A couple weekends ago we opened the doors to the RROC and ended up at the Highland House Farm and Roost for lunch.
It was a great excuse to get our 1935 Bentley out of storage and back on the road.
Hamish Crawford kindly showed us around his Winery including his many British cars that share space with fermentation vessels! Out of this setup comes 100% local Saanich wine such as The Laird’s Ginger Sweethart which is apparently good to mix with scotch!
Following advice from Earl Kagna we started with the doors on our BJ8 restoration which led to the removal of the dash pad, front window and fenders.
This alone yielded numerous surprises including a sample of the original British Racing Green under the dash pad. Furthermore the car was very straight with all the inner fenders nicely intact.
Typical for this model, we were forced to immediately call Austin Healey AutoFarm Canada and order the inner, intermediate and outer sill pieces which will correct this car back to 100%.
With all the fenders off we carefully pried the center aluminum shroud off the car, eventually defeating the mastic plant resin to reveal the engine and chassis superstructure in one fell swoop.
Colin Fitzgerald always brings out the best cars to Van Dusen and this year he showed the first production MG T-series car, a 1936 MG TA. This very car paved the way for the famous MG TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD and MG TF line of cars.
That means this is the first MG sportscar made after Morris took control of the marque and demanded a cheaper alternative to the expensive racing cars of MG’s earlier history. This also makes it the first MG to have a pushrod engine, hydraulic brakes and hydraulic dampers.
Unique to this car are 15-louvre hood panels, a different door shape, longer rear fenders and an early PB-Type dashboard. The chassis is number 251 which was the MG factories phone number at the time.
Among three Healey 100s that came from the Island for the VanDuesen show was this spectacular, restoration debut, 100M from owner Chris Yarrow.
This is what you could call a factory 100M which was shipped with competition features directly from the factory.
After subsequent purchase from the Daniel Doucette collection alongside a very original XK120, this 100M was restored by Rudi & Company with paint and body work by Coachwerks Automotive Restoration, chrome by Electroshine Metal Refinshers Ltd and upholstery by Tom Steger and Style’s Auto Upholstery.
Devil is in the details and Chris has gone to great lengths to get this car period correct.
1967 Jaguar E-Type Intake
Ran across this SU Carburetor rundown on Facebook and it’s a great primer by Carl Heideman for Classic Motorsports:
http://classicmotorsports.com/articles/simple-carbs/
Hot tip on tuning:
However, before the carbs are touched, ignition dwell and timing must first be correct. It’s a good idea to ensure valve clearances are correct as well. A quick check for vacuum leaks is next, and only once this is done is it time to move on to the carburetors.
