MG Sports Cars

First Jim thanks for the confidence you show in me. I fail to see why you should step down as president, you have completed your job of building the car for the most part and now you should be able to sit back and delegate the remaining items to be done to the others in the group as you have passed the responsibility of coordinating a rotation plan on to me.
Art, we will have such an agreement for each driver to sign, but I really doubt if most such hold harmless agreements would really stand up to a court challange, that's the reason we have the protection of the limited liability incorporation. We do have insurance on the car and it's drivers as I now understand. We all drive and build high performance cars that will exceed most posted speed limits with ease but we also are a more mature group who know that we're no longer bullet proof. I'm not too worried about too much risk of extreme high speed antics from the group. It's not like we were giving this car to some 16 year old and saying go have fun. I hope that our group would show a bit more maturity and responsibility. Bedsides the idea is "If you break it, YOU fix it" That alone should make most of us very careful on how we behave behind the wheel. I know I don't what to have to buy another V8 T5 so I'll keep the drag racing down to a minimum.

Well Said Bill! I agree with you and Jim on the thoughts regarding the Roadmaster and its use. Just because it is there, does not mean you test it at each departure. TIME seems to mellow some of us.

I say give it to Hertz and let them rent it out..................HAPPY NEW YEAR.......

What would it take to really clean up the aerodynamics of an mgb? I'd say the GT is cleaner than Rdst. I've always thought an air dam out front and wings on top and bottom of rear hatch would look wild.

No I'm not 18 but I would drive it until the front end got light........or is that too close to the edge.

Are the builders of this awsome car going to chronical the build or do I have to read all 79 pages!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

David, to really get an idea of what we went through reading all 79 pages would be great, but not required. We haven't written a short form of the story yet, but I hope to do that and incorporate it in an article for the newsletter to update the one Curtis already started. [www.britishv8.org]
The idea was first started by Jim back in April of 2007. [www.mgexperience.net] It's taken us four and a half years to get to this point, so there's a lot of effort tied up in the car.
I'm sure that some of the guys will drive the car a bit quicker than "legal" but most of them after contributing time, effort, cash, and parts to the project won't abuse it as we all have an investment to protect. That's re reason driving will be limited to those who have been part of the project for some time. Other people will get to drive the car, but I hope always with a member riding shotgun to make sure no one overdoes it. We don't want guys driving it like "they stole it" when they don't have the investment of time and money in the car to protect, they'd have nothing to lose like we have. If we can get together when the car is in this area I'll be glad to let you take a turn behind the wheel though. I have collected all the photos of the project that have been posted on line as well, so have a pretty complete pictorial history of the project. With permission from those guys who posted photos I'll try to set up a album on one of the photo sites so you can all share.

Thanks Bill I'd just like to take a ride How many of you worked on this and how did you all meet to do this? It seems like everyone in the story is from a different place...

David if you read the article Curtis published and the original post on the MG Experience site you'll begin to understand how it all took place. The original group were the 32 members in at the founding of the project. Others contributed along the way and will be part of the tour drivers. I never got a full count of all the people who have been involved over the past 4.5 years, that's another thing we need to address, getting a full list together. There were people who worked on the car during Roadmaster build weekends in Kentucky, Illinois, North Carolina, and South Dakota that I'm not aware of and need to get listed I suppose. I have most of the donors of parts and funds already listed, but there are probalby some that have been missed. I just hope they'll speak up and make themselves known.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2011 03:39PM by Bill Young.

David, your first chance to see The Roadmaster may be at Shreveport La in May. This is the Saturday overnite stop on the way to British V8 week in Palestine Tx. We have a block of rooms at the Best Western as noted in the announcement on this and the MGE forums. You would enjoy the variety of cars and people. Come join us

OK here's the knobs that work with the gearboxes that are on the car now and one of which is damaged:



This next shot is of the control knobs on my '71 and I'm pretty sure they are the ones installed originally, not that originality is much of a factor. I personally like the appearance a little better but functionally they are no different except for the shaft length needed to make them work.



I don't know which is earlier or later. The flat knobs use a shorter shaft. I think there is about 1/4" difference in the length. I do not know if the longer unit is the same as the one used with the illuminated knobs used later or not. I do not know what would be required to fit illuminated knobs. I do not know what the preferred remedy would be here. The options seem to be, in order of difficulty:

1) attempt to repair the defective gearbox and use the flat knobs.
2) have Rob send a gearbox to replace the bad one and use the flat knobs.
3) have Rob send both of the longer gearboxes and use the pointy knobs which David sent.
4) attempt to retrofit the dash to illuminated knobs.

Does anyone have a preference? Does anyone want to fix it?

Switching topics, I do feel the time is near for a change in leadership. We do not need to become stagnant from having one guy run the show for too long. I will be more than happy to continue in an advisory manner and help with the car, possibly even in a different position. But where my skill set was very good for building the car, I feel it may be very bad for running the promotion. I do not want to subject the members to strife and disharmony that could result from my inept attempts to do so when others have those skills that I lack. Therefore I will call for officer elections at the annual meet in May at the BritishV8 meet in Texas and the members can make their wishes known at that time. Be thinking about who will fill each office, as all will be included in the election. And of course at that time we should give due consideration to the president-elect's opinions in regard to the other offices. Everyone be thinking also personally, about whether you could serve in those positions. It is not difficult and does bring some measure of prestige with it.

