Who owned/owns British roadsters?

Seeing the ads for the new MG and seeing the car lists for some members is making me reminisce about the 72 harvest gold MGB I used to own. When the car was running it sure was fun. Taking those on/off ramps at 90 mph. I think the top speed on my car was around 110. But most of the time I was worried about something breaking down. I remember the master cylinder going when I was stopped at alight on a hill, losing hydraulic pressure and the car rolling backwards and gently hitting the car behind me. What a nightmare! The carburetors would get stuck and so the car would idle at 2500 rpms frequently. I think the redline was around 5500 rpm. The heater had only 2 positions

 

I used to own 2 MGB's. A brown one and an orange one, both rebuilt. I got the brown one first and rebuilt the engine in it. Bought the orange one that same year and rebuilt the engine on that one too. Sold the brown one and rode around in the orange one. One thing that was interesting about the orange one was it did not have the original transmission. The transmission was from an older MGB. I do recall that the SU carbs were a pain in the ass, but if you got it right and maintained them they would last. I had to rebuild the carbs on my orange one... Had to ride around in it with a set of SU's from an 100-6 Austin Healey. When you would push the gas pedal down, you could hear the carbs trying hard to suck in all that air!!!! I currently own an 1954 Austin Healey 100-4, but it is being rebuilt from the ground up. The stook reminded me alot of the MGB, just that raw sport's car feel with a hell of a lot more power!!! I used to work in a car repair shop for british cars, so I used to get to drive all the british cars that came in. TR3's, TR4's, Austin Healey's, Stag's, Jag's (E-Types, XK-150's), MGB's, MGC's, MGTF's, you name I have probably driven it. There was a Jensen Healey there once, the one with the old Triumph engine in it... The guy who owned it ripped out the engine and put a V-8 small block in.... Roller rockers, cams etc... I think that thing used to redline at 10k rpm+ And what acceleration.... Man that car was a blast.

Dale

 

Owned a 59 Bugeye Sprite and A 62 MG Midget. The top on the Bugeye was connected to the w/s with about 6 "lift the dot" fasteners. At speed the top would lift up from the w/s header between the fasteners. The cold air that came thru was not too bad but the bugs that came thru and hit me in the chest were something else! And then when it rained the water would cascade up the w/s, thru the gap and right into my lap. In 30k miles I also broke a rear axle and had leaking wheel and clutch slave cylinders.

The funniest episode however was when I was going downhill on a gravel road laying out a rally 100 miles from home. I was going about 30 when I saw a tire and wheel rolling in front of me. How odd I thought! Then I had to brake and the LF dived and dug in the gravel bringing me to a stop. It was MY wheel! The LF spindle had snapped in two. I picked up all the brake pieces scattered on the road and walked to the nearest house where a farmer came and towed me with a tractor to his house. I found a place to leave it, got my wife to come pick me up, ordered the parts and went back the next weekend where I repaired it on the spot and drove it home.

By the way, you mentioned the red line. In autocrosses we always used "Made in England" a 6 o'clock on the tach as the redline!

 

yikes!the good old day!!..let's see...
a couple of tr3's
100-4
bugeye sprite
mg midget[see above]
mgbgt[chrome bumper]
mgb[rubber bumper...arrrggghhhh]
lotus super seven cosworth


but it could get worse!!!how about ITALIAN roadsters from the 60s and 70s?????.....i can't even bring myself to think about my old fiat 850s or the [gag] x19....somehow managed to not have an alfa from that era tho......

slightly off topic..a good friend is he original owner of a lo milage calif only 275 gts ferrari.....*blanch*..now theres a car i'd sell the kids,wife,you name it for.....sigh....

 

The Roadsterchat Forum is also good for vintage sports car discussions.

http://pub42.ezboard.com/froadsterchatfrm1

 

1970 MG Midget. Never to be forgotten as to the dent it put in our pocket book trying to keep it on the road. The killer was when my wife (it was her car... I had a very stylish Saab99 V4) came home and asked what does it mean when the oil pressure gague reads 0. My response was "Time to buy a new car"

 

I havent owned one, but spent a good bit of time during the formative years riding around with my dad in his TR6 (he had a Spitfire before that). That probably explains why my last 3 cars (S2k included) have all been front-engined, rear drive convertible 2 seaters (miata, miata, s2000).

 

I had a '64 MGB and four different Bugeye Sprites, one completely rebuilt engine which I could never get running good because of those damn carburetors. More gas poured out of them than down in the engine! I think those cars are why I enjoy the stook so much. Like the little pink bunny, it just keeps going, and going, and going....

 

'64 MGB, as well as Morris Minor & (English) Ford Cortina, not to mention my 1937 Citroen (French gangster car). Used to sit at the bar in the Beachcomber (South Mission Beach, San Diego) and polish brake cylinders, etc. Helped start SMARTS (South Mission Auto Rallye & Touring Society) and edited the newsletter, Treadmarks. Just about all my friends had a sports car, including bathtub Porsches, MGs of various vintages, Morgan Plus-4s, etc.

Logged many miles, especially in the MGB, rallying around San Diego County roads that have since either disappeared or turned from challenging, twisting, narrow-laned scenic drives into four lanes of boring concrete and frantic, cell-phone addicted drivers.

The worst thing about English sports cars of that vintage was the Lucas electrical system.

I tell everyone the stook is a genuine sports car, the best I've owned since the MGB, and a far better car all around. I can't wait to get my replacement stook--I've been almost a month without one, and I'm really missing the fun of driving it. My Jaguar XKR is a great car for cruising and it really moves out, but it's definitely a grand touring car, not a real sports car.

cal

 

My first car was a Morris Mini (which came to an ignominious end), followed by a teal blue 1969 Triumph Spitfire (I couldn't afford the car I really wanted - the TR6). In the four years I owned the Spitfire, I had no mechanical or electrical problems with it at all. (I must have been very lucky.) The first mod I added was a cool, fiberglass, swept-back hardtop (which made the car look very much like an MGB-GT to me). The only problem was that the gas cap was mounted in the center at the rear of the hardtop, with a very sharp angle down to the gas tank. As a result, it was prone to air locks, so I could only dribble the gas into the gas cap opening. It never took me less than 15 minutes to fill up.