Chicagoland MG Club: Driveline

February 2019

Upcoming Events

MGs on the Oregon Trail!
May 16-19, 2019

Mark your calendar for a long weekend to Oregon (Illinois, that is) and the Rock River Valley as we drive our MGs on the Oregon Trail - but without the dysentery :>).

This long weekend starts with a Thursday evening dinner and concludes with a Sunday brunch. We will visit historical and interesting sites in the area...you will be surprised how many there are - and how enjoyable some of the roads are for driving our LBCs.

Our base motel is the Paddle Wheel Inn, just outside of Oregon on the banks of the Rock River. We have a block of 30 rooms reserved for these three nights. The rooms within the block will be held through 4/16/2019. (You don't need to reserve a room for all three nights, however.)

The room rates range from about $70 - $130 per night - although most in the block are $110 - $130 per night. Depending on the total number of rooms reserved and used, a discount of 10%-20% will be applied at checkout.

To make a reservation within this block of rooms, call the Paddle Wheel Inn: (815) 732-0900. Say you will be staying with the MG car clubs.

We'll provide more information in future issues of this newsletter, as well as at Club meetings. So, stay tuned for the itinerary, agenda, and details of what we'll be doing "out west".

We hope you can join us - and just in case...bring some Pepto Bismol with you.

~~ Doug Clark

Safety Fast!

DID - U - KNOW
by Facia Nearside

1923 Wills Sainte Claire’s A-68 Roadster

What do the Model T Ford, the Canada goose emblem, and the blue Ford oval emblem have in common? They were all designed by Childe Harold Wills. Born in 1878, C.H. Wills was a metallurgical engineer as well as a commercial artist and designer. He had a keen interest in automobiles and in 1899 became an early associate of Henry Ford. Wills was not only the chief designer of the Model T but he also convinced Ford of the importance of using vanadium steel in the mass production process. Named for Vanadis, the Scandinavian Goddess of Beauty, this was the first large scale commercial use of nickel-chrome vanadium steel.

After twenty successful years with Ford, Wills took his small fortune and set out to start his own car company. Moving just north of Detroit to Marysville, Michigan USA he established the Wills Sainte Claire Automobile Company; Wills for his own name and Saint Clair for the river that ran through town (but with “e”s added for panache). Production started in 1921 but Wills was his own worst enemy. He was a perfectionist and stopped production to implement every minor improvement he could develop. Because of this the company never produced enough volume to make a profit and the factory closed in 1927. Of the 12,000 Wills Sainte Claire’s produced, about 80 exist today, the largest collection of which are on display at the Wills Sainte Claire Auto Museum in Marysville. As for that Canada goose, Wills chose it to be the emblem for his marque because he felt it was the ultimate world traveler.

Reprinted from British Boots & Bonnets Chronicle — January 2019 issue.

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