• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Midget 50th Afterglow

Share this page

sswarin

sswarin

Senior Member
Country flag
Offline
Well it's Saturday afternoon, and Ruth and I and the "Bling Spridget" have made it home safely to Michigan.

Our trip was relatively uneventful...we convoyed to the Badger with JP, John, and Rick. Even with a minor glitch for road construction, we made it in plenty of time and had a smooth crossing on Friday afternoon. On the Michigan side, Ludington was having a Friday night block party so we got to enjoy some local music, dinner and a few libations.

Ruth and I want to thank the organizers for a great party. The drives were smooth and fun, the cheese factory tour was informative and cool (literally), the car show and barbeque were great, track day was outstanding, and the banquet was delicious, sad, funny, and a great close to the week.

Thanks again to all.

Steve and Ruth Swarin
1974 "Bling" Spridget
1966 "unbling" MGB-GT
 
Nice meeting you Steve. And it was good to see you again Kim. I posted one of my autocross videos, and I hope to edit my track tour and post it. I know I followed both you guys at one point.
-WMZgiM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"> </embed></object>
 
Great video Trevor. I have several videos on the big track but they are cutting out after a minute or so. I hope its just my laptop. I will play around with them and try and get them posted as soon as possible. My camera was a el cheapo and so I would appreciate any video with my midget in them. Also, I think at least one of the Clarici folks got a video of that Ferrari that was tearing up the track from the flagman's stand. My camera was out of memory by then and that was just a very fast car on the track and awesome to be right over it when it went by. Just got my midget washed and put away. Lots of road grime from the storm we rode through in Milwaukee and Chicago traffic. It was pouring so hard that I missed the turn off for the bypass and had to go right through Chicago proper and it was insane. Turn signal bulbs must last the people of Chicago forever because they never get used
 
Great meeting all of you and a great time! Heat was inconvenient and soon gotten used to. T storm heading west to So Dak with the NW crew as well. Everyone found there leaks and some almost took a bath!!!

Kurt.
 
I'm in McDonogh GA. south of Atlanta
I pulled in at dark and my lights were almost out.
While looking for a room everything died, right next to a Walmart.
I'm not sure if it's the battery or alt. but I bought a battery just to get to a hotel.
Oh well mine was 4 years old, so about due
I'll check the current at the alt. in the AM

Great meeting/seeing you all again

Phil
 
Phil, I had to replace an alternator on the way home. I started calling parts stores and found one in stock at a location that was somewhat on the way. Changing the pulley was the hard part, but if you can find a local service station, they can hit it will an impact gun and probably not charge a dime to do it.
 
Enjoyed the video Trevor. Car sounds good. That one turn at about 50 seconds in looked a little dodgy!
 
Yup, That curve should have been more of a fast sweeper, but I wasn't sure at the time since it look like it was sloping out. I'm not really much of an autocrosser, but I did really enjoy the go cart track. I think I had a better run, but of course I forgot to turn my camera on for it. :wink:
 
Good to hear everyone is returning safely. Wish I could have been there!
 
What a great time, so nice to meet new people & put faces with a few names from this forum, the organizers did a great job & despite the heat we still had fun ! Came home one day early as the wife was pooped & the forecast was bad for Sunday.
See attached pic of the trip odometer, ironically 850 miles bang on when I pulled up in front of the house Saturday evening - Bridget had no issues, just consumed over a 1/2 quart of oil (which leaks from the pan gasket) so I am very proud of Bridget & wife Paula for surviving !
 

Attachments

  • 25968.jpg
    25968.jpg
    78.7 KB · Views: 245
I made it home this AM. Still running at 62 lbs of oil and temp. just at or below N after 3400 miles in 90 deg plus temps.

I spent half a day in Macon trying to diagnose the alternator problem. With no charging, I couldn't use any lights and had only enough daylight to get about an hour from home, so I stopped for the night in Orlando

Phil, Home Sweet Home
 
glad you made it - great to see you there!
 
taskadog said:
I made it home this AM. Still running at 62 lbs of oil and temp. just at or below N after 3400 miles in 90 deg plus temps.

