OUR CLASSICS
Tom’s lovely old MG receives some vital engine fettling at the hands to two heroic wellwishers
1956 MG MAGNETTE ZA
When I was last with you, my inherited MG Magnette was misbehaving – again – and had broken down three miles into a classic car jaunt to a pub meet. After limping home with temporarily fixed electrical contacts, which were worn out and wobbly, I was worried we’d be facing a months-long lay-up, because that’s what usually happens. That brings with it all the problems you’d expect from lack of use and, as these grow, I get frustrated and sometimes despondent.
Thankfully, this wasn’t the case this summer, despite the near constant rain, thanks to the two heroes of my last update, Gary Brunskill and Bill Parr of the Phoenix Classic Vehicle Association in St Helens.
Gary has been a friend for years, while Bill, a retired mechanic, came to the rescue when I was stricken on a mini roundabout and has since visited most weeks to perform what must now be thousands of pounds worth of work on my car, in exchange for precisely one mug of instant coffee per visit and a chat.
They’ve both been around for long enough to know you don’t have as much time available for 67-year-old cars as you’d like when you have a three-year-old and a four-month-old. As well as helping a friend, they are also passionate about keeping an old car on the road.
It’s an arrangement that I’m especially grateful for, given the six years and the number of sleepless nights I spent bringing my late father’s car back to life.
It also means that instead of spending my precious time with the car fixing problems, I get to drive it, and have done so in abundance this summer. I’ve driven to the shops for lunch, dropped off some parcels, gone for a drive just for the sake of it, and as my confidence has grown, so has my enjoyment.
I’ve been involved in some jobs, mainly when I’ve had holiday to take from work, and during paternity leave, and the biggest of these has undoubtedly been dismantling and refitting the carburettors.
The problem came to light when the car was chugging under acceleration, and with a missing copper vacuum advance pipe, it seemed obvious to start looking here to try and fix the problem. Before we could do that, it was important for us to get the new points fitted, and luckily I had a spare bag from NTG in my box of bits in the garage. With these installed, we set the gap and then got to work on the acceleration problem.
