On Thursday, September 28, 2023, BMCNO members Carol B., Steve L. and Benny S. drove and showed off their British cars and provided a community service by participating in Covington High School’s homecoming parade. Perched on the back of the LBCs, the young maids waved and threw cups and candy. The spectators along the route shouted their affection for the ladies and our cars. Who wouldn’t? The school wants more for next year!
Following Cars and Coffee at Liz’s Where Y’at in Mandeville, a parade of LBCs headed off on a drive down Hwy 190 to Lacombe. Next we travelled along shady Bayou Paquet Road to Bayou Liberty Road, across Bayou Bonfouca, and then Old Spanish Trail to Chef Menteur Hwy and stopping at Fort Pike on the Rigolets. After getting this photo we all started to head back, except for Lenny in his TR6. Where’s Lenny? He called to say his accelerator was stuck and the engine was revving non-stop at 6K. We didn’t go too far before returning to successfully sort out his twin Weber carbs’ linkage problem, thanks to enough tools between us and at least one person (Hugh) who knew what he was doing. That’s okay. It’s all part of the fun!
Wow, what a nice weekend! Rick & Mary Lynne, Milton & Annette, Darrell & Tom, Wally & Lu Lu and I drove up Friday and joined the Mississippi club for lunch at Roux 61. Danny & Randy met the North & South Shore group and caravanned up with them. (see Benny’s post)
Later Milton & Annette, Darrell & Tom and Wally & Lu Lu and I toured the Longwood Antebellum house – the largest octagonal house in America! It was impressive. Then we had a very nice reception that night at the Grand Hotel.
Saturday the BR group put together our Valve Cover Racetrack while cars filed in. Of 48 cars, 27 were BMCNO! Very laid back show – but too quiet. They never plugged in their sound system, no announcements or music…
Our Valve Cover races went over really well and had 9 valve cover racers. Danny won by a photo finish. Literally! Benny won Valve Cover “Best of Show” with his Rat Rod. Many BMCNO class winners – Cathy added them below.
Saturday lunch at the Pig Out Inn and that night a lot of us went to Fat Mamas for Mexican and a bunch of the South Shore folks went to Monmouth Plantation.
Cruised home with 14 cars in the caravan to Gloster!!!
GREAT BRITISH CAR SHOW
Roving Reporter
| Member | Car | Award |
| Hugh Coleman | 1978 MGB | 1st in Class |
| Randy Flemming | 1981 Mini Van-1000 | 2nd in Class |
| Tom Halbert | 1959 MGA 1600 | 3rd in Class |
| Hans Hassinger | 1972 MGB | 1st in Class Hard Luck |
| Rick Huber | 1964 Austin Healey 3000 | 1st in Class |
| Cliff Hughes | 1960 MGA | 2nd in Class |
| Bill Lacher | 1959 Triumph TR3-A | 1st in Class |
| Dan McGovern | 1977 MG Midget | 3rd in Class |
| Bill McQuade | 1974 Triumph TR6 | 2nd in Class |
| Tobey Pitman | 2009 Jaguar XK Super V8 Portfolio | 1st in Class |
| Blake Sonnier | 1972 MGB | 3rd in Class |
| Benny Stiegler | 1967 Austin Healey Sprite | 1st in Class |
| Keith Vezina | 1978 MGB-V8 | 2nd in Class |
| Wally Waguespack | 2004 Jaguar XK8 | 1st in Class |
Much thanks to English Motoring Club of Mississippi for hosting Brits on the Bluff this weekend in Natchez. Almost forty BMCNO members and spouses made the trip entering 26 British cars in the show. Everyone had a wonderful weekend A leaky radiator on the way and a faulty coil connection on the way back added to the fun! And kudos to our Baton Rouge buds for bringing valve cover racing to Mississippi! The trial runs were a blast, and we hope many more participate at our club’s show on March 23rd in Covington!
Meanwhile in Baton Rouge:
On Saturday Sept. 9th THE social event of the season happened at Danny and Dana Varnado’s in Watson, La. About 30 BMCNO members with 12 LBC attended an Ice Cream Social tech session to get our cars ready for the upcoming fall British car shows at Natchez (9-16-23 and Fairhope 10-21-23).
We worked on cars, swam in the pool and tried out our new Valve Cover Raceway! Then Dana brought out some of her famous homemade ice cream in chocolate, vanilla and creme soda!
What a day! Thanks to the Varnado’s for hosting.
