July 4th drive in the Malibu Mountains
Kim and I headed out to Malibu today to join the Vintage Motoring folks for a non-sanctioned, non-organized, non-event drive in the gorgeous mountains above Malibu. I’d just put the car back together after a reasonable extensive going over, (which I need to chronicle here) and I’m pleased to report that things went pretty well. we had some issues early with a blown fuse, and then the fuel pressure regulator was restricting fuel, causing some sputtering, but once these little things were sorted, the car ran strong. It was a pretty spirited drive, up and down some VERY steep and challenging roads. Good times.
Memorial Day 2011
Kim and I joined a group of vintage motoring enthusiasts for a spirited drive in the Malibu mountains. Super good times, and I was pleased with how the car ran. A very cool collection of cars, and it was good to meet many of the people I’ve interacted with on the forum vintagemotoring.net
fun roads and good driving.
Mullin Automotive Museum
“The Mullin Automotive Museum is an homage to the art deco and the machine age – eras that produced exquisite art and magnificent automobiles. The museum is home to examples of the finest of historic French automobiles from the Bugatti to the Voisin as well as significant and representative decorative art from this same period.”
Wow. All I can say. Wow. Fantastic collection of amazing cars.
Long drives and exploding parts – Part 1
Um, well I’m glad I have included tow coverage on my insurance. Would have been an expensive day if I didn’t.The 1st 10 hours confirmed both myself and my wife on the joys of classic car touring, so it was a good day overall.
We left out place early, 6:45 and headed north on some fun roads up to the Nethercut ( a little heavy on large touring cars of the 20s/30s for my taste, but still well worth a visit. ) Really nice time. Kim was enjoying it a lot.
Saw some nice BMW’s on their way to an event at the Rose Bowl.
Stop for breakfast on the way.
(I’ll post some more pics from the museums in another thread. )
Left there and headed to thousand oaks and met up with some friends for lunch. A bit of freeway here, then we took your suggestion for the Norwegian grade section.
The car was running great, but I did notice that with that longer stretch (possibly one of the 5 longest single segments of driving I’ve done) the oil pressure seemed to be reading low. Dropping close to 10 on idle, and only get near 30-35 under load. Before, I’d typically see 40-50 under pressure. But I rarely have driven it more than 5-6 miles, so I just wasn’t sure. I also installed a new gauge this week, to fix the temperature half (which hadn’t worked since I bought the car), so I wasn’t sure if that new gauge might be calibrated differently.
Anyway, after eating lunch, I checked the oil. It looked a little high, which I still don’t understand, as I’d checked it Weds and it was just right below max, and I hadn’t added any. Anyway, the car was running great, and everything looked OK under the hood.
Headed down to Oxnard, via Potrero canyon. That’s a fun route, and a very pretty little canyon. Kim was enjoying herself.
Went to the mullin museum (wow. wow. wow.), finishing up there around 3:30.
Originally our plan was to go to Andria’s Seafood,in Ventura, but no one was hungry, so Kim and I decided to split with our friends and go to Santa Monica, via fun roads in the mountains, and get something to eat there before her dance thing, maybe walk around Malibu or something. My plan was to read car magazines at the book store while she danced, and we’d drive home late.
We headed back up Potrero, that was fun, probably the hardest I’ve pushed my MGA. She did great. Cruising back along Lynn road, looking for Decker Canyon/23 over to the coast. I must have missed that turn, and before long, realized I was getting close back to the 101. I knew I’d way overshot, and was looking for a place to turn around, when POP. I almost thought it sounded like a backfire, but not quite, and then it felt like I was running on 2-3 cylinders, the engine was still running, but not well. Damn, started to look for a parking lot. As I got close, I lost all power. Dead dead. Had Kim jump in the drivers side, and pushed in.
Opened the hood, and it was a mess. Significant oil all over the place. From the pattern, it almost looked like it was coming from somewhere near the dipstick, but it seemed to be seated properly. I’ll have to look again. I didn’t actually check to see what the oil level was.
The more obvious issue was my ignition coil. It was in pieces. It looked like it slipped backwards out of the housing (that’s bolted to the generator). The bulk of it was dangling from the wire that does to the distributor, and that was only being held together to the cap by one of the small wires in there. the other was separated completely. Doh. It felt like it was coated with a bit of oil, and there was oil inside the housing, I almost wonder if it had managed to run like this, outside the housing, for a bit? I’m thinking the oil and the ignition coil are unrelated, but if anyone has reason to believe otherwise, I’d be interested….
I almost wonder if the steep, spirited climb up potrero had caused the ignition coil to slip backwards? Not sure.
Anyway, called Hagerty’s, truck was there in 25 minutes, drove us all the way to Alhambra. Would have been a pricy tow without coverage. Got home, stuck the car in the garage, hopped in the Honda and drove Kim to her dance event. 
All in all, a good day, but i’d love to get my car sorted to where I had more confidence to drive it on trips like this.
“Lot’s of fun to drive, when it’s running”
New Year’s Eve Cruise
I’d received. a month or so ago, a flyer for a New Year’s Eve “Cars and Coffee” type event in Pasadena, with a cruise, on New Year’s Eve. Decided to head over there.
There were probably 75-90 cars there, I’m guessing. Pretty eclectic group of cars, probably covering a range of close to 100 years of automobile. Lot’s of hot rods and customs. Restored early Fords, lots of modified 32 Fords and similar. Quite a few 50′s american cars. Very few foreign cars. My MGA, a sick Porsche 356, a 59 Mercedes convertible, a Ferrari 308, and an awesome Bugeye sprite were among the only foreign cars there. Lot’s of cool cars though. I’m not big into Corvettes, but the 56-62 Vettes are pretty damn cool. I’d love an early 50′s truck. The 60′s Thunderbird looked awesome, and would be an awesome SoCal crusier for when the MG is too small.
The day was gorgeous. Crystal clear. I was a little warm in my jacket, cool in a t-shirt. Could see the snow blowing off the summit of the Mountains. SoCal at it’s finest.
Nice folks, gorgeous cars. Fun way to kill a couple hours. Photos below, just of a few of the cars that caught my eye.
Family Connections – My Uncle’s Car
My fond memories of riding in an MG were from after my mom and step-dad (Ron) got married. Ron had a 1974 MG Midget, in a mustard yellow color (if memory serves.) I thought it was the coolest car ever. Funny to think that at that point, it would hardly be consider a “classic” car, and certainly not an “antique”. It was only 7-8 years old at the time!
Since word has spread about my MGA purchase, I’ve learned of at least two other MG’s that used to be in the family. My mom and biological dad (Malcolm) apparently had a Midget as well, sold when my brother was expected. Still hoping to get pictures of it.
My uncle Keith (Malcolm’s brother) sent me these pictures and note about his MGB GT.
Geoff,
I enjoyed hearing that you have bought a MGA, a great little car, and a real looker.
I had a 1976 MGB GT for a couple of years before I left England, and emigrated to South Africa in 1981, and I was a member of the MG Car Owner’s Club in England.
It really was a pleasure to drive, and was very reliable, but not too good in the snow. It had an overdrive switch which I used to quickly knock off, if I needed a little power surge to overtake another vehicle.
I was able to dig out a couple of old 35mm photos which Claire scanned for me, so they are not the sharpest, but I have attached them anyway.
The little girl was one of my neighbour’s kids, who was playing outside, and wanted to be in the pictures.
Have fun with your MGA.
Regards,
Keith
I love this view…
This could easily be a picture taken 50 plus years ago, though the freeway might have looked different. I was messing around with a “60′s” Camera filter, and it just seemed, right.
