By Dean Sprague
It was time for my annual pilgrimage to Maine. I try to visit family at least once a year but this year things kept getting in the way. Before we knew it was almost October and still we had conflicts. Finally my wife suggested that I go without her. David Poe was looking for a break so he agreed to ride sidesaddle and accompany me. I originally planned to take the Jaguar XF again but then I thought since my wife wasn’t coming we could make this an adventure and drive the yellow ‘71 MGBGT “Yellow Rose”. Sometimes taking a ridiculously long road trip in an old MG in lieu of an extremely comfortable fully insulated modern car can be therapy in itself.
Questions remained however about the possibility of doing it without mishap. I addressed this by checking everything on the car before we left. Since I had just resurrected the BGT from what I think was years of idleness and neglect this was a prudent idea. Actually this turned out to be a better idea than I thought. I found several deficiencies. While I had changed all the hydraulics recently I meant to check but overlooked the rear brake flex line. OK I forgot about it. Turned out it must have been the original. It was soft and gummy only to be off set by the hard and soon to be crumbly front flex lines so I changed all three. Even though I recently changed the rear wheel cylinders the right rear one was beginning to weep a bit so I changed it again. Also the taillights were very dim. I removed the lenses, cleaned them, polished the reflectors and installed super bright LED bulbs. Problem solved. I decided to re-torque the head, and re-check the valve adjustments as a precaution. Several head bolts were getting loose and four of the valve rockers were slightly concave. This required adjusting them with a dial indicator from the top but what a difference. It eliminated the entire valve train rattle problem. I also re-checked the carburetors and timing but they were still perfect. I checked all fluids, added all the spares I could find, beg or borrow, threw in a tool bag, plugged in the GPS and we were ready to go.
We decided to leave on a Saturday morning, stay on the Interstates and finish the trip on Sunday when traffic would be lighter in the Northeast. When we had consumed the 2nd tank of fuel “Yellow Rose” needed about half a quart of oil but otherwise all was going well. We luckily found a hotel in the rain about 7:30 PM near the New Jersey / New York state line. While eating at their restaurant we sat beside two chaps from England. They were finishing a motorcycle trip from Cape Cod to Key West and back and I thought we were having an adventure! They also had the pleasure of riding during hurricane Florence and based on their wind blown appearance I think they had all the “adventure” they wanted. I think they envied our trip in the closed MGB.
We headed out early Sunday morning after a good nights sleep. When we arrived in Belfast, Maine that afternoon the MGB asked for another 8 ounces or so of oil but aside from that she needed nothing. I noticed something while running on I-495 around Boston. The 1.8-liter Austin engine seemed to be smoothing out. In fact when we stopped for a break I noticed the interior of the tail pipe had turned from black to a light brown. I think the rings were seating. Of course, when you travel at 68 to 70 mph for hours on end without overdrive the rpms must stay at 3800 rpm or a little above. Thank goodness I was running Amsoil Z Rod 20/50 full synthetic, the oil pressure never faltered.
My youngest son Chris flew up the next day and stayed a week with us so we used his rental car to do the heavy traveling. The remaining week however we used the MG. When in Maine during late fall temperatures can drop unexpectedly and they did. Unfortunately I left the 160-degree thermostat in the car without a blanking sleeve so she barely reached operating temperatures. Another oversight but I have since addressed it.
When the visiting was finished we said our goodbyes and headed south again on a Saturday morning. All went well (aside from some more rain) until around Conn. When we developed a little rattle underneath. We stopped at a rest stop and discovered the rear muffler bolt had escaped to points unknown. David gladly sacrificed a coat hanger and I wire twisted it on. Then all was well until I pushed the fuel levels a little too far and we were forced to stop at the first station we could find. It was not self serve and it was not cheap. I paid (it was my turn to re-fuel) $4.99 a gal in New Jersey! Lesson learned, always leave a cushion.
We stopped for the night in Hershey, Penn. Turned out it was the weekend of their famous classic car show, which we just missed, rats. We started out early again and drove home without further incident.
We averaged about 24 mpg and stopped consuming oil all together from New Jersey south. David commented on how comfortable the GT was. In fact he said it felt like riding in a modern car. The fun part about taking a classic on the road is the looks you get combined with honks and thumbs raised in the air. When you stop people always come up to look at the car and comment something like this, “ I never knew they made a hardtop version” or “you don’t see those much anymore” or “I used to own one but the electrics and/or carburetors were such a problem I sold it”. Of course, you always hear, “I had a friend who had one, I had one or I always wanted one”. Several people commented on the Primrose Yellow paint and how much they liked it better than the standard British Racing Green they see on most of these cars. That was comforting; I like the color too.
I decided before we left that this would probably be the last major trip I would ever take in an LBC but somewhere along the way I realized that this was so much fun I just might do it again…well maybe.
