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MGF VEHICLE LOG |
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| Nov 2000 | November 2000 This is the month the car arrived. Collected from Nigel Bowden at Trident on 2nd Nov. Of course as soon as I proudly drove it away the heavens opened and it's hardly stopped since. Still managed to get the top off a couple of times.
Em was pretty keen to get in the drivers seat !
Nearly got to our first MG outing but the weather was so bad that we chickened out. Had a little trip along the North Downs to Polesdon Lacey with the
top down - got my first few " MG Waves " on the way as well !
Also got to my first Runnymede Owners Club meeting - a quiz night
at the Crown. I felt a little lost at first but they seem a friendly bunch.
Another posed photo - at Englefield Green
Feb meeting of MGOC had a talk on Surrey's Industrial history which was actually quite interesting. Took Jay Peg on a first trip to the continent at the end of Feb. A week driving around the snowy roads of Northern France based at the Chateau Tilques. Picked up a lot of mud and the poor car was an interesting shade of pink when we got back due to the salt deposits !! Still running smoothly.
Well we were going to the Cobweb Run at Hursley Park but didn't as I came down with a 24hr bug on the very day !. Got the bad news that the Kimber run has been postponed due to Foot & Mouth at Chatsworth. Jay Peg did stretch her legs a bit with a trip to Northampton. As usual weather is appalling so very few opportunities to go topless. This is turning in to a bit of a monthly weather report - but it's till damp and cold with the odd dry day here and there.. Been driving the car to work around the M25 quite a lot this month - managed to have the top down a few times as well. April 15th was the MG Era day at Brooklands so we took the car along and had a good morning - a few F's were there parked up on the banking including a purple one with interesting mods. See Events page for piccies etc. At the end of the month we went for a spin to St Austell to check out the Eden Project, Good motoring down the A303 although we hit a huge pall of smoke from a foot & mouth pyre beside the A30 in Devon with the top down - so it was a case of hold your breath and put your foot down. April has been a bit busy on the MG front - We also went on our first official run in the car - the Surrey Run 2001 organised by Epsom MGOC - see events page for more info. On the ferry across the estuary at Fowey . The grey haired man in the background had owned his L reg B roadster since new !! A quiet month on the MG front - the weather improved though with several top down sunny days and drives. Made the Runnymede group meeting this month which ended up as a noggin and natter session as the management of the Crown hadn't reserved the conservatory. It was time for the 12 month service - carried out at Trident - after being relieved of £146 they gave the car the all clear after spraying grease everywhere, took me ages getting it off the wheels !. Whilst doing this I noticed a screw in the rear tyre and thought I'd whip it off down to the menders - I found that it is true what they say about the alloy wheels melding with the hub - the thing was impossible to get off ! Had to get the tyre company to prise the wheel off - I'm going to have to try the others I guess. June 17th saw the first Runnymede group outing - not to Parham Rally as anticipated ( thanks to cancellation due to Foot & Mouth) but to Stratfield Saye - the Duke of Wellingtons country seat. we chose the only cold day amongst a bevy of sunny ones for the drive down. Three MG's actually made it plus an Alfa Romeo (John's Midget sprung a fuel leak !) for the short run to the house. We braved the elements and picnicked in the grounds marvelling at the competition to see who could trap their fingers in the foldaway picnic tables first. After lunch we had a pleasant walk around the house and grounds before heading deeper in to Hampshire to visit Liz's parents.
The following week was a blistering hot weekend and the Runnymede crowd were having a picnic by the Thames on the sunday. We decided at the last minute to venture further afield and set off early morning for Northamptonshire and the MG Car Club anuual event - Silverstone 2001 - a great day - see events. Strangely the weather has been pretty good this month so the roof has been down most of the time. Took JayPeG down to the seaside in the middle of the month for a bit of a paddle at Westover Hall in Milford on Sea - great fun cruising through the dappled lanes of the New Forest and being blown about on the clifftops.
