The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (July 16 - July 31, 2026)
Thursday, July 16, 2026:
Breakfast at Love's in Albany, Oregon, followed by much of the day processing photos to post in the travel log. After 4-pm, haul out and roll briskly from Albany to Springfield for a 5;30-pm meeting with British Motor Club of Oregon. We have visited them before, twice in July 2015,this time at Sizzlers steak house. Several British cars out front. At the end of a row of the more common British stuff (and one VW Karnann Ghia), there was a more rare Jensen Healey.
Inside, a jolly good crew with maybe 30 people in the dining room. A good time was had by all, including a 5-minute pony show by the guru. I really like the blue shirts, so requested a copy, to be picked up elsewhere after the meeting. I took the opportunity to ask if anyone knew anything about Klamath British Touring Society, which came up total b lank, so still pretty sure that club has been defunct for at least ten years.
After the club meeting we clawed and climbed our way through Springfield into Eugene, Oregon, to visit Ric long, the Regalia
Chair for BMCOO. First business was to get the rig turned round in these evil single lane dead end streets on the hills. After "hello, we're here", pick up and pay for the new pretty blue club T-shirt. Then we got to check out Ric's current pet project.
 He is working on a "Spit-6", or a Triumph Spitfire being converted to 6-cylinder engine from a Triumph GT-6.Custom aluminum radiator, which I don't think was required, but it's cute. The blue frame extensions allow for use of tube shocks and slightly wider track width.
The new 6-cylinder engine requires installing the GT-6 tilt-up bonnet with the speed bump to clear the 6-cylinder engine (among other things). In this case he has an all fiberglass GT-6 bonnet, and I dunno where in the ell he got it from. Getting used to double vision, as there are two cars here.
After more chat it was time to haul out, navigator's choice this time. We could have stayed in Springfield were we were familiar with the territory. But navigator turned us north to haul back to the truck stop an hour way, arriving just after dark. Kill a few more hours working on pictures.
Friday, July 17, 2026:
Up early to head north a bit, checking out WiFi spots along the way. Two not friendly before the third in Woodburn, OR was okay, and still in time for breakfast. Killed the whole day catching up photos and notes for the past few days. Not done yet, but making good progress, and I think we now have a couple days to spare.
Saturday, July 18, 2026:
Sitting in Wilsonville, Oregon. Finally caught up with the travel log, which has been lagging since before last Wednesday's Mount Hood road trip. Now current. Now doing hard drive data backup to a thumb drive. Clerical work is often a necessary pain.
Sunday, July 19, 2026:
Laundry day, and a lot of time and effort making a few future appointments. Too few events, too much time in between, and too many events conflicting on same dates.
Monday, July 20, 2026:
Contemplating why there are at least four car clubs in Oregon we had not visited in the past 12 years. Reviewing our travel log, for sure we have been visiting the west coast regularly since 2015. -- Then after writing another two pargraphs of excuses, I figure no, I can't post all of this garbage, so we're going to visit another club tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 21, 2026:
Dang hot in Woodburn, Oregon in mid afternoon, like 97dF as we were driving south to Keizer, OR for meeting with Willamette MG Club. Meeting at McNary golf club, a little early this time, but one MGB was already there. that couple was already in the dining room, well into their evening meal, and not long for us to be served. A few more MGs to arrive later, and more people, ultimately 20 or so in for dinner and a club business meeting. We were here twice in 2015, once for a club meeting and once for a rally, but 11 years is a long time in between, so we were introduced as guests, did a little song and dance. well received. Typical club stuff about past and future events, who was working on cars, etc. There was an unexpected announcement that internet was down, possibly due to forest fire, so we needed to pay with cash, and the meeting may have to be adjourned early. Otherwise nothing unusual?
