1983

 

The first Crier of 1983 carried the dateline, December 1982/March 1983 and

opened with the promised interview with Gerry Goguan. He was introduced by

Bauer as "having been operating Abingdon Spares for a considerable time,

during most of which he was primarily engaged as a player with the Boston

Symphony Orchestra, selling pistons and spark plugs on the side. However, the

parts business grew and now represents Gerry's principal vocation." Goguan

played trumpet and had been in both the Boston Symphony and the Pops.

 

I bought a brand new TD in '53. It was, at that time, the most popular

foreign car sold in this country. In my apartment building, a guy in a TD

used to wake me up every morning [driving down]a long driveway and

a dirt road full of bumps....I just could not believe the sound that this guy

was making....One day I talked with him in the yard and right after that I

went to a dealer and tried one and bought it.  I got so excited driving it I

wanted to become a dealer....I used to go to Inskip [in New York City] to

talk about cars....So I became a dealer [in 1955]. I picked up a TF 1500, the

first to get one, for a local motor show. The next year I was the first to get

an MGA, again for the February show."

 

In the late '50s I started buying T-types. We used to have double rehearsal

in a day and I had about three hours to kill [at Foreign Motors in Boston].

While chatting, these cars would be coming in and I started buying them.

Once, there was this one for about $750. He said it needed an engine job.

It was black with red leather, so I bought it, took it home, took the head

off - a blown head gasket. I put a new gasket on and the thing just sung.

Then I started buying these cars, restoring and selling them and soon I

started collecting parts....People who knew I had extra parts would

call....I decided that if there is a demand in it, maybe I should start looking

for parts instead of cars.

 

One day Foreign Motors called to say [they were dropping parts] and to

come get theirs. It took days to carry this stuff home....Traveling with the

orchestra I was going to dealers combing out their parts. I bought out

Inskip in New York [and] Manhattan Motors in Washington D.C. [when

they moved into Maryland]. There were a lot of new and used parts, but

nice, clean and everything tagged.

 

I used to spend my four week holiday in England, a knapsack on my

back. I went to Birmingham, highly industrialized.... and realized 'That's

it!' I started walking around and knocking on doors, 'Can you do this?'

'Sure, how many?' What is the price?' Every year I would do that and to

this day I have the same people...I have 186 suppliers. [Regarding

pre-war stock] I have had them for a long time [but] I have mostly

electrical and brakes....I [plan to stay with the T-series.] Ten years ago, my

wife told me the age of restoration of the T-type is over, and this year was

the first that it let up. Is it the times or the economy?  Will there be a point

where these cars are all restored? In England I was warned years ago that

I should go into the MGAs.

 

I have 36 different models of MG. I have some cars that I have had for

years, some running chassis, and enough used parts that I can bring them

back to life and I want to. I bought a building in Vermont [with a

restoration shop in the back] and hope to have my museum there. I have

25 cars that are good enough for a museum. I can put them in without

touching them.

 

Goguan had left the orchestra four years before the interview but had taken on

his town's 'big band era group" that performed six times a year to raise money

for music scholarships.

 

The remainder of the December/March issue had a center section registration for

the July 1983 XXVII   summer GOF at Quaker Square in Akron, checks payable to

Dick Hall, and a short story on the meet by the Halls.

 

 

In the June 1983 issue Editor Bauer opened with an interview with George and

Doris Dorris, then of Jackson, Texas. They had had "one of the more disastrous

events that can happen in the lives of old car enthusiasts, a garage fire." The

interview reviewed in detail what Bauer had reported briefly in the preceding

issue.

 

"George had parked in his garage a newly acquired TC to occupy the space

beside the green premier TC (the second place premier car at Jekyll Island) and

the Morgan....Apparently, a trickle of gasoline coming from the TC made contact

with a kerosene heater and the resulting explosion and fire wrote off the green

TC, severely damaged the new TC (an original low mileage car), a Morgan and

most of his pars and tools....The house was badly smoke damaged."

 

In the in-person interview, more damage was reported. Also lost was the hood tr

a TD, though it was parked outside, and fire damage to the front of an MGA'

George was planning to restore "what's left" of the two TCs, a '46 and a'49,but

said only of the Morgan, "it's bad news." The report also gave evidence d

support and sharing of parts from fellow MG owners.

