For Immediate Release

March 21, 2023

Inside the Octagon: MG Documentary Films Archived for Educational Research at Revs Institute®

Inside the Octagon and Inside the Octagon 2, the definitive MG history documentary films, are now included in the prestigious archives of Revs Institute® in Naples, Florida. Retired Houston filmmaker Gary Watson donated his two films to the institute in March 2023 to ensure their long-term preservation and accessibility for automotive-history research.

Watson produced Inside the Octagon in 1995 and Inside the Octagon 2 in 2008. Both films have been highly praised throughout the MG community for bringing the story of the classic British sportscar to life through wide-ranging interviews with key MG personalities. This informative, entertaining oral history of the company includes many colorful reminiscences, including those of John Thornley, former MG general manager, and Jean Kimber Cook, daughter of MG founder Cecil Kimber.

“Those who sat for filmed interviews entrusted their stories to me and the film,” Watson said. “It is incumbent on me to ensure that those stories are not lost. Revs Institute’s archive and library are a fitting permanent home for these films and related materials.”

Revs Institute is dedicated to the study and celebration of the automobile. It exists to foster a new level of understanding of the automobile, not only as a technological device, but as an agent for social and economic change worthy to be considered among the masterpieces of human creativity.  Housed in the museum is a collection of over 100 historical, exceptional automobiles that meet rigorous standards for importance, rarity and technical, aesthetic, or social significance. Revs Institute also has an extensive archive and library of books, periodicals, photos, film, ephemera, brochures, advertisements, primary source materials, and multilingual technical publications. The library is available as a resource for those interested in automotive history. Revs Institute is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization, housed in 80,000 square feet, purpose-built facility.

Watson’s donation of Inside the Octagon and Inside the Octagon 2 comprises production materials that trace the story of the MG Car Company from its origins in the 1920s to the end of production in 1980. The donation includes original film elements, original audio recordings, master film prints, videotapes, video files, still photos, research material, scripts, and correspondence between Watson and the participants in the film. Revs Institute will store the materials for the short term in a climate-controlled space and will then incorporate them into its yearly plan for processing by archivists.

“The inclusion of Inside the Octagon in the Revs Institute archives is the culmination of a decades-long journey for me,” said Watson. “It fulfills my goal to assure MG enthusiasts that this accurate historical record of an iconic, beloved sportscar is preserved and that these films themselves are now a part of that extraordinary history.”

-30-

Contact:  Gary Watson                                                Revs Institute Inc.

gary@gwatson4x5.com                                              2500 Horseshoe Drive S.

                                                                                            Naples, Florida 34104

                                                                                            https://revsinstitute.org

We received this letter from Heather Marsh & Russell Read who are the coordinators for the TX MG Registry Spring GoF (Gathering of the Faithful)...

Greetings from your Spring GoF hosts Heather and Russell.  This will be in your next issue of BACKROADs, but if you want to print it out - see attached!  A formal schedule will be forthcoming, but see below for a snapshot.

• Thursday Night (April 27th):  Caravan to the Spare Birdie Public House.  Pay your own way… and get ready to play darts, have fun with a huge variety of video games…and oh yeah…eat and drink!  Visit sparebirdie.com for an online preview.
• Friday Late Morning-Early Afternoon (April 28th):  Caravan to Perissos Winery.  Visit perissosvineyards.com for an online preview.
• Friday Late Afternoon (April 28th):  The Terrific TMGR TECH TEAM will host a session at the host hotel!
• Friday (April 28th) Evening:  Pizza in the hotel parking lot.  First Come- First Served!
• Saturday (April 29th) start the day with some spit and polish and get ready for the car show!
• And of course, Saturday will include a fun drive, and end with the TMGRs Spring GoF banquet.
• Sunday will feature a lot of hugs in the hotel lobby as TMGR-ers say goodbye to friends, and promise to meet up sometime over the summer for fun drives.

AND click below for the online reservation to the host hotel - rooms $149 with breakfast.

Texas MG Register Group Block II | April 2023

Rooms = $149 with breakfast.

