New carburetors for vintage Fords

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for vintage Ford vehicles (but concerning lots of problems common to all vintage reproduction car parts).

Friday was reserved for one of the most memorable events, the BMTA business meeting. This was held at Joe Gibbs Racing where we had guest speakers chatting about motor oil and filters, rebuilding engines, motor fuels, and reselling cars. There was plenty of time to allow everyone in the room to introduce themselves and their business so we all got to know each other well. In the process, it dawned in me that the 50 or more BMTA members in the room likely have over 1000 years of collective experience with vintage British

Members of BMTA in conference

cars. So, if the answer to your question is not found here, there is no answer. In the evening, we were off to Autobarn Classic Car Consignment sales and storage facility. This was accompanied by a catered BBQ dinner followed by presentations by Tom Marshall, Autobarn, and Tom Cotter, TV personality and vintage racer. If you can't find something to drool over here, you're not a car guy. The highlight program of the evening was a photo review of Cuba's Car Culture, like turning the clock back 50 years. Then we had a tour of the warehouse and workshop out back, which contained a surprising number of British cars.

Autobarn Classic Cars

Saturday began with a "working breakfast" in the hotel conference room. The morning seminar was all about resto-mod trends in the collector car hobby (and business), engine upgrades, overdrive, 5-speeds, and replacement wiring harness with extra fuses and relays. There were presentations on Koolmat insulation, and Flying Circus English Cars parts. Taking a short break there were hands on a few engine conversions in the car park. Then a presentation on selling your classic car through consignment sales.

Elite Vehicle Restoration

Some sad MGs at Sports Car Salvage

A few people bailed out a bit early for the NASCAR driving experience at Charlotte Motor Speedway (yes, driving real NASCAR stock cars at speed on the track). Others spent the later afternoon touring the now defunct Sports Car Salvage operation, once one of the largest salvage yards on the east coast (which still has a lot of stuff in inventory). There was also a tour of Elite Vehicle Restoration. In business about three years now at this location. This place is run by the younger generation, so hopefully it may be here for a long time to come.

Then we had like five days needed to catch up with WiFi work, including one whole day posting about 75-MB worth of PDF files and an index page for the complete "Lucas Master Parts Catalog 400E - 1945-1960” This was followed by a trip farther east to Flying Circus English Cars Ltd in Durham, NC. Big operation with 4 or 5 shop mechanics working continuously on Vintage British cars. And like what were we doing way out here when we should be going west? While we had some daylight and above freezing weather next day I took an hour (or two) to change out the lethargic heater blower (big improvement). Also, some time corresponding with a bloke in Holland who has purchased an MGA Coupe with a removable steel hardtop from a classic car dealer in Naperville, IL, and he is restoring it. Another page for my web site of course.

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