Introduce yourself!

[Chuck]

Hi Chuck, welcome! Feel free to email me a photo and I'll downsize it for you. See you in Malibu!

What email address do I send to?

[Steve Simmons]

Whoops, I guess that would help. I'll send you a PM.

EDIT: I just remembered also that you can click a person's name to view their profile, and on that page there will be a link to email them, so long as they haven't opted out of allowing that feature.

[Chuck]

Hello everyone. My name is Chuck and I'll be 55 this month. I own a business in Fountain Valley, CA., called Car Prep Inc., that prepares new cars for advertising. We work for the auto manufacturers and their ad agencies. I'm married and have three grown daughters. My wife is one of the nicest people you might ever meet, but she has no interest whatsoever in my MG, so whenever you see me out and about I will be flying solo! I'll be coming to the Independence Day Fun Run tomorrow. Hope to meet some of you there!

Cheers!

[jonphillips]

Hi everyone, my name is Jon and I'm now driving an old english white 64 B roadster. Steve pointed me to some body shops on another site plus some other advice and then I found this group by accident in a web search. Looks like a lot of fun and hope to make it to a Malibu start sometime soon.

[Steve Simmons]

Hi Jon, Welcome to the forums from another Mark I MGB owner.

Chuck, it was great finally meeting you this morning on the run!

[spiff23542]

Hello everyone! My name is Kristian and I tracked down this site by way of some emails from a few friends of mine. If I am correct, the Independence Day tour through the Santa Monica Mountains that I had the pleasure of participating in was assembled by the same gentleman responsible for erecting this site. My thanks to you Steve. I don't know that I've ever had more fun driving my "B". For reference, I was driving the '63 Light BRG MGB with the black top. As hard as I was driving I found it hard to keep up at times which makes me realize that I probably have a lot more potential in my little car than I had ever thought.

A little background on my obsession. My dad was a car enthusiast but lacked the aptitude or interest to do his own work on his cars. That coupled with his constant pursuit of perfection made for a very expensive interest. The silver '73 Mercedes-Benz 450SL that was promised to me as my car was eventually sold due to the excessive upkeep. No matter, I had already fallen in love with another foreign beauty, the MGB. In 1998 at the age of 20, I came across the pull-handle Mk I roadster that I had lusted after for 10 years. A diamond in the rough that took another 10 years to polish became road-worthy in 2008. It has been a great adventure.

Besides the "B", I have an '86 Jaguar XJ6 which is a strong runner but needs a bit of a cosmetic touch-up and receives as much TLC as I can spare. And then there's the '02 Frontier pickup that carries the groceries and makes the trips to Mammoth during the winter. Recently I've been keeping my eyes open and my ear to the ground for a Morris Minor Traveler. If anyone knows of one for sale with a straight body (bodywork is not my forte) feel free to pass on details.

I understand that there is another run planned for Labor Day weekend and I am looking forward to it. Thanks again for the run and for this site. It truly is a pleasure to meet and trade stories with other enthusiasts.

Cheers!

[Martin Keller]

Hello Kristina,

Post a couple photos of your rides as everyone on this site enjoys seeing any car that anyone has and enjoys and it sound like you have some cool cars.
By the way welcome to the site and yes Steve is the one who put the run together you were on.

[Steve Simmons]

Welcome, Kristian! Those runs have a life of their own. Sometimes they're slow, sometimes quick, but we always stop and regroup so no one has to hurry. There is indeed a Labor Day Run planned and I hope to see you out there!

[malcolmr18zoy]

Hi, My name is Malcolm, and I'm a bit of a car nut. I can't really say that any of my cars are daily drivers, because I tend to alternate between a few different cars as the mood takes me. As well as spirited on road driving, I also like challenging off road driving. I guess my modern car is a 1994 Jaguar XJ12. My fun driving event car is a 1958 Jaguar 3.4 sedan. I also have a 1972 Jensen Interceptor, a 1975 Jaguar XJS ( the first XJS in SoCal I believe), a 1975 MG midget, a 1968 Jaguar Mk2, and my wife, Joyce, has a 1956 Austin-Healey 100/4. We also have a bunch of Landrovers for the Off road disease.
I'm located in Temple City, CA, and I am a self employed British car mechanic.

