The Restoration

In February of 2004 the car was transported to Sports Car Haven in St. James, NY for mechanical work - suspension and engine rebuild. After disassembly, the body/frame was sent to Performance Auto Body in Smithtown, NY for a full frame-up restoration. Soon things got stalled and Ken had to become part of the restoration team, working at both Performance and Sports Car Haven every night and weekends through the summer of 2004.

We expected to have it all complete and be on the road by the "Tour deMarque" at Watkins Glen in September, but that was not to be. In spite of that we had a great time at the Glen, meeting many wonderful other MG owners that we hope to have as long-time MGA friends.

In May of 2005, with 55 miles on the engine "rebuild", we bent a valve. Upon pulling the head we found that the rebuild, supposedly done by Sports Car Haven was only partially done! The head was then rebuilt by Tyrolean Autosport in Northport, using stellite valves and seats. Rich Mooers' rework of the head was excellent, and we put 2,500 miles on it that year.

In December of 2005 Ken removed the SU's and took them to Joe Curto (Mr. SU) for a rebuild. Since then they have been running fine, with trips to Key West, Gatlinburg, and Watkins Glen all completed during 2006. Now we've put over 24,000 miles on the car since the head rebuild in 2005. In July of 2010 we did a 2400 mile, 8 day round trip to Cape Breton in Nova Scotia.