Barney, translation please.
(}8^)-V---/
Larry Hoy
Denver, CO. USA
1969 MGB Roadster
1987 Jaguar XJ6 VDP
"It's not how fast you go, it's how fast you go fast"
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-mgs@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-mgs@autox.team.net]On
> Behalf Of Barney Gaylord
> Sent: Monday, August 17, 1998 9:41 AM
> To: Jethogger@aol.com
> Cc: mgs@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: NAMGAR Show at Chattanooga, Tn
>
>
> At 10:10 AM 8/15/98 EDT, Jethogger@aol.com wrote:
> >Hello Barney and Others: I notice that you are quite
> active on the MG
> BB. You where at Chattanooga GT 23. I would like you
> oppion of the NAMGAR
> show at the Choo Choo Hotel in Chattanooga , Tn. From day
> 1 to our good
> byes. You have attended other GTs around the country.
> This is the first
> national show our club hosted. I think the NAMGAR is made
> up of a good
> group of people. We have a yearly show in Oct. 23-25 at the
> Choo Choo.
> Thanks John
>
> You would of course get different opinions from different
> folks, as they
> will have different reasons for attending these things.
> And of course one
> must do what one must to satisfy the crowd, so to speak.
> As for myself, I
> am the typical attendee only in the sense that I am as
> different as the
> next guy.
>
> I personally could do without the car show and all the spit
> shine and
> polish and the judging and awards and such. But as long as
> I'm there I put
> my car on display with the rest because I know there are
> some people who
> want to see it (although it takes some effort to figure why
> they would).
> This time I did something unusual and actually washed the
> car before the
> show. Normally I would consider it deceptive practice to
> wash it just for
> a show, because that's not the way it normally exists, but
> in this case I
> was still trying to get the rubbing compound off from the
> fresh paint job.
> And no, the new paint is not vanity, it's just a
> preservation technique.
>
> I think the tech sessions are an important part of the GT,
> as a little
> knowledge is generally a good thing. This year Todd Clark
> had a good
> presentation on the different styles of MGA side curtains
> and their parts
> and maintainance problems. This session was particularly
> well attended,
> and in fact I believe the second day drew a larger crowd
> than the first.
> The John Twist rolling tech session is usually a hit,
> covering the basics
> of maintainalce for the less experienced among us. But
> sometimes I wish
> that people would tune up the cars before the event, and
> then present John
> with some more interresting problems, like "Why does this thing keep
> popping out of second gear and whining in reverse?".
>
> The vendors can also be an important part of a national get
> together. This
> time I spent a lot of time looking without buying anything,
> but others did.
> It was amazing how fast Scaroboro Faire sold out of those
> under bonnet
> radiator air blocks in the hot weather. And Clarke Spares
> and Restorations
> had a lot of interrresting items on display, especially
> those items that
> are uniquely theirs and not available anywhere else. Other
> vendors were
> offering collectibles and memorabilia, which I am not particularly
> interrested in, but I understand that it was selling well,
> so probably a
> good attraction for the masses.
>
> The driving events are always a prime attraction for me, as
> I deem that the
> primary reason for having a sports car, and I think they
> were a hit (in
> spite of the route instruction errors). You didn't have to
> be a history
> buff to enjoy the drive through the civil war battlefield
> memorial, and the
> park was especially pleasant with the large expanses of
> grass and shade and
> not much traffic on the side roads. If you would stop to
> read all of the
> information signs you would be there for a week. The
> southern breakfast at
> the historical mansion was a nice touch, taking advantage
> of things unique
> to the local area. And the run up Signal Mountain was fun,
> although I
> would have prefered to do the route in the opposite
> direction, going up the
> steepest part of the road rather than down. I seem to have
> a distinct
> preference for heavy throttle rather than heavy braking.
> (}8^)-V---/
>
> But the primary reason I go to these GTs is to see old
> friends and make a
> few new ones. In that respect, the river boat dinner
> cruise was a real
> coup. You put a few hundred MG nuts in a captive
> environment, give them
> nothing to do for a couple of hours but eat, drink and make
> merry, and you
> can't help but have a good time. It didn't hurt that we
> lost the race to
> the tug boat pushing the barges, we weren't in any hurry.
> And parking
> about a hundered MGs on the dock in a space reasonable for
> more like 50
> cars was a nice trick, rather made the place look like a
> car dealer sales
> lot. And of course the parking lot tech sessions back at
> the hotel are
> always a hit with those so inclined. The awards banquet is
> always a bit
> formal for my taste, but I usually manage to find a strange
> table and make
> a few more new friends.
>
> The Choo Choo Holiday Inn is a nice place to visit, but I
> suppose there
> could have been a little more emphasis on all the
> (stationary) rolling
> stock sitting around there. There were a couple of neat
> eatteries on the
> display train, as well as some vanity hotel suits in the
> Pullman cars, but
> I didn't notice the gang taking much advantage of those facilities.
>
> And the cost of the hotel rooms is always one of my pet
> peeves. It somehow
> rubs me the wrong way to have to shell out half the budget
> for the trip
> just for a room that I am seldom it. The Choo Choo wasn't
> too terribly bad
> in that sense, costing about $90 a night with the tax, but
> all things
> collectively add up. When the whole trip ends up costing
> over $500, I have
> a tendency to get a little cost concious. If the cost of
> lodging was a
> little easier on the budget I'd be likely to attend more of
> these events.
>
> Which brings up the next problem, have you seen the price
> tag on rooms for
> GT24 in Taho? I will likely not be attending that event
> unless I can find
> _several_ people to share the cost of the suite. It would
> be nice if the
> attendees had a little choice in lodging, like maybe a nice
> hotel with some
> rental cabanas on the beach and a campground right up the
> road. Just a
> thought.
>
> Barney Gaylord
> 1958 MGA with an attitude
>
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