R W Burgess

Curious, did he sell this car?

Years ago, I was working the membership tent in the Hershey field when this little old fellow came up to me to renew his membership. I gave him the application sheet to fill out. He handed his old card back to me asking if I could help him. I looked at the card then looked up at him, seeing this big wide smile. We busted out laughing. Of course, Sonny was a life member. No renewal needed! I'll never forget that day! Wayne

Sorry to hear of your Dad's passing David!

It's been 12 to 14 at the most. We are in rural Virginia, lots of other places for them to go to. I'll take pictures next time.

I drove my 56 Chevy to a cruise in Tappahannock this morning. Only 8 cars showed up but we had fun anyway. No point in having an old car, if you don't drive it.

Not yet Howard, except on ether. 😁 The electric pump would not pump any of the 6 new gallons I put in the tank. I am going to blow air backwards through the line tomorrow, hopefully it won't hurt the pump. After that I jumped in the blue 1926 Chrysler trying to start her. After a couple tries I found the fuel line valve was shut off. Big dummy. She started right up. She does have a small fuel tank leak. I need to address that next.

As you near an age of 75 or over you will realize that the whining stops, probably be lucky to even hear the engine sound. Another good thing is that the wife's whining decreases too!!!! (:-)

Amazing, I am dealing with this very thing right now. I will pull the gas line off the Carb and drain it, as the 1929 Essex has an electric fuel pump. Some may remember my old alcohol still in the back seat??? A story for another time! Wayne

Nice looking car!

Looked much better in white walls...just my opinion!

Picture of the V-16???

and....which state is the EASIEST!!! 😂

Great story Frank. I see you fix things like I do.....BIG hammer will get them right every time!! ☺️

An interesting article from a few years ago..... Look, you guys know I'm a big proponent of driving your cars and using them as intended. I do drive my old cars daily whenever possible. However, I don't think I'm being a hypocrite here. This latest example of adults without brains is exactly why my patience is shot and my energy is gone and my interest in cars is plummeting. Yes, I frequently get the question, "Can I drive it daily?" on cars we're selling, which I typically take to mean, "Is it reliable?" I usually say yes with the caveat that it's an old car and will require commensurately more maintenance and tinkering than a modern car. That's why there were full-service gas stations and why tune-ups, valve jobs, ring jobs, and other labor-intensive processes were part of a regular car's life cycle. Go in with your eyes open, but yes, old cars can be made to be daily-driver reliable. A relatively normal transaction, although the guy used some kind of farm equipment bank to lend him the money to buy it. Whatever. He did ask about daily driver reliability, and I told him it was probably as good as such cars could be, but there's certainly a reason why MGs (and other British cars) have the reputation they do. Today he calls and says he likes the car but he can't get insurance for it. What?!? How about Hagerty? JC Taylor? Grundy? State Farm? Literally any insurance company that insures old cars should have no problem with an MG TD. Ah, here's the rub: this guy really does intend to drive this car every day. In Rhode Island. In January. And no, he doesn't have any other cars. This will be his only car. Seriously? If someone asked me to name the worst possible cars that you could still technically drive every day, I'd probably get to an MG before I was out of fingers on my first hand. No windows, no heater, no defroster, marginal wipers, marginal lighting, tiny taillights, and 60 horsepower with tepid performance, never mind the total lack of safety equipment and the Impale-O-Matic steering column. Oh, and it's small enough to become little more than bug splatter on the front of a modern Dodge Ram, which will plow through an MG without even scratching the bumper. Are you INSANE? Hell, three days of driving that thing in high-speed commuter traffic on sunny days would make me give it up, but trying to make it work in a New England winter?!? WTF dude? Like, the BIGGEST of WTF?s for you. I have to take the car back and refund his money, right? That's what he's asking me to do. I can't leave him out there like that. Even a light fender bender in this car could be fatal. No mainline insurance company in the world would insure that. It's like trying to get them to issue life insurance when you tell them your full-time hobby is sticking your head in the oven and inhaling the fumes. This is only the latest edition of how we have to constantly protect grown adults from their own stupidity and it's friggin' exhausting. This waterhead just cost me a bunch of money and hurt the marketability of the car, all because he was so stupid as to think this would be a good way to get around town in today's world. Am I being unreasonable? Is this even remotely a sane choice for winter transportation? I hear all kinds of stories about MGs in awful weather, but it's usually connected to "The worst driving experience I ever had," and remembered with fondness only because it's over, the way I tell amusing anecdotes about remembering getting my wisdom teeth yanked out of my head with pliers because it was 35 years ago.

* * Very nice car. Instead of buying a new pick up, I think this would be a better investment!

Decals!! https://store.aaca.org/merchandise/accessories/emblem-patches-stickers-decals.html

Boy, I'm glad to see Rants and Raves back! I will have to read more thoroughly when I have more time.

+ I understand that the Wilmington NC group is doing much better, maybe Matt Hinson can give us update? W.

We have a local region in Virginia that is close to folding up, because they can not find someone to step up to the plate and become their leader, their President. Their present President has been there for 12 years. He needs a break. I just wonder does anyone have any new ideas to help prevent the club from closing down??? Wayne

Follow this link guys, really cool Corvette History! https://forums.aaca.org/topic/405208-corvette-history/ Wayne

Really cool Corvette History! https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/car-of-the-week-1954-chevrolet-test-bed-corvette

So sorry to hear of this. I worked many years with Sherman on the AACA Publications Committee. He loved scoring regional newsletters. He was always fun to talk to and be with. You will be missed Sherman. Wayne

West, it's "God only knows!" Beach Boys! :-)

I am getting regular e-mails from the Hershey thread!

* I understand that the Hershey corporation had a special event set up for this weekend, which is why we put a day behind.