December, 2018

British Automobile Owners Association

Newsletter Dedicated to Educating people about, and the Enjoyment and Preservation of, British Automobiles!

ou’re invited to the BAOA Christmas

Party on Saturday, December 8, 2018

starting at 15:16:17 MST!

Unhitch your British steed and canter down

to the party at Andrea and Kevin Kittle’s home at

295 Sandía Rd., NW; 345-4207.

Luck will serve our victuals. Every type of cuisine is

needed: appetizers, beverages, desserts, entrees, sides, &

vegetables. Bring your favorite or special dish to share.

Everyone is invited and welcome!

The party will begin at 3:15PM on Saturday, December 8.th

If you have other merriments to attend, late comers will be invited

in, but early arrivers will have to stand out in the cold!

Don’t dally, Christmas will soon be here. The

BAOA Christmas Party kicks off the season with a

gathering of your best friends!

Exchange a gift with your

BAOA friends by bringing

a British car-related tree

ornament/gift to hang on

the tree. (Host gets first

pick at 17:18:19).

Calendar of Events

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December, 2018

The December 22nd BAOA Fourth Saturday Breakfast will be at The Ponderosa Family Restaurant & Grill!

We will meet at the Einstein Bagels at the southwest corner of

Central and Tramway at 9:00AM with a planned departure of 9:30AM.

(The Ponderosa opens at 10:00AM.)

We will take Historic Route 66 to Tijeras, then south on Hwy. 337 to

The Ponderosa at 10676 New Mexico 337, Tijeras, NM 87059; (505) 281-1181.

Join in the Christmas-time driving fun in the mountains, or meet us there!

Dec. 8: BAOA Christmas Party Every type of cuisine is needed: appetizers,

beverages, desserts, entrees, sides, & vegetables.

Bring your favorite or special dish to share.

Kittle Residence

295 Sandía Rd., NW; 345-4207; 03:16:17PM.

Dec. 22: Fourth Saturday Breakfast Ponderosa Family Restaurant & Grill

10676 NM 337, Tijeras, NM 87059; 281-1181;

The fun begins at 9:00AM.

Jan. 9: Membership Meeting Tomasita's Albuquerque

4949 Pan American Freeway, NE; 344-1204;

Dinner 6:30PM, Meeting 7:30PM.

Jan. 16: Board Meeting Smedinghoff Residence (potluck)

111 White Tail Rd., NE; 856-6712; 6:30PM.

Jan. 26: Fourth Saturday Breakfast The Egg & I

6909 Menaul Blvd., Ste. 300; 888-3447; 9:00AM.

MGB Metal Piece Discovered In Oil by Jonathan Andersen

Regarding technical preparation for the British Car Rendezvous in Taos, NM, I forgot

to mention that when I changed the oil I found a piece of broken gear tooth. What

was I going to do about this? Mary looked at the broken piece of metal, and said it

looked exactly like the ancient Roman dagger tip that Josh Gates found in Italy while

filming Expedition Unknown. I explained to her that it was highly unlikely that Roman

weaponry found its way into our MGB crankcase.

I consulted with the members of the “Gathering of the Faithful”, alias Saturday

coffee and tire kick at the Taos Garage. Mike stated that there were three likely

scenarios for the piece of broken tooth; distributor drive gear, oil pump drive gear,

and worst case the camshaft. Mike gave me both gears and a distributor housing to

take home and ponder next steps.

A week later after driving the “Green Hornet” MGB to Cars and Coffee up on

Jefferson Blvd., and listening for aberrant noises, I decided to pull the distributor

drive gear and check for damage. That scenario seemed to be the easiest to run to

ground.

I found two excellent John Twist, University Motors videos for removal and

replacement of MGB distributor drive gears. One video depicted engine out with head

off, and the other the engine in the car.

I decided to enlist the help of my friend Gary who had offered his assistance.

Gary is not a British Car guy, but he has always admired my MG, and liked the idea of

getting his hands dirty again. We got together for an early breakfast Saturday morn-

ing at the iconic Frontier Restaurant, on Central Ave., across the street from UNM.

During breakfast we put our attack plan together.

