email BBS, most of the photos and notes from the NAMGAR GT, and some general house keeping. Sat in Merrillville, Indiana for nearly the whole day doing WiFi stuff. We moved farther east late night, not quite out of Indiana, but landing in Fort Wayne for the night.
Wednesday July 17 2019:
The rush was off, nothing urgent on the planning list, and we need a rest from the prior weeks (or months) of charging around the country in haste. Good time to finish catching up the rest of photos and notes from the past week, and then relax for a (short) while. Headed east an hour out of Indiana late night into Ohio.
Thursday July 18 2019:
Breakfast in someplace called Beaverdam, Ohio. Check email and BBS, and post up a new page in the travel log for second half of July (already a few days in). Hauling out for our next appointment in early afternoon.
 We started with just one appointment today in northwest Ohio, looking for TS Imported Automotive in Pandora, OH. Thinking we may have struck out when we found an empty building, but we made the phone call
and got a friendly voice. Just moved two blocks around the corner. Meet the owner Ted Schumacher. Good story here. The white building (now empty) was built by his parents to be a car service shop in 1911. Bold move when there were still more horses than cars on the roads. The Dodge Brothers began building cars in 1914, and this shop became one of the first Dodge sales and service dealers. Another hundred and five years on, still in the family with Ted manufacturing and supplying aftermarket parts for vintage British cars. Someone recently made him an offer for the building, and since he is no longer in the car service business, he sold it and moved into a bit smaller rental premises. The coil in the package is one of the parts Ted is currently manufacturing, a reinforced pressure hose to replace the original plastic pipe to the oil pressure gauge in a TR6.
There is a warehouse full of parts, new and used, for most anything vintage British. The cute red thing is a fiberglass engine bonnet with glass display window for an MG 1100, original factory issue back in the day.
A few buried treasures in the back, TR7 serial number 1, and a TR3 which I think is also serial number 1. Even the fridge is preserving history, when the 1978 sticker at the bottom may be the newest piece there.
We thought we had an appointment with a friend in Beavercreek, OH, two hours south, but he called to report an emergency and couldn't meet with us today (maybe later), so we pulled up short for some WiFi time. Ended the day in Sidney, OH, wherever that is. Traveled south later at night.
Friday July 19 2019:
Breakfast in Kettering, OH, scheduled for a fairly busy day. Rolling by 10, first shop stop was M G Automotive in Kettering, OH, Parts and service for MG, Triumph, Austin Healey and related autos. Greeted at the curb by Steve Miller.
Good size shop, and some of the cars in process.
Plenty of new parts available. The bug-eye Sprite with a couple extra front ends appears to be a home project, low on the priorities list. Just to be different, catch a picture of the BSA on the way out.
Looking for Vintage Imports, Inc in Carlisle, OH, listed as a member of BMTA, but today no luck. The specified location currently holds a large rental storage facility with lots of RVs parked all around. Non working phone number, defunct web site. Last valid existence of the web site was in July 2017. Scratch this one from the Shops list.
Then looking for Strictly British in Lebanon, OH. This one is even farther gone, now an empty lot and non-working phone number, and no trace at all on the internet. Scratch this one as well.
Next up was Sam Smyth Imported Car Service, Inc in Cincinnati, OH. Certainly a going concern, but no one present. Sign on the door said if no one here call, so we did. Just out to lunch. Business has been here for 30 years, and it has a nice web site, but when it came to discussing why we were here things got a bit tacky. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding, but the response kind of spoiled my day, and then we were out of there.
Then we were looking for Prestige Imports in Cincinnati, OH, but ran into European Auto Specialists, Ltd at the noted location. The shop changed hands and changed name in 2001, but they do still service vintage British cars, and there is still one tech there who was employed by Prestige. The cheery fellow is the service manager John Scovanner, son of the owner Lee Scovanner. Lots of vintage cars around, some of them British, but nothing interesting inside the shop today.
Next stop was supposed to be Pat's Foreign Car Repair in Cincinnati, OH. Unfortunately we got the street address wrong and ended up at a roofing company. Oops. Phone number is good, so we left a message, hoping for a call back. Going to have to try this one again later.
