Went out before brunch this morning along the waterfront to an MG Car Club concourse at St Heliers. Great to see so many fine machines on display still giving so much driving pleasure.
Especially great to see them before the weather packed in.
Here's the beautifully presented MG TD on the left that won the overall concours prize, with some modern thing next to it ( I'm told it's an MGF). And down to the right there is a 
superb 1958 MGA Twin Cam -- a rare and special beast that still gets around the country -- that won the 'Show and Shine' prize. My own Midget is there behind it on the right . And at the top there are two more beautifully presented MGAs, with an MGRV8 next door, and a Magnette saloon behind.
A fine sight on a not so fine Sunday morning.
14 comments:
Wow! I owned a Twin Cam as a kid. Not the easiest of cars to work on, mind you but in those days it was possible to drive it to the track for club races and do very well with it. In road trim.
Also a K3 Magnette and a string of cut-down TCs in various stages of tune helped keep me poor as a youth.
I sold my 'B' before leaving SA. She was my pride and joy - a beautiful blue '72 roadster, chrome Ross-style wheels, tan upholstery and original in every way. She had won concourse with her previous owner and had her badge for doing a ton (mph) down the straight at Kyalami....Oh shit.
I wish I had know about the meeting coz I would have been there.
Gosh, Peter, looks a splendid collection of motorised vehicles!
Certainly seems an enjoyable activity for a Sunday.
Christ,
these are probably up there with some of the worst cars in history!!!!
What is the obsession with MG's.
They are slow, unreliable and handle like a soggy weetbix trying to negotiate a fork rather than a spoon.
sheeesh. These cars are testament to the British labour movement of the seventies. They have two speeds....dead slow and stop!
Looks like the Prat has had a bad week at the office, and then an even worse weekend.
Of he could just have chosen an apposite pseudonym.
Pleased to see there are some other discriminating enthusiasts here.
KG: The Twin Cam owner told me the chief problem with the Twin Cam was the length of the timing chain and the need to ensure its lubrication was maintained, and the other was a vibration causing the float to stick, both easily remedied. Were they your problems?
PC
Nothing wrong with the MGF. It has the excellent Moulton suspension (look him up on the web- he's a real engineer, not one of the poseurs that get promoted lately) and handles well. The good part is that it rides properly, without the billycart pitching and roll-rock of many modern "sports" cars. A shame that the last of the MGF cars were produced with steel springs. They are inferior as a daily driver.
It'll be interesting to see what the Chinese do with the MG brand now they own it.
LGM
PC, the timing chain was an ongoing nightmare until my Dad, who was a fine engineer (with the resources of the Weapons Research Establishment in Salisbury, S.A. behind him) altered the cover and sprockets and fitted a duplex chain and decent tensioner.
You're right about the sticking floats and a single twin-choke Weber fixed that.
I do remember having to jack the car up and remove the nearside front wheel in order to adjust the fan belt tension...:-)
Some people just don't "get" the attraction of old cars.
My 380SEC V8 Benz probably wouldn't keep up with a Mazda6, Boomtown, but so what? It's beautiful, has character and won't depreciate like a secondhand whore.
KG
My wife has a 380SEC; a car that feels like a Mercedes should- hewn out of a solid chunk of unobtainium metal. The last of the Mercedes that felt as substantial as that was the 600S of the 1990s. After that they gradually got more flimsy and built down to a price- just like everyone else's product.
Keep your older cars, you'll not regret it! They have character and you can work on them yourself.
Cheers
LGM
Prat, my 'B' might not be upto a VW golf as far as speed is concerned, the heavy Ross-style rims are no match for light alloy rims, etc, but it has long legs, handles well n the open road - in fact it just keeps on going. Take the roof off, listen to the throaty exhaust and enjoy. It was the nicest car I have ever owned.
lgm, they're a lovely old car to drive, eh?
And for all the talk of energy efficiency and so on, I find it hard to believe that it's more environmentally friendly to churn out millions of little flimsy cars full of plastic than to keep good older cars on the road for years and years.
Incidentally, if you know anybody who wants a 350SEC at a bargain price, drop me a mail.
I have my eye on a 500SEC.....
380SEC that should have been.
KG
Yes, I get annoyed when people say that crushing old cars for emmissions credits is a good clean green idea. Then again, green = deceptive lies anyway, so I shouldn't be surprised that their argument does not make any sense. It would be fun to tell them that if their houses are older than 8 years, they need to be demolished to make way for newer, more environmental ones. Too bad if that's too expensive for them!
I have been thinking of transpolanting the 5.6 litre Mercedes V-8 into the car. I also found a 6.3 litre that could be suitable. Cost is not as bad as might be expected... The transplant option is worth considering.
LGM
A 6.3 would be wonderful! But I thought it would be too expensive.
Apparently (according to an American online SEC forum, the 5.6 transplant is very easy and there are all sorts of tweaks available as well).
I'll take another look.
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