After re-watching the John Twist videos we went out to the Man Cave, rolled up

our sleeves and went to work. The first thing we did was took a “Selfie.” The next

thing we needed to do was set the timing to Top Dead Center (TDC). I shared with

Gary it had taken days to figure out how to do this. John Twist used a 1 5/16" box

end wrench to turn the pulley bolt. It worked great. I didn’t have one and the largest

one Lowes had was an 1 1/4". I tried accessing the bolt from the bottom. Sockets,

wrenches, extensions etc., didn’t seem to solve the problem with tools available. So

next I jacked up the rear end, put the car in gear, and started spinning the wheels.

After a spinning my wheels endlessly, I gave up. Next I tried turning the ignition over

it short bursts … the car never stopped on TDC.

To obtain TDC here’s what I learned to do. First take off the valve cover to

observe valve movement. Next take out the spark plugs. This relieves compression

making it easier to turn the engine over. Next observe piston number one rising in

compression stroke. Gary and I used a Vernier Caliper to measure this. Now lay

down on your belly and look for the timing mark on the pulley. Once located, while

still laying down pull the car forward while in second gear until the pulley comes

around, and its marks line up with the first saw tooth on the timing chain cover. Then

the valve stems should be tight on cylinder #4 and loose on #1. In doing this we had

obtained TDC with cylinder #1 firing.

John Twist of University Motors said in one of the videos that MG should have

given the guy who came up with the idea of moving timing cover marks from 6

o’clock to 11 o’clock a million bucks. That way you could look down into the motor

to see the marks rather than laying on your belly. Now I understood why it was such

a good idea. MGAs and MGBs had the timing marks on the underbelly until 1972.

OK, with the car at TDC we removed the distributor with the rotor pointing at

#1 cylinder. Next we removed the distributor clamp. So far so good. Now it was time

to remove the flat head slotted screw that secures the distributor housing sleeve to

the block.

After spraying penetrant to lube the screw, it didn’t turn. We tapped the screw

vigorously using a large shorty screwdriver and a ball peen hammer...no luck. We

finally got the screw to come out. I used a 10" long screwdriver with a square shaft

and pushed hard into the slot. While I was doing that, Gary fitted a 10" crescent

wrench onto my screwdriver shaft, and with this leverage the screw turned.

With the screw out, it was time to remove the distributor housing, but it refused

to come out of the block. Once again John Twist was helpful. In his video he used a

blunt-end chisel and ball peen hammer, and moved the housing back and forth until it

came loose. We did that to. But before removing the housing we inserted a long bolt

(5/16" dia., 24 thread, 6" long) into the end of the distributor drive gear. I bought

the bolt at Remco Bolt on 3rd St. and Mountain Ave., in downtown Albuquerque,

a favorite outlet when shopping for hardware.

Once the housing was removed we attempted to remove the gear. Simple.

Except it wouldn’t come out. Before succumbing to a huge “Triumph Owner’s Ham-

mer” and brute force, we moved the car slightly to regain TDC. With all of our mon-

key business of banging on parts and bumping up against the car we had caused the

car to move the about 5 degrees ATDC. Drat!

After removing the gear, our visual inspection determined – ah hah! – no

missing teeth. Now all we had to do was clean everything up and put the car back

together. No problem. We installed the gear horizontally with the slotted big half up

to make sure the distributor was going back in the right way. The gear rotated slight-

ly counterclockwise to the 2 o’clock and 8 o’clock position (well kind of sort of).

After reassembling, re-timing and test driving the car, all was well. And after all this

work we were basically back to square one, except we had determined for sure that

the distributor drive gear was not the culprit.

Our assessment: we don’t think the car would run well with a partial tooth

missing from the camshaft because that would effect both the distributor and the oil

pump. We now think it more likely that the piece of tooth came from the oil drive

gear. That is accessible by removing the oil pan from underneath with the car on jack

stands. More fun.

What to do next? Someone at the Taos Garage said the car, as is, might get

another 50,000 miles. So for now I will do nothing. But if oil pressure suddenly

drops off the gauge, I’ll pull over, kill the engine, and call AAA.

To start with, I told Gary that the job would take about one hour. Then we could

go to the Taos Garage and tout our findings. Five hours later we were back up and

running. By then everyone at the “Gathering of the Faithful,” at the Taos Garage had

packed up and gone home.

