(Continued from page 17)

JD's British Cars in Nashville, TN

Turns out there are a lot of shops in the northwest corner of North Carolina, so we used another day to visit most of those. Then back on I-40 west half through the night in freezing rain and big snowflakes in the mountains, and after a short sleep continue west. We stopped to visit a couple more shops in Nashville, first JD's British Cars, nice shop, huge 20,000 square feet of space fully crammed with British car projects and repair work. Also, a short visit to a visit to Bradley's Import Service where It looked like only modern far east cars, until my eyes spotted a Triumph engine and an MGB. That business is sort of a hobby of the father, while the son works on the modern cars.

Fun time over, heading north into the cold winds through Tennessee and Kentucky late night. Had a short lunch date with a friend in Prospect, KY, followed by swapping the 160dF thermostat to 180dF part before heading in to Indiana in late day. Kind of late night we changed plans and continued to Illinois arriving Naperville bout 2-am. Broke the speedometer cable a few miles from destination, then relegated to driving by the tach for the next 1200 miles. Still collecting parts for the differential fix, the first one we had intended to get turned out to have rusty gear teeth and not useable. Next day we procured a better one from a friend Bob Brownlow in Niles, IL, cleaned it up and tossed it into the trailer (which keeps getting heavier).

Saturday night was set-up time for the Swap Meet. Not much time required there, followed by dinner at Alfies with some old friends. Then very short sleep followed by 5:30-am opening of the buildings for the Swap Meet vendors to enter and set up. Another successful event with lots of chat with walk-by friends, and not having to spend much money, because I have no more space to carry stuff. I did take lots of photos which you can find on the club web site. I also pick up a donation of a speedometer cable late in the day, managed to get it installed in my car only to discover the center cable was broken on that one too. Bummer.

Differential swap in the MGA

Got an offer of work space from a friend Chuck McCallum in Plainfield, IL, which we jumped on. Disassembled the 4.3 differential to get the 10-spline sun gears. Disassembled the 3.9 differential to install the 10-spline gears, and shimmed the input bearings in the process. Then swapped the prepared differential into the car removing some broken bits from the housing, including one large tooth broken from the old input pinion gear. Got it all back together just in time to make the Monday night club meeting. Cherie-ho to folks we hadn't seen since last year's Swap Meet, and a good time was had by all.

Next morning (Tuesday) a Walmart visit to pick up a couple more plastic tote boxes, then a stop at the storage locker to toss some stuff out of the trailer and pick up some more tools. By late night we passed through Cairo, IL into Missouri, continuing south nearly to Arkansas. Next morning (Wednesday) we were off early heading into Memphis Tennessee to do some more shop hopping for the rest of the day. This carried over to Thursday morning. After more WiFi work we headed southeast for more late-night miles.

British Car Day New Orleans, a little rainy

Early Friday afternoon we were in Wetumpka, Alabama to visit another friend Bob Morgan who happened to have a good speedometer cable, which we installed while there to get the speedometer working again. There are always ulterior motives driving our odd routing. After more WiFi work, after 9-pm we pointed it southwest, traveling 4-1/2 hours until we drove into the boot tip of Louisiana around 2-am, allowing for 4 or 5 hours’ sleep time. Then early Saturday morning rolling again to arrive 9-am for British Car Day New Orleans. Dodging intermittent rain storms, we managed to have a nice car show, followed by evening dinner with the local club folks. Sunday would be the catch-up day for posting photos and notes, and finally writing this trip report late night. Tomorrow will be busy again (as usual).

~~Barney & Elliot Gaylord

Meanwhile, follow our follies at http://MGAguru.com/mobile

Barney and Elliot Gaylord, temporarily home in Louisiana but heading for Texas.