[Steve Simmons]

Welcome to the forum, Malcolm! It was a pleasure meeting you at the Channel Islands show. You sure have a high "cylinders per car" average compared to most people here!

[matstng]

I thought I'd better jump in here and say HI.
My name is Matt and i'm a Caraholic.

Was great to meet many of you Monday on the cruise. My wife Suzy and I were in our red Datsun roadster.

[jimbob1800]

My name is Jim, and I'm a caraholic. I'm new to this forum. I ran part of the Labor Day run with you. We were the red Volvo p1800 running near the tail end. I had to bail 1/2 way thru. My gimp leg wasn't yet up to all the clutching. But There will be a next time. Fun stuff. I knew I should have left the progressive springs on it, and could have used a couple more lbs of air in the skinny tires, or should have put on a set of fatter ones. But it was still fun. Met some nice people and some great cars. Thanks for doing these kind of events. If you've not been to a Rt. 66 Rendezvous in San Bernadino, thats coming up the weekend of the 19th Sep. No Brit cars, but 1000s of great old 40s - 60s cars.
Looking forward to the next vintage run.

[Steve Simmons]

Greetings, Matt! It was nice to meet you guys and to see a couple Datsun roadsters out here for a change. We don't get many on the runs. Hopefully that will change.

And greetings to you as well, Jim! It was great seeing more than one Volvo on the run the other day. That was the twistiest, most difficult run we do all year so if you enjoyed that one on "skinny tires" then you'll love the others! And may I say that I'm envious of the contents of your garage!

[rowebot]

Hello my name is David. It was great fun meeting up with you guys at the lookout. I hope to tag along with you all some more. It was great following everyone around and its wonderful to meet up with people who just love to drive, hang out, and talk about cars.

[Steve Simmons]

Hi David, welcome! I noticed a few people jump in at the Rock Store and I remember your Miata being one of them. Glad you decided to stick around!

[jimbob1800]

Hi Steve, We're in Chatsworth off Santa Susana Pass. Come by sometime when you are out this way. Be glad to show you the car barn. Seems we can't keep a mechanic , so some of the toys are looking in need of TLC. We can also run Santa Susana pass from Stoney Point to Simi and back. Thats where I exercise the cars, but its a bit more traveled than the Santa Monicas and not as severe.

[Steve Simmons]

I've been over Santa Susana thousand of times, by car, truck and bicycle. It was at its best in the 90's after the 118 was put through but before development and the re-routing of the bottom. Still a great road though.

[bgbassplyr]

Hello all,

My name is Jim. I live in Charlotte, NC. It would appear that this is a mostly Cal site. That's OK, I won't hold that against you. I actually lived in San Deigo in '43, and have visited several times coinsiding with race weeks (Riverside in '64, first national runoffs-Dan Gurney for President for those who may remember those days), and the Formula 5000 national tour events in LA and Monterey (mechanic for the only Ford powered entry, McLaren M18 ISTR).

Bought my first TR3A in '61 and drove it like a rental car, hard. Great little car never let me down.Raced SCCA in the southeast in '64-'65 in another TR3. Cost exceeding income ended that promising career, lol.

Twisted wrenches for a few years before getting a real 8 to 5. Mechaniced some race cars for a friend, FV-F Super Vee, M18 in the F-5000 series. Driver claimed two national championships in Vee and Super vee.

Married a lady with two children and had to get serious so put sports cars and dirt bikes away. Bought a TR4 in '90 and drove it for a year or so, but it got parked until this year.

Trying to make a daily driver, but sitting so long allowed the tin worm to do his thing on the floors and sills, and so the repairs begin. Body off the frame now and I am working on the frame and suspension first.

