Isn’t it about time we started to campaign for a revised driving test? No, I don’t mean making it tougher for all of those young whippersnappers – although frankly that’s not such a bad idea – but rather making it more classic-friendly. Let me explain. I am the first to admit that I lack the commitment of colleagues Port and Elliott. I don’t drive my MG Magnette to work every day – the school run followed by my shunting commute is tough on a 54-year-old car and my ‘Youngtimer’ classic, which is perfect for it, is currently in the dry dock – but I do try to take the ZB at least once or twice a week, otherwise what’s the point in having it? The trouble is that, though I am familiar with its foibles (and limitations), other road users most definitively are not.
Not that performance is an issue – after all, my car was supposedly a ‘sports saloon’. It’s sprightly enough to keep up around town, with a sweet ride over ruts and speed-humps, and plenty faster than better than school-run mums in their 4x4s think as they pull out into non-existent gaps in their desperation to avoid getting stuck behind an old banger. In doing so, however, they highlight the car’s biggest flaw: brakes – or lack thereof. The Magnette’s stoppers could be better, but even at their best they are no match for modern systems so please, people, don’t brake-test a car made in 1957 with your all-ventilated, servo-assisted cocoon with its ABS, EBA, EBD and whatever this week’s acronym of choice is.