REGISTRATION FORM:  2023 TXMGR Spring GoF REG FORM.pdf

SAFETY FAST and Happy 100th birthday to the MG MARQUEE!  Heather Marsh and Russell Read / TMGR Volunteers

Photos by Lesley & Gavin Kidd, Bob Chalker

On Saturday the club was represented in the Katy Livestock and Rodeo parade, a two mile affair through the heart of the city.  The weather was a bit nippy to start but everyone bundled up and had their cowboy hats firmly on their heads.  Soon the day warmed up a bit and everyone had a great time.  We had 10 cars with a mix of MGB's and MGA's and we took in a stray Triumph.  The streets were filled with spectators and our cars were a hit.  Maybe it was all the candy we threw to the little ones.  We were pleasantly surprised later in the day when we learned that the club was awarded first place in the class of Cars, Trucks, Tractors & Toys.  Gee, I wonder if they thought we were driving cars or toys?   Next year we will need to up our game, maybe we will add decorations and choreographed maneuvers down the parade route. 

Enjoy the photos below.....

It is hard to believe that February is almost over and that it is 80 degrees outside.  Perfect weather for top down driving.  Well maybe not so perfect on Wednesday when approximately 20 club members travelled to Sealy for a tour of the Bumbera's Performance shop.  We were warmly greeted by their youngest daughter Kendall who led the tour.  We had a special treat when family patriarch Kenny joined us to share several entertaining stories.  The Bumbera's had a mix of classic restorations, hot rods and racing cars in the shop.  As they tell it, they restore and build customer's cars by day and prepare their racing machines by night.  It was great to see the mix of vehicles in various states of restoration and build.  And we all enjoyed the company of the shop's dog Sarge. 

Following the tour we headed to the Wolf Pack Bar & Grill downtown Sealy to break bread and swap stories.

Kendall Bumbera touring us around the shop

Kenny Bumbera sharing one of his many stories

Sarge greeted us at the door

… Probably not to the U.S. but we can dream.   Click HERE to catch up on the MG Cyberster which is forecasted to go on sale beginning in April in the Europe and China.

Here is the latest through the end of January....

For those considering doing the long drive to Calgary, Alberta, Canada for MG 2023, I have now completed planning for the route from Texas to Calgary. While this is still preliminary and subject to change, I expect the route we take will be pretty close to what is presented below. If you are interested in joining us, please contact me as soon as possible. We will have to finalize the route as soon as we can so that we can make reservations at hotels and other places, like Yellowstone and Going to the Sun Road. 

I have shown pdfs of the daily drives. Some of the drives cannot currently be shown in Google Maps because of winter road closures, so I have marked those by hand. This drive to Calgary will take ten days and cover approximately 2,600 miles plus whatever you drive on Day 1 to get to the meeting point in the Texas panhandle.

General rules of the road: We will have breakfast eaten and be ready to leave by 8:00 am each day and will arrive at our destination by 5:00 pm. The mileage shown is for each segment of the planned route, as is the driving time. We will avoid interstate highways where it is possible and reasonable to do so. We will make frequent stops for pictures, bio breaks, food and interesting roadside attractions. All of the roads will be paved, and we will be flexible for route corrections if needed.

Day One - Thursday, July 6: Drive to Hotel Turkey, Turkey, TX  Approximately an 8 hr drive from Houston

Meet at the Hotel Turkey, home of Western Swing music, for dinner. If more than four cars participate, we will need to switch to a meeting destination near Lubbock. I am open for suggestions on this as long as we meet in this general area.

Day Two - Friday, July 7: Turkey, TX to Trinidad, CO 338 miles, 5 hr 50 min, time zone change to MDT

We will plan a morning stop at the Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo. Not a whole lot else to see, so we'll just have a leisurely travel day with plenty of rest stops to get used to being on the road. With the time change we will get in early.

