Reason # 46 I am the luckiest person I know;
Before we were married we were facing our fifth anniversary of being
together. We knew we wanted to do something special as this was an
extraordinary relationship for both of us. We had been talking a lot about
visiting the UK where she had once lived for a time. One day she was
visiting at my work and I very casually mentioned (with no greater
importance than discussing the weather) that there was an MGB for sale in
town. All of the sudden she stopped what she was doing, turned to me and
said "we have to go back there and buy it before it was gone". Just like
that, I did not even say I was interested in getting it, it was just a
casual comment. She did know I had a life long interest in them going back
to my brother's Alpine (to this day I can still hear the sound of him
coming home from school still a full mile away but that unmistakable
exhaust note). The woman selling it was a middle aged English woman who had
to sell it due to a divorce, she had it out front of her house for quite
some time but it never had a for sale sign on it. I did not know it at the
time but she had kept the sign on the seat because she really did not want
to sell it. She had been approached by various kids and such but she would
never sell it to them because it was her baby. Finally her ex put up a card
at the hospital where I spotted it between runs. the next day we brought up
my brother (now old enough to have a son with his own 74B, the Alpine long
since traded in on more common sense things like mowers, diapers, and
family cars). We had a copy of Porter's with us but we obviously did not
follow it very much because both sills were rusted through but still solid
enough, the paint was old, the seats were torn, and the tires were cracked,
but it ran well enough.
we paid her the full amount she asked (which in retrospect was too much
considering the condition but neither she ( the owner) and I knew that).
That was in the Spring, on a beautiful Fall day on the Maine coast I asked
her to marry me as we sat in front of the very trusty B on the rocks at
Wells Beach, first she fell over laughing (I remember thinking to myself
that this could be a good or bad thing, but probably good), then she said
yes. The car went into the restoration shop that Winter and we have a nice
picture of a pile of rusty metal excised form the car. The Spring was spent
putting the car back together in the sun while waiting for the nine coats
of paint to cure. Oh yeah, there were wedding cakes and flowers do decide
upon too. On June 19th of that year we were married at the church in the
Village square. The MGB was our Limo of course, a picture of it in front of
the church took second place in last years Moss Motoring photo contest. It
was under the humor section because as it was pointed out to us by none
other than Bud Krueger, who we saw during the honeymoon. The "Just Married"
sign was directly over the cars license plate "2 MY LOVE", Bud pointed out
(and sent us a picture of it) that the two combined formed a complete
sentence ( I wonder why our car got so much attention from other drivers
that day and the next going to where else but a British car show in New
Hampshire. Since that time we and the car have been to every state in New
England and met some of the best people ever at many Brit events. The car
has been the best thing to happen to us as a couple (only two seats, no
room for the kids :-) Now we are buying other MGs to sell to other couples
to bring them the same happiness we have found. BTW, I should add that we
only have the top up during the (steady) rain. Even if we have had to
scrape the windows in the AM we still have the top stored in the trunk Even
weather so cold that Frank K. brings his wagon instead :-O !! The only
problem I have now is keeping the B in such shape so that it is not
hopelessly overshadowed by my wife's beauty and charm when ever she is in
the passenger seat.
And yes, as Chris stated below, we will never let go of this one. I am
in the need of a much larger barn however :-) Sorry for taking up so much
bandwidth with this story.
Carl and Judy French
67B
80B waiting a new couple
>I proposed to my wife in my MGB ensuring years of
>investment to keep it alive. How could she tell me to
>get rid of the car that I proposed to her in?
>
>Chris Reichle
>
>
>
>
>--- Neil Cotty <neilc@apphosting.com> wrote:
> > into believing that buying an MG makes good sense.
> > <G>
> >
> > I've been reading that thread about all the excuses
> > we need to make to our
> > respective partners when buying decrepit 30yr old
> > cars, taking them to pieces,
> > using the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom anywhere when
> > restoring them, then
> > selling them when they're still in a 1000 bits,
> > buying 5-6 or 50 more!!!!!
> > <VBG> So lets pool all our good excuses, reasons,
> > justifications, retorts that
> > we've used on our partners over the years! Hey it's
> > the silly season so why
> > not? :)
> >
> > I'll start with the ones I have used, and my Dad has
> > used in the past to
> > justify our little collection! hehe
> >
> >
> > WHEN BUYING YOUR FIRST
> >
> > "Buying a new car is a silly idea, think of the
> > depreciation!"
> > "Buying an old car is good for the environment, less
> > landfill!"
> > "You'll love driving the MG too!!"
> > "An MG will appreciate over time, think of it as an
> > investment!"
> >
> > WHEN ADDING TO THE COLLECTION
> >
> > "I can't drive a GT in summer it's too hot, so I
> > need a Roadster!"
> > "I can't drive a Roadster in Winter it's too cold,
> > so I need a GT"
> > "I can't drive the MGA everyday (delete Barney <G>)
> > so I need to buy something
> > slightly more practical like a BGT V8, and after all
> > we don't have any car
> > right now so.." (my most recent excuse)
> >
> > RETORTS TO "I TOLD YOU SO" WHEN SOMETHING BLOWS UP
> > OR BREAKS DOWN
> > "Yeah, but I can fix it myself, cheaper than a
> > mechanic!"
> > "Parts are so cheap for MG's!"
> > "Yes but the car has 'character' doesn't it?!"
> >
> > WHEN RESTORING
> > "Yes I do have to let the new painted parts dry in
> > the bathroom, the garage is
> > filthy!"
> > "Look. I don't use the dishwasher at the same time
> > as washing the dishes, so
> > whats the problem?"
> > "Yes I WILL clean up the Garage so you can park in
> > there too"
> >
> > C'mon these are just a few of my pathetic excuses,
> > I'm sure there are better
> > ones out there!! :)
> >
> > Xmas Cheers,
> > Neil
> > A/CGT/BGTV8/AH100 - and over 100 excuses!!
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