 

Chairman Johnson urged attendance at the upcoming GOF in Baltimore to retain

the Michigan/Ohio chapter Beaulieu Cup Challenge noting the determination

voiced by the Michigan Chapter to recapture the cup. Dan Glow wrote d

burned valves and Manley Ford contributed a short report on the MS Safety Fast

Championship, a part of the Southern Vintage Racing Association's fall event in

Atlanta. Ohio's only entrant, Tom Scott, had finished second in the street class

race. The events calendar listed 1,0 more events before a fall GOF in Perrysburg.

 

 

By September the Crier had a report of the NEMGTR GOF in Baltimore, which

had been attended by 19 families and 12 cars. The Ohio Chapter had won the

Ohio/Michigan Beaulieu Cup for the second consecutive year with 6,489

aggregate miles. And Ohioans took other awards: 1st Vintage - Dick Hall 1st,

Post War Variant - Tom Baumgardner; and Honorable Mention TC - Paul

]Johnson. Ken and Kathy Kubick had come in first in the rallye.

 

Editor Bauer's report on the mid-July Ohio GOF, number XXVII, was headlined,

"Lordy, Lordy, What a Party!" The meet had been "within the typical framework

of the July GOF, nothing really typical ever happens." ft was host Dick Hall's

birthday, members slept in the a converted grain elevator (the Quaker Square

Hilton), and there had been the surprise appearance of "the dancing girl and her

related equipment-I mean the bells and balloons." Bauer also had attended the

fall NEMGTR in Cooperstown to promote the Register's national meet that the

Bauers would host at King's Island in September. Of interest on his 750 mile run

home was that he had averaged 56.5 mph, "and I never drove faster than 58!"

 

The Q & A feature for the issue was an interview with Dan Glow. It covered his

partnership in a motorcycle business, his ongoing affair with MGs from age 15,

and numerous trips, including racing with Bob Satava in the latter's car at Lime

Rock. But the essence of the interview was the relationship Dan and Rita had

with other MG owners; the people were of more value than the cars. Excerpted

comments from Dan reflect his fondness for and admiration of MG people.

 

What really keeps you coming back all the time is the people involved.

The guy who calls you up on the phone and says, 'Hey Dan, I have a

problem with this,' and you say 'Well, I will be over in a little while and

we will see if we can't work it out.' Likewise, if you are in trouble and

you say, 'Hey, how about loaning me a rear end or loaning me an axle,' or

whatever the case may be, the guy comes right over with it. And it isn't

just the par! it's the thought behind it that counts and the fact that he's

doing it for you. I don't think there is another group in the world like

that.

 

I used to carry the master Register listing of members by zip

codes...because it gave you people by geographical location. In one case

in Alabama...Rita and I rapped on this guy's door and he said 'come right

on in' and we were there until midnight. I think there has got to be some

sort of attraction between a certain type personality, a certain composure,

who tend to get along with each other and who like the cars.

 

Once I was too late on a hotel reservation so we spent the night with

Birdie and Fay Nickols in their room. It's the kind of thing tr

do....Somebody in the Register comes up to your place and knocks on

your door and you say, 'Yeah,sure come on in. Have a beer. Have coffee.

You want to stay over night? We have a room. Here's the key to the joint.'

That is the fellowship of the club.

 

Of the future, Dan said he expected to see more professional restorations, though

his pleasure came from doing his own work, as did "most of the hard core of the

Register." Looking at the Register membership, the recent growth had been

"phenomenal" with a current membership of six or seven thousand. Other MG

groups in the west were having the same growth. "So the question becomes, do

we reach a plateau and fractionalize, or does it keep going? I think we will see a

lot more local chapters." He thought there would be some segments such as

racing, which was getting more popular with "more guys in the competition end

of it." And he thought "the trend of the show car is diminishing. People are

driving them more now because they were restored more mechanically sound

than before."

 

The December Crier 1983 brought a report by Walt Foster who with his wife,

Rhea Mae, concluded a tour through England with a visit to "the MG Holyland,

Abingdon." There was a report titled "Toledo Was Terrific" with plaudits to Bob

and Christie Bellaire, chairs of the Ohio fall GOF. And there was on "Open

insurance Letter" from Will Kennard, CPCU, discussing the policies members

had on their T-cars. The focus was on homeowners policies and auto coverage,

and the basic coverage he recommended. It was an example of what Dan Glow

had spoken of, members helping members. Dan's tech column spoke to "quality

driving techniques that would increase the life of any and all components in

your MG."