Me and My MG

Gordon Thorburn

• Publisher: Pen & Sword
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781844681167
• eBook ISBN:
  9781844689224
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Literary Essays
• Index: Technology & Engineering

A collection of heartwarming personal stories from MG owners around the world.
Read about the Berkshire restorer who saw a heap of old iron in the bushes and realized it used to be a 1926 bullnose Super Sports; and the seven-year-old boy in Norfolk, Virginia, who read a book called The Red Car and knew that one day he would have to have a TC; and the Dutch boy who saw an MGB on his way to school and knew something similar.
There's the nine-year-old French boy whose nan gave him a model kit to assemble; and the USAF fighter pilot who saw his first MG in Britain during the war and was in love for ever. A Canadian took 32 years to restore his TA, while a Swiss professor installed space-ship electronics in his TD. An aeronautical engineer was left some money and bought a 1929 18/80 Tourer that he thought had been restored. An Australian 17-year-old happened across a second-hand MGB, was done for speeding, and lived happily ever after. A Swedish boy walked out one Sunday morning into the middle of an MG rally.
All the stories are different, but the storytellers have something in common: They would all rather love—and sometimes despair of—a wonderful vehicle with faults in its character, than have no feelings about one that has no character at all.
Praise for Me and My MG
"A loving look at one of Britain's most iconic motors—brilliant photographs interspersed with personal reminiscences and memories—a book to be treasured." — Books Monthly (UK)

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Author’s Note
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 The Time Machine
• Chapter 2 My Heart Belongs to Maggie
• Chapter 3 ‘Side Windows are Complete and Included’
• Chapter 4 And Is There Honey Still For Tea?
• Chapter 5 Charles Darwin’s MG
• Chapter 6 What Ho, Old Bean
• Chapter 7 Using Your Skill and Judgement
• Chapter 8 Snowplough Partly Consumed by Horse
• Chapter 9 Man Buys Car 272 Times
• Chapter 10 Searchlights Over Berlin, APB in Downey
• Chapter 11 The TD as Sci-Fi
• Chapter 12 The Heart Of The Matter
• Chapter 13 Tom Pike’s Tale of a TC And Another: Part One
• Chapter 14 Boy Grows Up to Flirt With Disaster
• Chapter 15 A Restoration in Microcosm Or, A Tale of Two Doors
• Chapter 16 The Vatman’s Revenge
• Chapter 17 Le Professeur, Sans Doute Craqué Pour MG
• Chapter 18 On Cutting the Pumpkin
• Chapter 19 The Law of Unintended Consequences Explained
• Chapter 20 Aeroplanes? Who Needs ‘Em?
• Chapter 21 Everyone has Life-Defining Moments
• Chapter 22 A Piece of Plywood Makes all the Difference
• Chapter 23 Any Colour, as Long as it’s Black or White
• Chapter 24 Baby, Come Back
• Chapter 25 You Can Take the Boy Out of the MG
• Chapter 26 Who Is Rarest Of Them All?
• Chapter 27 Love Story
• Chapter 28 Flivver, Roger, Fran, and Rosy’s Revenge
• Chapter 29 Come On, Feel The Noise
• Chapter 30 Rhapsody in Blue
• Chapter 31 Klubben För Alla Som Är Intresserade Av MG
• Appendix
• Acknowledgements