This past week we took a trip from our home in Portsmouth NH to Bar Harbor,
ME. I loaded the car with tools and some spares. In the spare battery well I
put plugs, points, condenser, rotor, cap, wires and the old coil. I also put
in a 2 quarts of oil and some brake fluid. Under the spare tire I put a spare
fan belt, jumper cables, a can of fix a flat and a jack. For tools I brought
a set of 3/8 drive sockets, a set of 1/4 drive sockets (perfect for tight
places) plus several wrenches, screwdrivers, nutdrivers, spare wire,
electrical tape, and a test light. I also had a cell phone and the AAA card
just in case, I even had a pair of hiking boots in the boot. Of course, the
car performed flawlessly as I had enough junk to build another car if
something went wrong, but now I feel a lot more trusting of my MGB.
Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park were absolutely beautiful!! We put almost
600 miles on the car round trip, the weather was stunning (luckily- we went
with just the tonneau for protection)! And the views from the Park Loop Road
were incredible. Amazingly, we only saw 1 other MG on our journey, it was a
yellow TD- we passed him as we were heading up the road to the summit of
Cadillac Mountain- he gave me a 2 handed wave, pretty ballsy seeing he was
coming down a twisty mountain road. If anyone ever gets the chance to go to
Bar Harbor/Acadia, bring your MG- the Park Loop Road was made for these
cars!! The first portion of the road follows the ocean with breathtaking
vistas, the second half goes thru the more forested portion of the park,
don't forget to stop off at the Jordan Pond House for tea and popovers! For
next year's long road trip we plan on taking the MG to Stowe Vt for the
British Invasion.
Stephen Bartley
Portsmouth NH
1963 MGB
|