I Wish I'd Kept
My First Car
Or My Driveshaft
is being Held For Ransom
by Bruce Cratty
We've all heard the stories told to us, or by us, to others at car shows or at swap meets. The beginning is a variation of "I had one like that," or "My dad had one of those." There is the version commencing with "A guy in town has two of those in a barn." And there is the deviation of the story beginning "My first car was a ..." and ending with "I wish I'd kept that first car."
Well, I did just that; I kept my first car. Sort of. Maybe I should explain. When I was 12 years old, my sister, Gloria, had an MG TD. Unfortunately, she sold it before I was old enough to lay claim to it, but that seed had been planted, only to grow a few years later.
Christmas of 1966 my parents took a train from Omaha to Bakersfield, California to visit Gloria. It was in Bakersfield that we saw it in the paper. For Sale: 1951 MG TD. Runs. $300. We went to look at the car, in black primer with a white vinyl interior. There was, of course, no top. But then again, with the car's being in California what need was there for a top? We gave it a push start and it ran. I was hooked.
So it was that I bought my first car 1800 miles from home, in the middle of winter traveling by train. I could tell the story of how we gassed it up, checked the fluids and the air pressure in the tires and, starting it with a push, drove 1800 miles straight through ice, snow, and blizzards sans top to arrive in Omaha without a stop 18 hours later. But no matter how good the story, that is not what really happened. This is the true story.
We looked at buying or renting a truck to haul the TD back to Omaha. But after checking all of the options we decided to store the car in Gloria's garage and return for it in the spring.
Spring could not come quickly enough. With a borrowed tow bar and my grandfather's 1957 Ford we took off to retrieve my MG. Luckily we had an uneventful trip and made it home safely.
I wanted to fix it up a little so I took it apart. In retrospect this was not a brilliant move. After a couple of years of working on restoring the car the temptations of youth, sex, drugs, and rock and roll (Okay. so it was really college, motorcycles and racecars but it was the late 60s and I have to pay homage to that period in some way) allowed for my getting distracted from putting it back together. So I still have it. It is in my garage. As well as my basement, office, and spare bedroom.
As we all know, driving sports cars is a highly addictive activity. I confess to suffering the addictionćI missed driving the TD. But absent the time to finish the restoration what was I to do? Of course! I would buy another MG, but this time to drive and enjoy! A 1953 TD was found stored in a shed in Souix City, much closer to home. My dad and I were able to get it running and I drove it back to Omaha.
And drive it I did. This car and I went on several adventures, including a motor vacation in 1970 to Massachusetts for a New England MGT Registry GOF (Gathering of the Faithful). Some time after this holiday I decided the '53 TD was looking a little long of tooth, so I disassembled it for refurbishing, but I did reassemble this car, and I still own it.
Time passed and in 1978 my girlfriend Judy, who has since become my wife, and I went to Vail, Colorado for a vacation. By coincidence (Oh surećEd) there was an MG meet being held there. Judy saw a group of MGAs on display and, of course, the predictable happened.
Upon our return to Omaha, an ad in the Omaha World Herald led us to Brian Goldsmith who had an MGA for sale. It needed to be repainted and some other small odds and ends. However, Judy got to drive it a while (about 100 miles) before the restoration began. She has yet to drive it again because it is still not finished. We needed a car that was a bit more amenable to touring than the '53 TD. The MGA was far from finished so we bought a 1980 MGB to drive and enjoy. Emma, as we called her, was a trooper, but after 2 years there was the 1996 MG International approaching, to be held in Indianapolis, and Emma needed a bit of mechanical attention.
I rebuilt the engine, overhauled, and installed an overdrive transmission, and against all odds, reassembled the car. Wonderful! A complete and user friendly MG! This is the Vermillion Orange MG Tourer that many of you have seen us in.
So this is our MG history. However, you might be thinking just what does all of this have to do with driveshafts? Well, it goes back to my first car. The tube to the '51 TD's drive shaft was dented, so I gave it to Steve Espelund to repair. Steve replaced the offending member and gave it to Marvin Marshall, FWAHC President, to deliver to me. Marvin, always on the lookout for newsletter material then held it for ransom. I was informed that when I submitted a story about how I got started in LBC's my driveshaft would be released. That is the whole story of why my driveshaft is being held for ransom, and how this story was extorted from me.
So editors, please call Marvin and inform him the ransom has been paid. He can now arrange for the release and delivery of the kidnap victim.
Brought to you on the web by Shaw's Garage
PAGE | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Archives