MG Gazette Newsletter - North American MGA Register (NAMGAR)

Keystone Region MG Club
MG Gazette
Newsletter
Volume 21, Issue 3,
March 2013
March Meeting, Tuesday March
19th
At the “Blue Monkey”,
1092-1094 Howertown Road, North
Catasauqua, Pa
(about 1-1/2 mile N.W of the Allentown airport)
ttp://www.bluemonkeysports.com/ 610-266-1550
Located minutes north of the Lehigh Valley Mall in
North Catasauqua, Pa., the Blue Monkey offers
patrons a unique experience that blends a
contemporary atmosphere and relaxed menu with
over 200 different beers. Check out our 15 flavors
of wings and see why our wings were voted #1 in
the Lehigh Valley!
NOTE: Meeting in Room Upstairs
PLEASE Wear Your Namebadges - Thanks
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Meeting Agenda
Optional Dinner – Come Early
“Green Table” Bring your stuff in!
Meeting Starts – 7:00PM
President’s Welcome
Reports: Treasurer & Secretary
Old Business
British Motor Car Gathering
Update
Triumph Rescue Tech – March
23rd
Paul Morrissette Talk
o MGA Trip to Ohio
o Amelia Island Concours
d'Elegance
The Steering Column – President Dick Horn
Hi Everyone!
The temperature is actually above 50*. I'm not sure how to act, but I'll get the swing of
it pretty quick you can bet on that! I might even get into the garage and start tinkering
with MG, well maybe. Speaking of which, I do have the grill off, the front bumper, splash
pans and some of the interior panels off in getting it ready for the "new" paint job. In
case you hadn't heard my paint job after our accident turned out great except for the
front shroud where the paint is lifting on the edges, the painter is standing behind his
work so it will be taken care of.
As I know you have been aware of the club looking for a new meeting location, we are
still keeping an eye open and have a couple of places in mind. The meeting location in
Stockertown, The Widow's restaurant, has received mixed revues, people have told me
they like the place and I've been told that some think it to be too far away. We will try
this month's meeting at the "Blue Monkey" sports restaurant . It was suggested from
someone in the Corvette Club.
Cheers! Dick Horn
Ramblings From the
Editor
Spring is in the air! I’ve put the top down
on my MGB recently and took it out for some
fresh air on local roads this past weekend.
Saw lots of bikers out there too enjoying the
sun too! I hope you enjoy this issue of the
newsletter – I’ve been working to improve it,
and it is the first one done on my new Apple
computer (talk about being technically
challenged!). Spring fever, and car events will
be here soon, be ready to roll. I’m already
looking forward to racing my MGTD at
Summit Point, W.Va. in May. And as always,
in you have anything for the newsletter,
please send it to me. Deadline for the April
issue is April 10th. Something of yours, or
something you have seen or read elsewhere.
Sharing with your MG buddies.
Speaker for March 19th Meeting – Paul Morrissette
Paul joined our club last summer after having a great time at our Hellertown show. He
owns a 1960 MGA, and is fortunate enough to combine his hobby with business. Paul
has worked for Chubb insurance for 24 years and one of his responsibilities includes
leadership of Chubb's Collector Car insurance program.
In this capacity, Paul attends major concours events regularly and recently involved
incorporated his MGA into his business travel. Paul will share the story of his drive to
the Glenmoor Gathering in Ohio and will also offer perspective on his recent trip to the
Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance and auctions.
“Green Table”
A way to share with your MG buddies. Bring in to
the meeting your unwanted “anything” that you
are willing to give away for “Free”. Definitely “Car
Stuff”, but anything else too! Put it on the “Green
Table” for folks to take from. Plus if you see
anything on the Green Table you’d like, please take
it! Going “British Green”!
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British Car Club
SWAP MEET
Saturday March 16th, 10AM 1PM
Open to all clubs and folks intereste in
British car “Stuff”. If nothing else, look
at this as a chance to get out of the
house and get together with other
British caqr nuts as we look forward to
spring driving. Coffee and doughnuts
will be provided. Bring a table if you’d
like. Plus check out the cars being
worked on in the shop!
K&T Vintage Sports Cars
1511 E. Woodlawn St. Allentown, Pa
484-664-2353, [email protected],
www.ktvintagecars.com
A picture from the Santa Cruz Valley
Car Nuts show in early February. Held
at the Tubac, Arizona Golf Resort.
Note the beautiful Mini with the
Keystone window decal mixed in with
the other British cars. The Tucson
British Car Club made a strong
showing this year.
