Chris:
I'm not sure about Kenny's representation of the MGB. But it is not
a factory car. The car was built by Lloyd Faust within the last ten years
as an extremely accurate reproduction of a sixties factory car. Lloyd told
me that he did some work on the restoration of a factory car and was able to
duplicate many of the unique pieces.
Kenny Rogers who now owns the car purchased it from Lloyd at the
beginning of the year. Getting the car into the historics is a tremendous
coup, and the facts may have been stretched an itsy bit to do that. Kenny
did a wonderful job of reinstalling Lloyd's original twin fuel tank and pump
setup, and also detailing the engine in period fashion. I used to josh
Lloyd about the Nology brand plug wires he had on the car which looked
completely out of place. Kenny installed bumble bee wires with correct
caps. Certainly the car now is as accurate a piece of historical
significance as we will probably see in the US.
If you check out the picture of the car at the pelicanparts site.
You may notice a beer bottle next the the left rear wheel. That was mine.
I set it down while I took copious photos of the fuel tank setup. I had
never seen the original tanks in the car before, as Lloyd had been running
the car in VARA with a required bladder type fuel cell.
A couple of years ago Kenny was running an extremely fast green MGB
with white Snugtop. He is one heck of a driver, and hats off to him
campaigning a historic, rather than "ricky racer" car.
Now, if only my reproduction Sebring MGB could look so good. Right
now I'd be happy if the head in the back of my truck was on the car.
A heck of a weekend.
Kelvin.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Attias [mailto:cattias@cats.ucsc.edu]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2000 9:26 AM
> To: MG Listserver; Parker@cats.ucsc.edu; Richard
> Subject: Re: Monterey Photos
>
>
> Richard,
Sunday was a "must" 'cause it was
> the first time in living memory that an MGB was allowed to enter.
> (As well as a Spitfire, but we won't talk about that...) Also a good
> showing for a Twin Cam A. The MGB was an immaculate GB (rhd) Sebring
> spec car. I took a lot of pictures, which I am trying to find a
> place to post now.
>
> I spoke at some length with the owner of the B. He suspects it was
> one of many factory cars, sold and renumbered back in the Sixties.
> Pull handle with alum. doors and boot. The boot stiffeners are
> meticulously drilled, though it probably doesn't do much to reduce
> the all-up weight of the car. Other details include original banjo
> axle (run with 4.55 gears at Laguna Seca, non-OD tranny --didn't have
> good luck with OD in the past), 1840 cc 5-main, cross drilled crank,
> iron head (deemed necessary for sanctioning body originality),
> standard single circuit brakes, beautiful roll cage, fuel cell and
> dual SUs in the boot, and fairly "soft" suspension setup with
> upgraded shock valves (he's working on this, as it seems to get a
> little unsettled in fast corners.)
>
> Since originality and politics are such a part of the Historics, the
> owner said he was very careful about improvements, although I take it
> he has other parts that may be installed at other venues. He
> mentioned that the car was to be entered by either Brown and Gammons
> or one of their customers, but was sold when it seemed that they
> would be denied entry. The owner bought it, and probably because of
> it's fine "period/concours" condition, got it in.
>
> Clearly, the criteria for entry in the Historics include A)
> rarity/exclusivity, B) oddity, C) historic interest as part of the
> West Coast or US racing scene, D) variety, and E) originality to the
> period in which it was first raced--no extreme later improvements
> allowed. B) and C) were definitely in play with some of the entries,
> particularly the "specials". One of the best examples of this was
> Old Yeller II, which had an incredible Sixties So Cal
> garage/shadetree patina and scruffy mechanic to match.
>
> The MGB owner commented that one of the things that probably has kept
> MGBs out was the entry, back in the early Nineties, of a Bugeye which
> qualified as mostly original, but raced with later SCCA upgrades
> (1275 engine, adjustable suspension, etc.) Lotus Elan and Cortina
> owners can tell you that anything that is "too competitive" in its
> class doesn't stand a chance, either. Although politics, money, and
> C) above must come into play, since there is always a whole race
> pretty much devoted to Shelby Mustangs and Cobras.
>
> BTW, the MGB finished 15th in its race on Sunday--couldn't keep up
> with 26Rs and 7, but beat the likes of an Alpine, the Spit, an Elva,
> and a TVR.
>
> Chris Attias
> '64 MGB
>
>
> At 5:27 PM -0600 8/22/2000, Richard Parker wrote:
> >I spent last Saturday at the Monterey Historic Automobile
> Races--a great
> >time, although not much in the way of MGs,
> unfortunately--and discovered I
> >and a lot of other people wasted a lot of film. All we had
> to do was come
> >home and download from this website:
> >
> >http://www.pelicanparts.com/swapmeet_pics/monterey_00-1.htm
>
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