One more programmed stop for the day, and we had to cruise smack through the center of Cincinnati to get to the south side. Supposed to be Motor Good Automotive in Cincinnati, OH, turned out to be a house with a large garage, home business I hope, but nobody home. Phone rang with no answer, so will have to try this again later.
Hot day, and navigator was ready for a late lunch break, so we called it a day and headed for A/C and WiFi.
Saturday July 20 2019:
No shop hopping on the week end, so most of today was occupied posting the photos and notes for the past two days, and updating the Shops list for latest information and cross reference links. Good that I wasn't interrupted with too much email.
Sunday July 21 2019:
I suppose we can start the day off with a cheery picture of the odometer. Celebrating 450,000 miles since the car was first restored in late 1986. Otherwise just enjoying a day off while preparing for a few more days of shop hopping.
Monday July 22 2019:
Today we began with the last two "failed" shop stops from Friday afternoon (we're persistent). This time we found the correct address for Pat's Foreign Car Repair in Cincinnati, OH. Making our way around a street repair crew, no access to the property from front (across rail tracks), but we managed to get in from the side around the street corner. I was standing on the rail tracks to get the shot of the front door, barely space for a wide sidewalk in between. The shop space was empty, no answer at the door. Making our way around the block again, found access vie an alley at the rear. Some cars parked here, but the back door also locked (with nothing inside the building). Made the phone call again, left another voice message, but still no response. So until someone might prove otherwise, no means of contact after diligent efforts means the shop is dysfunctional (out of business).
Since we were back in the neighborhood, we wanted to take another shot at Motor Good Automotive on the south
side of Cincinnati. We made the phone (again) call before driving much out of our way to see the empty house (again), but this time someone answered the phone. The business owner was deceased a year earlier (2018), mechanical shop now closed, and someone else was supposed to be taking possession of the remaining parts inventory for liquidation (intended to be eBay sales I think). We left a request for that person to call us back, but it never happened, so that makes a dead end trail for this business (now considered defunct).
Then we got to run down a friend Michael Hirsch in Beavercreek, OH. Been chasing after him for a couple years. He has been working on an MGA project for some time, chassis nearing completion, engine and gearbox looking good, and the body work done enough that it is nearly ready to go to the painter (who will be doing some finishing before painting). It was good to chat about state of the project, and aspirations, and enough solid progress that it looks like it is getting there (some day).
He was lucky enough to find the chassis number on the frame, which looks like it matches the rest of the car. Unfortunately his very legal title has a car number that does not follow factory format, but looks like it may have been assigned to the prior owner by the California DMV. Will try to check in on this one again later as it makes more progress.
Looking for Overseas Motors in Columbus, OH, came up with Napa AutoCare at this address, been here for at least 9 years, so the prior shop has been gone at least since 2010.
Looking for Mr. P's in Columbus, OH, we ran into a restoration shop who bought the building from Mr P 12 years earlier, and they figure he had retired and rented the building out for a few years before that, so Mr P's has been gone since about 2001.
Trying to wind down the day we stopped to visit another friend Marc Chapman in Westerville, OH. There would be a slight delay before he came home from work, so we headed for the local WiFi spot for late lunch. A bit
later Marc dropped in to see us. Surprise! We finally toddled back to his place for a look at his project MGA 1600-MK-II. Don't be shocked, the first picture below is just a spare part. The second picture is the one he is restoring. Blasted and primed with some metal replaced, still some Swiss cheese needing to be repaired. Bit of a problem with the rocker panels, too short in length (which could be fixed in situ), but also likely too tall on the sides being more of a problem. These may have to come back out for proper fitting.
Chassis restoration was going okay with the original 1622 engine and we think original Twin Cam style gearbox (post Twin Cam era issue). Nice time chatting about this one, but getting late, and we needed to be heading north for next day's ventures. Keep up the good work.
Tuesday July 23 2019:
Nice way to start a new day with a small friend in the car park. Don't know this Isetta's story, as we didn't get to talk to the owner, but someone said there was a car show in the area today.
