Journey to GOF West, 1992

Maybe the sunrise in Santa Barbara on August 28th was especially beautiful, or maybe it was just our excitement at being up so early to set off for GOFWest ’92, this year’s annual gathering of MG T-series owners in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. My friend from Ohio, Paul Johnson, had flown out to join me on this trip and we were up early, finishing our packing and stoking up on coffee. My TC was ready to go, having undergone a thorough pre-trip inspection. For those of you not used to making long journeys in old sports cars, this included flushing and refilling the cooling system, changing oil and filter, a careful inspection of the braking system, checking the chassis for worn bushings, loose hardware, signs of leaks and wiring harness deterioration. A set of new 19″ tires was carefully hand-fitted, and all grease points were lubed. The only major work found necessary was the complete re-wood ing of the passenger door, which had sprung open one too many times. With the aid of the detailed procedure outlined in Mike Sherrill’s excellent book, TCs Forever, the operation and subsequent re-painting of the door had gone without a hitch.

Promptly at 7:40 a.m., fellow Santa Barbara MG club members Larry & Barbara Long arrived in their loaded TD for our planned 7:00 a.m. departure. After a few minutes of good-natured racing, and the compulsory departure photographs, we were off. Our first day’s itinerary was a combination of scenic back-roads and some unavoidable interstate up to the Gold Rush country, to overnight with old friends, Lawrie & Jane Alexander in the Sierra foothills. Longer restaurant breaks than we had planned, to cool off from the day’s heat, meant a late arrival, but by 7:00, cold drinks in hand, we were exploring the Alexander’s 3-acre spread with particular emphasis on Lawrie’s very well equipped restoration shop and his latest Concours project, a 1949 TC.

Saturday dawned bright and clear and we were soon on our way with the Alexander’s MGA1500 joining our two T-cars. A scenic climb to Lake Tahoe and on to Carson City, then miles and miles of Hwy. 80 through somewhat less scenic terrain (!). It was hot but uneventful, with all three MGs purring along nicely. After 470 miles, we checked into a motel in Wells, Nevada. The “best restaurant in
town” also happened to be the town’s casino, and they offered a limo service to and from the motel. Guess where we ate! (Not that we were saddle-sore, or anything…) The meal was fine but there was an element of “The Twilight Zone” about the evening: the air was thick with tobacco smoke and all the waitresses seemed to be in competition for the “biggest hair in the world” award!

As usual. Sunday’s carefully planned departure was 40 minutes late, but this time it was my fault. On the previous day, I had heard a scraping sound from my right rear wheel when I cornered hard, so an inspection of the hub was in order. Sure enough, a wheel bearing I had diagnosed in Santa Barbara as “going to need replacing soon” was now allowing the hub to flex to the point that the brake drum could scrape the backing plate. Nothing terminal, but a lesson for the long-distance traveller: if in doubt, don’t take chances! It went back together but would have to be changed soon: in the meantime, less aggressive cornering was in order. Sunday’s drive was to take us up Hwy.93 towards Sun Valley before bearing off to visit the Craters of the Moon National Monument (Boy, what a mess a volcano can make!) then to overnight at Rexburg, Idaho. The weather was great, the roads much more interesting but today was “gremlin” day. At midday. Larry reported a whine from
his rear axle was becoming louder. Then, as we pulled into Rexburg, less than a 1/2 mile from the motel, the TD suddenly and most convincingly ground to a stop. It didn’t take long to realize that the differential pinion bearings had self-destructed, judging from the odd angle at which the pinion and driveshaft flange now sat relative to the axle housing. As luck would have it, the owner of the house outside which this happened had a friend who owned a rental car business, and who was
willing to open up on Sunday evening for us, and he even offered his side yard to Larry to park the TD and repair it. An hour earlier there weren’t even buzzards to be seen where the car could have broken down!

Over dinner, we pondered our options: rent a truck to transport the broken TD; try to find a used rear axle assembly and get it trucked post-haste to Rexburg; or to try and rebuild Larry’s broken unit. Since the first two options were expensive and would seriously impact the trip’s time schedule, we decided to go with number three. Clearly we needed new bearings, but would the ring or pinion teeth have been damaged? Larry decided to strip the axle housing to find out. In the meantime, Jane had taken a walk and found that by chance there was a bearing supply house right nearby. A phone call to Chris Kepler at Moss, and I had all the interchange numbers I needed. With the help of Gerald at Rexburg Bearing Supply, we soon had the front bearing in hand and the rear one on its way by express delivery from Reno. (I was also able to get the rear wheel bearing I needed!)

Our final day took us through the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park, and, despite the recent ravages of fire and barkbeetle, we enjoyed hours of incredibly scenic motoring. We became eagle-eyed game observers once we realized that the wild game all congregate wherever more than two cars are parked at the roadside… While we didn’t lay eyes on lions, tigers and bears, we did see just about every thing else. No visit to Yellowstone would be complete without seeing Old Faithful
do its thing, so we spent a quiet half-hour waiting for that display. Paul was convinced there was a man in the bushes turning on a giant valve at the appropriate
moment, but the rest of us were impressed!

The final two hours were driven through heavy rain, so for the first time, we reluctantly raised the top but kept the side screens stowed and – thanks to the magic of Rain-X – kept the wipers parked. We arrived at the Grand Teton Lodge after 27.9 hours driving time, 1409 miles at an average speed of 51 mph. The GOF West ’92 meet, attended by close to 100 couples from all over the west coast (and some from the midwest and Canada) was truly wonderful. The facilities were fine, the
scenery breathtaking. I did get my wheel bearing replaced and the car sufficiently cleaned to place second in the TC class. Larry completed his repairs and found that the rear axle was quieter than it had ever been before. He also took an Honor able Mention in the field of 30-odd TDs.

As I finish up this article for a tight Moss Motoring deadline, it’s time to repack the TC and and bid farewell to both new and old friends. It’s currently pouring buckets, and it’s a whole lot more pleasant sitting here on the front porch of our little cabin rather than running through the rain to the main lodge and a fax machine, but Laura says it’s now or never, so here I go!

By Chris Nowlan