I've been enjoying the list since joining, especially the
stories of when and under what circumstances cars were
bought/acquired. Brought up the thought of a thread (this
could be fun) on the subject of (drum roll, please) "Longest
continuous ownership of a single Spridget."
To get the ball rolling, I've owned my 1969 Sprite Mk. IV
for (trumpet fanfare) 30 years. (I'm waiting now to hear
from all the Bugeye original owners.) Yep, bought it
brand-new in '69 from University Imports in Riverside,
California while I was in the Air Force stationed at March
AFB. I'm a native Californian, so the car has stayed in
sunny SoCal most of its life. We've been together through
marriage, divorce, re-marriage, kids, career, up, downs, the
gas crisis (remember?) - the whole bit.
"Basil" (second wife named him) still carries his original
color of Pale Primrose (hey, BMC, what a wuss name!) though
not the original paint. In 1971 or so, I bought a factory
hardtop from a dealer in San Francisco which has been on
pretty much full-time since (original soft top is in the
garage; I use a tonneau on the few occasions when I pull the
hardtop.) In 1978 or so, I cut a hole in the top for a
sunroof - all right, you've got thirty second to scream,
wail, moan and shake your heads.....o.k., time's up. Yeah, I
know, looking back now I should never have done it, but I
was young, and stupid, and who knew, anyway? But at the
time I was managing a Beck-Arnley foreign car parts store -
show of hands, who remembers Beck-Arnley? - so I got a good
price on a truly quality sunroof. The installation, while
not "factory"-looking (yes, right, no such thing - let's not
go there, please) is clean and works for me.
Until 1984 Basil was my daily drive, so needless to say we
racked up some impressive mileage (can't tell you how much,
odometer has been broken for years). Then I pulled him off
the road for a rebuild of the engine and tranny, and since
then he's been the "one weekend a month" car. My wife loves
him, my daughter hates him ("too loud, Daddy") and my
11-year-old son is wating patiently for the day when Basil
becomes "his" car.
I still enjoy driving him. I'm 6'1", and when I was 22 years
old I could fold myself in and out of him gracefully, like a
gazelle. Now, 30 years older and a lot of pounds heavier, I
heave myself in and out more like an arthritic elephant.
Basil, good friend that he is, never comments.
So that's my story. Aren't Spridgets great?
Jim Algar
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