While leaving the meeting, we thought heading west to the coast might be a good idea, as it was at least 30dF cooler
there. 50 miles on in Lincoln City, OR, it was indeed cooler, also darker with poor visibility. The first tentative WiFi spot was not friendly, no power jack, so we headed farther south down the Coast Highway (US-101). Another 27 miles with poor visibility in fog and smoke (yes fires), and the failed screenwipers were bugging us again. Stop in Newport, OR, with similar results, no wall outlet at the WiFi spot. Familiar pattern for Oregon, and we were too far south already. So point it back east. Another 60 miles with better driving in the hills as ambient temperature was rising again, through Corvallis to a Pilot/Flying J, turned EZ Trip ravel Center near I-5. No good there either, too small, no dining room, no place to park, so move on. We know where we're going by now. 13 miles north up I-5 to Santiam River Rest Area. Well that was fun, with 3-1/2 hours extra cruising time burning 8 gallons of fuel for naught. Park it and prop the bonnet up a bit to let the car cool down some before we crash for the night.
Wednesday, July 22, 2026:
Cooler in the morning, almost tolerable,but not for long. So head north on I-5 for 31 miles back to the known good WiFi spot in Woodburn, Oregon, where we started yesterday, in time for breakfast even. Plenty of time to post the photos and notes, and answering tech questions about MGA dash wiring and crappy replacement parts for the turn turn signal warning lamp assembly. Rain after sundown, might stop by10-pm, we'll see. Luckily we didn't need the failed screenwipers for several miles going north to a rest stop.
Thursday, July 23, 2026:
Good morning, let's fix the screenwipers, first thing. Having rewired them for two-speed less than two years ago, we were pretty sure we knew what was wrong. A minute with flashlight under the dash verified a disconnected ground wire at the switch. Touching the bare wire end to the switch terminal made the wipers run properly. Strip the broken wire end, snug it up under the set screw, and do my best to secure the wire for reasonable strain relief. We know this is going to happen again sometime, due to very bad design and machining of the replacement lighting switch used here. The aftermarket switch terminals are designed to shear the wire like a guillotine when the screw is tightened. A solution might be to add wire end terminals with a solid metal pin to fit under the set screw. Then off to breakfast.
More information on the faulty lighting switch here: - FT-88 - ET-117 - ET-117A
Friday, July 24, 2026:
A little advance planning says we may be in Salt Lake City, UT area in a couple weeks. But for now, heading somewhere north of Portland, OR into Washington state late tonight.
Saturday, July 25, 2026:
By mid day we were dropping in to visit Keith (and Ursula) Ansel at Foreign Parts Positively in Brush Prairie, Washington. Been here before, briefly on 5/8/19, but Keith was out of town that time. But we certainly remember the entrance road.
That got us into checking out the toys. The first few are resident here, with the MGA Coupe and roadster being show trophy winners, while we try not to make jokes about the VW Beetle.
Say hello to Keith Ansel. He has been running the business here for 58 years, and still counting.
Heading to the main shop building, we found a very nice MGA Coupe body shell with never-dented nose and very little rust.
This has to be the largest bucket seats I have ever seen in an MGB.
Inside the shop, a nice assortment of customer cars. They do get moved around some to allow space for working on them. Otherwise it looks like the business may need more space.
Picture at right below is a cut-away Austin B-series engine, which I think has every part in place,all moving parts moving,and every internal part visible, including clutch and gearbox parts.
This is a honest vintage Sun distributor machine. After pigging out on pizza we finally got down to business with Keith presenting a very informative tech session on all things electrical in vintage British cars.
By mid afternoon we were off again,driving 40 miles to Sandy, Utah for a WiFi spot so I could get to work on the photos. Around 11-pm, another 30 miles to Government Camp, UT where there happens to be a rest area on a state highway (kind of rare).
Sunday, July 26, 2026:
Up early to drive 64 miles to Madras, Utah, where the McDonald's we were aiming for had fire damage and was temporarily closed for repairs. So we wandered a few miles farther to a Love's Travel Center for breakfast and WiFi access, where I spent half a day finishing photos and notes from yesterday's shop visit and tech session. Wander over to the The Inn at Cross Keys Station at 5-pm to check in and register for Rendezvous-42 with the Club "T" MG. Catch a few snacks, and chat with a few people for an hour or so before people were trickling away for dinner spots. Back to WiFi.
