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MGA, give it a valve adjustment, install a bilge blower to cool the carburetors, followed by some time chatting about service techniques and the charms of little British cars. Same evening we were off to Mint Hill, NC (east edge of Charlotte) for meeting with Metrolina MG Car Club. I counted 47 people, including Dennise Thorpe, an early acquaintance (and prior MG 1100 owner) from the MGs e-mail list in the mid 90's. (Note: the lady is not "Dennis"). After the club meeting the evening was topped off with a dead MGA in the car park with a burned out ignition coil as a result of leaving the ignition on for a few hours. In the end we borrowed a coil from a MG ZB Magnette to get the MGA home, then brought the coil back to the restaurant to get the Magnette home. Jolly good fun.

Back in Lexington, SC, the next day to install new leaf springs on my MGA, followed by a bunch of electrical work on another MGA. On June 10 in Spartanburg, SC, we commissioned the third set of replacement tires for the trailer (considering we have traveled over 80,000 miles in the past two years), followed by a sprint to Hendersonville, NC, for an evening classic car show in the streets with a couple hundred classic cars (several LBC in the mix) and what may have been more than 1000 people assembled for live music fest. Heading north and west we made a stop in Sparta, TN, to visit Bob Myers and his wife. She lays claim to an MGB while he is restoring an MGA.

For most of the week Mon 6/13 through Thu 6/16 we were doing nearly sleepless days at MG-2016 in Louisville, KY, with four national MG registers. There was a Magnette register dinner, about a dozen tech sessions in two days, several off-site tours and rallies in the same two days. There were four separate MG Register banquets followed by a joint live entertainment bash with about 1000 people. There was a brief get together for the MG Experience BBS enthusiasts, and a NAMGAR local chapter contacts meeting. Thursday was car show day at Riverfront Park with over 800 MGs on display. In the evening there were four separate MG register annual meetings and awards, followed by a joint awards banquet with nearly 1000 people and guest speaker Dennis Gage (3 hours). See a separate report on MG-2016 (maybe).

During the car show week we were staying with Jeremy Nelson in Louisville, KY, (who is son of Eric Nelson near Indianapolis, IN). On Friday and Saturday I managed to install the rebuilt rear shocks (and one replacement front shock) on my MGA, as well as helping Jeremy get his Triumph GT6+ running (carburetor repairs) and tuned up, and a bit of work in his MG Midget restoration project. The following day (Sunday) a short run to Nancy, KY, for a little family reunion. On Sunday a trip to Eddyville, KY, to visit David Gates in a nice quiet place on Lake Barkley. He has a Ford Model A truck, a nice MGS 1500, and a vintage wood boat (diversified tastes).

The following day we took a casual drive through "Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area", running south between Kentucky and Barkley lakes in western Kentucky. Crossing into Tennessee it becomes 'The Trace', TN-49/TN-461, for a total of about 50 miles between the lakes. I spent a week camping here 30 years ago, a wonderful place to soak up nature. Then back east to rural Sparta, TN, to visit Bob Myers (again). Seems his test drive of his "go-kart" MGA chassis turned up some problems with the gearbox. Disassembly revealed a number of missing and broken parts, some of which we fixed on the spot, but needing to order a few more parts before reassembly.

By Thursday evening we were back to visit an old friend in Greenback, TN, and next day (6/24) I was fixing battery and carburetor problems on a friends MGA, and another friend's Austin Healey 3000 with tach and speedo cable drive issues. Saturday finds us catching up with photos and notes, and heading northeast out of Tennessee into Virginia for continuing adventures.

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~~Barney & Elliot Gaylord   1958 MGA with an attitude