Rendezvous Review by Jonathan Andersen

Attending the Río Grande Valley Regional Rendezvous in Taos,

New Mexico was a fine example of a Classic British Car Experi-

ence. Here’s how it went down for Jonathan and Mary.

While preparing my MGB for the Big Event, I inadvertently

spent time servicing and detailing Mary’s 2000 Jaguar S-Type.

The car was waxed, the fluids topped off, wheels and tires were

detailed. The inside was vacuumed and the leather upholstery

was slathered with leather enhancer. For a final touch, the four

headlamp lens were wet sanded and polished using a drill motor

and headlamp lens repair kit.

Mary and I had discussed whether we should take the MG or

take the Jaguar. Our battle cry; “One last hurrah for the MG.”

We’re getting old. Anyway, both the MG and the Jag were ready

for the Rendezvous in Taos.

On Thursday, the day before we were to leave for Taos, Mary

realized that she had lost part of her tooth. There was a filling

sticking down from the roof of her mouth but no tooth. She

called her dentist and arranged to be looked at on Friday morn-

ing at 10:30. The trip to Taos was in jeopardy. The health of

Mary’s tooth was our first priority.

Meanwhile there was a caravan of fifteen cars leaving for

Taos at ten o’clock, but we would not be able to make it. We

packed the Jag just in case the dentist could fix Mary’s tooth,

and he did. It was 11:30 when we got out of town and we were

and hour and a half behind the caravan. We didn’t want to drive

the MG without the safety of the caravan group. We knew that

the Jag could rocket up the Interstate, and that we could still get

to the Rendezvous on time. We let the caravan know what our

itinerary was so they would not worry about us.

After taking the Santa Fé bypass we headed north for

Pojuaque and a lunch stop at the Sopapilla Factory. We failed to

read the updated Club email directing drivers to Gabriel’s Res-

taurant just down the street. We thought it was strange that no

other British cars were at the restaurant.

With lunch over we drove to the Wells Fargo Bank meeting

point. No one was there and we incorrectly assumed we were

late. We zoomed off toward Taos thinking we needed to catch up

with the group. We arrived at the Hotel around one o’clock,

2½ hours ahead of the group. They had taken the “High Road”

scenic route that went through Truchas and Peñasco. We missed

out on a great drive.

After checking in at the Sagebrush Inn & Suites and

inspecting our room, which was right next door to one of the hot

tubs, we went shopping for a bathing suit. Mary had forgotten

hers. The traffic in Taos was horrific. A second-hand store owner

directed us to a Beal’s Department Store, where Mary scored big

on the clearance rack. No swim suit, but there was a combina-

tion of bits and pieces.

By late afternoon the Rendezvousers were piling in. A lot of

them were drinking beer, likely the result of long drives in classic

LBCs. At Happy Hour it was fun reconnecting with friends from

NM, Colorado, California, and even as far away as Missouri.

Then came the call for hors d’oeuvres so we migrated to a

banquet area.

We loaded up our plates with hors d’oeuvres and found

places to sit renewing old friendships. We were surprised to see

our friend Sally there; we hadn’t seen her in years. She still had

her MGB with the unique Southwest motif. Later at the Car

Show, her car got a 3rd place in the MGB Class. She was elated.

During this time we registered for the Rendezvous.

Thirty-seven teams registered. Each team received goodies that

included “Union Jack” bandanas, club logo beer glasses, various

maps and information about Taos. They also got a copy of the

latest Club Newsletter. In it there was a two-page article with a

picture of Jonathan and Mary & their Green MGB detailing

its preparation for the Rendezvous – too bad we had to take

the Jag.

In the morning we had breakfast and attended the Rally

Driver’s Meeting. When the instructions were handed out we

were told that there were two different sets of instructions. We

were warned not to follow anyone as they might have different

route instructions. It was a time distance rally. The Jag’s odome-

ter displayed down to the mile. The rally instructions indicated

down to the tenth of a mile. After a short yelling match Mary

pointed to some extraneous buttons on the dash. We stopped

the car by the side of the road, and figured out how to use them

– then we were off again.

Mary and I reached the intersection of Hwy. 64 and State

(Continued on page 6)

2018 Río Grande Valley Regional Rendezvous

Special Award Winners Rendezvous Champion

Ace Fry & Kate McKeough ························· 1979 Triumph TR-7

Broken Spoke

Jake & Lyric Morrison — Fire! 1963 Triumph TR-4.

