MG Sports Cars

Back in 1993, i met Kurt Schley at University Motors Summer Party. He & i were looking at V8 options then. Now, 14 years later, after both he & i have taken the plunge, (he did another, at the meet this year). i guess neither would have dreamed the progress or state of the conversions today. WTG, Kurt & Curtis. Kurt originated the first V8 newsletter long ago.
All the members and friends made over the years with modified British Cars and even the Regular MGB'S are treasured. Thanks to all who help keep our LBC'S going. i also suspect some the converted car owners are older "Hot Roders" such as myself. "Horsepower talks, but Torque moves the load"
SAFETY FASTER!

Kelly, although I haven't had the chance to meet a lot of the folks who have modified LBCs, I have met a few and they are indeed good folks. Amazing how the internet has enabled us to communicate so easily and allowed Curtis to publish the British V8 Newsletter which we all enjoy.
I think you're right about there being a lot of old 'Hot Rodders' among our group, I'm certainly one. Here's my last street rod I built in the mid 80s and my current V6 Midget completed in '99.

Hot Rodders? After a sort. I just suspect that had I ever gotten down to the weight of a T-bucket that'd have been the upper limit. Instead I started with a '70 350 Cutlass. So when I dropped 1000 lbs and 135 inches it was inspiring. It was a gradual process of course and wasn't until '88 that I was able to drive it, but that put me a few years ahead of you Kelly. I'd of liked to have met this bunch sooner than the Indy meet, but you take life as you find it. Didn't have internet then either.

Jim

Kelly Please watch how you say OLDER Hotrodders.... Yes I agree most of us had Hot Rods and Muscle cars in our earlier years. Myself it was the Muscle Cars of the late 60s early 70s and if I new then what I know now I would have kept all of them.:)

I have only been around the British group for maybe 5 years now (first Grand Rapids Meet) and I agree it is a great group. Its Amazing to me that there are so many of us almost young guys in this group.

Joe

Yeah, I'm an ol' hotrodder at heart. Even though the clock says I'll be 50 in November, one thing's for sure, I sure ain't OLD!

MGBV8 Wrote:
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> Even though the clock says I'll be 50 in November, one thing's
> for sure, I sure ain't OLD!


That is an understatement, Carl!

However...I AM glad that you announced on a public forum that you are turning fifty soon...and of COURSE you will be joining AARP.

rick

mowog1 Wrote:
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.and of
> COURSE you will be joining AARP.

NO WAY!

People think of an AARP card as a discount card, instead of the lobbist powerhouse organization that it is. I do not subscribe to their politics & they will not be able to count me as one of their members.

I will not be assimilated! :)

50? A mere lad. I just turned 67 a couple of weeks ago.

Back in '93, I saw an ad for an MG V8 newsletter, and immediately sent in my $15 for a subscription. Met Kurt at an MG meet a few months later. It was a pretty small group then. Yep, a great bunch of people. See you all in Wisconsin next year.

I was smitten in 1995! 12 years of funtastic MGBV8 motoring.
Kurt was the first person I met at the University Motors "Twist Summer Party" that year, (Ken Costello was the guest speaker)and Glenn Towerey was the first "technical helping guy" I ever spoke to about building my car (HARV8). I don't want to forget Ted Schumacher either. I hold each of these gentleman responsible for encouraging me into the MGBV8 hobby.
Thank you, it just keeps getting better! Curtis, you are the man of the new MGBV8 millenium. The BritishV8.org website, Newsletter and Web Forum is the culmination of the past 15 years of MG V8 enthusiasm, camaraderie and British V8 spirit.

I caught the bug about 6 years ago, and I have since completed my first conversion. I don't think it will be the last, as I crave more horsepower and torque. When I ordered all off the back-issues of the V8 Newsletter, I spent countless hours pouring through the articles. It is so much easier for new converters because many of the needed techniques and 'almost' every mistake has been documented. Much of the credit for the success of this Web-site of course belongs to Kurt Schley and the others who saw the Newsletter through its early years, My sincere thanks (and a donation!) go out to Curtis for bringing his web based version to life. Now with this forum, joining other on-line forums, there is no reason for any would be converters to hesitate to take the plunge.

Buick power forever! cj in salt lake

Regarding my earlier post mentioning "Older Hotrodders". what are your suggestions for the time line ?
MINE:
Some probably ran Flatheads, ohv Cads,Olds & Nailhead Buicks. this group i consider "Old Hotrodders" or our pioneers,
Pre Baby Boomers, Joe mentioned Muscle Cars earlier, my first Muscle Cars were 352,390 & 406 Fords,383,413, & 392 Mopar (Hemi), 327 & 409 Chev, 389 Pontiac, ect. These came in the large Impalas, Galaxies & Mopars. Baby-Boomers+. Then the recognized Muscle Cars appeared. Probably the "Older Hotrodder" era through 1972 + OR-. we remember new Tri-5 Chev, T-Birds (large & small) and Chrylser 300's. this leaves the balance of auto history up to today and younger Hotrodders. Each group has it outstanding accomplishments. I sincerely believe the younger guys & girls will carry on the Tradition! They have a great start. You guys with the conversions are a great bunch and have provided much knowledge and innovations to advance our portion of the Hotrod Scene. What do you think?
SAFETY FASTER!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2007 09:28AM by kstevusa.

