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06.07.2007: This year we took the MGB-GT to
29.07.2006: I have been
using both cars regularly so far this year, without problems. The summer beeing
a real summer, brought a few situations, when overheating became an issue.
Especially, when the Kenlowe fan goes out of order unexpectedly! This soon will
have to be fixed. Now and then people contact me through the internet, to make
inquiries about the MG-scene in
26.09.2005: Turkish
Delight! We did it again! Yes, another holiday with an MG (the B-GT this
time) to the south of Europe – Turkey and Greece this time.Let other tourists
drive around with rented scooters or fiat puntos, and feel the luxury of
driving your own classic MG instead! I like driving in these countries, I like
the heat, I like the hot tarmac, and the open roads in rural areas..Did anything
go wrong? Well, almost! But this had nothing to do with the car. Never travel
to Ancona on a Saturday! We almost missed the ferry due to multi-hour hold-ups
on congested Italian roads! As for the car, there were no serious problems.
Idle speed increased at high temperatures for no obvious reason, and the
Kenlowe electric fan made the car cope with most situations except for one
stretch of mountain-road. A starter-problem occured now and then, when the car
was hot, but never really stopped us. Turkey is a fertile country with a
beautiful landscape and lots of places of historical interest to visit! I would
do this trip again anytime! Watch for pictures to appear soon in the
“photos”-sections! (go back to homepage first)
26.04.2005: We are
planning to visit the Classic Car Show at Tulln on May
21st-22nd. Departure from Salzburg, overnight-stop
at beautiful Kollmitzberg! Contact me for details: [email protected]
24.04.2005: MG-Rover: At
the end of the road? MG-Rover, the last independent British car
manufacturer, is in serious difficulties now. This is when past slogans for
MG-cars come to my mind: “Safety fast” for the MGA, “You can do it in an MG”
and “Your mother wouldn´t like it” for the MGB and MGB-GT, and “Life´s too
short not to” for the MGF. Can anyone imagine that there might be no more
sportscars that are built in this tradition? Let´s hope for a miracle, to help
the company out of this difficult situation!
30.09.2004: A friend is
wishing to buy an MGB in the Salzburg area. If you know about a good car that
is for sale, please write me: [email protected]
08.05.2004: I am
planning for a MG-meeting from June 5th-6th. We will meet
at Mondsee on Saturday, June 5th, and drive to Kollmitzberg in Lower
Austria where we will stay for the night. On Sunday we will proceed through the
beautiful “Wachau”-valley to Tulln, where one of the biggest classic car fairs in Europe is held on that weekend. Anyone who is
interested in joining us, please contact me: [email protected]
06.04.2004: MGB-GT
engine overhaul
The GT is in the garage for
an engine overhaul. Engine rebored, new alloy head, new carb needles,
air-filters, and so on. Then the engine will need to be run in for a while,
which means no high revs for a few thousand kilometers.
Announcement for a warm
and hopefully sunny June-weekend: I am planning to visit the Tulln Oldtimer
Exhibiton on June 5th-6th, driving with the MG from
Salzburg to Tulln, with a stop for the night at the beautiful Kollmitzberg.
MG-drivers who want to join us, please write an e-mail to:
[email protected]
08.09.2003: Ooops, we
did it again! (or: life´s too short not to!)
Again we took our MGB to
the Greek island of Patmos. Same procedure as in 2001 (see below) – or so we
thought! On the way to Greece my wife, who came to Venice by train, while my
doughter and I travelled in the MG,
nearly missed the ferry. Italian locals simply sent her the wrong way,
when she asked for the way to the port! On the island, everything went well,
and the car was a delight to drive. But the journey back, again, was far from
“plain sailing”! Gale force winds
(Beaufort 9) stopped the ferries. When service finally resumed, it was still a
very rough journey. When we finally reached the Greek mainland, the second
ferry to Italy had already been missed. We had to book from Patras to Ancona
instead of Venice. This also meant seven
and a half hour´s drive home instead of
only four. However, although unexpected, the last and longest part of the trip
proved most enjojable: Apart from lots of modern machinery, we encountered
Porsche 356, Alfa Romeo Gulietta Spider, Citroen Avant, and more, all on their
way north on the Italian Autostrada. Most of the time we were doing 120-140
km/h, with only few and short stops. And, believe it or not, when we arrived at
home after 7 ½ hours of driving, I was sorry that the journey was over!