Helping Hand

Somebody won the award, but nobody wants to take credit for blowing out or using a designer item of clothing to put

out the TR-4 fire.

Long Distance Award

Carol & Mack Hils from Missouri.

“Abel Miramon Award”

Given to Abel Miramon for his dedication to and promotion of the Rendezvous

for many years from the distant land of California.

2018 Río Grande Valley Regional Rendezvous

Motorcar Show Award Winners Assorted British Motorcars

1st Place, Rex Funk ·················································· 1963 Sunbeam Alpine GT

2nd Place, Bob Crain ················································ 1988 Caterham Super 7

3rd Place, Brad Hueftle ············································· 1969 Austin Cooper Bluestar

Jaguar

1st Place, Gene & Debra Toner ································ 1967 Jaguar E-Type

2nd Place, Kevin & Andrea Kittle ···························· 1986 Jaguar XJ6

3rd Place, Mary Sampaio & Jonathan Andersen ······ 2000 Jaguar S-Type

MGB

1st Place, Cody Keeler & Geraldine Monaghan ······· 1973 MG MGB

2nd Place, Steve Keppler ·········································· 1972 MG MGB

3rd Place, Sally Brown-Martinez ····························· 1979 MG MGB

MG - Other

1st Place, Angelo Gaziano & Susan Stephens ·········· 1951 MG TD

2nd Place, J.D. Strode ··············································· 1962 MG MGA Mk. II

3rd Place, Carol & Mack Hils ··································· 1953 MG TD

Triumph TR

1st Place, Steve Schwartz ········································· 1968 Triumph TR-250

2nd Place, Neal Meisner & Susan Nestor ················· 1962 Triumph TR-3B

3rd Place, Ace Fry & Kate McKeough ····················· 1979 Triumph TR-7

Triumph TR-6

1st Place, Andrew & Kitty Janiesch ························· 1971 Triumph TR-6

2nd Place, Abel Miramon ········································· 1969 Triumph TR-6

3rd Place, James & Minda Thrasher ························· 1973 Triumph TR-6

Triumph Spitfire & GT6

1st Place, Paul Miramon ··········································· 1970 Triumph GT6+

2nd Place, Curtis & Suzanna Kitts ···························· 1970 Triumph GT6 Roadster

3rd Place, John & Patrice Smedinghoff ···················· 1979 Triumph Spitfire

Judged Class

1st Place, Henry & Chris Morrison ··························· 1961 Austin Healey 3000

2nd Place, Frank & Pat Becker ································· 1961 Triumph TR-3A

3rd Place, Mark & Debbie Bosler ····························· 1975 Triumph TR-6

2018 Río Grande Valley

Regional Rendezvous

Funkhana Award Winners 1st Place, Bob & Carol Koehler

2nd Place, Ace Fry &

Kate McKeough

3rd Place, Jake & Lyric Morrison

2018 Río Grande Valley

Regional Rendezvous

Rally Award Winners

1st Place, Ace Fry &

Kate McKeough

1979 Triumph TR-7

2nd Place, Bob Crain &

Judy Ducharme

1988 Caterham Super 7

3rd Place, Angelo Gaziano &

Susan Stephens

1951 MG TD

A Nutty Tale

Long-time BAOA member Reginold Throckmorton was driving in his Cootmaster Corncrake on a dark

and stormy night – through a pelting rainstorm – when he suffered a puncture (flat tire). He was forced

to pull to the side of the road adjacent to the local mental asylum. “Drat,” he thought as he opened the

boot and lifted his spare tyre out, “this is a pretty pickle.” After jacking the car and removing the wheel,

he placed the lug nuts in the knave plate (hub cap) for safe keeping. Unfortunately, he inadvertently

stepped on the edge of the knave plate, and catapulted the lug nuts into the darkness. Totally flum-

moxed, he was on his knees in the rain rooting around in the mud for the missing nuts when he heard a

voice:

“Hey, mister.”

Paying no attention, he resumed his search, but heard the voice

again:

“Hey, mister!”

He looked up and saw one of the inmates of the asylum on the

other side of the chain link fence. His first thought was “this fellow

looks madder than a March hare.”