I spent half a day in Macon trying to diagnose the alternator problem. With no charging, I couldn't use any lights and had only enough daylight to get about an hour from home, so I stopped for the night in Orlando

Phil, Home Sweet Home
Click to expand...
Glad you made it home ok Phil. I am sure you will get that alternator alternating again in no time. Its usually something simple.
 
Did someone write that at the bash someone mentioned that Petronix Ignitions don't like generators due to fluctuating voltage? have a positive ground BE with that setup for about 2 yrs, and is it something to worry about? (I'm busy with the debt ceiling right now.)
 
We (the NW crew) all made it in today (Monday) safe and sound.
It was a long 4 day drive back to Washington but was absolutely worth it!!!
That was one of the best car events that I have ever attended (along with LOTO!!)
It was great to put more faces with the names of a bunch of GREAT people who I am now honored to know, you made it great and the organizers did a spectacular job!!
I'm ready to sit in the house for a day or two now but will be ready for the next one in a few years.
Thanks to all!!!
BillM
 
Billm said:
We (the NW crew) all made it in today (Monday) safe and sound.
It was a long 4 day drive back to Washington but was absolutely worth it!!!
That was one of the best car events that I have ever attended (along with LOTO!!)
It was great to put more faces with the names of a bunch of GREAT people who I am now honored to know, you made it great and the organizers did a spectacular job!!
I'm ready to sit in the house for a day or two now but will be ready for the next one in a few years.
Thanks to all!!!
BillM
Click to expand...
Glad you all got there in one piece Bill. I want to do the cross country thing in a Midget sometime.
 
My son Peter and I returned safely and (mostly) sane tonight.
We drove a total of 4,605 miles from the time we left on Friday July 15th.
We dipped our feet in Lake Michigan, the Mississippi, the Missouri and the puddles in the floorboards after a strong thunderstorm somewhere in the midwest.
The car was burning more oil than ever crossing the Great Divide.
Some of you experienced first hand the oil my car can vaporize in it's wake, well it was in fine fashion motoring up and over the pass.
That seemed to settle down a bit and today I only had to add a quart of oil and a pint of STP - I thought WTH why not and poured it in.
It was nice getting over to the west again, the temperatures fell 30 - 40 degrees and it felt good.
I got a nice glass of spring water from my tap and then poured a shot of Royal Salute to commemorate the end of the trip.

Wow - what a great time we had.

I'll be uploading the rest of my pictures and videos to Picasa tonight then when I'm less "Road Dumb" I will write some on the blog.

My thanks to everyone who volunteered to make the 50th happen, it was great, and even the 'not great parts' were great.
You guys are the best. I am not going to name names because I will leave someone out.
But you guys know who you are. The Woerpels, the Lieb, the Trev, the - well like I said I'd leave someone out.
Thank you!
 
nomad said:
Great meeting all of you and a great time! Heat was inconvenient and soon gotten used to. T storm heading west to So Dak with the NW crew as well. Everyone found there leaks and some almost took a bath!!!

Kurt.
Click to expand...

Heh - yes we were in the "bath" department.
I was wearing only shorts due to the heat then after the 'shower' my remark to the rest was that I felt over dressed for the occasion!! :devilgrin:

Kurt, thanks again to you and your lovely wife for putting us up and putting up with us not only once but TWICE!!
It was really great meeting both of you and I hope we cross paths again in the future, if you guys ever come to the north west I really hope you let us know!
BTW I understand I left a couple items at your place.
Well that's how the young-uns learn I guess.
 
BugeyeNJ58 said:
Did someone write that at the bash someone mentioned that Petronix Ignitions don't like generators due to fluctuating voltage? have a positive ground BE with that setup for about 2 yrs, and is it something to worry about? (I'm busy with the debt ceiling right now.)
Click to expand...

I did - from Jeff, was talking about why Pertronix failed, he was especially talking about race cars with no charging system but mentioned generators as well. Bottom line, if it's working you don't have a problem, keep driving.
 
Back
Top