We've gone out on a limb and changed our meetings drastically. We've decided to dispense with reading minutes, treasurer's report and all that boring stuff. Instead, our meetings are now mostly just car talk which is what most people seemed to want. We will, of course, still have to have motions and votes on things like spending significant amounts of money and other things that would warrant membership approval. Everyone seemed to like the new format. Just so you know, we decided that this blog would replace the minutes of our meetings. I'll include all the relevant information that would normally be in the minutes but in a different format.
Here we go!
We had our meeting at Kevin Robert's school, The Putnam County Technical and Career Center in Elanor. We had kind of a small turnout. I was there along with Dan B., Kevin R., Barry M., Richard S., (not to be confused with the other Richard S.), Larry S., Jim P., Dave N., Jerry C., Dave N., and Earl A. If you don't know these folks, you can meet them at just about any club function. We encourage you to attend and have a good time with the rest of us. Kevin had some of his students there as well. Alex Weinrit, Dalton Pence, and Sean Haynes. These are some capable young men and will make great technicians. While we're on the topic to get togethers (we don't call them meetings anymore) we have decided to have a social get together on Thursday March 17 at Fat Patty's in Teays Valley. Plan on being there at happy hour, 6:00pm. I call it WVBCC Cars & Beer. We have reservations for 20 people.
Richard Stephenson, our MG register expert, talked about the MG 2016 meet being held in Louisville, KY. He's done some research and with lodging and participation fees the cost will be a minimum of $650 for all four days. By the time you add all the other stuff you will likely do, like eat, the cost will probably be as much as $1000. Some members were interested in going for 1 day but not all 4. Dan said that we may be able to stay at his brother's place in Florence, KY. This would be an interesting show since they typically have 800 - 1400 MGs. Us Triumph, Healey, etc. guys would be relegated to the "Other British" catagory.
Richard also reviewed our upcoming cruise down into Virginia. This one is gaining some steam. It's about a 4 hour drive to Chilhowie, VA and the cruise will cover 3 days. We'll leave Charleston about noon on Friday August 8th and probably go the Big Walker Mountain route to Richard's friends Bed & Breakfast. He has a Bar-B-Q planned for Friday night. Saturday we would cruise the "Back of the Dragon" twistys. Not to be confused with the "Tail of the Dragon" that the motorcycle guys like. Other attractions include the Creeper Trail, Appalachian Trail, Railroad Station and we could do lunch at the Riverfront Cafe in Marion, VA. Abington is only about 20 miles away if you want to run over there and Bristol Mororspeedway is about 6 miles off of our route. The Bed & Breakfast has 5 bedrooms and many other sleeping arrangements. Also, there is another Bed & Breakfast nearby. If we rent the entire facility the cost would be about $40 per person per night. So mark your calendars for August 12, 13, & 14.
Dan is going to the British V8 meet in Townsen, TN near Pigeon Forge. It's May 8 through the following Wednesday. They will cruise the "Tail of the Dragon" on Monday. If you want to go, contact Dan for details.
Kevin had a computer and porjector set up in our meeting space so I reviewed the chnages that I've made to the website. The major changes are this blog, the forum section and electronic payments. I created a new membership application in conjunction with our new PayPal account. New members can fill out the form on line and pay their dues all at once. Existing members can also renew their membership via PayPal or credit card. It's all on the Home Page so it's very convenient. Our newest member, Thomas Stratton, took advantage of this feature and it worked perfectly. Head over to wvbcc.com and check it out. Oh wait, you're already there if you're reading this. My bad.
Kevin let us know that Rick Ray fell off a ladder and is down for about 6 weeks with broken I don't know what. Ankle, leg, foot? I'm not sure but Prema has made him a ground squirrel from now on.
Clinton Burch has a 66 AH Sprite for $3000 and Kevin has a Jag XJ for sale, Richard Stephenson has a 1500cc engine out of a Midget for $600.
Jim Patrick let us know that he has set up access for club members to NAPAs Prolink. Head over to NAPA PROLink and login with user name: WVBCC and password: WVBCC1.
Barry McCoy mentioned a friend of his who died recently and he's helping get rid of some of his Midget parts. He also talked about how he was able to free a stuck clutch. I talked about my new radiator project. Earl Arentz mentioned a Stag engine that is frozen. Dan had heard about putting Iodine from the feed store in the cylinders and then penetrating oil. Hemmings mentioned using Acetone and Transmission Fluid. Kevin Roberts mentioned his cool 3rd brake light on his Miata and the fact that the school is now a WV State Inspection Station. Dan Blackwood just rebuilt his TR4a transmission and needs a new windshield. Hopefully those two aren't related. Don Berry and John Riffe both have TR6 parts for sale.
Dave Neil mentioned a very good article in the MG Driver magazine written by our very own Jim Blackwood. He should know about V8 conversions. It's in the March/April 2016 issue. See Dave for more information.
Kevin and his students demonstrated their new Hunter road force tire balancer. Kevin showed a video and then we saw the machine in action. For my money, this is the only machine to use when balancing tires. It doesn't miss a trick.
Well, I think that pretty much covers the meeting. Let me know what you think about all the changes.
Our next meeting/get together will be back at our regular place. Golden Corral in Cross Lanes at 9:30am. Check the calendar for details.