During breakfast a local dropped by to chat and ended up referring us to a new shop nearby. Welcome to Driven Classics LLC in Mansfield, Ohio. The owner worked several years for Safety Fast Restoration (our next visit below) before he decided to go independent and branch out into things other than MG. Only here for three months before our visit, he is off to a good start with a full house to keep him busy, already running in the black and planning on a long business life here. Once inside I found the shop space to be much larger, including a few more bay doors to the right.
Plans are to leave MG to his former employer and work on pretty much anything else. Looks like he is just finishing up the Corvair and Tiger and E-type. He was recently preparing a 1968 Mustang for The Great Race.
The first large piece of equipment into the shop was a vintage lathe. Like old cars, vintage machine tools properly maintained can continue to work forever. This particular model was originally belt driven from an overhead power shaft. At some point there was an option for bolt-on electric motor drive. This one includes a Ford Model A gearbox for speed reducer. Just to the right is the engine assembly room. Beyond that more work space.
A few blocks away we stopped to visit Safety Fast Restoration LLC. Say hello to the owner Tom Metcalf. I was surprised at how much space there was in this basement level workshop.
They work on all MGs (and occasionally something else like a Morgan). Seems like he has a particular attraction to the older models.
This one had me guessing for a bit. I knew it was an Airline Coupe, but was used to seeing PA or PB Airline. This one is a TA Airline Coupe, 1936 I think, and the proportions are a bit different. Higher frame makes for higher door panels, higher roof makes for easier getting in or out. Wider frame makes for more slab side appearance, not tucked in so much low on the sides. And yes of course the 6-cylinder engine.
This is a rather rare 1935-36 Riley Sprite, I think just 51 built. It is not dual overhead cams. It has dual cams low in the block with very long pushrods.
I had lots more pictures here, but hey, gotta stop somewhere.
Then we had fun chasing down loose ends of history, beginning with Upstairs/Downstairs British Automotive in Mansfield, Ohio. You have to back up about 20 years for this, as the green and white building has been unoccupied for a long time (although I am assured there was once some very nice decoration inside). Then the shop moved to a location more main street for a while (garage door at the left end of the center picture), now with a new tenant. But more recently moved again to a rural setting several miles north with more space.
The shop is now called Pierre's Garage in Shiloh, Ohio, several miles to the north of Mansfield, and it was only this morning that someone finally told us where to find the place. It is fairly well tucked away on a side road, and he has enough business with regular customers and referrals that he doesn't need to advertise. While Pierre still works on vintage British cars, he is also certified to work on all of the latest electronic stuff. That's a new Mustang getting an engine tweak.
Then a little side trip to check on something we were pretty sure had been gone for a long time, Specialty Parts & Service in Medina, OH. I believe this has long since morphed into Medina Motorsports, from whom I bought my steel fan shroud in 1997. How's that for ancient history? There were several businesses and multiple buildings in the complex, and not sure which one it was, but took this picture just for grins and giggles. Oh yeah, Medina Motorsports is now also defunct as of 2018.
Then we were looking for Paltech Technologies LLC in Brunswick, OH. No one home, so we made the call, and found this is the owner's home address (used for mail and shipping), but he now has a shop on Medina, OH. So we promptly back tracked 10 miles to spitting distance from the last stop. Two front doors, all of this space and more. Say hello to Jeff Palya. A good portion of the space may be his personal toy shop, but some of it is now dedicated to rebuilding carburetors, SU, Z-S, and occasionally a Weber carb or two.
It is another one of those little home businesses with a Micro-polishing process developed to restore antique auto parts to their original condition, that ultimately grew out of hand, needing more space, and now he is very busy handling customer orders.
Trying to beat the clock before closing time, we did a quick sprint looking for The M.G. Centre in Tallmadge, OH. Pretty sure in advance that it no longer exists, but wanted to check anyway. Presumably it used to be in one of those units, somewhere in that complex. Not to be found now, and the phone number is disconnected, so scratch that one off the list.