Monday, July 27, 2026:
Funkhana in the car park, scheduled for 9-am to noon. They may have started a little early with staging and drivers meeting.
Directions may not be clear, as drivers seemed to be regularly missing gates. The idea was turn left to start, pass through one gate (between cones), stay right of median, go to end of lot to make U-turn to left and return on other side of the median. Go through the first gate again on the way back.
While this is going on the navigator is supposed to be assembling a balsa wood airplane, so when driver stops at a second gate, the plane is supposed to be thrown through the gate.then get a ticket card punched and handed back before proceeding. Pulling up to a third gate, a pile of clothes was tossed into the navigator's lap, when navigator is supposed to deposit said clothing items one at a time into an open suitcase on the ground, then get the ticket punched and handed back again. Proceeding to a fourth gate at end, stop the car within a few inches of a final cone without hitting it. Timing and scoring was little vague, but just for fun. People survived, although there wew a few distractions with the cars.
As the funkhana was winding down, a few cars were collecting in the lower parking lot, some of those with minor issues. The MGB spit out a little coolant, but that was just from being over filled with thermal expansion dumping up to a pint of coolant with first heat cycle. The MGA had unstable idle, caused by front carburetor running lean and rear carburetor running rich. Easy fixes.
Monday, July 27, 2026 (afternoon) :
After a couple hours break for lunch, the cars were gathering for an afternoon tour. After collecting route instructions, we were off to visit Petersen Rock Garden and Museum near Petersen Rock Garden near Bend and Redmond, Oregon. First on highways to get out of town. One red traffic light was enough to break the convoy in half. About 20 miles on the leaders missed a turn onto a side road, and it looked like others would follow like lemmings. Learning later that the first car in the second half did make the correct turn so second half of the convoy took the prescribed side roads.
Getting close to the destination, leaders finally turned onto the last side road available before overshoot. Here we ran smack into a freshly oiled gravel road. All stop to talk it over. At least one car made a U-turn and headed back to the host hotel. The rest moved on, slowly. The oiled roads got worse.
Seemed like every gravel road in the county was being oiled, and there would be no way around it.
After the oiled road frustration, we finally arrived at Peterson Rock Garden, with a lot of upset classic car owners. Say hello to the peacocks, and a number of other wild birds.
What you see is what you get, Rock Gardens, lots of artistic construction..
The indoor museum was more into geological rock collections.
Another half mile of oiled road had us off to find an ice cream shop in Juniper Junction. Better side roads this time, and a nice cool down break. Do tell the TF guy he left his lights on.
Back to town in the evening for work on the photos and notes.
Tuesday, July 28, 2026 :
Car show in the park, with car staging at 9:30am. One MG TD, and one MG TF. There was supposed to be one MG TC, on far left out of the picture, but it was a no-show. Standing in its place was a Porsche Taycan with a picture of the MG TC on the windscreen. -- Four MGA, the only larger attendance class. Other classes were only one or two cars per class. The two MGB chrome bumper cars were both early production pull-handle cars.
Two MGB-GT, two MGC, one Tourer on a trailer, and one GT, one rubber bumper MGB, and one MGF.
Two "Friends of MG". One Mazda Miata and one Honda Ridgeline. People finding shade under a canopy.
Lunch on your own, take the afternoon off. Hotel banquet room in the evening, social at 5-pm, dinner at 6-pm. Lots of raffle tickets, door prizes, and awards presentations, interspersed with good stories of past Rendezvous events. Nice way to round out our long awaited first meeting with Club "T" MG and some new friends. Our MGA got a trophy for "Honorable Mention", which must be 4th place in a class of four cars. I think they were just happy to see us show up.
