"Betsy", My MGA

I call her Betsy. Not as clever as my friend who calls his TD "Fergie" 'cause she likes to go topless. I like that one, but Betsy is simple and strong - like my 1959 MGA

She is not a show car, though we have won trophies in the past. She is a driver. And I enjoy the ride. Oh, the stories we could tell. The ratchet I sent into the radiator on the way to Pensacola and locals telling me to use black pepper to stop the leak. That fall trip to Cheaha, a tightly packed trunk, that whoosh sound as the extinguisher went off. Yellow dust went everywhere. Well, Kay should have packed her sweaters in something air tight! A car show in Helena with a small caravan of buds. Our luggage was slid off the rack and under the car. And there it stayed. Our caravan looked disturbed when we had to back track 20 miles for our luggage.

They leak in the rain, are hot in summer, cold in winter and have room for a pair of shorts and a tooth brush in the trunk. British sports cars - you love'em or hate 'em. I've loved them since I was a teenager. It was Jackie Tudor and Nick Meadows fault. Jackie had the coolest car I had seen - a Triumph Spitfire and I drove it. Jackie signaled I was number one in his heart when I barked the tires and sped away - for an hour! Meadows had a blue MGB and dated Vickye Morris - nuff said about why I wanted one!


At 20, I had a 60 MGA and a 68 MGB, both with optional hardtops. Great fun cars. A new house, furniture, and surgery # 3 brought about their sale. But I missed 'em. One day in 1984, there she was, an MGA for sale and just down the road. 500 bucks and three truck loads later I was trying to explain why I had drug this pile of junk home.


Well, I have enjoyed this pile of junk for 24 years, No one has touched her but me during that time. From the body & paint, wiring, and mechanical work, all me. Some may say that might not be the best thing! We have made runs to the beach - Mobile, Pensacola, and Panama City - to the hills of Mt. Cheaha, Guntersville, Mentone, and every backroad in central and north Alabama. Several trips to Atlanta, the Walter Mitty races and on the track at Road Atlanta. The best of all may have been to the Smokies. 1650 miles without a hiccup.


Betsy has aged and like me could use some body work and TLC. I have always told my car club buds I would repaint her and fix her up if anything "major" happened. In 2006, I decided to do a few go faster things. So out came the engine, transmission, seats, carpet, floor boards (yes - it has real to goodness wood floors), and rear end. A few engine tweeks, new oil seals for the leaks, and a 3.909 rear end for better highway cruising and soon she was back together.

My buds asked, "So, what DO you call major!"



On we go.
As a friend said,"Sometimes its just fun to go fast in a slow car." The A was never fast. With the mods it should do 112 now, but I doubt I can get her quite there. I tried - once. She seemed to go where she wanted instead of where I thought she should go. Scary!


Now give me a backroad off the beaten path, top down, no phone, no radio - just the wind in the hair, curving roads, fields with cows and old barns and I will soon be relaxed and in my zone.