February, 2014

BCW TD Model 52

Next MeetingFebruary 22nd, 2014 11:00 am at Fratello’s in Manchester

(603) 624-2022

2

continued page 13

Car of the Month

THE GREATPRETENDERby Neil & Mary Flaherty

It was red, the first MG TD I ever saw.It was in the summer of 1953. I wastwelve years old, and it was my first love.And it happened at a time in my life whenI was not confused by any other seriousaffections.

Dr. Cass, one of our neighbors had boughtthe little gem for his wife. Do dreamscome true? Well I thought so, when sev-eral days later while I was drooling overthe little jewel, Mrs. Cass asked me if I’dlike to ride to the market with her? Itnever occurred to me that you could al-most touch the ground when you were inthat passenger seat; and oh the magicalsounds that emanated from that tail pipeas we drove down the street.

Well the Doc and his wife moved away ,leaving me broken- hearted. However,the flame that was ignited in my heartthat fateful summer was not to be extin-guished that easily.

A few years later when I was a rookiemotorist (37 ford coupe, 33 Plymouth 5window coupe, 40 ford 2 door, etc) twoof my cousins pooled their resources andpurchased a 1953 TD . Suddenly theflame was re-ignited. Unfortunately, theycrashed the car and so the flame wassnuffed out one more time.

Next chapter, 5 years of duty with themilitary, including 3 years in Europe. En-

ter an interloper. A loveaffair with the VW.Upon returning to thestates, and a couple ofsmall scale VW repairbusiness’, and a rela-tively successfulautocross campaign ( myfirst encounter with Mr.Folia…) with 3 VW it-erations, culminating inwinning the NESCCCdrivers championship in1972.

About seven years laterwhile running a distribution business, oneof the vendors we represented offered aproduct line called British Coach Works,Their Model 52 was a Fiberglass replicaof the 1953 MGTD. But unlike the othercompanies which were producing thesemodels the British Coach Works modelof the TD more closely resembled theoriginal car. The reason for this wasthat the BCW competitors were buildingtheir models on shortened VW platforms,and so, of course, the engine was in therear. But the original TD was not madethis way. To the untrained eye thesecopies looked “ok”. But because theengine was in the rear they were neverreally dimensionally correct.

Unlike the hundreds of examples from allover the country and Canada, BCW ‘scar was an effort by the designer to ad-here as closely as possible to the originalvehicle. To be specific, all the body partswere produced using molds made fromthe original Abington parts, bright work,bumpers etc. were OEM Morris Garageitems, the frame was a purpose built lad-

der box unit, and all the running gear waspirated from the (at that time) popular GMChevette. This running gear consisted ofan extremely durable and reliable 1.6 li-ter in line 4 cylinder engine, mated to anice all sycro 4 speed tranny. Most no-table was the fact that maintenance parts,like points, fan belts etc. were availableat your local NAPA parts store (even to-day).

In all the front end parts were installedfrom the donor vehicle. Of note: discbrakes and rack and pinion steering.

Unfortunately, the car as produced in1985 had a list price that equaled or ex-ceeded in some cases a decent TD res-toration in those days, neither of whichwas within our budget capabilities. Sonow what?

Well about the time the car was intro-duced into the market place Mary and Iwent to a business conference which hadlittle or nothing to do with British Coach

3

BCNHMONARCHY

PRIME MINISTERRobert Mitchell

PRIME MINISTER EMERITUSWade dos Santos

CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER

John Giese

NEWSLETTERJohn & Joan Giese

Owen & Virginia Christiansen

REGALIAJoan Young

SECRETARYNorma Karle

WEBMASTERKate Stanley Robinson

MEMBERSHIP COORDINATORLouis Belanger

TECH SESSION COORDINATORWade dos Santos

ADVERTISING COORDINATOR(open)

PUBLIC RELA TIONS(open)

INTER-CLUB COORDINA TORBob Dougherty

CALENDAR COORDINA TORSue MacDuff

SHOW OF DREAMS DIRECTORBob Stanley

HISTORIANMike Sweet

www.bcnh.org

Contact information on page 4

AC – ALLARD – ALPINE – TVR – DAIMLER – MORRIS MOTORCYCLES – TRIUMPH – MG - JAGUAR – AUSTIN HEALEY

LAND ROVER – RELIANT SCIMITAR – LOTUS

BRITISH CARS OF NEW HAMPSHIREMEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

Visit us at www.bcnh.org

If possible, please submit a photo and article of your car to be included inThe Boot, Hood & Bonnet - BCNH’s monthly newsletter.

Any photos submitted will be returned.

Name_______________________________ Spouse______________________

Address__________________________________________________________

City____________________ State____ Zip________ Phone_______________

E-mail address____________________________________________________

Year, Make, Model of Your Auto(s)___________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Name of Referring Member_________________________________________

___ Paper Newsletter* or ___ electronic copy of the Newsletter

Please send application and $30 annual dues (payable to BCNH) to:Lou Belanger, 11 Forest Lane, Litchfield, NH 03052

*Dues for those who want a paper newsletter are $35.

British Cars of New Hampshire (BCNH) is an organization devoted tothe preservation, restoration and enjoyment of all British automobiles.

BCNH provides to its members and their families British auto-orientedactivities and social events throughout the year. Benefits of the club par-ticipation include monthly meetings, rallies, tech sessions, club socials,car shows and other events.

The club publishes a monthly newsletter, The Boot, Hood & Bonnet.News of upcoming events, club activities, car show results, technical tipsand articles submitted by members are included in the newsletter. Mem-bers also receive a discount on a subscription to the British Marque, amonthly car club newspaper.

A club logo window decal is provided. Additional decals may be pur-chased.