OK, maybe more than 15 years, “Old Hot-Rodders”.

Back in the day, when I couldn’t afford anything while pumping $0.29 / gal gas, I volunteered wrenching on friend’s stuff.

300 cubic inch GMC straight 6 with 3 single-barrel downdraft carbs on a home made log manifold in a ’34 Ford, kept the carbs synched which were fed from an air-pressurized quarter keg when at Lion’s drag strip in Long Beach.

400 cubic inch Lincoln V8 in a ’55 Ford built to look like a sleeper, sucking in guys visiting the “Grass Shack” on PCH in Long Beach, CA. Cut and widened the steel rear wheels for slicks and did what might be an early “tub” job to keep the stock look.

’58 Pontiac Bonneville with tri-power, kept the carbs synched. Not many suckers at Oscar’s Drive-in on Garden Grove Blvd near Hwy 39. The car was too clean and shiny and had chrome “Tri-Power” emblems on black paint. Cool for cuisin’.

Helped a not-quite equally-poor buddy with a A-H 3000 try to stay on the same lap as the Hollywood Sport Cars Healy driven by Ronnie Bucknum at Santa Barbara, Riverside, Palm Springs, etc. We had 2 carbs, they had three. We had to use Goodyear Blue Streaks until they really wore out, they had new for each race, etc. Fun anyway.

Owned a ’49 Austin A40 Devon driver at the time while rebuilding my $400 ’52 TD. Had Mickey Thompson grind/balance the moving parts back when he was behind the counter.

Lot's between then and now. Thanks for the re-collections.

You guys have more interesting stories than I do! You probably don't care much about my '71 Valiant or its 318 V8...

Quote:

Owned a ’49 Austin A40 Devon driver at the time while rebuilding my $400 ’52 TD. Had Mickey Thompson grind/balance the moving parts back when he was behind the counter.

Edd, I don't know why I never thought to ask you if you know anything about this car:



It's a Buick 215 aluminum-V8 powered MG TD that a gentleman named Paul Cunningham road raced in California in '62 and '62. I've been told that Mickey Thompson personally helped build it... but I don't have a clue if that's true. Ever heard anything about it?

Tam's old race car website only says this:

Quote:

In 1962 and 1963, Cunningham campaigned the "Terrible Tempest", an MG-TC Special powered by a 2215 cid B.O.P. aluminum V8.
He qualified the car for the 1962 Riverside GP but DNF'd.
At the Dodger Stadium event in 1963, Cunningham amazed the crowd by battling Bill Krause in the Harry Finer Birdcage Maserati on equal terms in this car.

If I can find someone to research and/or write the article, I'd really like to feature this car in The British V8 Newsletter! Would you be interested in volunteering?

Curtis,

B.S. Levy may know. It's sounds like something right out of one of his books.

Yeah, but B.S.Levy also writes for a competing magazine;)

Hi Curtis,

That's a pretty cool MG TC Special, the grandaddy of our Rover V8 MGBs, but I don't recall seeing it. The time frame is about right, but ??? sorry. There were a lot of "specials" back then and he's not showing a class letter. Any Idea where the picture was taken? The background terrain does not look familiar but might be Palm Springs.

I didn't hang around Mickey Thompson's shop. I brought my TD stuff; crank to be ground, rods and pistons, flywheel to be lightened and all to be balanced. Mickey told me what I needed and wrote up the order. That was before he became big-time. Cost me a small fortune, about $75.00 but I ended up with a sweet motor. Unfortunately, after I sold the TD (to buy an XK-140 DHC for $800), the new owner hit a cow on Katella Ave just east of Los Alamitos and it was totaled (he ducked enough). Anyway, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

What about the MG TC with the Ford flathead V8 ran by Phil Hill in the fifties?

Quote:

What about the MG TC with the Ford flathead V8 ran by Phil Hill in the fifties?

Got pictures? Details? Sounds like that could be a great story too... Want to research and write it?

Don Martine has promised a write-up (and photos) on the restoration of this TD: [www.martineinnmotorsports.com]

We could have an "Old Timers" Special Section in an upcoming Newsletter issue! IMHO, it's about time people recognize that MG V8 conversions go WAAAAY back. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Cecil Kimber did one... seems like something he'd do!

Great Idea! Old Timers Section-- OLD--Old --old-- younger. this begs for a time line, back to the earlier post regarding "Boomers"

When I was 12 years old, someone gave me a book called "Sportscars of the World". Bet I read that book 50 times...I was hooked even then....bought my first car in 1959 at the age of 16....It was a '36 Ford pickup....first thing I did was pull the engine and install the hotter '41 Mercury flathead....couple years later installed an Olds J2 setup in a '30 chevy (really wish I had that car back)...Yep, I think most of us can trace our roots back to the hotrod days...now we have the best of both worlds...sleek britsh sports cars with a hot rod attitude...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2007 11:35AM by RMO 699F.