The Steering Column
Left Hand Drive from our President

Most of us are familiar with the movie Groundhog Day where Bill Murray’s character wakes up each morning only to repeat the previous day’s events.

Well, welcome to my world. My biggest decision of the day is choosing what color socks I should wear. Would it be better if they match my shirt or my pants? Who cares, the only person that will see me is my wife. And she’s seen me without socks before.

My schedule pretty much remains the same from day to day except for Wednesdays when I accompany my wife into the city to watch our grandson.

So how is it that I find myself so busy all the time? There is yard work, house work, house maintenance, errands, doctors’ appointments, emails, searching the internet, reading, and most important, is our new friend during these times of lockout shutout “Netflix”.

Of course there is also the importance of routinely spending time with the MG. I find that the more time I spend with it, the less it decides to act up and give me problems. Kind of like my kids when they were younger. Time invested is time well spent.

So, if you have a free day and are wondering how to spend it, look no farther than your MG and enjoy a ride.

You could mow the lawn, but it will only grow back. You could clean the garage, but it will only clutter again. You could dust the house, but dust has a way of returning.

So take a ride. Next winter when you look back at the summer of 2020, you won’t remember the lawn cuttings or house work, but you never forget those wonderful MG rides.

~~ Phil Wydra

Stay safe my friends

	The Steering Column
	Right Hand Drive   from our Vice-President

What a Great summer it’s been. The weathers been great for driving the MG even though there haven’t been any actual driving events. I just love taking a nice drive after work or on the weekends out on some backroads and by the forest preserve. I hope your taking advantage of the opportunity now because the days are getting shorter and before you know it those little white frozen flakes will be falling from the sky. Now is the time to Drive!

On the Home front the garden is doing very well this year. We have more squash than we know what to do with. In a few days, the tomatoes will be ready, and you know what that means....BLT’s. Possibly my favorite time of year next to the driving season of course. There’s just nothing that compares to a BLT made with Home Grown Tomatoes!! We also have been making refrigerator Pickles thank to an easy recipe for a good club member. There’s also a bumper crop of Beets so all you beet lovers are welcome to come by and pick some up. The real miracle is one of Kerry’s (my wife) Artichoke plants is actually making an Artichoke! We truly been blessed.

As for the Bee Colony it’s doing better than ever. Just added another Honey Super last Friday and during inspection of the hive found no signs of swarming which is good. I’m going to test for verimites this week and possibly do a treatment. You may be thinking what this has to do with MG’s ......well nothing really

Work in my garage has been busy with doing a 5-speed transmission conversion on my TR6. Things were going along swimmingly as the new trans was in with its hydraulic release bearing and hydraulics working disengaging the clutch. But I wanted just a little more travel on the pedal. So, with the help of a good friend we backed off the clutch pedal stop just a little bit and then........popped the release bearing off its seal!

So, transmission back out and release bearing, order rebuild seals for the bearing, check shims, add two more shims, reassemble and readjust clutch pedal stop. Second time around I had success then measured for the new propshaft and got it ordered up from Suburban Driveline. Another week or so I pick up the new propshaft, reinstall interior and she’s out the door making room for the next project. The “MGA” !!! Which you may know came to me UNASSAILABLED and I totally mean every nut and bolt on the body, interior and engine. Boxes and boxes of parts. Should prove to be a challenge.

That’s all for now. See you down the road!

~~ Dean Hickenlooper    
your humble servant