Meetings are held on the first Monday of each month at the Weathervanerestaurant unless otherwise announced. All members are encouraged toattend and bring guests.

BCNH invites you to become a member of our active and growing clubby submitting the application above.

4

Prime Minister’sMissive

Contact informationLouis Belanger 11 Forest Lane, Litchfield, NH 03052 (603) 424-7835 80mgbman@comcast.netGinger Christiansen7 Sycamore Lane, Nashua, NH 03063 (603) 883-0288 gingchrist@aol.comWade dos Santos PO Box 840, Manchester, NH 03105 (603) 497-3911 wade@grolen.comBob Dougherty 28 Ledgewood Drive, Strafford, NH 03884 (603) 948-2078 Rdocmg@gmail.comJohn Giese 153 Crooked S Road, Lyndeborough, NH 03082 (603) 654-2565 johgie@tds.netNorma Karle 22 Partridge Lane, Londonderry, NH 03053 (603) 437-8931 karle01@comcast.netSue MacDuff 510 Sand Hill Road, Peterborough, NH 03458 (603) 924-1066 Lucymac1@comcast.netRobert Mitchell PO Box 270, Stratham, NH 03885 (603) 772-1116 RBMit-MM@comcast.netBob Stanley 64 North Shore Drive, Center Barnstead, NH 03225(603) 776-6698 tlckit@yahoo.comMike Sweet 50 High Street, Penacook,, NH 03301 (603) 753-9164 CoventryCat71@comcast.netJoan Young 204 Concord Hill Road, Pittsfield, NH 02363 (603) 435-8660 TWYJGY@aol.com

2013 is History. 2014 in Now.

As with any “New” year, we look for-ward to many new things – but like tokeep some old ones around too for thatsense of familiarity and continuity. I don’tthink it will be any surprise that the Mem-bership voted at the January Meeting tokeep the same slate of Officers we havehad for the past several years. As theFiddler said … Tradition, tradition.

The Membership also agreed that we re-ally did enjoy most of the things that wehave been doing in recent years. Weagreed that the Saturday BreakfastDrives and Sunday Dinner Drives havegiven us many great opportunities to getout and use our cars – and, yes, to social-ize. In fact one of the observations thatwas made was that, when planning the“Drives” we should be sure to plan sev-eral stops along the way that give us achance to get out of the cars and talk toeach other.

It is also pretty obvious that where theDrive goes does matter. It’s no sur-prise that the Drives that had the highestparticipation were the ones that had themost interesting routes or destinations. Iopenly encourage you to be constantly onthe lookout for routes and destinations thatyou come across in your travels that youthink others might enjoy.

I think we will bring back the Drive up tothe Lupine Festival in Sugar Hill thisyear. The “Lupine Season” up there is inthe first two weeks of June – but we willnot want to conflict with the British-by-the-Sea show down in New LondonConnecticut, so we will probably do theLupine Drive on the 2nd or 3rd weekendof June. Watch for the postings on theBCNH web Calendar. This is an eventwhere some members may want to makea weekend of it and stay up above theNotch over-night. They haven’t finalizedthe schedule yet, but monitorwww.franconianotch.org/things-to-do/special-events/lupine-festival.aspx tolearn more.

By the way: on the subject of the British-by-the-Sea show (BBTS) in New Lon-don, the Feature Marque this year willbe the Riley. I am working with the RileyClub in hopes of getting about a dozencars there this year. You may rememberthat my ’52 Riley RMF won Best-in-Show at the BBTS two years ago – atleast in part on “novelty value.” Mostattendees there had never seen a Rileybefore. It will be fun to see what impactthere is when they see a dozen of them.

For “Something New” I think we will fol-low-up on Mo Aubert’s suggestion thatwe go down to the King Richard’s Fairein Carver, Massachusetts for a day-longouting. Mo went last year and said it wasa ball. See http://kingrichardsfaire.net/ toget an idea of all the activities there.

I encourage you to take a look at the Clubwebsite at www.bcnh.org. Click onEvents just under the banner and theEvents Calendar should pop up. You will

see that Sue MacDuff, the Club’s “Cal-endar Girl”, has been hard at work en-tering the activities that our Club Mem-bers (and other clubs’ club members)have already planned for this season.

When you get to any month’s page in thecalendar you will see dates where an en-try is shown. Click on the entry itself andmore detail will pop up. If it is a listingfrom another club (or from Larz Ander-son or Owl’s Head) there may be a linkon the event pop-up that will take you tomore detail supplied by the organizationactually staging the event.

We all owe Sue a great deal of apprecia-tion for the time she has put into this! Youwill see that there are A LOT of eventson the calendar; more than any of us canpossibly attend. Our goal is to be surethat there will be at least some that youwill be able to attend.

At each month’s regular meeting we willtalk up each of the next month’s events,but if you can’t make a meeting, and youfind an event of interest, feel free to callother members to see if they are inter-ested too.

Keep in mind that “the Club” doesn’t or-ganize these events. It is Club Memberswho come up with the ideas and who dothe work to make them happen. Ifyou come up with an idea that you thinkyour fellow members may enjoy, pleasego ahead and plan it, and we’ll add itto the calendar.

So Saith the Prime Minister

5

Disclaimer:As a matter of policy, British Carsof New Hampshire does notendorse any of the businesses thatadvertise in this newsletter.

Minutes

$1857.19$1900.00

$44.00-$321.76-$259.40-$152.92$3067.11

Treasurer’s Report

Start BalanceMembership50/50 RaffleNewsletterAlpine Web DesignHoliday GiftsEnd Balance

November15 to January 15Club account

$1938.35$1938.35

Show of Dreams accountStart BalanceEnd Balance

The January 2014 BCNH meeting washeld at the Weathervane on January 6th.There were 35 members in attendance.

