Larry wrote:
hk wrote in
:

But the prettiest awful car I ever had was an MG-A. Gorgeous, white with
red leather. Looked very pretty sitting in the driveway where I lived in
Kansas City. That's where it spent most of its time, too, sitting in the
driveway. It was a mechanical and electrical P.O.S. It was sort of like
the girl I was dating at the time...very pretty, with really nice
upholstery, but it was damned hard to start her up and keep her running.



Isn't it interesting this is the same English company that made the Morris
Minors I always loved. I had a little green saloon, a drophead coupe and
always wanted the little woody wagon but never found one I could afford on
sailor's pay.

My 37hp drophead, with its white racing stripes to match the 6 light and 8
badge bar, not to mention its 37hp monstrous 4-cylinder powerplant, was my
favorite. A little '41 Ford convertible, made in 1964.

The only thing it lost was the master cylinder in the hydraulic brakes.
The hand brake worked good until I saved up enough money to buy a new
master cylinder on my measily $100 Navy check....

There's a towtruck company downtown that has a lot of Morris and Austin
Minis....the real ones not the new BMW fake ones. They are pretty proud of
them when you ask the price....(c;



I trace my love for British cars to a grammar and high school chum in
New Haven, where I grew up. *His* father was rich, so while we were too
young to drive, his older brothers each got an Austin-Healey when they
reached driving age, and we younger guys got to wash the cars, sit in
them and drive them up and down the driveway. Big deal, huh?

And my father had a lot of summer employees at the boatyard, including a
young guy whose father had a Jag XK-120 the kid sometimes drove to work.

Those cars just hooked me. Then when we got to be 16, the rich kid's dad
bought him an XK-150 and then one of the first XK-E's I ever saw. Now
that was one beautiful car.

Well, the hook was set. But when I finished college, all I could afford
was an ancient MG-A. When it ran I loved it. But it didn't run a lot.