Over the past few weeks, I seem to have become something of an automotive stalker. It all started with our bumper 30th-birthday issue (on sale this Thursday!), and more particularly the Our classics memories story within it.
That nostalgic trip through my motoring past, together with being tasked with writing the 50th-anniversary story on the MGB – and hence getting to play with five of them for the day (below) – has reignited an old flame: my 1980 MGB GT.
It's a passion that will be greeted with derision by many in the classic world – not least a certain Stroud-based Mancunian columnist – but I can't seem to stop memories of that car popping into my head. I guess there must be a heck of a rose-tint to those imaginings – I can't remember being exactly blown away by the last late-model B I drove – but I loved a lot about that car.
For one, it sounded great. I still think it looked pretty cool, despite its rubber bumpers (though it would look cooler still with them taken off, the ride height dropped by a couple of inches, and sporting some gunmetal-grey Minilites), and it was a lovely car to live with: quick enough, comfortable and great fun in the wet.
I reckon Simon Taylor is right: if you find a car you truly love, never part with it. That's why he always regretted selling his gorgeous AC Ace 2.6 (above), and bought it back at the first opportunity. Now I'm under no illusions, I know a clumsily facelifted BGT is no AC Ace, but the principle is the same. And besides, I still have the steering wheel from it, a Mountney job that has adorned no less than four other classics since.
