MGC GT & a Shorrock Supercharged MG TC. Click to Enlarge
Sunday, after visiting the “Cars & Coffee” at Kringle Candle in Bernardston, Massachusetts, I trundled down to Austerlitz, New York in my MGC to check the coolant strength in another MG which I thought might be a taddy-bit low. From Bernardston the direct route is down I91 to the Massachusetts Turnpike and then a short jog on Route 22. Because Rte. 22 runs quite close to Bennington, it seemed like a good opportunity to take in the foliage along Vt. Rte. 9 which winds thu the Green Mountains between Bennington & Brattleboro.
Gasing up at Sunoco in Canaan, N.Y.: The 3 litre six cylinder MGC engine. Click to Enlarge
This turned out to be a fine idea if you were traveling from West to East like I was, but Westbound traffic was piled up for five miles behind a still unrepaired washout on NY Rte. 7 in Hoosac.
The MGC got kinda’ hot cranking up Woodford Mountain, and with the temperature gauge needle still parked right across the “H”, I pulled off by a bridge over the Deerfield River and baled water out of the river to cool it down.
October 7: MG TD parts on a Fitchburg lawn
It’s a never ending source of wonder, the ways in which “T” series MG’s keep turning up well over half a century after they were built. We were contacted by the son of the original owner to come and collect this MG TD in Fitchburg last week. “Some parts are off the car” we were warned. That was a bit of an understatement, however it’s mitigated some of the labor costs on the dismantling, which we started Tuesday and finished Thursday.
Finishing the job: New guy Steve Reed gets the body tub ready to come off the chassis
After a slow start to the year, our work load has steadily increased to the point where we’re juggling space just to warehouse the work that’s been piling in here. It’s a wonderful problem to have, but on the other hand, we really don’t like making people wait, although there’s a big difference between a tune up and a complete restoration, of which we have four going on currently.
Mission Accomplished: MG TD body tub & chassis
Steve Reed interviewed Tuesday over lunch. Afterwards I handed him the downstairs Whitworth tools and told him use his best judgment to take this TD the rest of the way apart, which he did.
John Manning is going Deep Sea Fishing next week off Cape Cod, so Butch & Steve and I will be doing our best to keep our heads above water while he’s gone.
Also next week I’ll be prepping our favorite British Racing Green TR3 for the Texas 1000 again. It’s here now because the owner was concerned about it’s ability to to find the red sector of the tach in overdrive 4th.
Prepping this veteran campaigner again for the Texas 1000
Wednesday while I was gasing it at Exit 4 Sunoco in Putney, the owner of a very nice Porsche with New Jersey plates querried me about the car. I told him the purpose of my pending roadtest, and he laughed and said he had trouble keeping his car under 100 mph. When I caught up with him again at the Massachusetts border on I 91, I was doing the laughing. Needless the say, the Triumph was running very strongly.
