phile
02-11-2007, 10:30 PM
'Wire Wheels' By Dwight McCullough
My second LBC was a '65 red MGB, bought from B&K Imports on Hennepin Avenue in February of 1966. Traded in the '61 Sprite. This car came with Dunlop cross-ply tires. The salesman admitted to me that he had in fact disconnected the speedometer cable, and it had more miles on it than the 12,000 that showed on the odometer. [Grrrrrr] Oh well, when you want a car bad enough…
I can’t remember anymore if this car had "pull handle" doors, or push button, as that was the intermediate years. It was red, and somewhat faded already. I suspect that it might have been a very very early '65 model. Wire wheels of course, as they cool the brakes better. [Ahem]
Just a four-speed gearbox. We British elitists don’t call them "transmissions". No overdrive unit. No synchromesh on first gear.
Having grown up driving the old '52 Dodge pickup, without synchro on 1st or 2nd, I knew how to double clutch and shift down almost anywhere. And of course I thought I was "hot stuff".
This MGB had the roadster top that you removed completely from the car and stowed in the "boot" ( "Trunk" for those of you who don’t know British terminologies). Of course I had already learned some of the terminologies. Windscreen is really a windshield, the hood is really the soft top of the car,and the boot is the trunk. There are many more, including spanners, er wrenches. And of course the S.U. carburetors that were as close to fuel injection as you could get. You know, it took me years before I found out what S.U. meant: "Skinners Union", designed way back in the early part of the 20th century.
This was a fun car, and really more powerful than anything I’d owned before, including the '56 Plymouth with the 270 c.i. V8. And of course better handling than almost anything else, even without front or rear sway bars,. "Ya know MGs handle like they are on rails". This was my first disc brake car, which was for the time, incredible.
Then about a year of so later, bought my first set of Dunlop radials, which were still controversial. They were expensive, and "different". "You sure about these Dwight?" Actually they didn’t last long, as I ran my first two gymkhanas on them, and drove quite spiritedly most of time. But still 25,000 miles wasn’t bad in the sixties, as many tires wouldn’t go much more than 10,000 miles. I actually had to go to my bank to First National Bank, downtown Minneapolis, to get a loan to buy them. By this time, I had moved out of the place in South Minneapolis, to the north side, in a couple of different houses, and then later out to Golden Valley, New Hope, and Plymouth.
Settle down willya Dwight…
Shortly after buying this car, I gave my Dad a ride around a block or two in it, and he said, "You’re gonna kill yourself in this thing". He actually went white going around corners. And I just bragged away at how safe it was with its superior handling and brakes.
I was a member of the Minnesota Army National guard. In March of 1966 I had volunteered to go to Fort Greely, Alaska for Northern Warfare Training for 17 days. I left the car with my good friend Norman Cave. Norm's a whole other story. He regaled me with stories of driving it up to his folk’s place in Cook MN in the dead of winter and starting in 30 below weather and driving on snow ice covered roads. He had owned a '61 Austin-Healey 3000, with the triple carbs, overdrive, and etc. Like I said, a whole other story.
All this time, learning to cross country ski and downhill on the same skis and snow shoeing, learning to live outdoors when it’s 30 below ZERO, I couldn’t wait to get back home to my new sports car.
Then the parts man at B&K told me about gymkhanas, and talked me into changing oil to 40W. I was I excited, but reticent to go. I finally worked up the courage and went to the Hastings Go-Kart track in 1966 or 1967. (Phil can tell you more about this venue.)
Life goes on, and by this time I also am driving a '66 Volvo 122 wagon. engaged to be married and paying rent on a fancy apartment in preparation for the wedding. Now I’m enrolled in the Columbia School of Broadcasting, correspondence course learning to be a disc jockey. I’m now beyond working part time as a "pump jockey" at the Shell Service station in Plymouth. Now full time, but still planning on a career in radio. But like I told my then-fiancee, I’m going to be working at a station, or a station. But unfortunately, working all those weekends, took time away from further participation in autox, [gymkhana] church and other socializin'. We would go out into the country around Corcoran and take late night drives around those curvy roads. What fun! But I usually drove within the speed limits...
I was getting pressure to sell the MG and the Volvo to help pay for the radio correspondence course, and so I did. Gordy Weber, the guy I sold the MG to, told me afterwards that I must have been very attached, as he saw tears in my eyes. (I will not confirm this, nor will I deny it!) He went to work and rebuilt the brakes, as I had never done anything to them.
By this time I was getting deeper into mechanicin'. About a year later I left the Shell station in Plymouth, and went to work for Belt Line Pure, which later became Belt Line 76 on 36th Ave north on Hwy 100 in Crystal. Now, there I could really learn the business, as they sold a lot of gas and had huge service business. Soon I was taking courses at General Motors Training Center in tune-up, brakes charging systems, A/C, and etc.
About this time my financee (name not given for good reasons) decided she wanted something more out of life than a mechanic's wife, and told me she wasn't going through with the marriage. Shocked and disappointed, I dropped out of the radio broadcasting school. Just gave it up, paid-for and all. I started getting involved in things not too good, and lost my desire to go anywhere. And (shock) got a '62 Chevrolet 4-door, with a hot-rodded 283 c.i. V8, 4-speed, 4.56 gears, and a Hurst shifter. In the meantime, I'm driving a '62 VW bug-beetle with the 1200 cc engine and a sunroof. Of course the rear main oil seal leaked oil and it would rev up slipping the clutch going up hills.
By now we are far away from the pride of my life, the '1965 MGB with wire wheels. And I can’t stand this anymore. I MUST have a sports car!
Found, in a barn in Plymouth, 1959 Austin Healy Sprite MK I!
