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Our video of the week this time is a preview of an amazing new DVD set, The Standard Triumph Story, that I was given the honor of reviewing. This is two DVD set with over 230 minutes of footage on the history of Standard Triumph from the early days to the very end. Yup, it’s almost four hours in total so it’s a rather extensive look at one of Britain’s most beloved producers of cars. It is crammed full of great interviews with the men who were responsible for the cars in the factory, on the racetrack, and just about everywhere else in between.

For our Video of the Week this go round I want to go back to something that gives folks a lot of headaches – tuning a dual S.U. carburetor setup. We are also going back to an old friend for this, John Twist of University Motors. While this video specifically addresses the HIF4 carbs of the MGB, the same basic principals of tuning and balancing apply to all dual SU setups. We covered the basic theory and operation of the S.U. side drafts in the past, but this video is more specific to their actual tuning. [Corrected, see below] By the way, do you know what the “I” in the “HIF” stands for?  It means “integrated”, as in the float bowl is in-line with the carburetor itself, in this case directly under it. If the float bowl is to the side […]

Note: This contest is now closed! So, our November contest? Well, think about this. We all have those stories, those used-to-haves or near misses. We all can tell tales of “the one that got away.” Sometimes they are cars that would now be worth wheel-barrows full of money. Sometimes they are cars that saw us through tough times or good times or were just near and dear to our hearts. There are cars that we had that we had to let go of due to growing families, or career changes, or simple changes in fortunes. There are other cars that we almost bought but that slipped through our fingers or were snatched from our grasp. I used to have a yellow Triumph TR250. Sure it needed work, but it was solid and fun. But this was 1987 when I was […]

For our video of the week, we have uncovered a great one. Sir Patrick Stewart hosts this documentary where he spends time with motorsports legend Sir Stirling Moss in order to discover and learn more about the great man and his life. Not much we can really add to this one other than if you are a Stirling Moss fan, and who isn’t, make sure to check out the new biography from Philip Porter, “Stirling Moss: A Definitive Biography – Volume 1“.

Our Video of the Week the Wednesday features a car we don’t talk about often, in fact, I don’t think we have ever mentioned an Allard here before.  And that is quite a shame actually, as they were handsome cars that combined British style with American power into a fearsome competitor. This video on the rare Allard J2X comes via the folks at Fifth Gear. Although made in England with a Cadillac powerplant, the Allard was always aimed at the American market. Production began in 1949 and lasted no more than a decade.  For a few short post-war years an Allard was often the car to beat, but by mid-1950s Allard found it difficult to keep with the ever more sophisticated products of larger rival manufacturers and in 1959 finally stopped making cars. These days, there are probably more Allard replicas […]

Our Video of the Week this time actually isn’t from YouTube! I know, amazing isn’t it? It is actually from the KXII Channel 12 television news station in Texas, and is a video of the 2016 Vintage Triumph Register National Convention. Quoting the story, which can be found in its entirety here, Triumph car owners from all over gathered at Tanglewood Resort this week for the 2016 Vintage Triumph Register National Convention. Dave Pilcher, who helped organize the convention, said he hasn’t met a stranger. “I met a guy today from England who drove my car over to the airport for me – and I just met him,” said Pilcher. “We’re all one big family.” Pilcher said he owns four Triumph cars, all of which he brought to share with 250 people. Eight even came from England all the way […]

The subject of our Video of the Week this week is a Singer Nine from 1933. The Singers are cars that most people don’t know much about, if they know they exist at all. And yes, cue the sewing machine jokes. And the confusion that they are not MGs. Singers are gorgeous and fascinating cars in their own right with their own storied history. This example is a 1933 Nice Sport. To quote the video, Singer’s first sports car was introduced at the end of 1932. It featured cut-away doors, louvered bonnet and scuttle and distinctive helmet-type front wings. Under the bonnet was the classic 972cc single overhead camshaft engine and close ratio four-speed gear box making it especially suited to trials work. A Sports Nine achieved a notable success in June 1933 at the Le Mans 24 hour race. […]

Our Video of the Week this time around focuses on The Camel Trophy and the Land Rover participation in that event. The Camel Trophy was held yearly from 1980 and 2000 was an extremely challenging off-road trial. Quoting from the Wikipedia entry on the Camel Trophy … The Camel Trophy began in 1980 with a transit of the Trans-Amazonian highway, subsequent events have been called “the Olympics of 4×4”. They were all about adventure and exploration. Over the next eight years, the expeditions crossed Sumatra, Papua New Guinea, Zaire, Brazil, Borneo, Australia, Madagascar (the first north-south crossing) and Sulawesi before returning to the Amazon. These grueling tests of human endurance brought together teams from around the world in the hope of triumphing in some of the most treacherous off-road conditions imaginable. Teamwork and camaraderie were crucial. The competitive element came […]

What are your car club meetings like? Could they be better? You BET! But just HOW? British car enthusiast Greg Prehodka was challenged with this situation when he “volunteered” to run the monthly meetings of the MG Car Club – Central Jersey Centre (in NJ) a number of years ago. After he joined the club, he found their monthly meetings boring and lacking substance. They would hold a simple business meeting and then everyone went home. So he stepped up to the plate and “volunteered” to run the monthly meetings to improve them. Greg has been involved with British cars since the 60’s and had many years of experience in helping to run other MG and British car club activities, including vintage racing, and would draw from his experiences. He also applied his planning engineering background to lay out a […]

Our Video of the Week this go-round comes from the vintage racing circuit. Vintage racing is great, and classic British sportscar racing is even better. So take a look at the new racing course in Palmer, Massachusetts, from the view of George Pardee racing his MGTF there. For a brief overview of historic MG racing, make sure to check out the MG Vintage Racers website. We were unable to get to Waterford Hills, but did try out the spectacular new course at Palmer, MA with VSCCA/VRG. The video from our street equipped TF1250 stars Peter Ross and Jim Warren (MGA) two true gentleman drivers, and features a brilliant start by Mark Sherman. — George & Nick Pardee This video is from the The Whiskey Hill Classic at in July of 2016.

