The Steering Column
Left Hand Drive from our President

The reason the CMGC is such a great club is because of the members. I have been impressed by the caliber of our members ever since my first meeting. This is a fantastic club with a great history.

Members helping members is our mantra. I am very appreciative to all of the past members and officers for creating and maintaining such a wonderful organization. However, for any club to endure there needs to be new members willing to step up and infuse fresh ideas while adhering to the club’s overall goals. Please consider running for one of the positions on the board during our upcoming elections.

And now:

Tis weeks till the holidays and my garage is all cold, the MG is in storage, I treasure it like gold. The top is installed, it’s all waxed and all clean, when Spring does arrive, it should start like a dream. I cleaned out the glove box the console and trunk, what I thought had value; my wife thought was junk. Placed steel wool in the tailpipe and dryer sheets inside, it won’t give the mice a nice place to hide. I pulled out the battery and at home it will charge, when placed back in Spring, it should start the old barge. My Christmas wish book is a catalog from Moss Motors, the only thing I don’t want is a new set of rotors. Maybe some chrome to match my bald dome, or a new leather seat, wouldn’t that be a treat. 2021 will bring us a new day, we can take all our cars out and then we will play. Going down the road listening to Billy Ray Cyrus, not a care in the world because there will be no bad virus. So this winter I will relax and think of next Spring, but without my MG, it won’t mean a thing.

Be safe my friends

~~ Phil Wydra  

	The Steering Column
	Right Hand Drive   from our Vice-President

Happy fall everyone and Gobble Gobble! Don’t put your MGs away just yet there’s plenty of Great days left for driving. We did an unofficial drive to Starved Rock with a few club members. It was a bit chilly, so tops were up and heaters on. Great drive, check out the write up. And luckily no break downs!

Well with the MGA in the garage it brought with it LOTS of WELDING! As you may have noticed from the photos in last month’s Driveline there were no sills or rockers panels, and the B pillars were in bad shape. So, I went online looking for a good deal on parts and found The Little British Car Co. had the best prices around. I placed the order and started prepping what was left of the body for the new parts. Some panels I had to fab up and weld in before the new ones could be installed. Thanks again to Barney Gaylord for his incredible web site on MGAs. I found out through his website that you actually start at the doors and work out from there. It was quite the challenge getting the doors and wings to line up with a decent gap. After the sills, pillars, doors, wings, and rocker panels were fitted and welded up it was time to take it all apart and separate the body from the frame. After a quick trip to Home Depot for some eyelet screws and rope, a bit of rigging and a few busted rusty bolts the separation was complete with the body hanging from the garage ceiling! With the body off it was much easier to inspect the frame. To my dismay there was quite a few repairs which were previously done, leaving me to possibly finding a replacement. Further analysis will be necessary........

As far as the Rover conversation goes the block and heads are at the shop for milling. Hopefully to be completed in the next week or so. We did get a good deal on a complete engine rebuild kit from Rimmer Brothers in the UK. The only problem besides one of the pistons being wrong was having the shipment delayed due to a duty tax. More details to come. Keep’em on the road! SAFTY FAST

~~ Dean Hickenlooper    
your humble servant