By Harry Newton For several decades (actually since 1955), I have listened to otherwise fair-minded enthusiasts bash the Jaguar XK140 series as a bastardization (my word) of the seminal XK120. I admit my own guilt in this regard. Now, perhaps the perspective of time has at last endowed the XK140 with recognition of its true…

The term “four-seat sports car” comes dangerously close to being in oxymoron. Nevertheless, the reality is that some enthusiasts can participate in motorsports, even as spectators, only if they possess a means to transport a family comprised of Dad, Mum, and the oft-quoted, but statistically improbable, one-point-five offspring. In the years just before and just…

So we come to the end of a century which, among other things, has seen the birth of flight, man on the moon, the extinction of the traditional British motor industry, plus many other momentous events. But it’s not all doom and gloom. (Although, according to some pundits, this may be the last column you’ll…

Many years ago, when I was an impoverished college student, I “fixed” a kingpin problem on my MGA by replacing almost all of the front suspension with parts from an MGB. While I generally go to great lengths to try to preserve the originality of my cars (the local battery shop thinks I’m nuts for…

In the last issue of Moss Motoring, I described how to set the chassis part of your six cylinder, big Healey V throttle linkage. So now let’s turn to the adjustment of the engine portion. In checking the following adjustments, make sure dial tile throttles are not held open by the choke or idle adjustment…

A lady took her car into a large garage for a minor tune-up. She was informed that one of the spark plugs had stripped the threads in the head. The garage installed a Heli-coil and four new plugs. The charge? $12 for four plugs and $4 for the insert, plus of course, $170 for labor!…

I was watching a TV program last fall with a handful of fellow Triumph owners. The episode covered some huge British car show in the Midwest. One half-hour of English automobiles—surely there would have to be an image of a sparkling TR3 or row of TR6s. But there wasn’t, not even in the corner of…

I read with some interest the story on Herschel Silverstone’s real Sebring Sprite in the Fall issue of Moss Motoring and started thinking to myself, “Maybe not so real!” Geoff Healey and I did not actually homologate (the FTA’s technical term for registering the specification of a competition car) until the fall of 1960.The first…

You have to be just a little crazy to own a British car, and all British car owners will proudly proclaim that fact. It’s a case of constant breakdowns and repairs, strange and obsolete parts, bizarre mechanisms. But they love ’em, and my husband, Craig, is no exception. He is the owner of his second…

Old British cars seek me out. Honest. The more needy they are, the more likely they are to end up on my doorstep. Old British cars find me. In the Midwest, back in my misspent youth, it seemed there was always a family who took in strays of all varieties. It was usually a family…

The free lunch may be a myth, but I have found a true cheap lunch! It comes in the form of a cheap and relatively easy fix to what often sounds like a very expensive problem with the MGB rear axle. Both Lindsay Porter’s MGB Guide to Purchase if DIY Restoration, as well as the…

We are delighted to welcome Paul as a regular contributor to MossMotoring. The son of Ken Richardson, renowned Triumph competition driver, Paul has visited these shores on several occasions and we hope to welcome him back soon from his home base in England. In the meantime, enjoy his unique stories told in his inimitable style,…

On our recent trip to MG ’99 in Vancouver, we were privileged to visit with Peter Welch who has assembled a private collection of MGs—the condition of which has to be seen to be believed! I have seen many collections of automobiles, including other MG museums, but I have seldom seen a selection of cars which have…