My brother John called me from his home in New Jersey. It was in the fall of 2006 and weather was starting to turn cool in anticipation of winter. Me, now living in the South Florida sunshine for the past 12 years, chided him for living so long with the raking of leaves and shoveling…
buh-loh-nee* 1. The result of spending way too much money in an attempt to make an old car look old. 2. A descriptive term used to deceive a potential buyer by creating an illusion of proper maintenance and care. 3. Justification for excessive cost related to owning a British car. British cars have a reputation…
Back in 1970 I passed up a chance at an MGB GT, and I had wanted one ever since. In my most recent years of retirement I pressed my wife for permission to buy a driver, or to find a fixer-upper that I could work on. I am not without some hands-on experience—in 1963 I…
My first time driving was in my older brother’s first car, a red 1964 TR4. We had just finished a repair. My brother realized that somehow I understood mechanics better than he did. He saw that I wasn’t assisting him, but the other way round. I hadn’t caught on yet. I was 14 and he…
My interest in British cars started in my early teens, when just being allowed to run the family powered lawn mower was considered a treat. I recall to this day traveling to my cousin Billie’s home for a family outing and sitting in his garaged Lotus Europa. I thought it was the coolest car I…
For my wife and I, our first MG experience was in 1978, an Aconite 1973 roadster. In 1988, we were living in Alabama when I noticed a 1969 MGB GT for sale in the Tuscaloosa News. When I went to look at the car, it was sitting in a carport, sadly well past its prime….
It was a stunning Sunday afternoon in Texas, a top down day if there ever was one. As I drove with a cigar set firmly between my teeth, I took in all the senses that only a car like this can provide, senses poetically described by the rock band Rush, in a song from their…
Cleaning, Prep, Machining and Assembly WHAT YOU CAN CLEAN YOURSELF The rule with engine building is clean, clean, and then clean some more. Items that don’t move, like valve covers, front and rear engine plates, lifter covers, timing covers, distributor bases, etc., you can clean yourself. First, scrape off old gaskets as much as you…
Protect Yourself When Welding, Cutting and Grinding Fact: Humans by nature will sidestep that which is awkward or difficult in favor of the easy way. If you can’t find your gloves or if you can’t pick up a small piece of hot metal with your heavy welding gloves on, you will probably try to do…
People order things online all the time—books, clothes, electronics, and so on. Not many buy a rusted out British sportscar and ship it 400 miles, uncovered, in northeast November weather. And, for those that do, few of these projects become completed, road-worthy cars. And of those that get finished, I only know of one that…