Dwight McCullough
My second LBC was a '65 red MGB, bought from B&K Imports on Hennepin Avenue in February of 1966. Traded in the '61 Sprite. This car came with Dunlop cross-ply tires. The salesman admitted to me that he had in fact disconnected the speedometer cable, and it had more miles on it than the 12,000 that showed on the odometer. [Grrrrrr] Oh well, when you want a car bad enough…
I can’t remember anymore if this car had "pull handle" doors, or push button, as that was the intermediate years. It was red, and somewhat faded already. I suspect that it might have been a very very early '65 model. Wire wheels of course, as they cool the brakes better. [Ahem]
Just a four-speed gearbox. We British elitists don’t call them "transmissions". No overdrive unit. No synchromesh on first gear.
Having grown up driving the old '52 Dodge pickup, without synchro on 1st or 2nd, I knew how to double clutch and shift down almost anywhere. And of course I thought I was "hot stuff".
This MGB had the roadster top that you removed completely from the car and stowed in the "boot" ( "Trunk" for those of you who don’t know British terminologies). Of course I had already learned some of the terminologies. Windscreen is really a windshield, the hood is really the soft top of the car,and the boot is the trunk. There are many more, including spanners, er wrenches. And of course the S.U. carburetors that were as close to fuel injection as you could get. You know, it took me years before I found out what S.U. meant: "Skinners Union", designed way back in the early part of the 20th century.
This was a fun car, and really more powerful than anything I’d owned before, including the '56 Plymouth with the 270 c.i. V8. And of course better handling than almost anything else, even without front or rear sway bars,. "Ya know MGs handle like they are on rails". This was my first disc brake car, which was for the time, incredible.
Then about a year of so later, bought my first set of Dunlop radials, which were still controversial. They were expensive, and "different". "You sure about these Dwight?" Actually they didn’t last long, as I ran my first two gymkhanas on them, and drove quite spiritedly most of time. But still 25,000 miles wasn’t bad in the sixties, as many tires wouldn’t go much more than 10,000 miles. I actually had to go to my bank to First National Bank, downtown Minneapolis, to get a loan to buy them. By this time, I had moved out of the place in South Minneapolis, to the north side, in a couple of different houses, and then later out to Golden Valley, New Hope, and Plymouth.
Settle down willya Dwight…
Shortly after buying this car, I gave my Dad a ride around a block or two in it, and he said, "You’re gonna kill yourself in this thing". He actually went white going around corners. And I just bragged away at how safe it was with its superior handling and brakes.
I was a member of the Minnesota Army National guard. In March of 1966 I had volunteered to go to Fort Greely, Alaska for Northern Warfare Training for 17 days. I left the car with my good friend Norman Cave. Norm's a whole other story. He regaled me with stories of driving it up to his folk’s place in Cook MN in the dead of winter and starting in 30 below weather and driving on snow ice covered roads. He had owned a '61 Austin-Healey 3000, with the triple carbs, overdrive, and etc. Like I said, a whole other story.
All this time, learning to cross country ski and downhill on the same skis and snow shoeing, learning to live outdoors when it’s 30 below ZERO, I couldn’t wait to get back home to my new sports car.
Then the parts man at B&K told me about gymkhanas, and talked me into changing oil to 40W. I was I excited, but reticent to go. I finally worked up the courage and went to the Hastings Go-Kart track in 1966 or 1967. (Phil can tell you more about this venue.)
Life goes on, and by this time I also am driving a '66 Volvo 122 wagon. engaged to be married and paying rent on a fancy apartment in preparation for the wedding. Now I’m enrolled in the Columbia School of Broadcasting, correspondence course learning to be a disc jockey. I’m now beyond working part time as a "pump jockey" at the Shell Service station in Plymouth. Now full time, but still planning on a career in radio. But like I told my then-fiancee, I’m going to be working at a station, or a station. But unfortunately, working all those weekends, took time away from further participation in autox, [gymkhana] church and other socializin'. We would go out into the country around Corcoran and take late night drives around those curvy roads. What fun! But I usually drove within the speed limits...
I was getting pressure to sell the MG and the Volvo to help pay for the radio correspondence course, and so I did. Gordy Weber, the guy I sold the MG to, told me afterwards that I must have been very attached, as he saw tears in my eyes. (I will not confirm this, nor will I deny it!) He went to work and rebuilt the brakes, as I had never done anything to them.
By this time I was getting deeper into mechanicin'. About a year later I left the Shell station in Plymouth, and went to work for Belt Line Pure, which later became Belt Line 76 on 36th Ave north on Hwy 100 in Crystal. Now, there I could really learn the business, as they sold a lot of gas and had huge service business. Soon I was taking courses at General Motors Training Center in tune-up, brakes charging systems, A/C, and etc.
About this time my financee (name not given for good reasons) decided she wanted something more out of life than a mechanic's wife, and told me she wasn't going through with the marriage. Shocked and disappointed, I dropped out of the radio broadcasting school. Just gave it up, paid-for and all. I started getting involved in things not too good, and lost my desire to go anywhere. And (shock) got a '62 Chevrolet 4-door, with a hot-rodded 283 c.i. V8, 4-speed, 4.56 gears, and a Hurst shifter. In the meantime, I'm driving a '62 VW bug-beetle with the 1200 cc engine and a sunroof. Of course the rear main oil seal leaked oil and it would rev up slipping the clutch going up hills.
By now we are far away from the pride of my life, the '1965 MGB with wire wheels. And I can’t stand this anymore. I MUST have a sports car!
Found, in a barn in Plymouth, 1959 Austin Healy Sprite MK I!
Dwight McCullough