Impul Nissan Latio Sedan

Irony in the UK

I mentioned an urban exploration site in a post last year. In that post I provided a link to a group of photos taken in the old Rover Longbridge manufacturing site by those who call themselves "urban explorers". They work their way into old, abandoned industrial or commercial buildings and photograph the remains - sometimes with a rather artistic slant.

I found this photo taken inside a a former bus repair facility located in a former military base. Whoever did this graffiti put a lot of thought into it.



If you can't make out the image, it has the logos of four formerly British marques (Bentley, Rolls Royce, MINI and Triumph) now owned by BMW and Volkswagen. On the red field, it reads "WHO" "WON" "THE" "WAR?"

Indeed.

Photo by apocolypito (28 Days Later)

SABCC Movie Night!

The first SABCC movie night was a big hit with the members of the club. In fact we had great turnout from both the Panhandle British Car Association and the Mardi Gras MGs, too.

The next event is scheduled for Saturday August 28th at the soon-to-be world famous Garagemahal Theater & Oil Change Emporium. We'll kick off the main feature at 7:30PM but I'm sure we'll have a couple of short subjects a little earlier. Be sure to bring a comfy chair.

Stay tuned for the feature title announcement.

Oh, throwing popcorn at the screen (or the projectionist) is discouraged.

Tri-Club Pig Roast: Everything But the Squeal

The annual pig roast hosted by Tom and Jeannie Schmitz has become one of the regions must-do events. The three major British car enthusiast groups - South Alabama British Car Club, Panhandle British Car Association and the Mardi Gras MGs - get together at the Schmitz home in Lillian, Alabama every summer.

The attendees find lots to do there (besides eat too much) with Tom's extensive collection of British cars, various automotive die cast toys and a Sony Playstation running Gran Turismo 4. There's car related conversation and renewing old acquaintances along with enjoying the waterfront view from Tom and Jeannie's home.

Everyone brings a dish to share and Tom and Jeannie provide the roast pig.

The ever-helpful Ron Wolverton sent along a selection of photos of the event (yours truly was on call at work and couldn't stray quite that far) and I am pleased to post a few here. As you can see, everyone there was all smiles.

Thanks, Tom and Jeannie, for your warm hospitality! Rumor has it that the pig actually sent a thank you note for the invitation, too.

Collecting Your New Triumph TR3 in England

I found this delightful clip while trolling the addictive British Pathe web site. It is a collection of outtakes and unused footage of a group of Americans flying in to collect their new Triumph TR3s. Several rows of gleaming Triumphs are lined up on the airport tarmac for the happy (and somewhat overdressed) Yanks to claim.

Enjoy!

(Americans Collect Their Triumph Cars)

And Now for Something Really Different

Once in a while this humble blog will put out nuggets of useful information instead of the normal effluvia you've gotten used to. Here's one for you. How can you tell if the sheet rubber you've got is OK for contact with petroleum products? All black rubber looks alike, right?

You'll need a solid copper wire, a flame source and sample of the rubber in question. Heat the wire in the flame until it is quite hot. Smear a sample of the rubber on the hot copper wire and place the rubber and wire slightly above the flame - not exactly in it. The flame from the rubber on the wire will tell you what you need to know:

• Green flame is neoprene or hypalon - Good for hydrocarbons
• Orange flame is EPDM - Not good for hydrocarbons
• No flame at all is most likely viton or silicone

My crack legal team advises me that you assume all risk in using this method and for the results therefrom.

So there.

July Mugs & Motors

The ever-helpful Ronnie Wolverton sent along these images of the last Mugs & Motors event we had at the Panera Bread location in Spanish Fort. We had a nice turnout along with pretty weather that morning. As always, we enjoyed the company of our fellow club members and the impromptu British car show outside the restaurant was taken in by the passersby. It also marked the first club event appearance for recently re-engined Ogletree MGA.

Thanks for the snaps, Ron!

Anybody Remember MG Mitten?

It appears that the famous maker of car covers, tonneau covers and other must-have sports car goodies is still (somewhat) around. Aardvark International runs a Web site that sells products from such companies as Cibie, FIAMM and others and has the MG Mitten product line as well.

If you ordered stringback driving gloves, wood shift knobs or rally calculators in the 60s and 70s, chances are you mailed your order to MG Mitten and anxiously watched for the postman.

Check this ad scan from MG Mitten - click on it for a full size image.

I Miss Henry Manney

Seeing Peter Egan at the Legends of Motorsports event in Birmingham a couple of months ago got me thinking about the sports car magazine I read during my misspent youth - Road & Track - and my favorite writer of that era, Henry N. Manney, III.

While I would devour each issue, the first page I would flip to would be Henry Manney's "At Large" column to see what his take was on whatever had his attention at the moment. The column was always illustrated with a woodcut image of something completely off the wall (a manacled individual about to get his head sliced off?) and a photo of "Yr Faithful Srvnt", as he referred to himself. One photo that stands out in my memory is of Henry dressed in full knightly armor atop a motorized skateboard, legs akimbo, right hand pointing forward. What did it have to do with the subject of the article? Not much - it was just classic Henry Manney.