The meeting was called to order at 7PMby Prime Minister Bob Mitchell.

One potential new member was draggedin by Denise Anderson and Dana Casko.Lou Medeiros has an MGB and visitedus to check out our meeting. He has rec-ommended us to the NAMGBR- theMGB register. They are looking for a NewEngland club to help organize and run theirnational meeting in 2017. If you are inter-ested in being involved in this event, shouldwe decide to go forward, please let meor Bob Mitchell know.

Most of the meeting was spent discuss-ing the events for the year. We will belooking at another cruise on Mt Sunapeeif you missed last year’s. There is a cov-ered bridge tour being organized by mem-ber Steve Vekasy which will tour thebridges in the southwest corner of thestate in the Keene area. This should be agreat tour; I don’t remember any drivesthat we’ve done in that area. Also plannedis a trip to St Gaudens Museum and wewill also resurrect the Lupine drive up toSugar Hill. Also in planning is the world

wide tour (of Maine) which will be aweekend event. Whenever possible, wewill also plan to join in with other clubs’events as well. We are looking for you tohelp create a Sunday dinner drive or aSaturday breakfast drive. Please contactBob Mitchell, myself, or Sue MacDuff ifyou are interested in planning a drive thisyear. We do need your help.

As usual we will be having the Queen’sbirthday celebration in June. There is aclassic car show at Castle in the Cloudson July 12th. There will be a tech sessionin May, and Vintage Car races in August.

The 50 – 50 raffle prize of $43 was wonby Deb Curtis.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15.

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BCNH Birthday PartyFebruary 22ND

information on page 8

6

The Closing ofAbingdon: End of the

MG EraBy: Michael R. Losey - MG Classics

of Jacksonville, Florida

Geoff Armstr ong and Abingdon:

(Continued from last issue)

Yes, in those years, the feelings of ac-complishment of completing one moreMG was much different than today wherecompleted cars are checked out electroni-cally and are test driven on a rolling roadbuilt into the final assembly station. “AtAbingdon, the workers at the final assem-bly station…” Armstrong affectionatelyrecalls “…put on the wheels and tires andfilled the just completed MG with enoughpetrol to drive it off the assembly line.Then it was immediately driven on to theadjacent figure 8 ash track where thethirty second test dash around the trackwas precious.”

Thus Abingdon was very different fromthe “volume” factories that Geoff laterbecame to know, such as Longbridge (thelargest factory with about 30,000 employ-ees and home of Austin so it producedcars under the Austin, Morris, Riley,Wolseley marques, as well as engines,gearboxes and mechanical units for otherassembly plants), Cowley (Austin andMorris), Canley (Triumph) and Solihull(Rover). All of these plants were muchlarger and had mechanically paced as-sembly lines.

They also produced a larger variety ofcars resulting in less employee productidentification and possibly even less pridein their production then existed with MGworkers.

Also, Armstrong emphasizes that the MGbrand in the UK had a very good image.Geoff characterizes the brand as “Beingseen as a little bit racy, exotic and excit-ing – not your normal car.” “In today par-lance” Armstrong continues, “it wouldhave been described as a ‘cool car.’” Infact, in the 1970s, Armstrong was theproud owner of a MGB GT himself.

“It felt like a racing car,” he recollects“…yet with only an 1800 cc engine youcould be out accelerated by the neighbor’sfamily Ford.” But he also recalls the“Great growl and nice feel” that appealedto dedicated admirers like him.

These were Geoff’s observations fromnot only his few weeks he spent helpingwith the rework at Abingdon but his evolv-ing successful career at BMC. He rec-ognized, even if with some regret, that theAbingdon working environment was fardifferent than not only other BMC opera-tions but other automobile manufacturersas well. All auto manufactures, and es-pecially the Japanese, followed by the US,knew to successfully compete globallywould require renewed emphasis on au-tomated processes, increased productiv-ity and quality.

The Beginning of the End:

As early as 1968 BMC was losing moneyheavily. In addition, Prime Minister HaroldWilson headed the UK Labour Party. Oneof his themes was the consolidation of theindustrial base in Britain. Geoff reportsthat Wilson encouraged the very success-ful Leyland Motor Corporation, primarilya manufacturer of trucks and buses at thetime, but who also manufactured the Tri-umph line, to assist in the consolidation ofthe UK auto industry. One thing Wilsonpersuaded the Leyland chief executive,Donald Stokes (later Lord Stokes) to dowas acquire BMC.

This created the British Leyland MotorCorporation, which many now suggestwas not a good fit for many reasons. Also,

with a strong Labour Government in place,union power was at its peak. Numerousstrikes occurred though out the mergedcompany. “Needed badly was a new ap-proach to labor and management relationsthat would result in a better balancing ofinterests,” recalls Armstrong.

This was no small task since thirteen tradeunions represented 180,000 blue-collarworkers and five additional unions repre-sented another 45,000 white-collar work-ers across the now combined BritishLeyland.

Most of this effort to improve and changerelationships with the union was advancedby Pat Lowry, the company’s first humanresource management senior officer.Armstrong, less than thirty years old atthe time, was appointed as a key assis-tant to Lowry. Their objective, Armstrongconfirms, was to confront the multiplenational and local unions “… with the re-ality that the current poor managementand union relationships would have tochange — that what existed was goingto kill the company.”

At the top management and national unionlevels meaningful progress was made.However, as Armstrong reports “… thecrunch came on the shop floor where lo-cal union stewards did no work and werepaid by the company to spend all of theirtime doing trade union business. Thustheir interests really laid in not agreeingwith change.”