JB

That sounds reasonable Jim, we should have a quarum of the original members present there to make an election possible or at least draft a slate of candidates for the members to vote on on-line. If we do elect new officers will we have to amend our paperwork with the state to reflect that change?

Only to update the contact person for the organization with the KY sec. of state.

JB

Jim & crew, Unless someone is sure the backlit style will work with the knobs we have, I'll clean up and send the mechanisms and knobs that are like the ones on Jim's '71. That way we'll have a matched set so we know they'll work & we won't need to modify the harness to add the dash lights to the knobs.

Rob, we don't need the knobs as David already sent a pair each of the flat ones and the pointy ones.

JB

Jim and clan, I only mentioned this to protect those involved. Unfortunately, it's a sue-happy society we live in.I am NOT an attorney, and don't intend to sound like one. Cheers, roverman.

With most states and NFP organizations, an annual filing form is required that lists the officers, address, purpose of the organization, etc.

There is a nominal filing fee (Illinois is $10).

Be careful in changing addresses....heftier fees may be charged.

We may want to think about naming Blackwood Labs as the permanent address (if this is OK with jimbo).

The Ohio form should be self-explanatory (if it even exists).

That's OK Art, someone has to think about that stuff. I used to be an attorney but didn't like it so now I just make stuff. Much more satisfying. But it's sort of like being a member of an outlaw biker gang or a drug cartel, they usually don't let you just quit. My older brother who quit the bikers was an inspiration to me though, as well as being one of the smartest people I've ever known. Wouldn't know it from some of the company he used to keep but he is.

But the important thing I guess is that at least it isn't completely unfamiliar territory. There is risk inherent in anything we do but I've done most everything I know to do that would make it safer for us all. And actually, having some turnover in the officer corps helps to separate us from the corporate entity so that's a step in the right direction, one that has been coming for a long time, and one that we really need in order to survive as a bona-fide Charity. Personally I think we should have elections every year or two but that's not my decision to make. I can however call for an election and it's time, so I'm doing that. Between then and now I'm going to try to come up with a good agreement for the participants in the rotation that does enough to protect us without being overly restrictive to the participants. It's a fine balancing act but I was pretty good at that sort of thing in the past so we'll see how it turns out. Much will depend on feedback I get from the members as to the actual terms.

Change of subject: The speedometer calibration. The instructions that have been posted do not apply. This speedo does not have any sort of resettable odometer. I would hope that there is in fact a procedure for calibrating it and that someone can find it. If it means shorting one of the terminals we can reach it well enough to do that.

I went for a short drive today and everything was just fine. The air ride leaks down something like maybe a pound a day and pumps back up quickly so that is very manageable. I did notice earlier a noise around the front of the engine that I suspect is coming from the alternator (used) so we may have to replace that and it could stand to do a better job. I think there is a slightly larger one that would be an easy upgrade and we should probably do that as we have a significant electrical load. I'm also not satisfied with the performance of the radiator fan thermostat as it seems pretty erratic. Maybe relocating the sensor bulb could help. It's something we should look at. Otherwise I think it's really quite good. I reclined the seat and moved it closer to the pedals on the way back from Charleston and that made it feel much more familiar.

JB

That's right Rick. I've been filing the annual reports, I think it cost $10 and then went up to $15. It's important to get it in on time as they can and will (and did) kill the registration if it's late and it's far cheaper and easier to create a new entity than to revive the old one. We can keep the address, that's a no brainer certainly, and I can probably remain the contact person for the state if it's easier that way. (They just need to know who to notify in case a suit starts trouble.)

Which reminds me... The insurance policy is in the pocket behind the passengers seat (thank you Rick, great idea), anyone can look at it to see what the policy terms are.

JB

JIm, I forgot where we have the thermostat mounted on the Roadmaster. I've used a GM sensor switch mounted in one cylinder head port on my V6 for years and it's been very reliable and doesn't seem to drift. It controls a relay along with a signal from the computer, so either can switch the fan on, so far only the switch has turned the fan on except when "coding" the computer. I run a 212 degree unit, but they are available in aftermarket form from around 185 degrees up. I'm sure there's a port in the intake manifold where we could mount one.

Jim and I have talked about being replaced as officers and we agree it is time.
I took the job as Treas. because I thought no one else would and we needed to get started.
I have not done the greatest job of it, but do have a set of books. I never received all the receipts and so they will not balance.
I had a CPA look at them and she was satisfied they were ok.
I will step down this year also.
I will bring the records with me to Texas for whoever takes over.
Working with a bank 500 miles away is challenge so I would suggest that whoever take the job moves the funds to a closer bank.
It has been a fun build and I really enjoyed it, but am ready to move on to something else.

Steve

Steve and Jim, I understand completely and want to thank you both for your service to the group.. It won't be easy to find men that will fill your shoes. Steve you are far too modest about your term, you'e done a great job with the funds ad also in coordinating some great T shirts which have for me become collectors items showing the progression of the car over the past years. I only hope that I can fulfill the task of scheduling the tour stops in as good a fashion as you and Jim have done your jobs. See you in Texas as we'll work it out for sure.

We've been asked to appear at the W.Va International Auto show the end of this month:
[www.motortrendautoshows.com]

JB