I bought a collection of Henry's writings called Henry Manney, At Large and Abroad a few years back and enjoyed laugh out loud reading. I'm not sure if its available any longer, but you might be able to find it on one of the many used booksellers on the Internet.

Henry died in 1988 after battling a long illness.

With all the instantly available information on the web, I am saddened that there is not much out there about Henry Manney. Too bad, really.

National Collector Car Appreciation Day

Is today. I didn't know it either but I drove the Mini to work for fun. Check out the Hemmings blog entry on the subject - there's a photo of David LaChance's Rover 2000 TC there, too. More details at the SEMA site.

So, What Color is that MGB?

If you take a look at the Moss Motors catalog for MGB parts, there's a section that attempts to list and describe the various colors that MGBs were painted during their 18 year production run. John Twist, guru of all things MG, worked to provide accurate written descriptions of MGB paint colors. While they were informative, terms like 'muddy orange' were a bit of challenge to create in the mind's eye.

Another long-time MG enthusiast, Paul Tegler, has created a web page with photographic examples of MGBs in all their colors. Paul has even set up a screen calibrator to help make the photos more accurate. You can find Paul's MGB colors here. And for you Triumph fans, Paul has created a page of Triumph Spitfire colors, too.

The Ogletree MGA is Back to Rude Health

Regular readers of this blog may remember the post about the club's trip to the PBCA Brits on the Bay car show in April. I wrote about the breakdown of Robb Ogletree's beautiful black MGA on the return trip and the diagnosis of a connecting rod-created picture window in the engine block.

The MGA is now back in Robb's possession after a lengthy stay at Mike Darby's British car spa in Silverhill. Robb purchased an MGB 1800 engine from fellow SABCC member Stuart Waddington after a long search for a replacement 1622 came to naught. Stuart rebuilt the 1800 in short order and delivered it to Mike who handled the installation of the new power plant.

Robb is pleased with the extra power that the 1800cc engine provides and certainly happy to have his car back. We look forward to seeing him out in it again, soon.



Photos courtesy of Robb Ogletree

And I Like Hemmings, Too

Imagine my surprise when this humble blog was mentioned in a post on the Hemmings Motor News blog. I visit that interesting site daily for all manner of information and fun stuff and they apparently found our club's blog. The photo they pulled for the post was one of Keith Jarvis' TR3 and Jack Ross' E-Type taken on the way to Pensacola for the show there.

If you aren't a subscriber yet, check out Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car magazine.

Jaguar XJS Development Story

I've mentioned in several posts that one of my favorite Web sites is the excellent Austin-Rover Online run by the knowledgeable Keith Adams. I warn you, your visit won't be a short one. Keith is a genuine keeper of the flame when it comes to the marques of the former British Leyland conglomerate.

One of his contributors, Ian Ncholls, researched and posted the development story of the Jaguar XJS, the replacement for the legendary E Type. How do you replace a legend - even one that succumbed to a case of middle age spread? The narrative of the process makes fascinating reading, but since I'm more of a picture kinda guy, I'm also posting a link to the development photos, too.

Mugs & Motors Saturday, July 10

We've gone a while without a Mugs & Motors, so we'll get together this Saturday for 'Coffee and Conversation for Motoring Enthusiasts' at the Panera Bread in Spanish Fort. Bring something to show and tell or not - there's no program or other organization - it's just a morning spent with friends.

It Goes - It Stops!

I'm happy to have the classic Mini back on the road.

The rebuild kit for the brake master cylinder arrived Friday and Mike Darby, Richard Cunningham and I got it back together (it took all three of us to hold it together against the spring to get the snap ring in place). Re-installed the MC in the little car without drama and actually got the pedal re-attached without swearing a blue streak. Richard suggested removing the drivers seat for better access and he was able to get the clevis pin back in while I wiggled the brake pedal to align everything.

We bled the system and now I've got all the stopping power that 7 inch drums on four wheels can muster.

Lotus is Back in Formula 1

And is amongst the slowest of the field.

I was optimistic that the team sporting the classic green and yellow would be able to bring some honor to the storied marque, but it has not been so. Some of you may have seen Red Bull's Mark Webber ("Mak Wibbah") take an unplanned flight in the European Grand Prix at Valencia, Spain. The hard-charging Red Bull got wings when it ran into the back of the slower Lotus driven by Heikki Kovalainen. There's video of the accident on the Internet, but none that can be re-posted here.

Along with Virgin Racing and HRT, Lotus has become part a moving chicane this season.

Maybe it's time for a logo change.

Free Frogeye Sprite!!

That's right everyone - I'm giving away free Mark I Austin Healey Sprites. Do you know of any other automotive blog site that is as generous as this one?

Before you run out the door to collect your car you should probably know that there is a little bit of assembly work involved. Not the greasy fingernail kind, but the scissors and glue kind. Yep - these are folded paper Sprites. Oy! you in the back - they are NOT paper dolls!

You can download your free Frogeye with these links:

A light blue one is here.

An Old English White one is here.

An Almond Green is one is here.

And a red one is here.

And the assembly instructions are here.

Be sure to visit Ichiyama's Paper Cards site for more cool folded paper projects. It's in Japanese, so good luck navigating it!