Top Gear

I’ll admit my faults; one of them is I’m a late bloomer in many ways, when I do come around, I can get obsessed. I didn’t learn to drive stick until 2001, and it was shortly after I was starting my first car restoration. Another thing I am a “Johnny come lately” on is the BBC show “Top Gear”. Even when BBC America was available on cable, I’d pass right by it. Now I can’t get enough of it. Thankfully Netflix has most of the seasons available on instant watch.  It’s filmed quite well, with very high production values, and while taking lovingly looks at beautiful cars, it’s quite to the point. I don’t think I’ll ever own a Lamborghini, so I won’t be able to compare it’s braking to a Porsche 911, but it’s interesting to see such an in depth look at the machinery. 
It delves into the culture that also surrounds cars. So far my fave moment’s is when they make fun of an MG branded smoker’s pouch. “They’ll throw you out of the pub if you have that, not because of the fact that you’re a smoker, but the fact you’ll want to talk about MG’s” . James May discussing classics, Richard Hammond driving modern sports cars, and Jeremy Clarkson bashing everything for not being as good as he’d like them to be. It pokes fun at the things that deserve it, and praises the things that are worthy.  Clarkson whipping a Corvette into a corner and yelling out “WELL DONE FAT MAN FROM KENTUCKY!” is one of the notable quotes.

The episode when they take 3 classic British sports cars to Blackpool; James May in a TVR, Richard Hammond in a Lotus, and Jeremy Clarkson in a Jensen Healey. It’s comical seeing even them take on 30 year old British sports cars, that have their vintage issues. But while they compare their cars to the ones that replaced them in the market place, specifically hatchbacks, Jeremy Clarkson laments the state of the British auto industry; “It’s not that we don’t make cars anymore, it’s the fact that we don’t make ANYTHING these days” So true. The Episodes when they revisit the glory days, such as Eagle’s E type Jaguar reproduction, the Re-vamped Jensen Interceptor (at $150K) really excite me when they put on the rose colored glasses of days past, realizing that revisiting is far more practical than actually using a vintage Triumph as a day to day driver. And while they put a celebrity in a cheap car to do a lap each episode, they’re given mid priced cars. It's an interesting show, well done and extremely opinionated. But if I'm not behind the wheel, it's one of those shows that makes me forget I'm on the couch.

I’ve caught the US version, and while I like the idea, at this point, I really haven’t come around to go out of my way to watch it. But who knows, maybe I’ll come around.

Cars & Coffee

Cars and Coffee. the concept is simple; car enthusiasts gather early on a weekend morning, before the soccer moms & the honey do-er’s hit the road. Bring your car to a desiginated location, usually an out of the way place, hang out, and then be gone. No “civilians”, no kids dripping ice cream over that freshly waxed paint, no little dogs running about like at a cruise night or a regular car show. Start at 7:00 and be done by 10:00 and home by 11:00.

Lars Anderson’s Museum of transportation, in Brookline, MA, started one in recent years, and I went to a few this past summer. It was a blast. The first one Dad & I went to, I don't think he was really psyched about it when we got  there. Not alot of vintage cars, at least at that weekend. The funny thing was watching people with $50K+ of new automobile, not being able to parallel park, or back up into a spot without 5+ gear changes.

I went one on my own a few weeks later, and it was ok. But I felt out of sorts. It's tough to relate I’m too young for the old guys with vintage Porsche’s and too poor for the investment bankers that have the new Ford GT. I’m too old for the young crowd that brings a whacked out Subaru STI that has more horsepower than all of my cars combined. But later on I found my speed. The older guys are psyched to see and talk to a younger guy that likes that 68 Jaguar, and the young guys like hearing stories about the days when your first car was 20 years old.

The last one I went to was with my brother in law. Bringing an MGB to one of these events is pretty wild. Your intentions don’t get questioned, you know your cars, you respect what everyone brought. My Brother in law was suprized at how I’d get into a conversation with a total stranger about a Lotus Elise, and shift into the merits of a vintage Chevelle vs a 442.

As this year’s car season winds down, I’m already looking foreward to an early dew covered morning, and unleashing all 60HP of my MGB down the Jamacia way to next year’s cars and coffee.

CD

OK I'm Back...

First off, as usual, I have to apologize for not posting in forever. I've had a lot of things happen in the past year or so. Getting married, searching for, and finally getting a new job. Life changing events aside, I've had some great car related activities; many fantastic car shows, tons of cool people I've met, and lots of little and big projects underway. But this post is to bring you all up to speed.

As I said before I started a new job and it's close by where I live, a 9 mile commute to be exact, with an average commuting time of 15 minutes. As well as a regular parking lot. Which means that I get to drive my MGB to work on most days. The only downside is that it takes about 8 minutes to really warm up the MGB, even on a summer morning, So the ride is a little rough for about half of the way. But the weather was so nice this year, I was able to drive the ragtop to work 80% of the time. Even better was the fact that we were able to get the blue 1977 MGB on the road, and drive that one to work too! Having both MGB's out here was pretty wild...

Here's how we got there!

Well, remember that parts car we had? We used the front fenders and hood for my Dad’s 1970 MGB GT. And the rest of the car we pretty much butchered for parts. One thing that was also good was the engine.

My cousin and Dad ran the engine, and realized that it sounded quite good overall. So they threw the blue car’s engine in the scrap heap, and placed the parts car’s engine in the Blue 1977 MGB convertible. The blue car had a Weber 45dcoe Carb on it. Back in the day, my cousin had a mechanic that told him that the SU carbs he was having a hard time tuning were junk, and told him to go with a weber. Apparently he was also a Weber re-seller, go figure. So this 1969 MGB GT engine with it’s lack of smog pumps and higher compression now has a Weber carb on it, which gives it a pretty strong performance.

There was some damage during storage though. During one of the winters, snow banks were pushed up against it, more specifically under it, denting the gas tank. So a new one was procured from Victoria British. The rear deck lid was damaged, so I replaced it with one from a 1970 MGB, It didn’’t quite fit right, but It’ll get sorted. In the meantime it looked badass in flat black primer.

After all that work The car was sorted out wiring wise, and during the one day off between jobs, I went and registered and insured it, Driving it to work at the new place, and around town. The only Issue the car had was a throttle cable breaking. A quick trip to a bike shop and I was all set, as it’s the same as a brake cable. Go figure, what stops a Schwinn, makes an MGB go.

A soda blaster was purchased, and the fenders were blasted, revealing pinholes in the lower sections. My Dad had purchased all the replacement sheet metal, rocker panels, doglegs, and lower fender sections. The guys at AB Fab in Woburn, did the metal work for a great price, and the work went well. re fitting the fenders went well, although they still need a bit of fitting.

The next step is paint. and this is where things are going to get complicated. but that's for another blog post, that will not be 13+ months in the making.

Happy Motoring.

CD