Thanks to our MGB Raffle this Fall, the Club was able to make a $2,000 donation to the Houston Food Bank. Development Director Amy Reagan was glad to receive the check from Ray Holtzapple, Dwight Dawson and Mike Woodward. This donation will provide 6,000 much-needed meals in our part of the World.

We have been remiss in not honoring Don Hayter, the last Chief Engineer of the MG Car Company, who passed away on October 9th at the age of 94.  Don played a crucial role in the development of our beloved MGB.  

Hemmings published an excellent article on Don's life and his career.   Click Here

Your voting responsibilities are not yet done.  The Houston MG Car Club 2020/2021 Officers and Board of Directors election will be open November 7 to 28th.  As a reminder, each member family receives two votes, one in each of two separate polls.  An email will be sent Saturday, November 7th with the voting information.  You will also be able to access your ballot through a banner posting on the website's home page. 

Ballot

This past Saturday the club hosted a tech session, presented by member Gordon Bard, on how to successfully tune a MG engine.  We are pleased to make a recording of the session available to all club members.  To see the video go to the Tech Sessions page in the Members Only section of the website.

If you are not a club member but would like to take advantage of the many tech sessions, our library of MG related publications, our tool exchange program and the many other benefits of club membership, why not join us.  It is easy to do, click on the Join Us tab at the top of the page.

40 Years ago today, the last MGB was built in Abingdon, Oxfordshire

Effective with this post the club has opened up the ability for club members to post comments to articles posted in The ROARS.  We believe that the more interactive we can make the website the better it is for everyone.

The pages will be monitored and we ask that all comments are made with the same respect, due care and good spirit that defines our club membership.  In appropriate postings will be removed.

Cheers,

We are very heartbroken to report that long time club member and past president Cole LaMaster has passed away.  We have been told that there will be no public service and no memorials or donations are requested.  The family has asked that there be no visits or calls to Jane.  

 Coleman LaMaster, 91, passed away Saturday, October 17, 2020. He was born on October 14, 1929 in Bloomington, Indiana, the son of the late Clarence and Kathryn Coleman LaMaster. He was a graduate of Indiana University, where he also received an MBA in 1956. He served as a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. He worked in the propane industry, including as President of Pyrofax Gas Corporation and several executive positions at Texas Eastern Corporation. He enjoyed golfing, restoring and driving MGs and travelling extensively. He is survived by his loving wife Jane Ann Luzadder LaMaster, his son John (Betsy) LaMaster, daughter Kathy (ML Taylor) LaMaster, as well as numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.

- Published in The Courier of Montgomery County from Oct. 21 to Oct. 22, 2020.

By Dave Renner

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood and Mr. Rogers, oops, Dwight Dawson, arranged a wonderful pop up car gathering for Houston MG Car Club members to enjoy the sunshine. Dwight got permission for us to park our MGs (and one stray Triumph) on the lawn at the White Oak Conference Center in Inwood Forest for a couple of hours on Saturday morning, October 10th. It was fun to see our friends and their cars while socially distancing during the Time of Covid.

MGAs, MGBs and an MG Midget shared the grass with the Triumph Spitfire provided a text book for Henry, a young lad from the neighborhood, who walked over and spent an hour or more talking to us about our cars. Henry was very knowledgeable about cars in general and keen to learn more about little British sports cars, asking many insightful questions about our British treasures and listening endlessly to our long and winding answers. We suspect we have a future MG or Triumph owner just waiting to come of age in northwest Houston.

We also had the pleasure of meeting Scott and Jennie (apologies for any misspelling of names), who heard about the gathering and brought their lovely 1956 MGA out for the morning. After living in Houston for two years, they seem eager to join the club and come to other gatherings as our restrictions, hopefully, are soon lifted.  We extend to them a belated welcome to Houston and a hearty invitation to join the Houston MG Car Club family.

Driving MGAs were Ken Evesson, Jennie and Scott, and Dave Renner. Driving MGBs were Dwight Dawson, Greg Fleischer, Gordon Bard, Bob Chalker, Michael Shouse, Joe Schrodi and Scott and Trish Hardy. Driving the MG Midget was Joel Anderson and driving the wayward Spitfire was Mike Woodward.

Don’t miss the opportunity if our very own Mr. Rogers/Dawson suggests another pop up car gathering sometime soon.

The following link will take you to a recording of the club's October 3rd virtual meeting.

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/XhNgPBPOMxBrPmKU7JAdifvRX93kCNHnW90qItR7She1D5LkzMEoRS3TQXamZLtg.0dX-ZTbBGb5YqKvN

Password: .bP+G0?Y

By Dwight Dawson

Our first MG raffle was more successful than we expected. 32 members purchased 53 tickets, and we have doubled our planned donation to the Houston Food Bank to $2000. The winner, David Dodd, was selected at our live Zoom monthly meeting on October 3rd. 

David and Betty Dodd have been members of the Club since June 2019. They have a 1978 MGB that they bought new in California. It has been a super car for them and overall a great experience. They have that emotional connection we often develop for an MG and can never sell it. Overseas assignments for David meant that the car sat in lonely storage for long periods.  That car is now under restoration and will stay in the family. 

The Dodds have two daughters and now, with the 1977 MGB they have won, there are more options for feeding the need for MG ownership in the family. David purchased two raffle tickets and was delighted to win. He will be working with member Ron Redding at 5RRestorations to finalize the acquisition. Ron took time to trailer the car from the donor, check it out, and store it for several weeks in advance of the October winner selection. 

Congratulations to the Dodds!