Phil Williams's Journal

Last year we entered the car in the Hunt Country Classic Car show. We were fortunate to win third place in class. At the show we met a bunch of other local guys with classic MG cars and we started going on Sunday drives together. Included is a picture of the car all parked together behind the cafe.

Well after 7 years of work we finally reached the goal of driving the Mg round trip from the house to the car show. In past years we trailered the car to the show and drove onto the show grounds. While there are many people who simply refuse to drive their cars on the road, We are not among that group. Getting the car road worthy enough to drive to the show was an achievable and worthwhile goal to shoot for.

It was very satisfying to drive onto the show field. THere is no better way to make an entrance than in a classic MGTC.

Oh by the way this year we won 2nd place in class. To be fair there were not many cars in the pre-war and MGTC class, but we did beat other cars for the win.

Well it is finally time to do something about the sloppy steering. I have obtained a rebuilt Bishop Cam (BC) steering box and shaft, as well as a VW steering conversion kit. I found the conversion kit first and my though was to replace the BC system with the VW set up so I could drive the car while the BC was out for rebuild. No sooner had I bought the VW kit, I found a rebuilt BC system. So now I think I may stay with the BC system and keep the VW conversion as a reserve. I may also send out my old BC for rebuild as well.

In any case I plan to begin this repair soon so it is ready for the new driving season. I also want to convert the brake system over to silicon brake fluid, so I may take that as an opportunity to replace the slave and master cylinders with new ones. We will see.

Well, our old guy was signed up for the big British car event that stared June 4 in Ocean City Maryland headed to Reno Nevada. Unfortunately I do not have the time to drive the entire route but we did join in for part of the run as the cars passed through Virginia. There were a lot of MGBs and MGAs, a few Modern MINIs, and even a few "T" types. One guy from Colorado had driven from there all the way to the East coast to participate in a very nice MGTF. In any case, we drove along with the group for a while and parted company in the evening. THis was the longest continuous un for out TC since we got it back on the road, and the first run with the new radiator and rebuilt Bishop Cam steering gear. It seems that we may have the overheating issue under control and the steering is improved but I still need to work on tightening up the tie rods and chasing out other slack in the system. All told we drove about 100 miles without any issues. THis old guy is now 62 year old and still on the road and running. A real tribute to the men and women in England who designed and built these fine cars so long ago.

As luck would have it we selected Salisbury Plain for out meeting place. However we could not find Stonehenge.

Well we changed out the radiator for one with extra cores. We also swaped out the original TC 4 blade metal fan for a 7 blade plastic fan from an MGB. This also fixed the misalignment of the top radiator hose with the retrun opening on the radiator.

TO test the car I took it out for a drive last night. The air temprature was 98 degrees. Even in the shade it was hot.

I could not believe it. The temp never rose above the center of the normal range on my Boyce temp guage. In the past I would not even think about starting the car on a day that hot, let alone take it for a 12 mile drive. I had to stop at three traffic lights for an extended period and the car still did not over heat. So I am now confident that the general heating problem is solved.

This leavs only the heat getting to the carbs and vaporlocking the system to work on. And I think I have the solution of the as well. We will soon know.

Once again we joined up with friends to motor to the Hunt Country Classic British Car show near The Plains in Virginia. It was a great day with good weather. This year in addition to the MGTC "Old Guy", we took our 1961 Frogeye Sprite "Kermit" for his first car show. What a surprise and honor that he won first place in class. The Old Guy also won a second place in class. This of course will put Kermit in the "Prince Of Wales" class in next years show. That is quite an honor, and he will be up against some serious competition. Of course there is nothing serious about a Frogeye, so he will just have to compete on "Cute Factor" alone.

Both cars performed very well, and my wife enjoyed having the opportunity to drive the Sprite on a nice day trip.