For instance, Armstrong recalls that oneof his new responsibilities was to preparea daily report of strikes within the com-pany. He emphasized the seriousness ofthe situation by reporting: “On most daysthere were at least 20 or 30 strikes some-where in the company.”

Most of the strikes were usually aboutjob piece rates and the impact was enor-mous. Under these piece rate schemesan employee’s pay was directly relatedto the piece rate and how many pieces(parts, components, etc) they produced.These rates were, therefore, the sourceof frequent union/management disagree-ment. Also such disputes and any result-ant work stoppage needed to only involve

Mike Losey & Geoff Armstrong

7

a handful of employees that were pro-ducing key components and a whole as-sembly plant might have to close for lackof those parts.

Worse, this process was self-perpetuat-ing. Once other workers saw how evena small number of employees could bringpressure on the company and frequentlygain important concessions it only servedto encourage them to do the same.

So serious was this impact that during1969 – 1970, the average paid time perworker per week at Cowley, one of themost militant factories, was only 28 hoursper week out of a scheduled 40-hourworkweek. In other words, sending peoplehome because of the lack of parts or otherdisturbances to orderly operations resultedin non-strikers losing 12 hours or 30% oftheir pay a week.

As a result, Armstrong suggests, “TheCompany’s competitiveness deteriorated,day by day, and year by year.”

Geoff continued with British Leylandthrough the 1970s, and in 1979, at the ageof only 33 was made the Group EmployeeRelations Director for all of BritishLeyland.

He had a corporate staff of greater than2,400 employees plus every one of the 70company factories also had an HR de-partment. Total employment was greaterthan 160,000 employees. Such was thebreadth and scope of his new position.

And it was at this time that the companyhad to face up to the fact that it had sub-stantial excess capacity and that overallproductivity was too low.

This led to a company wide analysis ofwhere the company was the least effi-cient and where they were losing the mostmoney. Unfortunately one of the mostegregious loss leaders was Abingdonwhere the company was losing approxi-mately £1000 for every MG. produced.

Described as, “Hopelessly uneconomic”major contributors to these losses werethe inefficient production processes atAbingdon, as well as the disproportionatecost to ship parts from all over Englandto Abingdon for relatively small produc-

tion runs.

But the largest contributor to the MGsdemise was the new California exhaustemissions requirements. At that time,California was MG’s largest market in theUnited States and was close to or evenexceeded the MG’s market in the UK.Unfortunately the MG engineers con-cluded there was no way to modify thesmall MG engines to meet the Californiarequirements, at least without major newinvestment. Unfortunately the companysimply did not have the money, especiallyfor a car that was already losing £1000on each car that drove off of the assem-bly line.

The Closing of Abingdon:

Geoff recalls that the decision to discon-tinue production of the MG was very“…painful because a lot of the seniormanagers had a soft spot for MG.” But itwas economically inescapable that thecompany had to move away from the in-efficiencies of the Abington operation.

Therefore, the closure of Abington wasone of the very early consolidation andcost reduction decisions taken for theparent company to survive.

Armstrong also clearly recalls the diffi-culty in communicating the decision toclose Abingdon to not only employees butalso customers and community interests.For instance, the managing director ofAustin Morris, which was the division towhich MG reported, had a special latemorning meeting scheduled in London onSeptember 10th, 1979. This meeting wasto give government ministers and the lo-cal Abingdon area Member of Parliamentseveral hours advanced notice prior toannouncing the decision to close Abingtonto the general public later in the day.

Immediately thereafter that meeting withthe government officials, Armstrong con-firms that he was scheduled to have ameeting with national union officialswhere he was to also give them advancenotice of the announcement to close theplant.

However, Geoff recalls the departurefrom this well laid out plan. He reports

that “When the managing director metwith the government ministers and thelocal Abingdon Member of Parliament, theMember of Parliament left the meeting,went straight to a radio station, and an-nounced on the one o’clock news whathe had just been told.”

Thus, before Geoff could inform the unionor the employees, the Member of Parlia-ment prematurely announced the decisionto close the plant.

That announcement to close Abingdonwas also unfortunately made just twodays after a carnival at Abingdon cel-ebrated MG’s fifty-year association withthe town. September 10th, 1979, becameforever known as “Black Monday”amongst MG enthusiasts around theworld.

The premature communications compli-cated union relationships and for a brieftime and there was fear of a local strikeby Abingdon employees. But in the endthe employees also recognized that theclosing was unavoidable. Actually, muchearlier some employees had seen thecompany’s lack of new product planningand investment for Abingdon as the be-ginning of the end. Finally, the MG lackof alternatives and necessary departurefrom the very large California marketforecasted MG’s departure from theUnited States, and constructively the endof the company as all MG lovers hadknown it.

The only remaining issue was the defini-tion of employee redundancy payments.Once it was known that the companywould provide fair and reasonably gener-ous separation payments there was nostrike and orderly production continuedover the next thirteen months until theplant was closed on October 23, 1980.

Given the plant’s prime location close tothe center of Abingdon, a prosperous andgrowing market town, the property waslater sold. No trace of the MG factoryremains. The site has been completelytransformed into a business park contain-ing retail stores, other employers and evena large municipal police station. And with

continued page 8

8

that transition Geoff highlights that thereare now many more individuals employedon the site of the old MG factory thanthere ever was as the manufacturer ofthe prized MGs.

Armstrong assisted in leading BritishLeyland’s efforts to restructure and be-come more competitive for several moreyears beyond the closure of the MG plantat Abingdon. Numerous other plant clos-ings were required and thousands andthousands of additional jobs were lost.

