Nostalgia Time

[DaveE]

My youngest daugter and I were talking about cars this weekend and some of the cars I've owned. The conversation lead to which one was my favorite and it was an easy choice. It wasn't the best car but it was associated with some of the best memories and it was a blast to drive.

You guys have a favorite? OK, I know some of you are still waiting for your first car but you older guys are bound to have one that stands out. If you do lets play show and tell.

I couldn't find a photo of mine but the picture below is almost exactly like mine. It was a 1968 MG Midget MKIII. Great cars as long as you knew a good mechanic.

 

[VtDivot]

1995 Toyota Tercel... the Green Hornet

Bought it new, drove it until 2001. Gave it to the inlaws when we moved to the US. They still drive it everyday today. Car is rust free and has 250,000 kms on it. I think it just may run forever

 

[Bravo]

Dave:

That brings back uncanny memories for me. When we were kids, we had a group of guys who drove Midgets, Spitfires and MGB's. And if your parents were really loaded, you drove a Triumph TR6.

What cantankerous vehicles. Two 1-barrel carbureators..I think they were Bosch? We were always fooling with them. And funky wiring systems. But these were quinessential Sports Cars...and we are driving around listening to The Beatles, The Who, The Stones and Ray Davies and The Kinks.

Right before our senior year in high school, one of our friends was discovered with Hodgkins Disease (lymphatic cancer). He was given only a few months to live as the treatment at the time was not very advanced. He lived all through that year and the following summer went we all went away to college. His hobby became rebuidling MGB's from the ground up. His dad put an engine "puller" in the ceiling of his garage and Steve would yank the engines out and rebuild them and the tranny's.

Late in my Freshman year, I am at college (its only about 55 miles away). At 3 AM I get a knock at the door of my dorm room. I open it and he is standing there with wisps of hair trailing down his shoulders. He has lost most of it from Chemo but the rest is about shoulder length. There is a light behind him from the hall and the image was ghostly.... He wanted to show me a car he had rebuilt. We went out in the middle of the night and blasted it around the campus. Drove as well as any B I had ever piloted. This one had a hardtop which was unusual.

A year later, his parents moved to Basking Ridge NJ - aobut 30 miles East of NYC. He died about five months later and we went to a funeral in the middle of a snowy winter and put him in the ground. His mother said when they moved away, he lost his will to live...

I will never forget that midnight ride in his MGB....

 

[Rockford35]

I will never forget that midnight ride in his MGB....

Great story B, and great memory. That's the sort of thing that lives on forever.

I'm going to make it a point to think of your friend whenever I see and MGB in town here....

R35

 

[IrishGolfer]

Cool story Bravo

When I lived in Edinburgh (Scotland) I used to go and play in Scratch Cups around the Lothians each weekend in the summer with a mate. He got into sports cars and ended up with a green MGB. I will never forget the ride we had down to Longniddry one time.

He had the top down and the engine sounded like turbo prop. My eardrums were bursting. The whole way down he was talking to me but I couldn't hear a thing. My hair was still wet and it kinda dried like a witch on Acid. So I had to play half deaf, shaken and looking like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. I think I shot 85, 85. Never again.

I can't see the attraction as a passenger. Maybe as a driver, but certainly not as a golfa!

 

[DaveE]

Good story Bravo, funny how a car can bring things back.

They did have two one barrel carbs and ran on premium leaded gas as well. That hard top was an MGB GT, there weren't as many of those.

The Midgets were little but not as tiny as you might think. After my sophomore year in college I decided to take some time off, so after working 60 hrs a week all summer I packed up the Midget took off for Colorado. It was loaded tight but everything I owned fit it in that car.

I got really lucky and found a place to stay and a job my first day there. I worked at a ski shop in Vail and was able to ski 5 days a week for an entire season. It was the 70s so lots of parties and good times and I remember most of it....I think.

As much fun as it was the best was the people I met while I was there. Everyone had a story about how they ended being a ski bum for a year. Longer for some of them. It was soooooo tempting to stay and not go back to school. My Dad was told me he was surprised I came back at all.

Oh, one more great thing about MGs, girls thought they were cool.

 

[wirehair]

I drove a 1966 Midget in college, after I got out, I sold it & bought a '76. Drove that for a couple of years then bot a Caddy. Talk about culture shock!

Anyway, after reading this thread, I looked up Midgets on E-Bay. This one popped up about 40 miles away. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4581316088&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT

This appears to be the '66 I drove in college. Hmmmmm.......this is gonna be a tough one!

 

[wirehair]

It's the one!

I sit here with my 5th Jacj Daniels, did a little research.. Thats the car. The original car that I bombed around in when I was at SMU. that's the one I redlined in 4th while racing that guy up Skillman in the spitfire (3 AM thought I was gonna blow that sucker up, all I could see was the tach - I beat him). That's the one Mrs. Wire & I took to the lake and .......

Anyone wanna but some clubs? Somebody stop me before it's too late!

 

[Slingblade61]

DaveE, speaking of nostalgia.....

I was rooting around today and found one of your baby pictures.

 

[Slingblade61]

That baby pic speaks volums about the man you aer today Dave.

Speaking of cars......there have been so many.

In order, to the best of my ability...
1966 Chevy Bel Air.....you never forget your first
1968 Mercury Cougar
1976 Chevy Vega wagon.....I know but I got ALOT of sex in that car.
1973 El Camino
1967 Ford Thunderbird (minty 4 door)
1970 Toyota corona (winter beater)
1963 Willys CJ5
1983 GMC pick up
1988 Honda Prelude
1994 Dodge Ram P/U
1998 Dodge Dakota
1998 Ford E-150 van

That's it.......the Corvette comes after I ditch the kids.

 

[Rockford35]

1976 Chevy Vega wagon.....I know but I got ALOT of sex in that car.

I'm sure they were all perfect gentlemen....:biglol:

R35

 

[DaveE]

DaveE, speaking of nostalgia.....

I was rooting around today and found one of your baby pictures.

The tough part was getting mom to share. At leest thar warnt any parmnent brane dramage.

 

[DaveE]

I sit here with my 5th Jacj Daniels, did a little research.. Thats the car. The original car that I bombed around in when I was at SMU. that's the one I redlined in 4th while racing that guy up Skillman in the spitfire (3 AM thought I was gonna blow that sucker up, all I could see was the tach - I beat him). That's the one Mrs. Wire & I took to the lake and .......

Anyone wanna but some clubs? Somebody stop me before it's too late!

Stop you, no way. If that's really your car you have to buy it. The odds are incredible and you'll think about for the rest of your life if you don't get it.

We're not limited to just being golf ho's here.

 

[Wheelerm]

That baby pic speaks volums about the man you aer today Dave.

Speaking of cars......there have been so many.

In order, to the best of my ability...
1966 Chevy Bel Air.....you never forget your first
1968 Mercury Cougar
1976 Chevy Vega wagon.....I know but I got ALOT of sex in that car.
1973 El Camino
1967 Ford Thunderbird (minty 4 door)
1970 Toyota corona (winter beater)
1963 Willys CJ5
1983 GMC pick up
1988 Honda Prelude
1994 Dodge Ram P/U
1998 Dodge Dakota
1998 Ford E-150 van

That's it.......the Corvette comes after I ditch the kids.

wow, oh my god thats alot of cars mate

 

[VtDivot]

The tough part was getting mom to share. At leest thar warnt any parmnent brane dramage.

LOL - DaveE you crack me up...