Jim Mink (MGTC, MGTF)
Cool Web Sites!
www.mgexperience.net - MG chat site with lots on various information and videos for
MG owners. Questions asked – problems solved. Interesting
www.britishfasteners.com/index.php - home of “British Tools & Fasteners, LLC”, a US
based company in Lyons, NY supplying Whitworth and British Standard tools and
hardware.
www.dump.com/assemblyline/ - a 9:39 minute video of the Chevrolet Assembly line of
1936. 1935 was the first year for all steel bodies with full roof shells instead of the
chicken wire and canvas roofs.
http://www.youtube.com:80/embed/POXqGsgAtaU - Excellent story about FORD racing
and how it was the start of the Ford Company. What a great mind and mechanical
engineer Ford was, with guts and a vision! Run time 8:44.
www.caranddriver.com/features/how-to-adjust-your-mirrors-to-avoid-blind-spots Here is a really good, concise article on p;roper mirror adjustment on your car, with
excellent illustrations.
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Officers & Positions
President, Dick Horn
2313 Lone Cedar Dr
Easton, Pa 18040
[email protected]
610-253-4575
V. President, Art
Edinger
3433 Lengel Lane
Slatington, Pa 18080
[email protected]
610-760-8883
Treasurer, Bill Page
4402 Greenfield Rd
Bethlehem, Pa 18017
[email protected]
610-866-8626
Secretary
Kim deBourbon
PO Box 293
Del. Water Gap, Pa18327
[email protected]
570-4246259
Keyston Region
MG Club –
Founded 1977
The Keyustone region MG
Club, Inc. is a club
affiliated with both the
North American MGA
Register and the North
American MGB Register.
The club meets on the
third Tuesday of most
months. New members
and guests are always
welcome. Clbu
information is available
online at
www.keystonemg.com.
The club is incorporated
under the laws of the
Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania.
Alternate Secretary
Sunny Sonnenrein
3087 Cooks Creek Rd
Riegelsville, Pa 18077
[email protected]
610-346-9624
Newsletter,
Greg Prehodka
716 Lexington Rd
Nazareth, Pa 18064
[email protected]
862-686-5273
Technical, Ken Beck
2731 Belaire Rd
Bethlehem, Pa 18017
[email protected]
610-865-3329
Regalia, Bob Pilat
5335 Main Street
Whitehall, Pa 18052
[email protected]
610-262-2646
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Presentation by Richard Miller
MG Meeting of February 19th
Noted MG enthusiast and MG authority Richard Miller gave a presentation at our
February club meeting on the “State of MG” and the upcoming “Red Mill Car Show”.
For most of us, MG “Ceased Production in 1980”. But that is not true. Maybe they
stopped being imported to North America in 1980, but the MG badge continued in
England and now in China. Although today’s MGs do not resemble our older MGs,
the MG badge is still alive, and some day MG may once again come to our shores.
Here are some excerpts from Richard’s Presentation.
Richard first got introduced to MGs in 1952 at his aunt and uncle’s Chrysler
dealership in Glen Gardner, NJ, where noted automotive writer Tom McCahill would
sometimes come to test new cars for Mechanics Illustrated magazine. This was just
post WWII, before there were car magazines, starting in 1946. Back then, Tom was
the first to set the standard for testing new cars. One weekend Richard was at his
uncle’s garage when Tom pulled into the dealership with this strange new car – an
MGTD! It amazed 9 year old Richard, who asked for a ride in it. Tom graciously
gave him a 10 minute ride in the MG, and that began Richard’s love with MGs! His
first MG was a brand new 1971MGB roaster.
In July 1996 Richard attended “MG 1996” at Indianapolis, which was a national MG
gathering for all North American wide MG groups. A fabulous event with 1,310 MGs
of all models attending! After a number of social drinks, the discussion came up of
having a MG club for “All MG Models”. Sparked by that discussion, in November
after a bunch of e-mails, Richard and a few others founded the “MG Driver’s Club of
North America”. It then started with an informal meeting in May of 1997. Their
first “MG Drive In” was with the Roadster factory’s “Summer Party” in August that
year. They are now in their 16th year, with 850 members. Their philosophy is to
keep a low profile and to compliment the other MG other national MG registers and
assocaitons - not to compete with them.
Richard also established the “Red Mill British Car Day” sponsored by the MG
Driver’s Club, to benefit the Red Mill Museum Village in Clinton, NJ. It will celebrate
its eighteenth show this June 2nd, and will be limited to 100 cars.
(www.mgdriversclub.com for info). Adjacent to the show and in walking distance is
the quaint old town of Clinton, with Victorian charm and restaurants, including the
“Stone Mill” Hunterdon County Art museum. All proceeds go to the Red Mill
museum, and they have raised about $50,000 over the years.
