Straight Talk Mar/Apr 2024
Straight Talk from the “Mann” Cave
Bruce Mann
Happy motoring. Here is hoping that this issue of MGA! finds you safe and rested for another year of fun in the sun with your MGA. Whether you are restoring, driving, or just admiring the beautiful lines of your MGA, I wish all of you the best in this to be another great driving year.
By the time you receive this article your NAMGAR board will have just finished their annual meeting and met with the hosts of this year’s GT, The Columbia Gorge MG Club. We enjoyed the visit and can tell you they have lined up what is to be another great GT in the Mount Hood area. By now you know that registration is open, and you can make your reservations at the Mount Hood Oregon Resort. Donna McNabb the host chairman of this year’s GT and her staff have done a wonderful job of preparing for GT-49.
Changing gears, I wanted to give you all an idea of what to expect now that we have a revised plan for the submission and publishing of technical articles for MGA! As we had previously announced, Bob Shafto has accepted the Technical Editor’s position and is going to be on top of bringing you some interesting and informative tech bulletins.
We have changed the menu somewhat by adding technical advisors from other NAMGAR chapters. Their responsibility is to assist the technical editor with the writing and presenting technical ideas suited to assist you in diagnosing and fixing your MGA. These technical advisors are set up to assist Shafto with writing articles on a frequent basis to allow for quicker turnaround and gather multiple ideas and ways to keep your car up and running. Our members in the garage are John Casey of the Mid Atlantic MG Club, Moose Stoval of the Texas Register, Dave Smith of the Michigan Rowdies, and Forrest Johnson owner of the Rusty Moose Garage, and member of the Old Speckled Hens of Michigan and the Michigan Rowdies.
We are also asking for volunteers to assist with this assignment as we move forward. We know there are many qualified members throughout NAMGAR that can provide articles. Please submit your interests to tech@namgar.com
I am also announcing today that due to health reasons, our Dennis Urick is giving up his position as NAMGAR Vice Chairman and is being replaced yet again by Larry Pittman through this 2024 calendar year. Dennis has been having some health concerns that limit his ability to travel and drive and attend our national events. Larry will assure us that we have a strong conduit through this transition.
Our gratitude to Dennis for all his past contributions to NAMGAR and his assistance in the future, as he will continue as a staff member of NAMGAR. Dennis will manage our social media activities on Facebook and support the communications efforts. Let’s all reach out to Dennis and wish him the best down the road.
Larry Pittman will continue to remain on the board as Advisor Emeritus, at the end of 2024, which we previously announced in the Jan/Feb issue of MGA!
We will be looking for a Vice Chairman for 2025 and beyond. If interested, please contact me at chairman@namgar.com, or any other board member.
This article is for the March/April edition of MGA!