So-Cal MG Club Trip To Moss Motors

At 7:10 am, Zelda arrived at the Malibu Country Mart located at 3835 Cross Creek Road, Malibu for a quick breakfast and to gas up the MGB. The Driver’s Meeting was scheduled to start at 7:45 a.m., to discuss the route and leisurely drive to Moss Motors. The morning was cold and over-cast. Jim Heaton arrived in his MGB that has morphed into a gray Mustang convertible. As we were talking about the handouts, which included maps of the route, we saw a red MGB on the far side of the parking lot clearly looking for something. After Jim and Zelda got Tom’s attention, we were now a company of two MGs and one Ford. It was about 7:50 a.m. and we were still missing two MGs, Jim informed me that there was construction on Las Virgenes and folks may be a little late because of it. Zelda sent out text messages and ended up calling for ETAs. Jim then suggested that since we are starting out late, to stay on schedule, we should by-pass the Old Oxnard Area and continue onto the 101 at Rice instead of Oxnard. Ken called confirmed changing his “gather” location to the Collection, and Smitty called to confirm meeting us at Malibu and would be arriving in a few moments. Once Smitty and Ginny arrived they were given handouts, and we motored up. Lining up with Jim in the lead and Zelda as the sweep car heading north on Pacific Coast Highway, Route 1. We were a caravan of three MGs and one Ford.

We arrived at The Collection Shopping Center at Oxnard and the 101 at 8:58 a.m. We located Ken, who was enjoying a light breakfast right at the entrance fork of the shopping center. I received a call from Tanny who said he was already on Route 150 because he took a back way from his house and he would wait for us. Once Andrew arrived, we proceeded onto the 101 Freeway north to Highway 33 towards Ojai. We are a caravan of five MGs and one Ford.

As we traveled Route 33, the road started to have a “rural” feel and we became sandwiched between two United States Post Office daily delivery trucks. (Funny thought: We’re being delivered to Moss Motors by mail.) The road sign said through traffic, merge left. Everybody but our leader was in the left hand lane. I am thinking, Jim is enjoying the view and the drive. At the last moment, Jim muscled up the Ford and was back in the lead as the road became a one-lane road, always motoring slightly uphill. Going around a bend, I saw the “Welcome to Oak View” sign and the road became a two-lane road. I realized that we were near the first left turn, as did Jim, who merged from the number 2 lane into the number 1 lane. We turned left at the Shell Gas Station onto Santa Ana Boulevard. We traveled slightly down, then up, then down going across a bridge. The caravan stopped at the crossroad. I pointed, motioning to turn right. The group turned right and as I turned right I became aware that the group was stopped on the side of the road. When I caught up to Jim in the lead, Jim asked me, “Did I miss a turn?” I said, “No, my GPS indicates that our next turn would be Casitas Pass Road.” I knew we would be traveling along side of Casitas Lake. (I would later realize that I drew the final map wrong. Thank goodness Jim remembered to make the turn at Santa Ana). With Jim in the lead, we traveled onward and westward and we could see RVs and folks camped in tents. Then we saw the lake. The lake looked like glass, reflecting the clouds and the gray sky, the water was still and looking peaceful. As we passed campsites, we were still traveling on one-lane, now called Santa Ana Road with the lake on the left. At the fork, we turned left onto Highway Route 150 (Casitas Pass Road).

Route 150 is a winding road through the valley with a slight grade traveling around the lake. There were hair-pin turn signs and winding road signs. The road signs indicated 20 miles per hour or 10 miles per hour in the turns. We zigged and zagged; riding upgrades and downgrades; and doing little shimmy turns, all the while, traveling southwest to the next turn, Route 192. I see a road sign indicating intersection with Highway 192 up ahead. I see the caravan cars turning right and then I notice a gray MG stopped alongside the road. I honked my horn as I passed the car with “no driver,” and realized it had to be Tanny in his right hand drive GT. Tanny joins the group. We are now a caravan of six MGs and one Ford. On Highway 192, (the locals call it Foothill Road) we traveled, zigging and zagging through the back areas Carpinteria, Summerland, and Santa Barbara. At one bridge crossing there was a sign that said narrow bridge and the next sign was a stop sign in front of the bridge. We stopped to wait for your turn to cross a one lane bridge. And we continued to zig and zag some more into Montecito. Ohhhh! We blew past the re-gather location. I called Jim alerting him that we passed the re-gather location, which is code for restroom break. We decided to carry onward. As we passed 154, now Foothill has become Cathedral Oaks Road. We decided to cut short the drive and turned left onto Turnpike Road to take a quicker route to the Habit after flying past the regrouping location. We slide past the 101 Freeway turning right onto Hollister traveling to 5735 Hollister Avenue (Rutherford Street), which is the location of The Habit Burger Grill arriving at 11:00 ish.

While we were assembling ourselves in the parking lot, Jay and Gayle with two friends arrive. We all enjoy a meal at the original location of The Habit Burger Grill. The hamburgers were tasty. At 12 noon, we got back in our cars and traveled about a quarter mile down the street to Moss Motors a caravan of seven MGs, one Ford and one other foreign car.

At Moss Motors, located at 440 Rutherford Street in Goleta, we assembled our cars onto the grass in front of the facility. We are joined by Matt who was driving a Subaru. In the show room, Michael Purcell and another salesperson, handled taking our shopping requests before the tour of the facility with Robert Goldman scheduled to start around 1:00 ish. The tour of Moss Motors was fascinating. Mr. Goldman explained that the company was founded around trying to get parts for an MG TC in 1948 after his father’s friend, Al Moss, participated in a cross-country rally that ended up in Santa Barbara.

Moss Motors is truly a service-oriented company.

Moss’ goal is to get parts out to customers the same day; and, shipping the order in the least expensive, fastest way possible. Over the years, shipping time has been reduced from seven days to one day. Touring the plant enabled us to see how they accomplish this monumental task every day. Each part ordered is “handpicked.” The most frequently ordered parts are placed in containers closest to the shipping conveyer belt. Mr. Goldman explained another philosophy of the company, they use computers for marketing and advertising. They are also working on providing images for each part so that the customer can “see” the part they are ordering. Moss will hand make a part for the car when the part is no longer available. They have test vehicles to ensure that the part fits and performs as desired.