Last Thursday, March 18th, we had 19 folks (including 3 potential members) at the chapter meeting at the Abita Brew Pub, the first since the pandemic shutdown last June and an all-time record attendance for our group. We enjoyed the excellent company and catching up with everyone as well as Colin and Cliff’s report on the 2020 Amelia Island Concours.
Several members reported on recent work on their cars. Colin has been working on his Alpine; had the radiator serviced and replaced the water pump, negative battery cable, gas tank vent and filler pipes. Benny installed 2 SUs on his Spitfire to replace the US spec 2-barrel carb. David is replacing the thermostat on his MGB-GT and talked about a visit to A-to-Z Salvage yard in Albany. Cort worked on the head seals of his Morgan and got some period correct tires as well.
Saturday March 20th, 18 folks (another record) attended Cars & Coffee at Reiger’s on the Trace in Mandeville. In lieu of a drive afterward, Benny, Wiley, Cliff, Hugh, and Colin put their cars up on Jimmie and Debbie’s lift and wrenched, oiled, and greased our underbellies. Robert, Mike, Terry, Debbie, Richard, and everyone else provided extra hands, advice, commentary, and camaraderie. Jimmie worked the lift and provided whatever tools we needed.
A splendid time was had by all. The Northshore chapter is back full-time and rolling.
—
Colin McCormick
Mandeville, LA
The Renegade Breakfast Group of Baton Rouge had a small group of 4 at the Dec 12 limited breakfast meeting, which was an equal split between LBC’s and two GCC vehicles.
Good food, fast service, a low ambient background noise and interesting back-story tales made for an enjoyable event.
There was Impromptu Tech Session immediately after with a windshield valet demonstration necessitated by a major condensation issue on both sides of the glass due to the inclement weather conditions, which then led to an extended discussions on MGB wipers i.e. “are all three identical or should the RH one be different?” (Meanwhile, Randy pointed out that the German engineers had solved this issue on his vehicle by using just a single wiper arm and blade)
Meanwhile, the TR was undergoing carburetion adjustments so it could safely leave the parking lot. “How to use the TR hand-crank mechanism with a minimum loss of coolant” was postponed due to the late hour.
Please remember that the last 2020 BR Group meeting is this Wednesday (Dec 9, 2020) – if you haven’t done so yet, please let myself or Bobby know if you plan to attend or not. As it stands right now, it is forecast to be a cool but rainless evening and so absolutely perfect for us all to enjoy the dark and put our Lucas electrical systems to the test, plus a great opportunity to be an entrant to be the final “Loo Seat” winner of 2020.
Cheers!
Robb C
subbing for the Roving Reporter!
Hey, nice BMCNO club meeting this week! We had 10 members attend at Cafe’ American in the back room and we weren’t crowded at all. I tried to run the meeting for Rick, but we missed his organization skills! John and Mary brought 3 door prizes that were pretty cool. Well, 2 cool door prizes and a Booby Prize – Bill Avery’s old air compressor. He plugged it in and the waitress came running to see what we had blown up! I guess with some fittings you might be able to air up a bicycle tire with it…
Cathy Greenfelder sent us 4 more masks she made for the BR group and we passed them out. She is so talented!
This morning 4 of the usual suspects gathered at The Warehouse Restaurant for some British bench racing and good food. If the weather doesn’t get better we may morph into the German Motoring Club! (see picture) We talked about the James Bond movie franchise, members who weren’t present (excluding Danny Bergeron who at least had the decency to call us on the phone) and how Jerry’s brother in law is doing. I told the group I may have a line on 4 MGB parts cars for $1,800. Waiting for contact info now.
John Paul at the Cushman table was telling me Robert Parent’s family may be clearing out his garage soon. So I checked with Robert’s daughter and they are NOT selling anything just yet. When I hear otherwise, I’ll let you know. There is a treasure trove of old hot rods and parts, early Corvettes and more tools that all of us have put together, including maybe a lathe and milling machine.
Randy is 99% done with the harmonic balancer bolt repair on his Mini, so I expect to see more British cars as the weather dries out.
Cruise Safe,
Roving Reporter
I’ve been waiting to write this note as the substitute Roving Reporter about our drive on Saturday, but my heavy heart after going to Reg Dunbar’s service on Friday has had me searching for what to say. I don’t know what else to say except that it sure does hurt to lose people you’re friends with and care about and share a common passion with our little British cars. I’m afraid our suffering is not over, as Bob Gullic is hanging on to a thread after three weeks in the hospital with the virus. Also, I talked to Jim Smith this morning after he missed the Saturday drive, and he and his wife Honie both have Covid, although, thankfully, at this point it sounds like they both have “light” cases.