At the front of Westover Hall
Sunday 22nd saw us at the Southern National Event in Leatherhead amidst much excitement - see events for an exciting development. Runnymede MGOC annual General Forum at the end of the month - decided on the xmas dinner venue - must pay for the skittles evening as well !. Following the Southern National I have taken to polishing more bits of the car including taking the wheels off and using auto glym Clean Wheels - as previously mentioned they do have a tendency to stick - the front nearside caused a problem and it took many hefty kicks to get the darn thing off! Now I've cleaned all the grease and brake residue off them - scraped off the oxidisation and given them all a good greasing - let's hope it does the trick. Fantastic hot weather this month for going topless. The 5th August saw us driving up the M40 to Gaydon - the second time running here but last time we only had the Rover 620ti to go in - this time we had the F !. See events This was the only MG event we got to this month otherwise it was a bit low key as befits the balmy summer days - at least the roof didn't go up too much. After Gaydon I did get around to joining the MG Car Club so am now part of the MGF Register. A busy MG month - the first three weekends saw us at three different events. - The South Downs Run , The Kimber Run (rescheduled from April) and the MG Car club SE Area Autumn Gathering in Paddock Wood, Kent. You can read all about these events in the MGEvents section - in particular another prize winning day out in Kent !!! Decided to put some mudguards on with the damper weather of autumn approaching - this meant taking the wheels off again - and oh such joy - they came off without any problem - still having a problem with the grease being spun on to the wheels though - If you can find some other non greasy anti seizing agent I would use that instead !. The mudguards seem to work OK not that I've been through any serious mud but should protect against stone chips on the sills with any luck. Other than this the Runnymede club had an evening of early recording instruments where every scratchy inaudible tune happened to be Merie's favourite and seemed to involve songs about Little Willy's ! - didn't have a lot to do with MG's but there were gears and fine oils involved alongside the wax cylinders. The Treasure Hunt at the end of the month was an event I'd been looking forward to and had been put off several times throughout the Summer - finally we got together at the Rose & Crown in Thorpe where there were masses of cars parked all over the verges - a great turn out - but it was for the football tournament being held on the green rather then the Runnymeder's Run. We turned up in JayPeg trying to spot the other MG's but spotted only one other, Tony's V8 MGBGT - then we realised the other contestants had arrived in various obscure models of MG - the MG 175 , MG Focus, MG 318........We set off on a short scenic run to Clandon where we arrived too early for the Publican and had to wait for noon to be let in for our sunday lunch. By this time the rain had begun and various members were looking worried about the dampness - it seemed the Treasure will lay undiscovered for several more months as the majority outvoted Liz and I and the hunt was cancelled - and we were the only ones in a rag top !. Managed to get my name in the October edition of "Enjoying MG" in the report on the Southern National Event - I'm in the results section typically mispelt as "M R Morris" !! (that's because they didn't write my first name down and put Mr Morris instead - hence M.R.) . Still all is not lost in the publication stakes - I'm also on the MG Car Club website under South East Region Events for the Car of the Show award ...just follow the link >>>>>here !. You can just about see the back of the car in the second picture - and the back of Mrs M if you look carefully. The December issue of "Safety Fast" might have a show report - we'll wait and see. Runnymede meeting this month featured Chris Bantun from Trident speaking about the Z cars and future productions. Had a bit of trouble with the suspension system this month. I'd been noticing that the car was increasingly scraping the pavement trying to get over the hump into our driveway - this turned out to be due to the Hydragas giving up the ghost - it measured 330mm on the offside and 355mm on the nearside giving the car an interesting lopsided stance. It was back to Trident to pump the system up and do the four wheel alignment to correspond - the car now sits all round at just under 365mm and manages to get into the driveway without scraping now ! Incidentally MGRover recommend that the height is 368mm + or - 10mm. It's becoming fairly popular to lower the hydragas further for a sleeker appearance to the car but beware of going below 340mm as you risk damage to the suspension and handling - if you are thinking of it then fit lowering knuckles ! It is a problem worth keeping an eye on with the F - usually caused by air bubbles in the system. So at least the car was now set up for a trip around Picardy. Drove down the coast road from Calais stopping for a walk on the beach along the way before heading South to Montreuil Sur Mer (which is no where near the sea actually) and on to the Abbaie St Andre - our Gite for the next few days. Put in a good few miles touring the Vallee de Authie and around the deserted seaside towns surrounding the Baie de La Somme. We also took a poignant drive around the Somme battlefield surrounding Albert - stopping at the huge British memorial at Thriepval and the Memorial Park at Beaumont Hamel with it's preserved trenches. Couldn't find any decent restaurants open in the evening though, that's the trouble with being so far out of season. The car ended up coated in mud from all the tractors and lorries collecting the piles of root vegetables that lined the roadsides. Oh and don't believe that the tunnel is quick - it took us an hour and a quarter to get back through it - signal failures meant we kept stopping under the sea.
Check out the Dec/Jan edition of MG World (available at all good newsagents) turn to page 8 and with the aid of your magnifying glass you can see me and Liz sitting behind JayPeG in the background. (Actually it's the same picture that's on the MG Car Club website). A bit of a plus is that I'm the only one mentioned by name in the article !. The November Runnymede meeting also meant the yearly MG panto complete with Tony acting as the club secretary and the wicked wizard (are they not the same thing ?) and struggling gamely with a rapidly fading voice !. With much hissing and shouts of "behind you" the players managed to include a good selection of characters from the club and the various club outings in the course of the 6 act play. Thankfully the festivities were washed down with a pint of Youngs Special and mince pies. At last there's another F'er in the club - well done Kevin for taking the plunge with his silver R Reg 1.8i. Well it's been a pretty good year for our first full year of MG motoring - lots of runs with the MG and loads of nice days with the roof down and even a couple of European trips thrown in. To top it all were the two prizes won at the MGOC southern event and the MG Car club Autumn Gathering - they fill a nice space on the mantlepiece. December saw the Runnymede Christmas dinner held at Rumbles in Shepperton. Chairman Tony turned up to draw the raffle and sadly I didn't manage to win one of the gold model MGB's. A fine evening was enjoyed by all but I noticed the only one actually driving away in an MG was Kevin in his new F ! (that included us as we took the Punto !)
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