A Car Story

The Open House Was A Big Success

Bill — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:43:05 +0000

We want to thank all of you for coming to our “open House and Queen’s Rally” this past Saturday. The weather was beautiful and everyone had a lot of fun.

This year the MG’s held up their end of the rally taking three places, but the champion was a repeat in his hot little Spitfire.

There are pictures and a short video coming soon.

I just want to say thank you again to all of those great customers who took time from their bust weekend to help us celebrate. We are looking forward to next year.

Enjoy the Ride!!!

BAW Open House This Saturday

Bill — Wed, 09 May 2012 04:39:53 +0000

I know that the nice weather has everybody excited. We are really busy and we are very thankful to all of our very valuable customers, “you’re all Great”.

This Saturday we have our “open House” to say thank you! We open at 9:30, and we will have refreshments and donuts. You are welcome to look around the shop, and we will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

At 10:30, the Queen’s Rally will start. The rally take about 30 minutes and when everyone is back, we give out awards and we have some finger food and refreshments, and you are on your way by noon.

If you can fit it into your schedule, we would love to have you stop by.

No matter what, all of us at BAW want to thank you very much for all of your support.

Enjoy the ride!!!

Queen’s Rally Course

Bill — Wed, 02 May 2012 03:27:17 +0000

Here’ the information some of you have been looking for. I hope the word is getting out that May 12th is our open house and this years version of the “Queen’s Rally”. As it has been in the past few years, this is a destination rally. There are six locations of which you will travel to five. You do not know which five or in which order you and your navigator will travel until you start the rally.

This year the six destinations are: The Visitation Church at Verbort, the Church at Roy, the North Plains City Library, the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Course, and two new stops, Sunset Grove Golf Course and the Hillsboro Gun Club. You can find all of these locations on line, and they are located on Yahoo Maps.

You will all start at British Auto Works at the same time. You and your navigator will be given your first set of directions, you will follow the directions to your first stop and there you will receive your next set of directions. This continues till you have reached your fifth stop, from there you will go back to British Auto Works.

For further information, see tomorrows blog on the ” Queen’s Rally”.

Enjoy the ride!!!

AutoJumble a Big Success

Bill — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 03:50:02 +0000

It was really questionable at 6:00 am this morning. It was not sunny and clear like the weatherman said it would be. We loaded up anyway and headed for the Autojumble. It was actually raining on Sylvan Hill, but we forged ahead. Things were really quiet when we got there. By 8:00am things were starting to get busy and more spots were filling up with the treasures we are all looking for, at least some treasures that some of us are looking for.

No matter, the sun came out around 10 and things were hopping. It was great to see all of you. It is always great to catch-up with all the winter news and learn of the plans for the summer. We ended the day around 1:30, and it felt like we had a successful day.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by. Let’s get ready for summer.

Enjoy the ride!!!

The 16th Annual Autojumble

Bill — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:28:29 +0000

It’s that time of year again. All you British Car Nuts can start cleaning out the garage and getting your unneeded parts and pieces ready and head up to the parking garage at Montgomery Park.

Sunday April 29th, Club T MG is once again putting on their “kick-off” event. All things British are welcome to this event. You can find cars for sale, new and used parts, books, accessories and just stuff. It says it’s open at 9:00 am but if you get there then you will miss about everything. There is no admission fee if you are just looking, and if you have something to sell and want a spot, it’s $10 for parts and $15 for a car space.

Rain or shine, this is the place to be.

Go to www.clubtmg.org to get an application.

Tim Foren has done an outstanding job of putting on this event. He and his crew deserve a big “Thank you” for helping to keep the British Car alive in our area.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Enjoy the ride !!!

Attention Local Triumph Owners

Bill — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 06:30:13 +0000

For all you Triumph owners in the Portland metropolitan area, I have a suggestion for you. There is a magazine published in the UK that is strictly about Triumphs. It is called “Triumph World”. It has really good articles about all types of Triumphs. It cover repair, restoration, auction results and just really interesting stories about the cars you love.

The trick is that it’s not usually available on newsstands. We get it from a loyal Triumph owner in the area who orders several copies of each issue and then makes sure those who subscribe with him, get the magazine. It costs $5.00 per issue and it comes out every other month.

To get your copy, contact Ken Floyd at kkfloyd45@gmail.com . I think you will enjoy the publication.

Enjoy the ride!!!

The Mark V Places Second in International Judging

Bill — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 01:13:37 +0000

I have to admit that I usually don’t care who takes second place. Can you name the last three second place winners at Le mans? Actually I can’t name the last three winners, but whatever.

This is about our beautiful Mark V Jaguar that we restored. You have seen it at several events around the northwest, and if you haven’t seen it, I am very proud to say that you will be impressed. I don’t want it to sound too much like I’m blowing my own horn, but we, (mainly Simon), put a lot of hard work into this car, and we are very proud of it.

Here’s the neat thing, the owner entered it into a international competition, and it took second place. No there weren’t only two Mark V’s in the contest, there were 46. It was judge with 98.685 points, which in Wayne’s World is a “Platinum Award Winner”.

It is a big moment for all of us at the shop. I am very proud of our crew and very happy for the owner.

Enjoy the Ride!!!

Special Thanks to the Oregon Austin Healey Club

Bill — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:42:55 +0000

This past Saturday, the Austin Healey Club of Oregon stopped by the shop for a tech session. They asked me to drop the oil pan on a BJ 8 and see how to examine the rod bearings and the main bearings.

We were lucky to have a car that had about 125k actual miles, and had never been rebuilt. It was very interesting to see the condition of the lower end. The owner has been diligent about changing oil every year, and to taking very good care of the car in general.

I removed the rod cap from cylinders 2 and 4 , and found that they were in good condition. There was very little indication of wear and there was no sign of any lash. I removed the second main bearing cap and this showed much more distinct wear. The babit was gone across most of the surface of the bearing. This was more of the condition I expected from the rod bearing. This was a great illustration of how good of condition a motor can be in if you take the time to take care of it and maintain it properly.

I talked with the cars owner today, and we decided that the best course of action was to replace the rod and main bearings, replace the oil pump gears and the thrust washers. He doesn’t plan to race the car, or put it under any heavy usage. Just have a MK III that runs very well and will be dependable for the next several years.

Enjoy the Ride!!!

We Get Another Special TR3 on the Road

Bill — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:16:53 +0000

A very nice couple from Silverton who asked us to restore a TR 4A, found that they needed to add to their Triumph collection and decided to have us restore a large mouth TR 3. After a long search, the right donor car was found.

The next step was to disassemble what we had and try to determine what we needed

Now comes the hard part of body repair and the start of cleaning and repairing every part that has to go back on the car.

Finally we were able to complete the project and get the car on the road.

As you can see, this is not a conventional TR 3. It is painted a beautiful dark green with pearl highlights, it has a gorgeous custom made interior. It has an upgraded engine with a five speed conversion and has a rack and pinion steering system installed. The car not only looks great but it is a dream to drive.

Thank you so much to the proud owners, they are great people with two great cars.

Enjoy the ride!!!

The First of the MGA Mark II nears Completion

Bill — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:11:07 +0000

The first MGA Mark II we started on is getting close to heading out. Here are some pictures to show the updates:

Yes, I know that this is not a stock color for an MGA. You’ll also hate to know that he’s putting a five speed in as well. But, it does have the original 1622 motor and differential. It may not be stock, but it is a great looking car and we are very proud of the way it looks and the high quality of the restoration.

Enjoy the ride!!!