We are not open, officially, on Saturdays from after Labor Day until about the first of April, but I often spend several to four hours at the shop on Saturday mornings. Some times I simply clean the shop; other days, as today, I spend updating business records. While there, the phone rang several times. I discussed the overdrive project with the owner of the 1964 MGB, and I assisted a gentleman who was trying to locate a single connecting rod for an XPAG engine. I also re-shot a picture of a valve cover for an article I wrote for the MGB Driver.
Several people have called recently enquiring after the date for our 31st Birthday Party. That will be on Saturday, January 21st, 2006, from Noon to 4pm. Last year, for our 30th party, it snowed so heavily that some of our employees could not get here. I trust the weather will not be so frightful this year!
When I worked at the original University Motors in London, they had an older gentleman, George, who worked maintenance. One day he brought me a 1942 Mercury dime that he'd picked up during the war. He also knew more lyrics to "I've got a girl from Kalamazoo," than the title, which is my extent of the lyrics. He showed me this old storage barn in which was a treasure trove of MG memorabilia only one step away from the dumpster. The pieces I was able to retrieve and send back to the US will be revealed through this blog. The one today, the MG 1100, described in one advertising film as "suspensational" due to Issigonis' fluid suspension, was not framed at all -- it was simply packing behind another picture. The bottom edge, I believe, was folded for years, but now framed for the past 25 years, at least it has had time to nearly completely straighten out.
