The Steering Column
Left Hand Drive from our President

This weekend some of us had the pleasure of attending the annual general meeting for North American MGB Register (NAMGBR) in Minneapolis, MN. The weather was great and the fuel prices, about $3.03 a gallon, were much better than here in Illinois. As part of the meeting Tony Burgess, Convention and AGM Coordinator, had set up a field trip to Quality Coaches for all attendees. Mark Brandow, the President/Owner of Quality Coaches, said it all began with finding a 1947 MG TC in the jungle of Malaysia, he stripped it down to bolts, and concentrated on teaching his Peace Corps class how to put it back together.

Still to this day he is still at it, you can just feel the overflow of passion when Mark speaks about how and why he started Quality Coaches.

Not only did Mark and his team fix up old cars, but he was also enthusiastic about serving his community. Mark wanted a place to play but also nurture people. Mark took it slow and steady fixing one car at a time when he started with his newly developed passion for rebuilding, repurpose and reusing parts pieces to make a car run smoothly.

Mark’s shop clearly displayed years of playing and being creative with old English cars. You look to left, front, right and back nothing but mostly MGs (B’s T’s, Y’s GT’s, A’s and Midgets), and a Limo/Truck not sure what you call it, but cool looking (see back cover page). However, what really stood out more than anything was downstairs in the bat cave (at least this is what I call it), there was an astronomical and vast amount of car parts. There was so much inventory Mark could build 50 to 100 cars and including a Frankenstein body - if he can find a healthy used brain.

I am not sure how you can take inventory on what he had but you know what some of the attendees were looking for parts for their car and I kid you not Mark went down and produced the part they had asked. Mark loves his job - he was one of the lucky ones - Mark was involved in a horrific accident at one time, the doctor said he was lucky to be alive. Mark is living out his dream, playing, creating, and coaching his team to make a positive difference in his community while keeping old English cars and others alive.

~~ Melissa Gonzales