Went out for a couple of hours in the TA last weekend and shot loads of video. I've been messing around with some editing software and came up with this. The down the bonnet shots were taken with a small bullet camera mounted on the dashboard, and the others were taken with a hand held Panasonic as we thought the bullet wouldn't show enough scenery. I'm not so sure that the hand held footage adds anything to the overall effect. What do you think? I'd appreciate your comments either by email or the Contact Us page.
| Oily Hand's Life with MGs |
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I just received this super picture of my TA near Hadrian's Wall on yesterday's Cobweb Run. Thank you John for taking it and allowing me to use it here. 
Today was Drive It Day in the UK, a day to encourage owners of older cars to get out on the road. The Tyne Tees Centre of the MG Car Club held its annual Cobweb Run with the start and finish at Brockbushes Farm Shop near Corbridge. As well as doing the run we were helping with the signing on and marshalling so it was daft o clock when we set off from home. Bright blue skies with not a cloud in sight, but sadly the great heater in the sky wasn't working too well and it was a bit chilly. The 60 mile run to the start was uneventful but we arrived to slight chaos as Peter Ebdon, our centre chairman and organiser of the run had suffered a breakdown with his TF1500 on the way to the start. This meant much rushing around by Peter and his wife, Lyn, to get everything in place in time. Thankfully it all went well. There were 55 cars registered but I think only 53 actually turned up to the start. There were some substitutions as the registered cars had problems, one of which was Barrie Hope, our centre Secretary, who suffered head gasket failure on his ZB Magnette just the day before the event and had the ignomy of doing the run in an Audi,   There was an optional lunch break at around the halfway mileage where most of the cars took a bit of a rest.   The afternoon part of the run was a bit warmer as the wind dropped a little and we arrived at the finish having covered 100 miles. The run was 87 miles. The other 13 miles were the result of navigational problems. 'Discussions' are ongoing as to whether I was given the wrong instruction, or I wasn't listening. One of the features of the Cobweb Run is that somebody not involved with the run, selects the car they would most like to go home in. This year Jan Kidd, the Brockbushes Tea Room Manager selected our TA. She said she chose it because she likes things that look well used. I think she was talking about the car.  Thanks, Jan. I have to say you have impeccable taste, and the cheque is in the post. Thanks too to Peter for taking the picture.
The drive home was thankfully uneventful and we arrive home about eleven hours after we set out and had been in the saddle for about seven. What a great day! Events like these take a tremendous amount of work to organise so as usual a big thank you to all who helped make it happen. Time for the first run of the year in the TA and the first run on the new tyres. I set off with some trepidation as I'd heard some horror stories about running radial tyres on a beam axle car. Thankfully they weren't true as the TA handled beautifully, in fact probably better than on the crossplys. The run wasn't without problems though but nothing to do with the tyres. From start up it ran rough, but as it was never particularly smooth when cold before, I carried on to see what it would be like when warmed up. It didn't get any better so investigation was called for. It was running very rich and pumping out black smoke. My first thought was weakening the mixture, but as the car hadn't been touched all winter I discounted that thought as there was no way the jets could have changed themselves. My next thought was stuck piston(s) in the dashpots, and that proved to be the case. The front piston was stuck in the dashpot about 1/4" up. Just enough to give the front two cylinders too much fuel. A quick clean of piston and the inside of the dashpot soon had the old girl running well again. What was originally a short shakedown run turned into a 60 mile drive in glorious sunshine. 
The TA ended last year a bit lacking in the tyre tread department and new rubber was essential for future driving. I'm running 16" wheels with 600x16 crossply tyres. I looked for some replacements and nearly had a heart attack when I saw the prices for crossply tyres these days. The last ones I bought a few years ago were only £25 each, now they are closer to £200 each. Ouch!!. I have heard conflicting views on the use of radials on T Types but decided to give them a try and this morning I had a full set of 175x16 fitted. A painful experience for the pocket but much better than crossply prices. I haven't fitted the wheels back on the car yet but I'm looking forward to seeing how they perform.
We saw this event last year when they did some driving tests at Shildon, there will be a report further down this page. Sadly there were no tests in this area this year so we had to hit the road to go and see them pass through. We met up with good friends, Don & Eileen, and they showed us the way to The Ribblehead Viaduct, which provided a great backdrop for some of the shots in the video later in this report. This event is limited to cars that are either pre war of pre war in design, so the youngest car was over 70 years old and the oldest was closer to 100 years old. It was superb to see so many classic icons of the golden days of motoring being used as they were meant to be, not languishing in museums. The roads they travelled are some of the toughest in the area, with steep climbs and descents and many tight twists and turns. A real challenge for cars of these ages. This was day two of a three day event so they will have been driving hard the day before and have another stiff day tomorrow.   Can you spot what's missing in this picture?  And what might be missing when this work is finished?  This is a 'press on regardless' event and I've no doubt they did press on. I just hope they weren't spotted by the boys in blue. Here's the video, a collection of short clips from the day. Apologies for the sound but it was a tad breezy up on the hill tops. Pam & I would love to do an event like this. The TA is eligible by age, but we aren't as our pockets aren't deep enough and the lottery isn't putting our numbers in.
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AuthorHi, I'm Owen and I've been having fun with MGs since 1970, starting with my 1937 MGTA. Since then I've had three Y types and a couple of Z Magnettes. I now have a 1971 MGB GT along with the TA and my wife and I are still having fun Archives
September 2020
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