Wednesday, July 29, 2026 :
The car club was staging a photo session this morning for all of the cars that took First Place in the car show. At least one was not there, as they had to get home last night to keep an eye on a forest fire approaching very close to their home. We were not one of the honorees, so we skipped it and headed out early for breakfast and WiFi time at 7-am. Lots of photos and notes to process, but should be finished by the time you see this.
Now we seem to have some time to spare, as our next fixed appointment is (was) ten days away in Salt Lake City, Utah.Utah. But odd things happen when we have an extra week to kill. Looks like we will be going north first.
There are two more clubs in Washington state we haven't met yet. Northwest British Classics has a large car show scheduled for Aug 9 in Spokane, but that one is a schedule conflict with our appointment tin Utah. But some of their members are going to take cars to display at Spokane Scottish Highland Games on Aug 1, and we can make that one. So point it north, and figure out how to get there in 2-1/2 days.
British Car Club of Wenatchee is high on our hit list. They do not have a web site or Facebook page, but they do have a phone number and email address. I was almost surprised when a nice lady named Joan answered the phone and was able to chat for a while. I think she said this club was started in 2005 and is still active. Unfortunately they are currently in a nasty heat wave and lots of smoke from forest fires, so no one is venturing out, this week in particular. But we will keep them on our planning list, and may catch them on our next pass. -- Late night travel north 25 miles to Cow Canyon rest stop near Antelope, OR.
Thursday, July 30, 2026 :
Morning run 70 miles north with a half hour delay for one-way traffic in a road re-surfacing construction zone. I recon we are looking at the south side of Mount Hood again. landing 9-am in Wasco,Oregon at a Pilot truck stop with a McD's for breakfast and WiFi. Much of the day spent catching up photos and notes.
Late night, pulling the car around to a gas pump to fuel up before leaving, nearly rolled into a car at very low speed when our brake pedal went to the floor trying to stop. I was quick to bang it into reverse and pop the clutch while navigator was grabbing the hand brake. We stopped, didn't hit anything, but that was a scare. A bit of poking around has the brake working perfectly well, unless you press the brake pedal very slowly, in which case it goes to the floor with no pressure. Fluid level in the reservoir is fine. This has happened before, many years ago, but I don't recall such instant failure without notice. For now it works, as long as I step on the brake pedal normally. Be careful driving, 60 miles north to Boardman Rest Area: Eastbound I-84, Boardman, OR without incident.
Friday, July 31, 2026 :
Early morning, check the brakes, working okay, fluid level good. Heading east I-84, west I-82, North on US-395 to Kennewick Washington, 56 miles. Pulling into a McD for breakfast when the brake pedal went soft again, so we will fix it, NOW.
Check inventory, and pull a master cylinder packing kit out of the Magic Trailer. It says AP Lockheed Delphi, and it has a Victoria British part number on it, but pretty sure it came from Moss Motors after VB closed and Moss bought the inventory. Rather skeptical of the age, so pull the parts out and check the rubber pieces, which seem a little stiff, but should work in a pinch. Also a little leery about gutting the master cylinder and putting it back together with air in it (and some stiff rubber parts). And we have a tool problem, because the Master cylinder is TRW ( I think), likely made in China, with metric screws with 10-mm hex heads. So navigator hiked across the street to Harbor Freight to buy a set of 1/4" drive metric sockets. Not too long to remove push rods and the end plate to pull out pistons and replace the internal bits. DOT5 silicone fluid all over the place, so mop that up. Then the problems with bleeding the master cylinder with new parts and air inside. After a while we had the brakes working, which was a big relief, but still no clutch (which did work before we took it apart).
Take a break, pack stuff up, and drive it a few miles to NAPA with no clutch, to buy more DOT-5 fluid and some small bore hose. After wasting time and another pint of fluid in the NAPA parking lot, we said screw it and headed north again. Another 80 miles onUS-395 took us to another fuel stop and very late breakfast (3-pm) at Love's in Ritzville, Washington. Time out. This is already a long day, and we need a break.
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