Last stop for the day would be Summit Racing in Tallmadge, OH. There are several of these stores across the nation, favorite haunt of the lead-footed racer types. I wanted to ask if they had tune-up parts for my Mallory Dual Points distributor (now spare), but lines were too ling at the counters, so skip it this time.
Wednesday July 24 2019:
This morning we got a two-fer. We were looking for Antique Auto Battery in Youngstown, OH, having missed it last month (due to writing the wrong address). Today when we arrived we discovered the business has been transferred to one of the prior employees, and is now renamed Jim's Battery Mfg. Still the same great products, concours correct batteries for your vintage cars.
We had another nice run to visit Classic Restoration in Warren, OH. We missed this one last month due to the mail boxes and street addresses being out of sequence, by as much as a quarter mile. So if you would go here, drive on down the road a bit looking for the correct number on a mail box. Find a long driveway, and then go around behind the house to find the workshop.
They work mostly on Triumph, but occasionally other vintage British cars, like the MGB in the shop today. Full restoration services are available.
Then we were off to visit Whitworth Shop in Novelty, OH. Nice house on the hill, and the workshop in front (drive up, no walking). First step inside reveals a complete wood working shop, first up being an NC milling machine.
Here they cater primarily to T-type and earlier MG cars, doing lots of woodwork and some sheet metal.
Good to see seamless, knot free wood on hand, more like fine furniture. There is an exception to the T-type parts, as to do make a wood dash panel for MGA, special ordered by Moss Motors. Good to see all the proper counterbores in the back side to thin the panel in all the right places for instrument lamps and switches. These will be delivered with all the required brackets for installation in the MGA.
They used to make complete bodies for T-type and earlier MGs. These days they still name all of the wood parts and sheet metal cover panels, just not assembling them before shipping. But with all the prior experience you can be assured that the parts will fit as original. I think they also restore dash assemblies complete with instruments, switches and wiring.
We dropped in to visit John Wolf & Co. Inc in Willoughby, OH. Say hello to John right off. They repair and restore gauges and instruments for antique autos, and they were pretty busy today.
While we were there we found two more businesses at the same address, in the same building unit. There was Capaldi Enterprises Inc (James Capaldi, president), restoring classic cars. They had a Jaguar E-type in the paint booth today. There was also KenDoIt Rods + Restos (with Ken Cerri, president) doing total restoration, mechanical, fabrication, body work, finishing, wiring. Both of those business are tied to the web site http://capaldicars.com. They do high end restoration work (bring a fat checkbook).
When I went back outside I nearly tripped over a mid-50's Nash Rambler American Deliveryman. I knew they made a station wagon, but never saw one of these before. Had to look it up to find they were made in very small quantities, like 9 units in a calendar year. I kind of like rare.
Looking for Omni Specialties in Cleveland, OH, we found instead Access One Alarm and Audio. Word is that Omni had moved to Lorain County about 2011, phone number disconnected, and no trace of it on the net since then, so scratch this one off the list. Not a complete bust though, as the current tenant had some interesting bits left over in the basement. We found an MGA windscreen and side curtains, and a few more similar parts for other vintage British cars. Cracked glass and scratched chrome, but the side curtains might be rebuildable.
We had a business card from a couple days earlier leading us to Bob's British Cars in North Royalton, OH. Mostly TR serviced here, but there was a nice TD there as well. Interesting as the business card says, "House calls available". How rare is that these days?
We had been pushing it pretty hard today to finish our appointments in northeast Ohio, and then we had a rather tiring 3-1/2 hour drive southwest to make a dinner meeting with MG Car Club Southwestern Ohio Centre in Miamisburg, OH. We missed this one a few times, including missing by a couple days last month. It was also one of the few remaining clubs we had not been able to catch in the past five years, so we kept on keeping on to make the appointment when it was available. The MGA Coupe parked out front was so new that the restoration was not finished in time for NAMGAR GT-44 in Dubuque, Iowa just two weeks earlier. Inside we found 30 jolly souls all happy to see us (finally) show up, and a good time was had by all.