The famous cars made by ERA (English Racing Automobiles) epitomize British motor racing during the 1930s and have a very special place in the affections of patriotic enthusiasts. To honor those cars, J. Mac Hulbert has put together “ERA: The Autobiography of R4D” which is being published by Porter Press. This magnificent book tells the story of a uniquely historic example that has competed almost without a break for 80 years and achieved innumerable successes. R4D was campaigned extensively before and after the Second World War by Raymond Mays, the leading light of the ERA company, before passing through a succession of subsequent owners who have kept this famous car at the forefront of competition to the present day. The extraordinary life of R4D, a formidably powerful and charismatic racing car, is told in fascinating detail in this long-awaited book. […]

Our video this week is a quick, very quick, look at what it means to own a Triumph Spitfire or MGB. Both of the people and cars in this video are unique, but even with the choices and differences, they hit upon some of the common threads of classic British sportscar ownership. I will admit to finding this video interesting partially for the reason that I have both an MGB and a Spitfire in the stable at the moment. The Spitfire is my daily driver and the MGB is undergoing a very slow version of a restoration. In a short period of time, with either car, you become intimately familiar with their quirks, charm, and personalities. And yes, unlike a lot of modern cars, the little roadsters have a ton of personality and no two – even of same year […]

Compiled from the original 35mm filmstrip and vinyl LP record soundtrack, this is a training film from 1970 which introduces the BL salesmen to the new Triumph Stag. Well, new to 1970. I love using our video of the week to look back at how cars were viewed in the period versus how we think of them now. OK, I will admit that it is also fun to view the world pre-PowerPoint. Even though Time lists the Stag as one of the “50 Worst Cars of All-Time“, I have always liked them. And, they have a pretty good following these days. The issues can be sorted out these days, the wrongs set right, and then you have a very stylish, comfortable, touring sports-car. Sure, the Stag should have gotten the Rover V8 that went into so many other cars of […]

Jaguar XK DIY Restoration & Maintenance by Bob Exelby is an impressive book. This is the story of how one man completely restored his XK 120 roadster, transforming it from dereliction into a thoroughly beautiful example of this iconic sports car.  Bob Exelby also took the time to investigate and incorporate numerous detail improvements, making the car even more usable and practical for today’s roads, some 65 years after it was built. All of the modifications were tasteful, though some might still argue with their applicability to a true restoration. Exelby wanted a useable and dependable car in addition to a valued classic.

Our video this week represents a comparison of classic British six-cylinder roadsters – the ‘big’ Austin Healey 100/6 versus the Triumph TR6. My only wish is that the MGC were included in this matchup. Yes, there were other six-packs out there, most notable may be the Jaguar E-Type. But, it was always in a different league than the common-man roadsters of Healey, Triumph, and MG. This video, coming by way of AutoWeek, features European spec cars which were a bit different, especially in fuel delivery, than their US shipped counterparts. Oh, and yes, the video starts off in non-English, but most of it is actually in English. So stick with it. Plus the visuals are beautiful.

World-renowned vintage Bentley specialist William Medcalf is proud to be the subject of one of the latest films to be released by celebrated film-maker and car magazine Petrolicious. The evocative film perfectly captures the spirit of William Medcalf and gives an insight into what drives his passion for vintage Bentleys while entertaining the viewer with fantastic cinematography that shows exactly how these cars are best used. The 10-minute piece was filmed in the beautiful Sussex countryside, in the areas surrounding William Medcalf’s workshop and headquarters in Liss. This area not only provides the perfect driving roads but also shows England at its very best. William tells the story behind his life-long passion for vintage Bentleys, and how he feels the cars should be driven today. “Anything with wheels should be raced. Everything with wheels should be driven to the limit,” […]

Our video this week is of a rarely heard of, and even less seen, Mini-based beast, the Unipower GT. Not a kit, but a true production sports car in the vein of TVR and Marcos. To quote Wikipedia, because I honestly didn’t know much about the cars… The Unipower GT was a British specialist sports car first shown at the January 1966 Racing Car Show, and produced by truck maker Universal Power Drives Ltd in Perivale, Middlesex and later by U.W.F. Automotive in London until production ceased in early 1970, by which time around 71 cars are believed to have been made, including about 15 built by U.W.F. Originally the brainchild of Ernie Unger and Attila sports racing car designer Val Dare Bryan in the early 1960s the design of Unipower GT was actually said to have been penned by […]

In their latest video, our friends over at Take to the Road test drive a fine example of one of the last big Triumph saloons, a 1977 Triumph 2500S. This car came up at Classic Central Auctioneers May sale and they had great fun driving it. Watch their film to find out how they got on. Quoting from their article, “The Triumph 2500S was the last in a long line of Triumph and Standard-Triumph big saloon cars. Launched in 1963 at the Earl’s Court Motorshow, the new saloon replaced the ageing Standard Vanguard and arose from Triumph’s failed Zebu project. With fresh investment from new owner Leyland, who rescued Standard-Triumph in 1961, the new saloon promised much for the future of the company. And when it was launched it was well received by the motoring press and the general public. […]