31.07.2003: MG and
Triumph meeting on Saturday, 09.08.2003! Join us at our meeting at Mondsee, Upper
Austria! For further information please contact: [email protected]
20.05.2003: MGB-Photos
wanted!!!
We all have seen hundreds
of MGB Photos. But still there can be new aspects to a photo of our favourite
car: a great landscape, an MGB featured in a movie, etc. If you have unusual
MGB Photos, historical (also black and white), or MGBs in ads or movies, please
mail them to me: [email protected]
You will find some pictures
of my car in the “Photos”-section, in a mediterranean setting. Feel free to
download them for your private use. Ask for permission for commercial use!
08.04.2003: Next events
Do not miss these: May
29th – June 1st :
May 31st –
June 1st : Oldtimermesse Tulln
July 5th –
6th : Bayerisches Oldtimerfestival in Rosenheim/Bavaria
Last year I met an elderly
Gentleman in Tulln, who sold an absolutely stunning Mercedes, circa 1966. If I
cared for Mercedes, I would have bought it on the spot! Then, in Rosenheim I
met a guy from Tirol with a lovely original MGB-GT. We sat and talked for a
while in his car, while it was raining outside. This must have re-kindled the
idea in me of wanting a B-GT someday. A few weeks later I bought a MGB-GT from
a friend, who had not used the car for more than ten years. It is undergoing
restoration now – more of this story soon!
23.09.2002: Minor faults
Yes,
there have been a few Problems this summer. The new HS6 carb suffers from fuel
evaporation, and the engine does not hold correct idle speed in hot weather. A
few days ago the car stopped completely. I had used the heater, and coolant
dripped from the heater valve onto the ignition, until the car stopped. Fortunately,
this happened on a short drive from office to my home, not on a longer trip!
28.05.2002: Engine
overhaul
New engine fitted, and
Lumenition electronic ignition. I must not rev the engine above 3500 rpm for a
while, says Mr. Pressler. So I keep within the limits (most of the time), I
even keep speed limits (with the exception of roadwork-related limits on the
Autobahn)! However, I am looking forward to normal driving soon, the engine
feels and sounds great!
Next events: June
8.-9.th: Oldtimer Messe Tulln: The greatest classic car show in Austria, worth
a visit!
July 6.-7.th: Bayerisches
Oldtimerfestival in Rosenheim/Bavaria
03.10.2001: From Austria
to the Greek Islands – You can do it in an MG!
To drive an MGB in
a sunny Mediterranean country, with sunshine granted every day of the week,
must be a dream for many. But for years, when I had
taken my family
to Spain or Greece for holidays, we had travelled by plane. Having then to rely
on public transport or some very uninspiring rental cars,
I had often
felt sorry not to have my car with me.
For this
summer, I decided, our holidays must be different! On Tuesday, August 21st,
my daughter Alexandra and I started in our MGB from Salzburg to Venice, a four
and a half hour trip on the Autobahn. On the same morning, my wife Christa,
with part of our luggage, took the train to Venice. There we had booked
ourselves and the car on a big ferryboat to Greece. The passage from Venice to
the Peloponnes takes around 36 hours, so we arrived at Patras on Thursday
around 6 o´ clock in the morning. From there Alexandra and I were rewarded with
a wonderful three hour drive to Athens, with a beautiful sunrise and an almost
deserted highway to enjoy, while we listened to Shania Twain from our
CD-player. In the meantime, Christa had taken the bus to Piraeus, where we all
met for embarkation on another ferry, which brought us to our final
destination, the island of Patmos. We arrived there on Thursday at 11 p.m. On
the island the
car was our
only transport for the three of us, and we enjoyed it immensely.
