Subject: [Mg-t] Well, I'm back in the fold...

From: Scott Fisher <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:07:40 -0700 (PDT)

Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 9:01 AM
9:01 AM
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from Scott
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I'm back in the fold...
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	* Scott
Fisher
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	* [email-masked] 
After roughly 15 years owning Italian,
German, and Japanese cars, I'm once again a devotee of the great god Mowog.
(If we don't know each other, we will; just look through the archives for
sfisher.)

This time, I come bearing -- or borne by -- a 1951 M.G. TD. It's
incredibly original -- paint and interior just as it left the Pavlova Leather
Works 62 years ago. It's close to the color I'd call Almond Green on a Mini,
but with just a hint of sparkle to it, and a few minor touched-up scratches
here and there but no bodywork damage, apparently ever. The interior is tan;
the leather seating surfaces are cracked and the cracks are dark with years of
dust and grime, but no rips or tears. I've given it one good dousing with
leather lotion but it needs saddle soap and a soft brush first, I think.
Carpets are decent, with some wear in the passenger's heel, but I won't start
with the Moss carpet set just yet; we'll see what Woolite can do first.

The
top and side curtains were replaced some time ago; I haven't looked at either
yet, it being that rarest of things, a sunny spring day in Portland, Oregon. 
The car was brought to my attention by a longtime friend, Jeff Zurschmeide,
who currently owns his father's '59 MGA (the very car illustrated in Fred
Puhn's "How To Make Your Car Handle," with a caption to the effect that the
driver of this MGA -- Jeff's dad, at a San Diego area autocross in the Sixties
-- would enjoy his car more if it had an anti-sway bar. It still doesn't, and
the owner says it never will.) Jeff found it on the Portland Craigslist and
sent me the link. I wrote to the seller, saw it that afternoon, and agreed on
a price.

Yesterday I went back with a cashier's check and we chatted, as
Britcar folks tend to do, and after a while I took the key and started her up.
Caught immediately; I selected first, let out the clutch (it's quick to
catch!) and motored off.

I immediately noticed it was only running on three
cylinders, but kept driving in hope that it was a fouling plug that would
clear up. About a mile and a half down the road the car lost virtually all
power so I coasted to the side of the road. My wife had followed me in The
Simulator (a reference to my first drive in one of those cars -- surely you'd
recognize it, it looks like a Lotus Elan scaled up to 150%, they made a
million of 'em) so she put on the emergency flashers. I got out and was
greeted by a smiling local -- this being out in the country -- who happily
announced he had once owned a Gazelle. Took me a while to remember, they were
the Mercedes replica on Ford running gear. We popped the ignition side of the
bonnet and the problem was immediately obvious: the #1 plug had broken the
ceramic clear through, and the wire (with the insulator still in it!) was
hanging just aft of the generator. 

I went to the trunk of the Miata and took
out my tool kit. (The Miata is old enough that it's needed a couple of
roadside repairs of its own, including one time when the #1 plug actually
backed out of the head, but that's another story.) Julie, my wife (and if you
were expecting a different name, write me separately), found a couple of
spare, used plugs in the box that came with the TD, so in a moment or two I
had the old half-a-plug out and the whole one in its place. It ran, about like
you'd expect a car to run with the plug that was probably taken out because it
was running badly, but it ran.

And oh, what joy! My previous experiences with
the Sacred Octagon were all post-1965 cars, three and a half MGBs and a
chrome-bumper Midget, The Car That Started It All. Everything about those cars
made sense as I wound around the bends in the country roads between Scholls
and my home in Tualatin. The Armstrong lever shocks (...wait: T Series cars
switched TO Armstrong from something else, and I haven't looked yet) gave it a
wonderful ride with the independent front suspension (perhaps in part because
the Simulator is also my track day and autocross toy... it's a bit stiff at
the moment). The steering is amazing, it really does take only about 6" of
travel on the wheel to negotiate a 90-degree corner. And the sounds! The
smells! It's like coming home.

More later to avoid the 5K limit (yep, it's
Fisher all right, his first post is too big...)

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin,
Oregon
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---

From: Mark J Bradakis <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:05:22 -0600

Welcome back.

By the way I think the yahoo, sbcglobal and btinternet snafu is under 
control.

mjb.

[email-masked]