Other cars owned (not including the usual common place rides) include:
TR3
TR3
61 Corvair with mods (4 carbs, suspension, interior)
68 Corvair (4 carb, all the other mods offered by GM)
'50 Jag Saloon
'66 Volvo
'64 Sunbeam Alpine
'62 Sprite Mk II (race/solo set up)
'46 MG TC (0442)
'60 MGA ( bought to resell)

I hope to learn from others and will chime in when I know the answers.

Jim

[Steve Simmons]

Hiya, Jim! Not much has changed out here since '43. San Diego is still a charming little seaside town of about 200,000 people. Yeah, right! OK, so it's grown ten fold since then. It's still a nice place.

Sounds like you've had a heck of a history with the Southern California racing scene. Reading the list of cars that you've owned, I think we have at least one of everything you mentioned here, owned by VM members. They haven't all posted them in the gallery yet though... hint hint everyone!

Welcome to the site!

[bgbassplyr]

I forgot to include the '46 MG TC ( serial # 0442) that I owned and drove for about a year. Had all the history of the car and owners. Tended to hunt and seek on the two lanes unless you drove on the left side of the road. Then all was well.

[Steve Simmons]

I guess the car knew where its roots were laid.

[Paul Miller]

We just joined up and we are planning on being on the Malibu tour. I bought my first MGA in 1958 when I was graduated from Annapolis which we still drive along with some other MGs when we are not sailing. The original car and been from coast to coast and even across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii and back. In that it is a long story (possibly boring story) you are invited to drop in on our website for some laughs. If you make it to the end of the story I owe the first three readers a Starbucks.

Our web site is http://www.californiasailingacademy.com/MG.pdf You will probably need to do a control copy on the name and then drop into your browser rather than just click on it. The fonts are case sensitive.

We were members of the Vintage MG club in Orange County for many years until we could not stand the drive from Marina del Rey. We really look forward to meeting you all and attending some of your events on this side of the earth.

Our email addresses are rufus@ucla.edu and Seamanseye@ca.rr.com

Youall have a Happy Thanksgiving now,
Paul Miller & Jeanne

[Steve Simmons]

Welcome, Paul and Jeanne! I am still a member of VMG despite the distance but I know what you mean about that drive. I have only been to three or four meetings in the several years we have belonged to the club. If there were a way down there without taking the freeway then I might be a more active member!

Your list of cars is mighty impressive! I hope you find the time to post photos of them in the Member's Cars thread. And if you ever grow tired of the TA, or one of the twin cams, you now know what driveway you can drop them in.

Look forward to meeting you on Friday. I'm planning on having my MGA there also.

[erics75218]

Hello, just wanted to say "HELLO" in case I can get out to one of your rides. I don't have a vintage car, but I'm DYING to own an MGB GT! I "met" Steve via the MG Experience forums, and he's been a great help as I window shop for an MGB GT!!

I hate loving cars so much, I saw an orange GT about 2 months ago and I can't stop thinking about it...I want one so bad. But alas, I am a freelance visual effects artist here in Los Angeles in between gigs so my budget for a GT just got SLASHED. And then the stock market decided I REALLY don't need a GT..so my budget got slashed AGAIN! BUT I WILL GET ONE DAMNIT! I'm talking to Miatadom about his as we speak! (ps, if anyone knows of a GT runner in the under 5K range send me a PM!)

My current car is an 06' Lotus Exige, it's quite literally the car of my dreams, I can't believe I own it. I fell in love with the 1st gen Elises when I went on a trip to London a long time ago...and I swore that I would sell my soul if my country ever saw fit to allow them over here. They not only brought them over, but they made a bright orange fastback version..almost as if they were IN my head...amazing. I get overwhelmed thinking about it!

Anyways, hopefully I can join in on one of the drives and check out some awesome vintage cars, especially a GT.
I'll stay in the back, so nobody will associate my "new" car with the classic ones. I'm not trying to disrupt the flow!

[Steve Simmons]

Hey Eric, good to see you posting here as well! You've got the bug alright. Fortunately MGB GTs are far from rare so hang in there and the right car will come along. In the meantime by all means bring the Exige out. We usually have a few moderns in the pack.