British Motorfest '94.
Or,
MG, it's not just a car, it's an adventure, Part III
Some may remember I drove our ZB Magnette home from New Jersey in April.
Although there were some tuning and running troubles, we made it up the hills
of Pennsylvania and home. Adventure, part 1. We then found the engine to have
terrible compression on the front 2 cylinders, and promptly swapped in
another 3 main MGB unit, just in time for our Spring British Car auto-cross
and Rally day- Adventure, Part 2. After that, the MG sat while I went racing
the Bugeye, but I developed a long list of things munged by various PO's,
some in dire need of repair, and began to gather parts.
Well, last week, I spent way too many hours of preperation on the Magnette,
mostly for the drive up to Albany the day before British Motorfest show.
Amoung other things, I re-constructed a very sad steering rack & bits, the
steering column stator & steering wheel centre signal switch & wiring, brake
slave cylinders, new motor mounts (from TR4), seat belts for the kids, and
various other stuff. Whew. I came beyond close to lashing down the Bugeye,
already in the trailer, and hauling it up instead. I kept going, and
finished up mid-afternoon Saturday, stuffed tools, spare clothes, and kids
with no nap into the MG, and we headed out.
About 45 minutes into the 3 hour drive, it started to sprinkle. Shortly
thereafter, the drive died on the drivers side windscreen wiper, and I had to
remove it. That was OK, until it started to pour. The heavens let loose.
Hilly, curving roads, with little place to pull over. Visibility was naught
if you did have wipers. I did not, and then the inside proceeded to fog
over. We pulled over a couple of times till the worst passed, and promptly
caught right back up again. So we pressed slowly on, constantly wiping the
inside clear. It finally let up about when we got the the main highway, and
stopped for fast food. Other than the wiper problem, and water leaking into
the boot, the car did quite well on it's first long distance outing.
Rik sez:
> It was a good show with over 100 lbcs on display.
Definitly some interesting cars, for a moderate sized, but well organized
show. It was hot, hot, hot...
> Roger Garnett's '58 MG ZB Magnette took a trophy as did Ray Haines TVR.
Awards were by popular vote, and we were both in the "Drivers" class. There
were 2 TVR 2500's. A too-clean-for-a-driver MG BGT took first, Ray took
second, and we got 3rd. Kim, our 5 year old, was utterly thrilled as she went
up to get our trophy. Not too bad, considering we did virtually no visual
prep- The rain had done a fair job of washing off most of the grunge. People
were quite interested, as even a couple former Magnette owners hadn't
seen one for years.
> Best in Show went to a black and red Riley. I don't remember the year.
There were not one, but two Riley 2.5's there! This is a BIG 2 seat
roadster, pre-war style, with the 2.5 litre OHC engine. There was a very well
used '49, and a beautiful but driven '50, which took top honours.
Also of more than passing interest, a very fine black XK120 coupe, and a '49
Thames truck (which was for sale). Along with numerous TR's, MG's, and a
smattering of Jags, Healeys, 3 Triumph bikes, a brace of Morgans, a Minor
convert, and a '62 Rolls.
________
/___ _ \ Roger Garnett (Roger-Garnett@cornell.edu)
/| || \ \ Agricultural Economics | "The South Lansing Centre
| |___|| _ | 3 Warren Hall | For Wayward Sports Cars"
| | \ | | | Cornell University | (Lansing, NY)
\| \ |__/ / Ithaca, N.Y. 14853-7801 | (607) 533-7735
\________/ (607) 255-2522 | Safety Fast!
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