About 18 months ago Kimberly and I decided we would drive our 1949 MG TC to the 2024 GOF Central MG meet in Newark, Ohio. Since we are long-time members of the host club NEMGTR, Ohio Chapter, we wanted to participate and catch up with lots of MG friends. Home is in downtown Columbia, SC nearly 600 miles away.
We were fortunate to have four friends from BCCMC join us in this venture. Mark and Louise Zimmerman drove their 1996 MGF and Mike and Susan Eckhart drove their 1964 MG 1100. We thought it best to have a support vehicle so Kimberly drove her Tahoe. Total age of the 4 cars was 181 years. We prepared the cars, packed spares and tools, and planned our route. 3 days to Ohio, mostly to allow extra time in case of a breakdown. What we didn’t expect until time got close was the extreme heat. Every day of our 8-day trip reached the mid-90s.
The trip to Ohio
We met the Eckharts at Chapin and proceeded up I-26 until I broke a fan belt a mere 60 miles into our trip. Mike and I installed my spare belt, added coolant, and we were on our way again. Lunch was near Asheville, NC where we added the Zimmermans to our convoy. Kimberly brought up the rear the whole trip, expertly blocking and protecting our LBC’s. We proceeded north through downtown Asheville then picked up I-26 again. We stayed in Kingsport, TN the first night. 240 miles in the books. Day 2 had us on US 23 North, travelling through Virginia and Kentucky to Wheelersburg, OH. Another 220 miles behind us. Day 3 was much shorter and that allowed time for some education at the Hopewell Cultural National Park in Chillicothe, OH. This is a new World Heritage Site displaying ancient Indian burial mounds. Next stop German Village in Columbus for lunch at Schmidt’s Sausage Haus. Only 1 more hour to our final destination. We arrived on Monday (day 3) at 2:30, beating a cloud burst by about 20 minutes.
GOF Central
Our TC developed a miss during the last few miles so I had John Twist take a look during his rolling tech session Tuesday morning. We installed fresh spark plugs gapped at .035 and leaned out the carbs. The tune up helped but the oppressive may have been the main culprit. Lots of visiting with new and old friends at the first timer’s show, then we co-hosted trivia night with Jim Beal. Kimberly and Jim created a PowerPoint of challenging questions about British cars and culture. The car show was on Wednesday. Very cool but also very hot again. 123 cars including about a dozen TC’s and a dozen pre-war cars. Valve cover races and dinner followed. My Brutus Buckeye car took 3rd place. On Thursday our travel group ventured out for a 155 mile drive through Amish country. We visited Pearl Valley cheese factory, the world’s largest cuckoo clock, enjoyed great food and, of course, local ice cream. We attended the awards banquet that evening. Kimberly and I were honored to win the Bob Watts award for the TC driven the most miles to the meet, 594 to be exact.
The road home
We covered the 600 miles home in just 2 days. Our TC was the lead car and we tried to maintain a cruising speed of 55-60mph. The hills of KY, VA and TN have many 6% grades where the TC maintained just over 40mph shifting between 3rd and 4th gears. The rest of the trip was uneventful. So a total of 1400 miles for the week, a great event put on by the Ohio Chapter and a bucket list item checked off.
This trip was also a tribute to my parents, Jim & Miriam Yaussy, who logged tens of thousands of miles during 60 years of T-series ownership. They owned this TC for 40 years before gifting it to us. Dad completed a restoration in 1988. He did the work himself including paint, which is now 36 years old. They would have loved this trip.
Safety Fast,
Randy Yaussy