(Continued from page 8)

Then the weekend got real busy starting Saturday with an early lunch in Cape Coral, FL with 20 members of Triumphs of Southwest Florida and British Car Club of Southwest Florida (a joint event), followed by a tour of Wicked Dolphin Rum Distillery, followed by a few hours driving from west coast to east coast. We landed in Delray Beach, FL in time for a dinner meeting with Gold Coast British Sports Car Club (18 people present). Next morning a Sunday (generic) Car show in South Miami Beach, meeting a few members of British Car Club of Miami. There were a few British cars there, an early Mini a TR6, a Healey 3000 and my MGA. We spotted an IKA Torino (later to be Renault Torino), which is a sort of hybrid AMC (Rambler) car built in Argentina.
   
There was a Renault Floride (yes it is spelled right) rear engine French sports car, a DeTomaso Pantera, A Polski Fiat 650 (built in Poland). In early evening after the show I was diagnosing a TR6 with problem of bad running after a prolonged warm-up run. After an hour sprint up the expressway we had a short visit with a guy in West Palm Beach who drives a 1973 MG as his daily driver car (only car he owns). It runs hot in hot weather, in spite of an expensive custom aluminum radiator, but only with the AC running (hey it's Florida).

Come Monday we had a 4-hour drive back to Fruitland Park to continue work on the MGA Coupe, beginning with rebuilding the SU carburetors, replacing a bent float chamber, and adjusting float arms. The next day we were using Teflon O-rings for the fuel jet seals, installing vacuum pipe for the distributor and adjusting choke linkage, and (partially) installing the headliner. The following day we installed adjustable steering column, and took lots of pictures of Coupe door latches and window regulator parts (for my tech pages). By evening we were off and running, heading for Brooksville, Florida (back to west coast again) for a dinner meeting with Nature Coast English Car Club and Sun Coast Classic Car Club (the club with two names). Late night we followed Steve Grote home to Inverness FL. Steve has a nice MG TF, recently sold an MGB, and his Jaguar XJS V12 is off to a shop for power steering repairs.

Thursday, Jan 21 we were off to visit Barry and Marilyn Bullington in Lecanto, FL. Barry has a nice MG TC with lots of electrical problems, starting with (rare) original factory issue turn signals (needed a few wires fixed). By evening we were in Maitand, FL for a dinner meeting with Classic MG Club of Orlando (3 people present). Not finished, we drove 40 miles to Davenport, FL for the night. Friday drizzle, cancel an appointment with (topless) TR3 in Fort Myers, and do 15 hours of WiFi work.

Sat Jan 23, we rolled 100 miles southwest to Bradenton, FL to meet François Gay from Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, QC and John Mercier from Napierville, QC. They are a couple of wild and crazy guys from Canada vacationing in Florida, but with a hand up to request a meeting. François has a 1959 MGA (photos from his computer) and a 1973 TR6. John has a 1974 MGB with overdrive and a 1969 Lotus Europa. In late afternoon a one hour sprint up I-75 back to Fruitland Park, as that cute blue MGA Coupe still needs help. On Sunday we were gathering information for the MG 1600 rear parcel shelf and bleeding brakes. When bleeding brakes we found a leaky rear wheel cylinder with a factory defect in a piston seal (bummer, order another one).

On Mon Jan 25 we drove a few hours’ northeast via a casual route to Jacksonville, FL for a dinner meeting with MG Classics of Jacksonville (whom we were not able to contact last year). Here we met about 40 people including a bloke frantically waving a club newsletter with my mug shot in it (reputation precedes me). Following day was for WiFi work. On Wednesday we had an appointment to fix electrical issues on a MG Midget (horns again).

On Thursday Jan 28 we had a four-hour drive in rain from Jacksonville (NE) to Safety Harbor, FL (west coast again) for an evening dinner meeting with Tampa Bay British Car Club. We found a new Mini, an MGB a Morris Minor and an older Mini (and maybe a few more British cars later), as the small dining room filled to capacity with at least 40 people. Meeting finished, the rain stopped, followed by tire kicking in the car park. Next day we had a visit with Burt Golub in New Port Richey, FL. He has a beautiful MGA Coupe which he has owned for decades, and which he has restored also a bugeye Sprite which he recently restored, and another Sprite in mid restoration. That was about the time it dawned on me that I was almost a week late getting this report out, so if your newsletter is late this month, you night blame it on me. Now the small hours of the morning, we have a breakfast meeting in a few hours, so g'night folks.

~~Barney & Elliot Gaylord

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