Richard then talked about “MG Today”. To most of us MG died in 1980 when the MG
factory in Abingdon, England closed. In March of 1981, the factory goods were sold off
by auction. But MG only rested – it didn’t “DIE”. In 1983 Austin Rover Group took their
Metro sub-compact car, hotted up the engine, tweaked the suspension, and called it the
“MG Metro” and MG was re-born. Later it got turbocharged. But it was only sold in
the United Kingdom and continental Europe. There were also some passenger cars
which Austin-Rover built which were given the MG badge. When they went out of
production in the early 1990’s, the MG-R V8 was born with a run of 2 years. It used the
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MGB body shell and the Rover V-8 engine (which was a Buick V-8 engine design).
About 2,000 were produced and cost about $40,000 (US dollars). When its production
ended in 1995, MGF production began. Then in 2005 MG Rover Group went bankrupt.
They sold the factory equipment to Nanjing auto of China. All the factory equipment
went to a factory in Nanjing China. Then that company was bought by Shanghai Auto
Industries Corporation (SAIC), which is the largest auto company in China, and 8 th
largest auto company in the world. They are partners with both General Motors and
Volks Wagon. Last year there were 190 MG dealers in China, who sold almost 80,000
MGs! Some of these MGs are now being designed and built in the United Kingdom.
SAIC’s European design center is located in Birmingham, England. 75% of the car is
built in China and then shipped to England where the rest of the components are
added and all is assembled in Birmingham, as a MG “Assembled in the United
Kingdom”. The current models are the MG6-GT, which is a fastback, and the MG
Magnette, the four door sedan. A diesel version of the MG-GT will go on sale in March
2013. In Europe, 52% of all new car sales are diesel. At the end of this year, the MG3
will be on sale as a sub-compact car. The MG5
which was on sale in China, will go on sale in
Britain sometime in the first half of 2014. SAIC
has bought a 3 story office building in Michigan,
supposedly for “Buying and selling car parts”.
They say they “Have no plans at the moment to
import cars”. MG is SAIC’s international brand
and is now sold in 45 countries around the
world. China has always taken the longer view
and I really do believe that MG will be back in
North America before the end of this decade.”
(L) Richard Miller, (R) Prez Dick Horn
Dick Horn, President, Thanks to Richard
I would just like to express my appreciation for your excellent presentation
last night. I’ve received e-mails from the members telling me how much they
enjoyed your talk and I would like to say how much I also enjoyed it. I’m sure
we would welcome you back at a later date if you would be available!
Richard Miller, reply
It was genuinely my pleasure! A wonderful setting, good food and a great
group of MG enthusiasts – what more could a speaker on MG related topics ask
for! Best to all in the Keystone MG Club!
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In 1925, Ethyl officials told the Public Health Service and the news media
that there were no alternatives to leaded gasoline. Yet long before this
picture was taken in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1933, alcohol gasoline blends
were widely marketed in the Midwest and in Europe, and Ethyl's own
researchers believed alcohol was "unquestionably the fuel of the
future."
Photo Courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society
Triumph Rescue – Tech session, March 23rd
Triumph Rescue will be having a tech session/open house on March 23rd. The topic
will be on basic maintenance. We thought we would break that down to include
convertible top folding, lube and fuel, mice, trouble spots, storage, ageing
maintenance, and a question and answer after that. Lunche will be provided and I
hope to get started by 10:00AM. An RSVP would be appreciated. Matt.
617 Walnut St. Bally, Pa 610-845-8217, www.triumphrescue.com
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Keystone Region MG Club "Triathlon X" Update
Several teams of KRMGC-ers are already planning to attend The British Marque Car
Club News' "Triathlon X" event this summer in western Massachusetts. We've had one
planning meeting already. If you are interested in participating, please contact Marybeth
Chamberlain ( [email protected] ) so we can get you "in the loop" on the
planning.
While we don't want to share this year's KRMGC "theme" publicly (there are "spies"
from other participating car clubs among us...you know who you are...Webbs!), I can tell
you that it will not be the "Hippie" theme we've done the past couple of times.
If you would like more information on "Triathlon X," here are some online-resources:
"Official" Triathlon Website: http://www.britishmarque.com/britishmarque/triathlon.cfm
Slideshow that Marty Chamberlain put together of KRMGC "trip" to Triathlon IX in 2011:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4DUm5vxl1I
You may also watch Charles de Bourbon's excellent "mini-documentary" of the
KRMGC's participation and "trip" to Triathlon IX here: http://youtu.be/y3zJa4VJUFU
Come help us celebrate Cecil Kimber’s 125th birthday at the Kimber Festival, April
12-14 2013. When do we get a chance to have a great weekend of MG information
shared by some talented experts, a world-class museum to view, a chance to
spend time with other MG enthusiasts and cake to boot!
