MGAguru is on the Prowl

MGA Guru Is Still Mobile

On Oct 27 we stopped in Huntersville, NC, to visit Dick and Beth Lunney, editors of North American Classic MG cars magazine. I fixed an electrical problem for the overdrive in his MGB, and we stayed with them for a few nights. While there we visited Hendrick Motorsports home base (the NASCAR team organization), Auto Barn Classic Cars where we found lots of classic cars available for sale, Piedmont British Car Club> meeting in Statesville, Elite Vehicle Restorations in Denver NC, and Sports Car Salvage Ltd in Mt Holly NC (with hundreds of parts cars). I also got a new set of tires on my MGA (lots of miles you know) and raised the hitch ball for the trailer by an inch (25 years overdue).

  On Oct 30 I got to drive an MGB GT with a 3.4-liter V6 with 4-bbl carburetor (slightly over 200-HP at the wheels) and 5-speed gearbox
(a wonderful combination).

Then we moved on to South Carolina for a morning meeting with Southeastern British Motorcar Owners Club at Spartanburg, and an evening meeting with British Car Club Midlands Center in West Columbia. Then we spent a couple of days in Columbia NC working on an MGA 1800, fixed the fuel gauge and the temperature gauge, and did a carburetor tune-up for another friend. Then we were off to a meeting with Metrolina MG Car Club in Mint Hill. We also visited Hap Waldrup (Acme Speed Shop) in Greenville. We stopped to see John Dusky at his restoration company Studebaker South in Inman (with a few British bits in the mix), followed by a visit to the Zentrum BMW museum at the BMW factory in Greer. We had a breakfast meeting with British Car Club of Charleston followed by a visit with Bill Howerton in Orangeburg. This guy has eight MGC, three MGB, two MGA, a Porsche 914, a TR6 and two Ferraris (after he has thinned out the herd some).

Then we began shuffling back and forth to NC and SC for more personal visits, doing lots of miles on the express ways. I spent two days with John Kennally in Marvin NC sorting out multiple carburetor and ignition problems in his MGA Coupe. Then we had a visit with Bob and Lynda White in Monroe NC, mostly to ogle his collection of MGBs and to meet a couple more of his friends. We took a longer drive to Carolina Beach NC to visit John Merhar (who was supposed to be in Hickory NC). Next morning (starting 5:30 am) we were all the way back in Blythewood SC for a "Drive to Richburg" with British Car Club Midlands Center, accompanying at least a dozen British cars on a nice fall tour.

Same evening we were back in Monroe NC visiting Ronnie Laney who has an MGA 1500 with 1800 engine (with some definite chassis problems), finishing close to midnight (18 hours of MG fun). Surviving the first sub-freezing night of the trip, next day we did a long drive to Hiawassee, Georgia, to meet with Edward Wesson (with a Jaguar E-Type) and his friend Charlie Rollon (with a TR7, TR4, 1953 Mercury, a Mercedes SL, a Porsche 911 Carrera (again too