But the inmate calmly said:

“Why don’t you take a lug nut

from each of the other wheels,

bolt it up and you’re on your way?”

Reggie was gobsmacked. “By jingo, what an amazingly lucid sug-

gestion,” he thought as he bolted up the spare tyre. As he was put-

ting the jack and tyre back in the boot, he asked the inmate, “See

here, how come you thought of that and I didn’t, and you’re in

there, and I’m out here?”

“Mister,” the inmate said “I’m in here for being crazy, not stupid.”

Road 522. Not listening to her, I turned in the wrong direction.

We went south back toward Taos and followed 64 East towards

Eagle Nest. After going 19.5 miles off course we got back on

track. By then we were getting super frustrated. The rally sent us

through the tiny village of Arroyo Seco with very narrow roads.

That was it, we didn’t need any more dangerous narrow roads in

Mary’s stylish S-Type Jag.

Exasperated, we stopped in front of the little old Catholic

Mission. The sign in front said “No Parking; Parking for Priests

Only.” To hell with that, we’d had enough. Mary said we were near

the Millicent Rodgers Museum so we left the rally and went there.

It has a vast collection of Native American Art. We stopped for

lunch at a really nice restaurant, The Farm House Cafe which had

a beautiful outdoor area with many moving sculptures and a

great view of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

When the Rally was over, we prepared the Jag for the Car

Show. A quick wipe down of the car and a few squirts of detailer

on the tires to hide the dust … and fini. The results would be an-

nounced at the Breakfast Banquet. For once we didn’t try to buy

votes.

Saturday night Mary, Sally, and I went to dinner at a

restaurant called the “Love Apple.” It’s an old converted Catholic

Chapel. The restaurant is right next door to the Laughing Horse

Inn where Mary and her kids Sasha and Scott used to stay

30 years ago when they went skiing in Taos. We got lost going

there, we had actually driven by it twice. It was ironic, since Mary

had stayed next door so many years ago. The meal and the

ambiance were outstanding.

The next morning, we got up late and barely made it to the

Banquet on time. There were awards and prizes galore and al-

most everybody won something. Wonder of wonders Mary’s Jag

won 3rd place in the Car Show in the Jaguar Class. Her award was

a beautiful ceramic plaque made by Ace depicting an MGA with

skies for front wheels and tank treads for rear wheels, skiing

down the slopes of Taos. Mary was exceedingly happy. She could

now proudly hang her plaque up on the “Wall of Honor” in our

home alongside other plaques won by our MGB, and the Triumph

TR6 over the last ten years.

After the breakfast, with trophy plaque in hand, we packed

up the Jag and took off for home. We passed Jake and Lyric in the

big red Austin Healey – they looked quite dashing – it’s so nice to

be young and charming. We stopped in Santa Fé at the Cite

Santa Fé, a huge innovative art gallery then walked to the

Rail Yard for lunch. Afterward we zoomed down the Interstate to

Albuquerque.

We had a lot of fun at the Rendezvous mostly being

with comrades and other participants who are also crazy for

Little British Cars.

(Continued from page 4)

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Fantastic Christmas Gift!

...nearly N.O.S. 1992 Jaguar XJS … only 42,300

miles … correctly garage-stored for the last

ten years … nearly perfect in every way …

looks great … runs well … interior immaculate

… yours for only $10,000.00!

Contact Walt Ebel at (505) 459-2857.

(Also, pair of SU carbs.: $200.00 & two tonneau

covers for MG Midget or Austin Healey Sprite:

$100.00 each.)

(Letter from Rendezvous Participants Carol & Mack Hils.)

B.A.O.A. P.O. Box 35445 Albuquerque, NM 87176-5445

Board of Directors Ace Fry (505) 449-7507 Rex Funk (520) 400-3337 Jake Jacobsen (505) 228-1361 Michael La Belle (505) 341-0236 Bill Lawrence (505) 934-7827 John Smedinghoff (505) 856-6712

Newsletter Kevin Kittle (505) 345-4207

mmssrry@gmail.com

www.baoa.org

4215 Menaul Blvd., NE; Albuquerque, NM 87110

888-3833

Hours: Mon. - Fri., 8:00AM - 5:00PM

Adam O'Connell