The Octagon

 NEWSLETTER OF THE CLASSIC      CLUB  

          Vol. 46                       No. 7                   Issue 538                                        July 2008

MAINTAINING THE BREED FOR OVER FORTY YEARS

PRESIDENT:   Dan Stewart. 3901 Wimbledon Dr. Lake Mary, FL 32746, Phone 407 804 9205  E-mail - Dan@MaitlandImports.Com.

EDITOR:  Send Articles to Tony Roth, 551 Gilbert Rd., Winter Park, FL 32792.  Phone 407 671 6888 - E–mail – ClassicMGClub@cfl.rr.com.

WEBSITE:  www.classicmgclub.com.  WEBMASTER:  Paul Plasschaert, E-mail: webmaster@classicmgclub.com.  Or pplasschaert@cfl.rr.com.

MEETING:  As usual it is the third Thursday, July 17th at 7:00 PM in the Maitland Senior Center, 145 S Maitland Ave. in (you guessed it!) Maitland    Directions, from Horatio and Orlando Ave. (AKA 17-92), Go West on Horatio to Maitland Ave.  Then left (South) on Maitland Ave. to Packwood. Go right (West) on Packwood about ½ a block to the parking lot. Pull into the 1st driveway on the left.  The location of the post meeting will be at Carlucci’s for a pie or other Italian delight.

EVENT;  Humpty Marlene sat on a wall.  Humpty Marlene had a great fall.  Now all the doctors and all the nurses at the hospital in Boone, NC are trying to fix the broken bones in both feet.  They bundled them up and told her to lie down at all times and. keep them elevated  

Needless to say they will not be returning to Orlando next weekend.  Needless to say they will not be able to host the event that was to be a Bar-B-Que that was scheduled at their house on Saturday.

We wish Marlene a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing them when her condition will allow her to travel and they make the trip home for a break in the cool NC weather and reinforce why they

spend the summer in the mountains.  The NC address is 1699 Bairds Creek RD., Vilas, NC 28692 should you want to drop her a card.

REPLACEMENT EVENT:  President Dan and Joan Stewart will host a tour of Dan’s new garage at a bar-b-que cookout on Sunday, July 20^th stating at 3 PM. at their home 3901 Wimbledon Dr., Lake Mary.

(Directions, Go West Lake Mary Blvd. from I-4 to Markham Woods Rd.  Go north for about a mile.  Turn left on Wimbledon Rd and go to 3901.)  Guests are invited to contribute to the festivities by bringing their favorite sides, baked beans, cole slaw, salads, deserts, etc.  Please e-mail Joan at:

JStewart839@cfl.rr.com. to coordinate these dishes and/or for more information.

The ping-pong able will be set up in hopes of determining a club champion. Dan will hold a seminar on how to and not to build a garage for your toys.  He may even have a few odd car jobs for you to get your hands dirty if you so desire.  However, the main purpose is to enjoy the good food and MG fellowship.

Please do not forget to e-mail Joan so she can prepare for everyone.  Hope we see you on Sunday the 20^th.

EVENT PAST:  We had a great sendoff party for Bev and Dean Sprague, who will soon be relocating to Hickory, North Carolina, at the home of Al and Kathy Cook.  A large crowd showed up to partake in the festivities.  They included lot of eating, downing cold drinks and mostly engaging in good olde MG fellowship.  Everyone took a turn telling his or her favorite Bev and/or Dean story.  I must admit the truth did not interfere with the good stories.

We are not exactly clear as are the Sprague’s as to when they will leave.  Dean officially retires the end of this month.  However he is going to stay on to for a while to help break in his replacement and also to try to finish the TR-6 he is in the middle of restoring.  Bev doesn’t have any plans right now – I guess she is waiting for the little ones to move up there and will go at that time.  (Perhaps in September)  What ever the case may be, we will surely miss both Bev & Dean at our meetings and events.  Our thanks to the Cooks for arranging a super send off party.

I01 CARS YOU MUST DRIVE is a new series of programs on the Speed Channel.  Six foot tall Alonzo Bodden hosts the show.  He will try out a large cross section of different cars Exotic to what we would consider Clunkers.  In the first episode of the series he drove an Alpha sports car and a little Fiat 500.  Quite a contrast.  The fifth episode is scheduled to have the MGA.  This is scheduled for Monday, July 21^st at 9:00 PM.  The show will air several times in the following couple of weeks.  I suggest you check your TV schedules or their website for exact times and dates.  I think it can also be seen on the website.  If someone can help me, I will download it and sent it to you.

AL COOK sends the following tidbits of information:

August is a good month to get out of the heat and go to Fiddlers Green for our Annual Darts Tournament and sort-of-car show.  We will be aiming for August 23^rd.  Keep that date open.

Remember:  Anne has volunteered to be our Club Historian and so any photos, info and the like can be given to her and that wonderful but unorganized junk will instantly (MG time, remember) become priceless Historical Memorabilia.  Contact her at Anne Ariail, E-mail Address manneariail@aol.com 

Paul Plasschaert reports that few people are accessing us by way of our new web site.  The thinkers among us have concluded that this is probably because no one has our address! A suggestion was made to include this info in our newsletter and perhaps to have an article on it.  Paul can be encouraged to extol it’s virtues and help us who are computer dinosaurs learn how to use it.

Our address is www.classicmgclub.com. Check out the website and come up with your ideas as to what should be included.  Send them to Paul along with pictures; technical articles or anything else you feel will make the site better.  Plasschaert, Paul, E-mail Address, pplasschaert@cfl.rr.com.