And until those actions were completedand new government policies developedby the Conservative Party’s MargaretThatcher, worker relationships suffered.There were even Communist andTrotskyist cells actively driving the tradeunion movement at some company loca-

tions.

In 1981, less than one year after the clos-ing of the Abingdon plant, Mr Armstrongwas to be a keynote speaker at TrinityCollege in Dublin. He was to address thechallenges of the British automobile in-dustry specifically and the nation’s com-petitive challenges in general. He had onlystarted his presentation when three intrud-ers in paramilitary uniforms and withmasks and guns entered the auditoriumfrom the rear of the speaker’s platform.After stating that what they were to dowas on behalf of IRA activists who hadbeen on a hunger strike, they shot Mr.Armstrong three times attempting to de-stroy his knee caps.

Although the terrorists initially escapedone was later arrested, convicted andimprisoned.

Mr. Armstrong survived the attack and

returned to work at British Leyland withinthree weeks. Miraculously he has no per-manent effects from the attack.

In 1984 Mr. Armstrong was recruited tojoin another major UK firm, Metal Box.In 1989, he was asked to join one of theworld’s largest banks; UK headquarteredStandard Chartered Bank, as their chiefhuman resource officer. He served thereuntil he was selected as the CharteredInstitute for Personnel Development’sDirector General in 1992.

Ranging from Armstrong’s personal rec-ollections about his own MG-GT and hisearly and brief time as an Abingdon “fit-ter” to participating in the actual Abingdonclosure, Geoff Armstrong has a uniqueperspective indeed. And we thank him forsharing it with those of us who continueto love and protect the MGs that remaineven if the Abingdon brick and mortar isgone.

Abingdoncontinued

BCNH Birthday PartyFebruary is the official “Birthday Month” of BCNH. So we have historically devoted our February Meeting to a PizzaParty/Birthday Party. This year, because we had to cancel the December Holiday Party, we have decided to make abigger deal of the “Birthday Party.” In that effort we have decided to hold the Birthday Party on a Saturday – instead ofthe usual Monday Night – in hopes that more of you can come.

So….

1) Please note that we WILL NOT have a “Regular Meeting” on the first Monday ofFebruary. Please remove that date from your calendar.

2) Then please mark SATURDAY, FEB 22 as the date for the BCNH Birthday Party.

3) BCNH members must have paid their 2014 dues in order to participate in the BCNHBirthday Party. (You can pay your dues at the door.)

Fratello’s in Manchester has agreed to allow us to apply the deposit we had given them for the December Holiday Partyto this February Birthday Party,

so THE PARTY WILL BE HELD AT FRATELLO’S at 155 Dow St, Manchester, NH

Fratello’s does not offer pizza for “Parties” – but it is an Italian Restaurant so this will be a Italian Pasta Buffet.

WE WILL HAVE MORE DETAILS SOON, but please plan to join us on February 22 – between 11:00 to 3:00.

One of the other things we “missed” when the December Holiday Party was cancelled was the chance to donate Toysfor Tots – so as an alternative, please also plan to bring a contribution for the New Hampshire Food Bank.

We hope to see you at Fratello’s on February 22

Bob Mitchell

9

Margee is a fine running car in goodcondition. All original, seats, body andengine. Color Green, with Black top andbench seats. No fender body damage.Owned since 2002 and driven to a numberof shows from Orlando, Panama City,Clermont, Athens GA and aroundTallahassee. Many, many picturesonline at: http://fugawee.com/1953mgtd.html Price $21,000.00Contact nancyayotte@comcast.net orphone (850) 893 8813, answering machinewill return your call.

1958 TR3A - The car is a strong dailydriver. No rust (a bit of rough paint on thenose over the radiator, though). If youknow Hagerty Class 1-4, this is a class 4vehicle. Average sales prices for the lastcouple years have been 14K or more.Asking $12,500. Have owned it for 21years. Just bought a TR6 and have to getrid of one of them (no room in the barnfor winter storage of both). Please feelfreeto write with questions, etc. The caris in Hanover NH, but can easily makethe drive to anywhere in NH (if sold).Contact Roger atRoger.D.Sloboda@dartmouth.edu

I have a 1971 MG Midget Convertible Iam trying to sell. It belonged to my fatherwho passed away a few years ago. Asmuch as it pains me to sell it, I would liketo see it go to an enthusiast who will en-joy it as my dad did.

My father was a fanatic and kept the carin great shape (he rebuilt it about 12 yearsago). It has been stored in a climate con-trolled garage and my husband has donelight maintenance on it (starting it occa-sionally, changing the oil etc). The carcomes with a spare tire, convertible bootcover, car cover, manuals and some otherliterature (receipts and documents).

I am asking $8000 OBOCall Courtney at 978-855-3561or email preppyretail@yahoo.com

Wanted - I am looking for a 1960-1964Morgan Plus 4 two sear roadster. I canbe reached at 903 495 1362 orm.rhodes@lamarnational.comMichaelRhodes

Wanted

10

Mystery Car: 1951-52 Healey3-Litre Sports Convertible

By Terry Haines

The 3-litre was the anglicized version ofthe Nash-Healey that was exported to theUnited States from 1950 to 1954. DonaldHealey took advantage of a grant fromthe government to start his export driveto the USA with the Nash-Healey. Priormodels in the Healey range at this timewere the Westland, Elliot, SportmobileSilverstone, Duncan, Abbot and Tickford.All of these models used the four cylin-der Riley engine and gearbox .

