Through the Windscreen – Summer 1994

“Hi de Ho good neighbors”- as Wilson would say! And if you don’t know what I’m talking about you probably don’t watch one of the funniest shows on television – Home Improvement on ABC. In this series Tim Allen plays a do-it-yourself type of guy who has his own TV show on the subject. Hence the title of the program.

However everything Tim touches turns to dross! He thinks he knows it all-no one can tell him anything-and so inevitably he goes ahead with what he thinks is right and always it turns out wrong! Thus he suffers ridicule from his colleagues and his family in the process.

Now where have we met a chap like Tim before? Maybe in your club, perhaps at the car meet last week? Wherever, I’ll guarantee you that one day you will meet someone who knows everything about British cars – or thinks they do! However, sometimes a little knowledge is a very dangerous thing to have, just as too much knowledge of the wrong kind can be. Beware of the people who’ve had twenty cars in the last five years! They probably took them apart and then couldn’t put them back together again, and yet they offer to impart to you priceless knowledge gained in the process.

I guess what I am really trying to say is that you should listen lo the voice of real experience when you are being advised how to work on your car or do that special job. First read the book-over and over again. Make sure it’s a good book and then find someone mature in British car knowledge who’s done the task properly before. Most British Car Clubs have a couple of guys who are technical advisors, and usually they’ve got that position because the majority of the club members trust them to offer sound advice and practice. Also remember you can always call one of the Moss Crew with a problem or write in to our technical guru’s – they have been there before, but above all wherever you get your advice, make sure it’s sound and safe.

Shortly we will be heading out on the mail with the 1994 Moss Road Show, although we’ve been attending meets since early March-the season starts early on the West Coast! Wc had a great time at the British Car Day in Phoenix and saw some fine examples of British machinery including the superb restoration of a 1937 MG “SA” Drophead, one of the biggest cars MG ever made. Credit to the man who did all the work, Barry Briskman of Phoenix, who took Car of the Show award with this fine vehicle, which incidentally has been invited to the famous Pebble Beach Concours later in the year!

We give a full listing of British Car Events taking place on the opposite page but for ourselves, after our Moss Festival in June we will be heading 10 Washington DC for the Convention of the North American MGB Register at Dulles airport. The MG Car Club of Washington have planned a great program of varied activities and are promising to have some really rare MGs on display during the show. At some time during the previous week our team hopes to join up with a really nice bunch of people – The Triumph Register of America who are holding their 20th Anniversary National Meet at Morgantown, WV.

Leaving Washington we propose to head 10 the Original British Car Day at Bowie.MD before turning south to Atlanta for the Austin Healey Club of America’s “Conclave 94”. We just know that a special southern welcome will await all journeying to the beautiful state of Georgia!

The final leg of this first part of our ’94 tour will sec us in Arkansas, Eureka Springs to be precise, for the Gathering of the Faithful meeting of the MG folks in the central part of the country.

We then head back west to California, to pay some bills and put another issue of “Moss Motoring” together, ready for you to read in the Fall! The rest of our team however will be out and about attending many of the other spectacular British car events you see listed on page 15-will we sec YOU there?!

We hope to report on what we’ve seen and what you’ve told us as we’ve met along the way-however please do come and say hello to the Moss Crew wherever you catch up with us, and we wish you a safe and happy DRIVING Summer!

by Ken Smith