Another day of not making any progress on the MG. Instead went for a long walk (13 miles) with friend Chris. We are planning a long walk next year so need build up the miles.

It was a blisteringly hot day (probably 30 deg) but we had some shade en-route to Calne on the old railway track. Good chat and saw some nature – hare and hawks.

Not getting much done on the MG this weekend as Helen and decided to go to the beach.

However in a quirky shop in Swanage was a second hand Jerry Can for £5. This looked to be good value and will allow me to drain the tank of petrol and dispose of it (it is dented and the gauge is u/s.

Helen and I had a yummy coffee and cake in a cafe.

Also bought a reflective shade for the Honda.

Also today, England beat Sweden to go through to the Quarterfinals of the football World Cup. I’m not really into football, buts it’s kind of exciting. We were at the beach during the match but caught the last few mins on the radio and before that over our phones.

Attended the Bowood Classic Car Show with Helen in the Cappuccino. Had some good conversations with MGB owners. One chap recommended a restoration book (insert here) and showed us around his restoration. He had fitted electronic ignition (see photo) and recommended this. Most owners had supplementary cooling so this is a definite for the re-build. Another owner fired up his ‘B’ to demonstrate the TT manifold and exhaust which was nice and loud, but does change the distinctive MGB burble. The manifold is key to the sound, so truthfully would prefer mine to stay sounding authentic as to me that is part of the appeal. Lots of owners had stainless steel oil cooler hoses some of which did not foul the distributer as much so worth considering. The engine bays were a mixture, with quite a lot of scruffy ones. It was common to see polished dashpots and pancake filters, some retaining the original and nice new decals everywhere. Where brake lines had been done, there was a weird mixture of shapes so that makes that job a bit more daunting, but worthwhile overall I reckon. The interiors also varied with horrible wooden dashboards in some cases. Overall it was encouraging to see the finished article and seeing a couple of white ones was good as it gave a good impression. None had the autumn leaf interior, so ours will be uncommon I think.