Day Three - Saturday, July 8: Trinidad, CO to Georgetown, CO 298 mi, 6 hr 20 min

First day of scenic drives in the Rocky Mountains. Leaving Trinidad we will take the Highway of Legends Byway over our first mountain passes on the way to Walsenberg, CO. We end the day taking the Guanella Pass Scenic Byway over an 11,669 ft pass. An alternative to Guanella would be to drive through Breckenridge and crest the Loveland Pass on Route 6.

Day Four - Sunday, July 9: Georgetown, CO to Cheyenne, WY 228 miles, 5 hr 50 min

A full day of scenic drives in the Rocky Mountains.  Leaving Georgetown we head for scenic Hwy 40 which passes Winter Park ski area on the way to Granby. From Granby we head into the Rock Mountain National Park and take the Trail Ridge Road Hwy 34 through the park. One of the highest continuous paved roads in the US, the high point is 12,183 ft above sea level. The road ends in Estes Park, and we will continue through the eastern slopes and catch part of the Cache La Poudre Scenic Byway before heading into the plains and onto Cheyenne.

Day Five - Monday, July 10: Cheyenne, WY to State Game Lodge, Custer Park, SD 299 miles, 5 hr 50 min

A lot of open plains to cover before we hit the scenic roads of the Black Hills. Possible stops include Wind Cave National Park or the Crazy Horse Memorial. We will end with the amazing Needles Highway before stopping at the State Game Lodge in Custer State Park for the evening.

Day Six - Tuesday, July 11: Custer State Park to Gillette, WY 249 miles, 5 hr 35 min

Our day begins with a drive to Mt. Rushmore on Iron Mountain Road, which features unique views of the monument framed through tunnels on the road. After Mt. Rushmore, we drive the fabulouse roads of the Black Hills through the towns of Deadwood and Spearfish on our way to Devil's Tower National Monument. From there we head on to our destination in Gillette, WY.

Day Seven - Wednesday, July 12: Gillette, WY to Cooke City, MT 342 miles, 6 hr 40 min

A lot of driving, but the great plains are broken up by a scenic highway through the Bighorn National Forest and the day ends with a drive on the glorious Beartooth Highway, cresting at 10,947 ft in the mountains east of Yellowstone.

Day Eight - Thursday, July 13: Cooke City, MT to Bozeman, MT 134 miles, 2 hr 50 min plus Yellowstone Loop

We start this day driving through the bison populated plains along the East Yellowstone entrance. We will do a loop through the grandfather of our National Parks that will take us past Yellowstone Falls, Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring and Mammoth Hot Springs, and will spend as much of our six hours or so in the park seeing as much as we can. We end the day in the college town of Bozeman.

Day Nine - Friday, July 4: Bozeman, MT to Whitefish, MT 317 mi, 5 hr 40 min

We get to enjoy a lot of scenic Montana on our way to Whitefish. Plenty of empty roads, trees, large valleys and mountain passes. We end the day in the resort town of Whitefish.

Day Ten - Saturday, July 15: Whitefish, MT to Deerfoot Inn and Casino, Calgary 279 miles, 5 hr 40 mins

Our last day on the road starts with driving through Glacier National Park and the incomparable Going to the Sun Road cresting Logan Pass (small cars only). We will cross the border at the Chief Mountain crossing and stop at Waterton National Park in Canada. From there, we will travel north through the foothills on our way to our destination hotel in Calgary.

Sunday, July 16 Stampede Grounds, Calgary: The closing day of the Calgary Stampede! Gates for the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth open at 9:00 and the show closes with fireworks at 11:00 pm. We can catch both the Rodeo Finals in the afternoon and the Chuckwagon Finals in the evening if we buy our tickets early.

Monday, July 17: Registration for NAMGBR is open until 5:00 pm, so we can spend the day driving through the foothills, Highwood Pass, Kananaskis Provincial Park, and Banff National Park if anyone is interested.

I will work on the return route and hope to have something by the end of the month. In the meantime, register for the MG2023 and reserve the hotel in Calgary. Remember to add the Saturday night July 15. And make sure to register to see the tour of the Phillips car collection on Tuesday, July 18, it is great!

- Scott Hardy