Longish...I have no personal interest in this etc. Hope some listers find this
useful.
Following receipt of subject e-mail last Thursday, it seemed appropriate that
somebody reasonably close should check it out. Yesterday was a decent day to
drive (cold but not snowing), so here is a brief report on what I found.
> >Michael McLaughlan
> >613 384 7017
> >Kingston, Ontario
> >Canada
MM runs a clean, neat and well organised one person business. He spends much
of his summer spare time racing sports racing cars at Mosport and
Shannonville, and does all of his own work. His business, called McLaughlan
Motor Works, tends in a mechanical sort of way to cater to the sports and
related car trade. In a small front shop/office he has for sale various new
and used reference books, models, selection of NOS parts such as Lucas 7"
flame throwers etc. In the work area behind were three sports racing cars of
the Lotus 7 type (but not Lotus) parked for the winter, a couple of MGB
chassis, several four cylinder engines on engine stands, and a couple of
gearboxes on the bench, all in the rebuilding process, and a nice looking OPEL
on which he was work working when I arrived. I hope this gives you a feel for
the sort of business involved.
Now to parts. I guess he had a good supply of used parts before he purchased
the 50,000 lbs in the fall (some of which is still out where he found it). As
stated in the original e-mail, his parts cover most British sports cars, plus
some Fiat and ALFA. However, it was apparent that most of his stuff is MGB and
Triumph, with lesser amounts of Sunbeam (Alpine), Sprite, straight
Austin...several Marina engines..., Fiat, ALFA and a few bits and pieces from
other makes. His parts are appropriately clean and presentable, and are stored
in the upstairs of his main workshop, and in two large locked garages behind,
in an organised and accessible manner. He has a good but not detailed idea
(probably because much of it is recent) of what he has, and where it is
located, but he knows stuff when he sees it. He is not computerised, and says
he does not have the time for that and/or e-mail. He has numbers of
engines...MGB, Triumph, Alpine (I saw two early engines), a Jag V-12, Marina
were what I noticed. He has stacks of gearboxes and bell housings from the
same types of cars, plus a few oddballs (the odd Datsun and BMW) . A selection
of drive shafts, rear ends, brake, steering and suspension components etc.
Lots of manifolds, lots of carburetters (including at least one Weber). He has
a fair selection of assorted electricals out of all these types. He has a
number of stripped MG and Triumph body shells which he says have good chassis.
As far as body/sheet metal goes, he is more limited. I asked about body panels
and his reply was...you expect any car from Ontario to have any panels worth
working on? He has a big collection of carefully stored sports car doors.
I doubt if I have done credit to the stock he actually has...I was there for
just over an hour...but I hope you get the idea. All in all, a good resource,
particularly for those in this general area. He is quite prepared to ship
within Canada and the US, and I would assess that discussing stuff over the
phone would not be a problem, since he is clearly very knowledgeable about
these types of cars, and gave me the impression of being honest and straight
forward.
John Slade
Manotick, ON
B9470349
B9401380
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