So join us in Bennington,
VT at the Kimber Festival – you won’t be sorry you did. Deadline for signing up is
April 1. New England MG ‘T’ Register. www.nemgtr.org
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20th British Motor Car Gathering - June 9th
I would like to give all of our members an update on the status of our 20th annual
British Motorcar Gathering. We had a great meeting last night, March 12th, at City
View diner in Allentown. We had a good turn out and I thank all who
attended. This was our first time at this location an it seemed to work out
well. We had a very good presentation from the awards committee relative to our
class awards for this year. We plan for something special this year and we have
expanded our budget to allow for high quality awards. We looked at samples
of awards including slate plaques, clocks of various sizes and materials and
practical items like parcel totes for use in a car. All of the award alternatives were
very good. The awards committee will continue to look for ideas and will report
back to us in April. We selected an embroidered patch with a combination of
a British flag and the words "20TH BRITISH MOTORCAR GATHERING" that
would be included in each goody bag. The 2" by 3" patch would be in red, white
and blue and could be used on a jacket or hat.
We started the sign-up sheet to get everyone organized for "day of show"
activities. We have a wonderful group of members who do an amazing job on the
day of the show to makethings run smoothly and present one of the best car shows
in the tri-state area. If any member has not volunteered, one can sign-up anytime
before the day of the show. It is hard work, but you get a lot of satisfaction from
knowing you are part of our British Motorcar Gathering.
Our next meeting for show purposes will be part of our regular meeting in
April. The early start to our planning has helped us get many things done ahead of
schedule. We do not see a need for separate meetings from here on. The
evening of May 28th, we will conduct a "Walk Throught the Park" to inspect the
grounds, and tentatively we will have a "Bag Stuffing Party" at Marty
Chamberland's house the evening of June 4th.
That's all for now. Mike Jones, Event Chair
Club Meeting Minutes – February 19
The meeting was held at the Widow’s Tavern in Stockertown. As of now, the club has
70 members and 48 of them have renewed their membership (by paying dues) for
2013 so far. There is $7,317 in the club’s account. Upcoming events were discussed
including our club’s 20th “British Motorcar Gathering” car show in Hellertown, on June
9th. Richard Miller gave a fine talk on MGs (see elsewhere in this newsletter). The club
is still looking for suggestions on where to hold it monthly meetings. May 4th will be
national “Drive your MGA Day”
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Updates and “Of Interest”
British Marque Car Club News “ONLINE”. We get BMCCN mailed to us, but did you know
you can also get it “Online”, before you get your paper copy! Go to their home page at
www.britishmarque.com, click on the”On Line Edition” and follow the directions.
Carlisle Import & Kit Nationals, May 17-19: From Dick Horn – remember our club
plans on having a ten and a cookout for the members there on Saturday the 18th, so try to
attend. We’ll plan on a caravan there.
Cruise to the Casino: (Jan 21st) From Kim deBourbon – We’ve just booked the club’s
annual outing to the Casino Theater in Mount Pocono for Sunday, April 28th. As usual, Don
and Karen are treating us to a movie, drink and popcorn and a mini-golf tournament if the
weather is agreeable!
Lehigh Valley Car Show (new cars) March 21-24, Stabler Arena, Bethlehem, wwwglvautoshow.org/
MG Z-Type Magnette – one of the best loved sports saloons of the 1950’s (in England)
celebrates it diamond jubilee in 2013. Launched at the 1953 motor show, the Gerald
Palmer designed Magnette rapidly became a best seller, with over 36,000 cars sold.
MG Arnolt (TD)Coupe model car in 1/43 scale is now available from NEO Scale Models.
www.neoscalemodels.com (click on Arnolt). An Italian styled body on a MGTD chassis,
contracted by American S.H. Arnolt of Chicago. 65 coupes and 35 convertibles were built.
Sounds as if Lucas was the engineer on the wiring job.
A Kansas farm wife called the local phone company to report her telephone failed to
ring when her friends called - and that on the few occasions, when it did ring, her dog
always moaned right before the phone rang.
The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or
senile lady. He climbed a telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the
subscriber's house.The phone didn't ring right away, but then the dog moaned and the
telephone began to ring. Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found:
1. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire with a steel chain and collar.
2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose.
3. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signalling current when the number was called.
4. After a couple of jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate.
5. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring.
Which demonstrates that some problems CAN be fixed by pissing and moaning!
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