So, yes, we soldiered on, social distanced, and had our drive on Saturday morning. I think Reg would have wanted us to. One of his daughters told me that they were burying him with his BMCNO name tag, she said our club was one of the highlights of his life. Barbara wasn’t there, she’s still fighting her battle with Covid. Maxine told Bob we were out driving again on Saturday, and he was happy for us, wished he could be with us again. Jim would have been there if he was well.
It was another beautiful day. Six cars and nine people participated. I was asking why there weren’t more cars/people, and Betsy Harper said probably because the LSU game was on at 11. I just figured they’d be playing in the afternoon or evening, so missed that one. We had two E-Types, an MGA, B, and C, and a TR3. Here’s a link to a couple before pictures and a couple after pictures. Mary Lynne and I led, followed by Hank & Betsy Harper in their MGC, Robb in his MGB, new member Will Jones in his TR3, Milton and Randy in Milton’s E-Type, and Marc Zebouni in his MGA. The drive was close to a repeat of our April drive, starting out from Alex Box Stadium at LSU and hopping on River Road just south of Baton Rouge. This time we went all the way through St Gabriel, around a few plants, and then back to Bluff Road via LA3115 and LA74. Bluff Road ends at LA427, the Perkins Rd extension, which we took up to the Home Depot parking lot for a little show and tell session (masks on, social distanced).
So a nice drive together, but hard not to think of the people we’re losing to the virus. Please keep praying for those suffering and dying from this or any illness and their families and friends.
We still have very much to be thankful for on Thursday. Wishing you a Thankful Thanksgiving.
Rick H
Substitute Roving Reporter
Hello Everybody,
Well, we sure had a great time this morning at breakfast and on our drive. The weather was fabulous – high 50s to start, about 70 when we finished, and we had 8 vehicles/11 people on the drive. Danny (and his friend Danny Bergeron), Bobby, Jerry, Randy, Milton, and I met at the Warehouse at 7, had a nice breakfast, talked about the upcoming Baton Rouge Cruise at the end of January, and made some plans for it.
We left there just after 8 for the 15 minute drive up to Zoar Baptist Church where Annette Franklin, Robb Cowzer, Jerold and Molly Lebold, Butch Ammons, and Mike Jastram joined us for the drive. Bobby left us to head back home – he’s taking care of Connie after her neck surgery 2 weeks ago. So that’s why I’m the Roving Reporter today.
Jerold and Molly arrived in their bright red, looks like new, 1965 Sunbeam Tiger that has been in the family since 1970. 20,000 miles, painted once but never restored, I’m telling you it looked like new – perfect chrome, paint, interior, convertible top (replaced once). What a treat for us all to see that car this morning. You just never know what’s going to show up for a drive. So we had an E-Type Coupe, two TR6s, a Tiger, an E-Type Convertible, an MGB, an MGB GT, and a bright yellow modern Honda 3 wheeler. We sure got lots of honks from people we passed along the way.
The winding roads in northeastern EBR and southeastern East Feliciana parish were just lovely – lots of trees, shade, some pretty and falling leaves. We left Zoar, went up Joor then N. Joor Rd. Took a right on Peairs Rd, made a left on Hwy 409, Liberty Rd and took it all the way up into East Feliciana Parish where we turned right onto Hwy 969, Bob Jones Rd. Then it was right on Hwy 63 back down to Hwy 37, Greenwell Springs Rd. After a long drive along the west side of the Amite River, we turned right again to head west onto Stony Point Burch Rd until we got back to Hwy 409, Liberty Rd, where we turned left and followed it back the other way to the South. We turned right on Hwy 64 to head further west, crossed over Joor Rd and then turned left on Hwy 410, Blackwater Rd which took us back to Hooper Rd where we turned left and headed back to Zoar. Wow, that was fun – about an hour and 20 minutes of fun on the back roads. Thanks to Milton and Annette for leading, we really had a good time. We ended up back at Zoar Baptist Church, and parked our cars out in front for a photo shoot (those are the pictures I posted above).
That was so much fun I think we’ll organize another one for next Saturday, if the weather is nice.
Cheers,
Rick
Baton Rouge Cruise 11-14-2020
Baton Rouge Cruise 11-14-2020
Baton Rouge Cruise 11-14-2020