The 3-litre was a UK only model and tookthe six cylinder Alvis engine and gearbox.In keeping with standard premium cardesign of the day, the Alvis engine was avery smooth running OHV. An uncom-mon design feature of the Alvis enginewas the camshaft drive. The timing chainwas driven from the rear end of the crank-shaft, close to the flywheel. In-line sixcylinder engines all suffer from torsionaloscillations of the crankshaft. Positioningthe drive at the rear of the driving endminimizes the whip effect oscillationscause on the timing chain. (1). The Alvisengine developed around 106 BHP at4,200 RPM and gave the car a top speedof around 100 MPH. Some owners con-sidered this was a little underpoweredwhen up against the Nash engine that wasused in export models. The 4-speed, 3-

sycro gearbox was also from the Alvis, avery smooth operating unit in keeping withpremium cars of the day. Suspension wascoil spring on all four wheels with Girlingtwin leading shoe brakes with 11 inchdrums.

Smooth body lines, but with an untypicalradiator grille, made the 3-litre unlike anyother previous Healey and the body shapewas reminiscent of the later BMC Healey‘100’ concept car. A ‘V’ split windscreenset off the forward looking design.

Considered more luxurious than previousmodels the 3-Litre had features that werenot offered in current cars, such as aheater, locking doors and a radio as stan-dard!

Very few of these cars were made since,at the time, Donald Healey was more fo-cused on the export Nash project andwas later distracted by work on the Aus-tin-Healey venture. Only 25 3-Litres wereever made; a true classic and the last ofthe Warwick Healeys ever built. Manybooks have been written on the history ofDonald Healey and his cars. The manwas in keeping with a number of “fast”Englishmen of his era. Always looking for“more speed”, Donald was an avid racerand took part in Monte Carlo Rally, MilleMiglia in a Nash. His search for speed isreflected in the model number of the firstAustin-Healey, the “100”. Unless it wentover 100 MPH Donald was not interested,as is still the case with many Englishmen!

If you are ever lucky enough to see oneof these cars “in the flesh” take a goodlook. The main reason for this article is tolook back on my early days, as a young

“lad” growing up in England around manycars like the Healey-Alvis.

The Stable

Back in the 1950s most all boys growingup in England were in love with cars, allcars, and “speed”. Record making driv-ers and cars were the norm.

As a young lad I would go with my fatherwhen he took care of a “stable” of clas-sics. A part time job of his was the careand service of cars owned by a localbanker. Mr ‘S’ was “something in theCity” and lived in a large house in the poshpart of our town.

My weekends were spent with Dad in,around and working on such cars as Mr‘S’s Healey, Lagondas, Rolls-Royce,Mercedes-Benz and other performancecars. The seed was sown for my lifearound such cars.

On a warm Sunday morning my motherwas making up the picnic hamper for atrip I was going on with my father. Mr‘S’ had a country house in Sussex andone of my father’s jobs was to “swapcars” for Mr ‘S’. This involved a roadtrip from the East Coast, south throughLondon to Sussex.

Like most other trips I had been on, thecar we were to take was always a secretuntil we got to the Stable to collect it. Ihad to guess which one.

As we got into our little Austin to drive tothe Stable, I could see this would be a“serious drive”. On such drives my fa-ther would wear his sheepskin lined driv-ing jacket, flat cap, silk scarf and leather

11

driving gloves. This one would be fun!

Dad was a demon for speed and wasgiven the customary warning by mymother, “watch your speed!” NO chance!Once on the open road dad would “give itsome stick”.

We pulled up at the rear of Mr ‘S’s house.In front of me was large garage, abouteight cars wide with hung roller doors.My father opened the doors as I stoodwaiting to see what was inside.

On the left was the Benz, the 300 SL Gull-wing, still with its dust cover on, so I knewwe would not be in the Benz. TheLagonda had its cover off and was a con-vertible; maybe? The Rolls-Royce Phan-tom III was also uncovered but I didn’tthink it would be that one due to my fa-thers “driving dress”.

“It’ s the Healey dad!” Yes, it was to bethe Healey. Oh how I loved that car. Preflight checks were carried out and I placedmy cushion on the front seat so I couldsee over the dash. My father passed methe keys, “start it up lad.” The engine firedwith the first kick; smooth as a Swisswatch. Once out of the stable the doorswere closed and we were off.

It was a quiet Sunday morning with fewcars on the road and once out of townand warmed up dad started his “seriousdrive”.

Most all roads in those days had the whitedisc road sign with the black stripe: NOSPEED LIMIT! As we sped off towardLondon, passing everything on the road,the car came into its own; so smooth witha nice “bark” now and then as dad would

double de-clutch ondownshifts for the curves.

Once into South Londonwe would stop for a short“tea break” where dadwould get out the paraf-fin stove for a “brew up”;fresh hot tea was the or-der of the day.

From past trips our routewould take us towardGuildford along the HogsBack and on through the

countryside, around the “DevilsPunchbowl”, a section of road my motherhated. But dad just loved to get the the“rear end out” on this section of road withits steep drop off on one side that manydrivers had gone over.

This trip was not quite the same. I said,“Going the wrong way dad?” He had di-verted from our normal route. “Some-thing to show you son”, was the reply.

Dad parked “OXW 683” just off the roadby a small unmade footpath that led offthrough the grass; to where?

For most of my young life dad had toldme the stories of the speed merchants ofthe day, of races and powerful cars thatmade British Motor history. One of hisheroes was Parry Thomas.

The undergrowth cleared and dad liftedme onto his shoulders. “What do you seeson?” In front of me was a huge cementbowl, a track with a girder bridge in thedistance and some grass growing be-tween the cement slabs. “It’s Brooklandsson.”

I gazed in awe at the birthplace of Britishmotorsport. The lecture continued as wewalked along the top of the banking. Thesize of the track was amazing.