The journey
back, about two and a half weeks later, also went well, and we
returned
home safely. On the whole journey the car performed in an excellent way, and
has not suffered any damage. Good luck had been with us!
However in
retrospect, there are some observations about this longest journey I have ever
done by car, that I would like to share:
-
I
had been concerned about ground clearance of the exhaust, when going on and off
a ship. Of course I took much care, and so was able to manage all situations
without any problem.
-
98-octane
fuel is not available everywhere in Greece.
-
Getting
a car washed is almost impossible due to lack of water.
-
As
for the driving experience, I liked the long-distance trips most. On the island
itself distances are short, and road conditions sometimes poor. But then, the
island is an excellent location for taking photos. I am very satisfied with the
results, and with the help of my computer I converted some of the Photos to
postcards with the MG-logo and the caption “You can do it in an MG” on it.
Please see the section “Photos” on my homepage and click on the thumbnails to
enlarge.
-
In
bigger cities you do not feel at ease leaving the car unattended. Especially at
-
It
is the whole experience of the journey that counts. Often it was some
unexpected great view, or stretch of open road that I enjoyed so much. Even
while you wait for the ferry, it is the luxury of sitting in style in an MG
with the top down, while the others sit and sweat in whatever they have!
10.06.2001: Car
Cleaning: I bought AUTOGLYM
products at Mr. Pressler´s Garage
recently. I had read about AUTOGLYM in British
magazines, but never seen offered in
17.04.2001: Yes, I have been driving the car
after the winter break – but no not during Easter holidays, which were terribly
wet and cold in
05.10.2000: I still enjoy driving my MGB, with
the hood down. Last weekend we had a small meeting with four red roadsters,
enjoying the small twisty roads between Mondsee and Attersee in warm Indian
summer sunshine. One of our friends invited us for a country-style dinner at
his farm. A real treat for town-people like us!
What´s next? Driving until
November, then putting the car into the garage, safely from winter´s salt on
the roads, and dreaming of a GT, maybe…
26092000: In early August we drove to
Weissensee for a short holiday. On the way to Greifenburg, a green Midget with
a UK-registration drove in front of our
car for a few miles.When the other driver stopped, I did the same, and asked,
if I could help him find his way. It turned out, that Will Colquhoun and his
lovely girlfriend were on their way back from Romania (!) where they had
brought medical equipment, after having raised money for cancer aid. They
agreed to join us for a short drive to Weissensee, where we had lunch together.
We talked a lot about travelling and about MGs and found out, that we both had
articles published in the May-issue of “Enjoying MG”-magazine! I really enjoyed
their company, and hope they had a good time in Austria! This makes me think:
Would I have stopped, if tourists in an “ordinary” car had been looking to find
their way? MGs really make it easier to make friends!
29072000: Our MG-Party saw less cars than we
had hoped for, as the weather remained cloudy and cold for the whole day.
Although only a few MGs went for a short run from Abtsdorfer See to Salzburg,
more than 20 people turned up at the party at our home, and everybody enjoyed
themselves and was in good spirits, not minding the weather.
07072000: You can bet on hot weather for the
classic car fair in Tulln. It was great, it was big, and it was hot (30´C)!
Getting there with the MGB was pure pleasure, of cause. We started Friday
afternoon in Salzburg, took the autobahn to Mondsee, where we stopped for a
quick swim in the lake. Then on the autobahn again to exit Amstetten West, and
to Kollmitzberg, a small village with a great view over the river Danube, where
we spent the night. Next morning, we took the road by the river, on to Melk,
Krems, and eventually,Tulln.
17052000: I was so busy with the car, that I
forgot to update the website for a while!
In April I had the car
serviced at the garage, and the heater exchanged. It hat started to leak and
mess up the footwells! I also got new leather seat-covers. The car, being a 72
model did not have them from new.
The car now runs superbly,
and is being used frequently to work and short trips to the lakes.
The Fair for classic cars
in Tulln is on June, 3-4. Do not miss it!