MGs and Friends Forever
Altamonte Springs, Florida March 22 - 25, 2018
The 52nd annual GOF South was held at the Hilton Inn in Altamonte Springs, Florida. One hundred nine MGs automobiles and 228 MGers gathered to share their cars, stories, attend technical workshops, break bread together, build new friendships, and renew old friendships. The theme was "MGs and Friends Forever," a promise well delivered.
The car above, a 1933 MG L1 Magna Police Car was judged Best in Show, deservedly. This car was an award winner at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, the gathering of the finest Concours-prepared cars in the world. It did outclass the many cars restored and maintained by their enthusiastic amateurs owners. It was also entered in the Newcomers Class for cars that had not been shown at the GOF before. Forty-seven cars were in that class, which it also won, the only car to score higher than Jill's Little Blue Coupe.
In addition to examining and discussing cars, workshops on various technical topics were held, including 5-speed transmissions, SU carburetors, Lucas electricals, and racing MGs in vintage races. The workshops were a great educational tool. Often, GOFs feature back road trips, providing MG owners a chance to drive their cars on interesting roads. Altamonte Springs, with 6-lane roads filled with traffic jams, did not provide good options for drives, but one caravan of MGs did make a journey to Winter Park to view a private car collection, which will be documented in another post.
This year's GOF South was produced by The Classic MG Club, headquartered in the Orlando area. They produced an outstanding event.
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| Lonnie Cook Photo |
Barrie Jones presents during the workshop on Lucas electrics, a topic of mystery and frustration to many. Barrie came from England to attend the GOF. He has served the MG Car Club (England) as the MGTF registrar for many years, keeping track of MGTFs worldwide. The workshops were all well done, informative, and a highlight of the event.
Vendors were displaying their wares and educating owners about their cars. Here, Brian and Jack, principals in Ceres Motorsports, are set up with the display of their custom parts next to the trailer in which the 1933 MG Police Car travels. They produce mounting plates to allow modern tube shocks to be fitted to the rear suspension, offer lighting options, and a few other goodies. The in-development turbocharger kit for MGBs was also displayed. Ceres Motorsports is a full-service shop serving the British car community, and in particular, MGs.
Brian's Ford-powered MGB was on hand for admirers. What began as a rough shape rubber bumper 1979 MGB, with 62 horsepower (factory spec, probably 30 hp in its sad state of condition) has been transformed into a beautiful, chrome bumpered, powerful, great handling road car. The 2.0 liter double overhead cam Ford is fed by 4 motorcycle carbs. producing close to three times the horsepower of the original engine. Very clean installation.
Two of the four rows of the first timers cars lined up for judging with Jill's 1957 MGA at the end of the line, but at the head of the judging. Having 47 cars attending the event for the first time is a healthy sign for the continued interest in classic MGs. The Little Blue Coupe took home a couple awards - 2nd in the first timers class and 1st in the MGA class.
There were 4 currently raced MGs in attendance, these two MGTDs, the red MGB in the background, and a beautiful blue MGA.
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| Georg Butz Photo |
The blue MGA race car is beautifully prepared, both in the terms of a quality race car and in its immaculate appearance. You would think that it had never seen a race track.
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| Geroge Butz Photo |
Under the bonnet is as clean and prepared with detail as the exterior. A beautifully presented car.
A large field of MGTFs, with beautiful cars, was represented (more than are pictured here). Impressive since they were only built for two years, with the smallest number produced of any post-war MG.
One of the TFs was chassis only. It is in the process of restoration, with all parts and body refurbished. This is the progress so far of assembling all the pieces. It served a couple purposes - showing the restoration process and allowing everyone to easily see the mountings that fit the 5-speed Ford transmission to a T-Series chassis.
Of course, the largest classes were MGBs, the most-produced English sports car. There were two long lines of MGBs. This partial view of one line has three MG Midgets among the MGBs.
MG is known for the sports cars they manufactured, but they also built some saloon cars - 4-door cars Americans would term sedans. There were only two saloon cars in attendance, late 1940s PAs. The one in the foreground is not unusually taller, it is displayed on built-in jack stands to demonstrate this unusual feature.
Our MGTC was placed in a 17 car field of modified cars, including the 4 currently raced MGs and some MGB V-8 engined conversions.
In the Premier Class, for cars which had won their model class previously, our favorite was Mark and Ellen Tidwell's MGTC, which just pops out of the crowd of cars. The bright red paint and chrome wheels and polished aluminum brake drums are part of the reason for the bright appearance.
Will Bowden's old race car was here. Will drove this race car to the race track, competed in the race, then drove it home. He had a shop focused on T-Series MGs, Ye Old MG Shop, with seemingly acres of cars and parts. He was one of the founders of The Classic MG Club in 1963. Will passed away last year. The GOF was dedicated to his memory. His race car brought those memories to mind and a few tears to eyes.
In the photo above, Will Bowden accepts the Bill Parish Award from the MG Vintage Racers. The award was presented at the "Mitty," held at Road Atlanta. It is presented to the MG race driver "Having the most fun, and being a Master of Speed Deception, while racing their MG over the years - unconcerned about race winning."