The air seemed thick with ghosts of racespast and you could almost smell the speedof thundering monsters around the track.

Time was moving on and it was time togo. Back in OXW 683 the stop atBrooklands seemed to fire up my fatherand the trip from there to the county housewas fast and furious. A driver in a Jag

sports tried to “have a go” against dad onsome of the tight turns. NOT a good plan!Dad “shut him out” and he had to takesecond place. A friendly wave from thedriver on a straight section of road andhe was gone.

Once at the county house it was time forsome tea with the housekeeper while hechecked out the rather boring Daimler wewere to drive back in…time for a dozeon the return trip!!

Thus was my young life growing up inEngland. Bitten by cars and speed froman early age, my quest for OXW 683 con-tinues. All I have left are the memoriesof those days, the original “typed” hand-book of the car and the black & whitepictures you see in this article. But I still“spit petrol” and live the Spirit ofBrooklands and the Healey-Alvis’.

MECHANICAL SPECS

Alvis 3.0

*ENGINE(ALVIS)

*2993 cc *BORE & STROKE-84 mm x90 mm*COMPRESSION RATIO- 7 : 1

*FIRING ORDER- 1,5,3,6,2,4 * OILCAPACITY- 12 PINTS *COOLINGSYSTEM-28 PINTS

*FUEL SYSTEM- 2 SU H4 CARBU-RETTORS WITH THERMOSTARTER

2 FLAMETRAP AIR CLEANERS*FUEL PUMP – AC MECHANICAL

*SPARK PLUGS- CHAMPION L 10 @0.025 in GAP

*TRANSMISSION*

*CLUTCH- 10 INCH SINGLE DRYPLATE TYPE 10 A6-G

*GEARBOX *FOUR SPEED,SYNCROMESH ON 2ND,3RD & TOP

*REAR AXLE-HYPOID BEVEL-SEMI FLOATING

*BRAKES-GIRLING TWO LEADINGSHOE,DRUM 11 INCHES

*STEERING BOX-MARLES

*ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT-LUCAS

12

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Aluminum Alloy Cooling Fan SystemsPolyurethane Suspension Bushings

Electric Wire Harness/Loom SetsFuel Injection Rebuild Kits

LED Upgradesfor all British and European Classic Cars

Car of the Monthcontinued

Works Corp.; however, Doc #2, a physi-cian from Lewiston, Me, serendipitouslyattended the conference; and chose totravel there in his newly acquired BCWMGTD wannabe.

Well this event served to re-ignite my fer-vor to get my own TD look-alike, in factMary took my picture in that car that day,and I carried it around for ever.

One way this quest manifested itself wasin the practice of surfing the web fromtime to time. Well one night about 5 yearsago, at about 12:30 or 1:00 AM in themorning my search for a BCW TD model52 yielded a result on Craig’s List. I com-pleted the inquiry, and the next morning Ireceived a phone call in response.

My “find” generated a sufficient amountof enthusiasm on my part so that I failedto take into consideration that a 1400 mileround trip to Virginia could clearly addanother $2000.00 to the overall cost ofthe vehicle —— major stupidity spasm!

Well onto plan B: first inquiry, commer-cial carrier $1500.00 Whoops! So weruled out that option, along with renting aU-Haul, or paying my friend John to takehis pick-up and trailer the 1400 miles.Hmm, 1400 miles, maybe 10 – 12 mile/gal with trailer and car, gas at that timeapprox. $5.00/gal. YO!!, and John is cur-rently weighing in around 325 lbs. Thisengine needs a lot of “fuel”. This is nodeal. Back to square one, or better yetthe internet, where I found Sally, a 24 yearold gal running her own car transport bro-kerage out of Seattle, WA. (ya, I’m ner-vous…).

She quotes me a price of $800.00. I callNorm the seller, and wine a little. Heagrees to cover half of the shipping. Thecarrier is bonded, and out of Conn. I’mbeginning to feel better. I call the seller,and make arrangements for the pick-upwith Ed the trucker, who says it’ll takeabout 2 days (keep in mind I have hadseveral “friends” who have generouslyadvised me that they knew of peoplewhere it took 2 months, and their car was

in a parking lot in north Jersey forweeks…) Anyhow Ed shows up 2 dayslater in a new Ford 250 with a gooseneck5th wheel two car trailer with my little“puppy” the only car on board. He handsme the keys and says “You drive it off.Norm drove it on, I don’t touch ‘em”. Wellshe started right up, WOW!

As delivered the car was ok, but wasclearly in need of some serious TLC!Years of neglect made this little “ray ofsunshine” just a little rough around theedges. I started by replacing the floorwhich was pretty well rotted away fromsitting outside (the car is after-all nearly30 years old…), but the purpose builtboxed frame is solid. Next we tackledthe engine, a tune-up here did wonders,coupled with the removal of some of theunnecessary plumbing. She now runs sosweetly! She buzzes along effortlessly at65, with occasional bursts of 70-75, andhas plenty of pedal left. After tacklingthe floor and the engine, it was evidentthat the tranny was going to need whatlooked like serious attention. The reverselock-out was majorly temperamental.Sometimes preventing any access to re-verse at all, and other times allowing ac-cess anytime(scary…)not good! 1st gearwas also occasionally an issue. Anyhow,one night during a web-surf adventure, Idiscovered a Chevette forum.(low andbehold there is some kind of world-wideChevette cult thing going on! In Austra-lia, and Scandinavia a road racing seriesbased on Chevettes. In central southernUS a mini-stock class all Chevettes) Any-how after an inquiry there, one recom-

mendation was to change the oil in thetransmission to synthetic. WOW, one ofthe few times in my life when some hocus-pocus type therapeutic gimmick actuallyworked, but after 6 or 7 hundred milesthe transmission was working great!

