In the September edition of Road & Track, staff members were asked to write
about their "pivotal moments" i their automotive lives. Not surprisingly, a
couple staffers brought up their MG memories, and I thought I'd share them
with you:
Dave Black writes:
"Soon after I joined R&T in 1959 I paid a whopping $500 for a 1953 MG TD,
heeding then Technical Editor Gordon Jenning's notion that it would
powerfully enhance my lifestyle. It became my daily driver, and I reveled in
our anthropomorphic bonding. Double-clutching became de rigueur, comradely
waves a casual joy, and top-down, laid-down windshield cruising the very
quintessence of enthusiasm.
And Even its fascinating range of mechanical vagaries expanded my life. I
enjoyed hands-on familiarity with such fickle devices as SU carbs, Lucas
starters, wiper motors, master cylinders, and of course, the car's outrageous
top.
I ground valves, re-gasketed, ported, rivited linings, and had top stop
regularly on the way to work for a hot-plug oil wipe. A rebore and ring
change ended my late arrivals.
Today's reminiscences recall our bold alliance against steel mastadons and,
even more, the fact that I sold the roadster for $350. Now, even a despoiled
MG TD goes for $15,000.
My hero, Dave Egan (temporarily forgiving him for buying a Miata):
My best roadster memories are probably of the beige 1971 MGB we owned when my
wife Barbara and I lived in California.
Every spring when the desert flowers were blooming, we'd take it on a camping
trip to the Anza-Borrego desert. We'd drive over the mountains and then stop
in Borrego Springs for "junk food camping supplies", loading up on chips,
salsa, and cheap red jug wine. Then we'd offroad it up a long sand wash, set
up a tent, along with two folding lawn chairs amd watch the moon come out.
The MGB was perfect for these trips; a small, agile roadster with a
surprisingly big trunk for camping gear, a torquey, willing engine on
mountain roads, a wonderful exhaust resonance and a chassis tough enough to
handle a little light off-roading. With its slightly oxidized beige paint, it
seemed to be almost a part of the desert, and it glowed like the sand itself
at night. That's my enduring vision of the car, parked next to our tent,
looking clean and luminous under the desert moon.
Hope you all enjoyed that, I know I did. FYI, here are the cars the other
staffers picked:
1956 Jaguar E-Type roadster
1967 Chevy Corvair Monza
1959 Mercedes-Benz 300SL roadster
Jaguar XK-8
1959 Ford Galaxy Skyliner
Porsche Boxster
1959 Corvette
1965 Morgan Plus Four
Triumph TR-6
Tom
1978 MG Midget
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