The Steering Column
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Left Hand Drive
from our President
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The Political Side of Weather
The days are getting shorter and the political ads are getting longer.
As president of the Chicagoland MG Club, by executive order, I hereby mandate summer to be year-round with rain on alternate Wednesdays and Thursdays. Ah, if it was just that simple.
Reading the morning paper (yes I still get the paper delivered) it came to my attention that we are currently losing three minutes of daylight every day. I’m afraid it will only get worse. Before you know it we will be eating dinner in the dark. Utterly barbaric.
So, if we are practicing daylight savings for close to eight months a year, where is all this daylight we saved? Should we not be getting some type of interest that we could cash in, say around the middle of January? A one or two hour daylight dividend when the temps are struggling to reach 20 degrees would be a wonderful treat. Something for the next club president to think about.
The other day I sadly realized that I have not accumulated the amount of miles on my MG that I usually have by this time of year. The main reason is the heat. Not that I don’t like warm weather mind you, but when I get out of a car, I like my shirt to exit with me and not stay stuck to the upholstery with sweat. Nothing like a sweat-soaked, salt-stained MG tee-shirt to impress the checkers at Jewel. “Would you care for some dial soap to go with that, Mr. Wydra?”
The other reason I am lacking in miles this year is the absence of rallies and tours. However, we will get thru this. I am looking forward to a full and robust driving season next year with everyone safe and healthy.
Meanwhile, I will try to make an effort to spend more time with the B. I made a similar promise to my parents about homework back in high school. I hope to do better this time around.
So release the brakes, rev up the engine and put her in gear. There is still plenty of summer left for some great driving experiences.
And if you need to make a quick stop for some provisions, avoid the smart-aleck checker in line three at Jewel.
Stay safe my friends
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The Steering Column
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Right Hand Drive
from our Vice-President
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Great news my 1954 MG TF sold and is off to its new home in Indiana. Now I just need to finish up the 5-speed conversion on the TR6 and it’s onto the MGA project. I did run into a few gremlins on the TR6 it looks like the previous owners really butchered up the electrical wiring. Looks like they might have swapped wiring harnesses and put it all together with WHITE wire everywhere. So, I’m now in the process of getting the proper colored wires spliced in properly using solder, heat shrink insulation and bullet connectors. Also took off the fog lights and a mass of wiring which didn’t seem to go anywhere. Hopefully have it finished up next week.
As some of you may have seen the Yellow “B” on a flatbed truck at the Gonzales party last month well not to worry she’s back on the road and running great. Not quite sure how the push rod got bent possibly valve lash needed to be increased or possibly the valve got stuck in the guide. It’s a fresh engine and I used bronze guides in the cylinder head. The machine shop told me the hone the guides .002“ over the size of the valve stem. John Twist said I might want to go up to .003“as the bronze expands more than the cast head. Might want to stick with the steel guides on the next build we’ll see.
As for the upcoming “A” project there will be several welding Teck sessions as the frame doesn’t look too bad, but the rocker panels, sills and inner sills seem to be missing all together. So, there will be lots of fabricating. I’ll post on the weekly email blast when the seasons will be.
That’s it for this month. Time to Drive the days are getting shorter......
~~ Dean Hickenlooper
your humble servant
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September 2020