Tonight we had something a bit special to celebrate. After 3-1/2 years chasing after the shops, we have (tentatively) finished the rounds of all of the places on our Shops list (aside from a few new ones that have been added in the meantime). Unofficially the count is 1098 shops visited (having missed a few that were closed before we could get there). Not the end of the work though, as it will take a few more days to finish grunt work for the photos and notes and cross reference links, after which I may get around to counting the shops we have identified. Funny thing is, we started with a list of 640 in late 2015, so in our travels we have found another 460 shops that didn't appear anywhere on the internet a few years ago.
Thursday-Friday July 25-26, 2019:
Catching up with email and BBS, and all the photos and notes in the trip log for the past few days, and updating the Shops list with cross reference links. Looks like we drove 3000 miles and visited 50 shops in the past month, in addition to the NAMGAR GT and three passes back and forth across Illinois. Wheew!
Saturday July 27, 2019:
I guess we just took the day off to relax. Otherwise can't remember what we did.
Sunday July 28 2019:
Almost forgot to do it, so had to dash off the July trip report for the CMGC newsletter, and attach a bunch of pictures to go with it. Also spent a few hours posting some new tech pages for Lucas headlamps, 700, P700, PL700, and SLR700 Flamethrower Spotlight.
Monday-Tuesday July 29-30 2019:
Not much happening. Had to reconnect a broken wire on the turn signal switch. Been noticing excessive tread wear on the trailer tires recently (toe out issue?), probably ever since we replaced a frazzled wheel bearing last November, but notably worse since replacing tires in May. Checked and adjusted bearing clearance, took up 1-flat on the left side bearing nut and 3-flats on the right side bearing nut (rather a lot). That might help, but need to get new trailer tires again before we could tell from the wear rate. Meanwhile, considering buying complete new bearing hub assemblies. After 300,000 miles on the trailer in 30 years, why not? They're cheap these days.
Thinking we may have time now to catch up some overdue maintenance. Still need to install the new choke cable, and put oil in the front shocks, re-torque cylinder head and adjust valve lash. Could be time to replace the radiator cap, and maybe the coolant recovery bottle, and maybe replace a core plug that has been oozing a drop or two daily for a couple of years. Speedometer needle has been bouncing more and more with time, so I could tinker with that a bit. Spent the night near Piqua, OH
Wednesday July 31 2019:
Installed the replacement choke cable this morning while engine was still cool. The cable is overall too long, and I don't feel like cutting the jacket back at the moment, so leave the excess length under the dash for now. The center wire extension is relatively a bit too short, so the choke arms are left a bit too high causing too fast idle speed, but easy to turn that adjustment back until I get around to shortening the cable jacket. At least it's not so short as to be running on choke. The "C knob now turns left to lock, where it has for 60 years turned right to lock. The "C" is printed on the knob rather than embossed, so expect that to wear off in due time, just like the missing "S" on the Start knob that was new in 2015. The "decorative" bezel is now pot metal with a visible split line in teh casting rather than polished chrome, so expect that to corrode (more) with time, so it should soon match the one on the four year old Start cable. All in all another good example of the crap quality parts we have come to expect from Moss Motors in recent years.
After warm up run we re-torqued the cylinder head (long overdue since installing new pistons), and reset valve clearance, now trying 0.013" rather than 0.015" to see if it might reduce valve noise. Gave it new rubber grommets while we were at it (poor quality rubber short life).
Took a three hour run east on US-30 today to drop into Layland Motors in Canton, OH. We were pretty sure we had been here a couple weeks ago, but didn't have the pictures to prove it, or any notes to go with it. When we got there it was obvious we did stop here before. Must have missed putting it in our travel log, and then deleted the pictures. But the report is, yes they do work on vintage British cars, had a Nash Healey in here last week. Nothing so rare today, just a fairly common Rolls Royce (with a neat license plate.
Then we immediately headed back west a couple hours before a Walmart stop to pick up engine oil, reading glasses, and a replacement computer mouse. Then an extra late lunch break (like 5-pm) in Upper Sandusky, OH. After 10-pm we headed west adn north to cross the Michigan state line.
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