So what’s next? The interior, after allthose years outside, was pretty sorry. Sowe the all new “pleatha” deal (you know,the stuff that’s made from those hides ofthe nearly extinct critters — the Naugas,the only known surviving members of thespecies are reputed to be on that obscurelittle island off the coast of Maine—I thinkit’s called Vinal-haven…)

Once the new caahhpeting was in, myfriend Martin fabricated an all new ¾ inchsolid cherry dashboard to replace the olddelaminated plywood on. It even has aglove box, which the original didn’t have.We topped that all off with a new woodrimmed steering wheel.

Recently we replaced the radiator, andthe crankcase and valve cover gaskets,as well as one of the bumpers. So afterpainting the wheels, I guess that’s wherewe’re at with our Work In Progress.

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February22nd BCNH Birthday Party

March3rd Meeting at Weathervane, Bedford

16th Maple Syrup Run, BenningtonVT, hosted by Berkshire British MotorClub

22-23rd NH Maple Weekend

April4-6th Kimber Festival at Owls HeadMuseum, Owls Head ME

7th Meeting at Weathervane, Bedford

May3-4th Mid Maine Sports Car Clubweekend, Maine

5th Meeting at Weathervane, Bedford

10th Annual BCNH Tech Session

18th BNH Dinner Drive TBD

31-June 8th British Car Week

31-June 1st Owls Head Spring AntiqueCar Show

June1st British-by-the-Sea, Hosted by theConnecticut MG Club, Harkness Park,

BCNH 2014 Calendar of Events

Waterford, CT

2nd Meeting at Weathervane, Bedford

7-8th Manchester Antique Car Show,Manchester VT

7-8th Round The World Rally, Maine

14th BCNH Saturday Breakfast Drivetour of the Covered Bridges ofSouthwestern NH

21st Queen’s Birthday Party, Doris &Paul Karle, Milford, NH

29th CT River Cruise

July7th Meeting at Weathervane, Bedford

11-13th British Motoring Festival,Windsor, Nova Scotia12th BCNH Breakfast Drive TBD

12th Castle in the Clouds Classic CarShow, Moultonborough, NH

20th BCNH Dinner Drive TBD

26th BCNH Show of Dreams

August1-3rd Vintage Racers at New HampshireMotor Speedway

4th Meeting at Weathervane, Bedford

17th BCNH Dinner Drive TBD

September8th Meeting at Weathervane, Bedford

13th BCNH Breakfast Drive TBD

13-14th Foreign Auto Festival, OwlsHead Museum, Owls Head ME

20-21st British Invasion Stowe VT

21st BCNH Dinner Drive TBD

27-28th Weekend in the NorthCountry, Bethlehem, NH

October6th Meeting at Weathervane, Bedford

11th BCNH Breakfast Drive TBD

19th BCNH Dinner Drive TBD

November3rd Meeting at Weathervane, Bedford

8th BCNH Breakfast Drive TBD

Decembertbd Holiday Party

2014 Events Calendarby Sue Macduff

Our calendar for 2014 is now starting tofill up. BCNH’s normal events are posted,monthly meetings, Saturday BreakfastDrive, Sunday Dinner Drives as well asour all important Show of Dreams. Wewill soon be having a planning session tofinalize the dates and details. I have listedsome other events that I was able to con-firm. If anyone knows of any others, docontact me and I will post them. We needideas for Breakfast and Dinner Drives.It would be nice to visit some museumsand other points of interest. They neednot be car related.

Once again this year, the British Motor-ing Festival located in historic Windsor,Nova Scotia will be held at the KingsEdgehill School which is the first indepen-dent school in Canada founded in 1788.This three-day event will be on July 11th-13th. On Friday evening there will be aninformal reception, Saturday the show andawards banquet, and on Sunday afterbreakfast, a tour then lunch. Several ofour members have been to this show andit is highly recommended.

The show attracts around 140 British carsas well as bikes and other British ma-chines. During the show some of the ac-tivities have included a walking tour to thenearby historic Haliburton House, a com-edy show, traditional English tea and modelairplane display. Many awards will begiven including one for who has traveledthe furthest.

The ferry, The Nova Star, which had beendiscontinued will start to run betweenPortland Maine and Yarmouth NovaScotia starting in May. It leaves in theevenings from Portland and fromYarmouth in the morning. Norm Michaels(Brit Bits) is planning to attend and is in-viting others to join him. Right now, hewill most likely take the evening ferry onThursday and return on either the Sun-day or Monday morning ferry. For thosewho would like a greater adventure, takea few extra days to drive the Cabot Trailor visit nearby Halifax. Several show at-tendees will be returning to Cape Bretonafter the festivities and I’m sure wouldwelcome others to join them to get up tothe area of the Cabot Trail.

The Cabot Trail is 185 miles long and com-pletes a loop around the Northern tip ofthe island and through the scenic CapeBreton Highlands. The Northern sectionpasses trough Cape Breton HighlandsNational Park. The Western and Easternsections follow the rugged coast line pro-viding spectacular views of the ocean. Ifyou plan to go, be sure to make reserva-tions early!

British Motoring Festival

15

The link for the show is http://www.britishmotoringfestival.com/. Rightnow this is for the 2013 show but theevents will mostly be the same this year.

If you have any questions, I will do mybest to help. 924-1066 orLucymac1@comcast.net

British Motoring FestivalWindsor

Nova Scotia

British Motoring Festival, Windsor, Nova Scotia

British Cars of New Hampshire22 Partridge Lane

Londonderry, NH 03053