You know you are getting old when:

[LuvMyMan]

Seconded.

Man, I wish I had thought of that when I owned one of those machines. I could have thrown away the engine and saved myself a ton of money.

Well now, kind Sir, Craigslist and your rachet set...

 

[LuvMyMan]

You know you are getting old, when your younger family members are grandparents already.

 

[rjb1]

I bought a bug-eye Sprite when I was in college, mainly to impress a certain blonde who was (mistakenly) impressed by British sports cars.
How was I to know - a mild-mannered Chevy man - that it took a special sort of brake fluid so its brakes failed completely right in the middle of town. The only positive thing was that it was so light I drove it home using the hand brake.
Rebuilt the master and wheel cylinders then sold it for what I paid - $275 - and considered myself lucky. Very relieved, and I never made the British automotive mistake again.
(Putting that 392 Chrysler Hemi in the British car is a step in the right direction. Now replace the British body and running gear with something/anything US and you'll have a good vehicle.)

 

[GHT]

If you get yourself along to The Lane Motor Museum you'll see an MG sports car, problem is I can't remember whether it was a TD or a TC. Belonged to some country singer whose name I have also forgotten. It's a long time since I've been there, but the car that really stood out belonged to either George Jones or Willie Nelson. Cow horns on the hood. Unbelievable!

 

[Talbot]

Based on an MGTD you say? then, just dump a Chrysler Hemi in it, and forget about handling!

I'll bet it handles like a labrador on linoleum.

 

[rjb1]

Ironic that you are in London and I'm in Nashville and you have been to the Lane Motor Museum and I haven't. However, I have been *intending* to go for about the last 10-20 years. Don't know which of the country music stars had the cow-horn MG.

 

[Gregg Axley]

I'll bet it handles like a labrador on linoleum.

Only louder.

 

[jamespowers]

Well now, kind Sir, Craigslist and your rachet set...

I see them for free on craigslist here once in a while. The poor guy gets tired of fixing it and just throws up his hands.

 

[jamespowers]

Only louder.

And faster and cooler looking.

 

[GHT]

Ironic that you are in London and I'm in Nashville and you have been to the Lane Motor Museum and I haven't. However, I have been *intending* to go for about the last 10-20 years. Don't know which of the country music stars had the cow-horn MG.

We did a trip to Memphis some years ago, had to do the Elvis thing, Gracelands, Sun Studio and all that. Not impressed, but we loved Beale Street. Out of curiosity, not being country music oficiandos, we went to Nashville with the intention of just staying a day. Stayed there five days, absolutely loved the place. Our english accents were overheard in a bar, we were approached by a couple who were planning a trip to the UK, got invited back to their's. Steaks on the barbeque, surrounded by a group of their friends. Met up with them again when they made that trip to Europe. Still in touch.

But about The Lane Museum, if you had planned to visit London, chances are that you would look up all the things that you want to include in your itinery, and being a tourist with time on your hands, you would wander around at your leisure, and see far more than I have ever had time to. I go past world famous sights everyday, never give them a second thought. But the tourists are always there.

Save your pennies, come and see one of the oldest and most historic cities in the world.

 

[GHT]

Perhaps an engine comparison is called for: For what it's worth, I looked up a motoring journal the year that my car was new: Nought to sixty: 30 seconds. Won't be burning up the quarter mile anytime soon then.

 

[skydog757]

You know you're getting old when you remember when the phrase "Made in Japan" was intended to be derogatory.

 

[jamespowers]

Perhaps an engine comparison is called for: For what it's worth, I looked up a motoring journal the year that my car was new: Nought to sixty: 30 seconds. Won't be burning up the quarter mile anytime soon then.

View attachment 13462

30 seconds?! I can do that in at least 10 seconds in my 1957 Chevy which is bigger and heavier---a lot heavier. lol lol lol I think I can even do better than that in my Cadillac Brougham.

 

[Stanley Doble]

A fat kid on a Schwinn can beat an MG YB sedan. This was ok in 1947 in England, not so good today.

It's still a beautiful car though, on the outside and on the inside. Makes me wonder what they might be building today, if they had kept up with the times. Something like a BMW only more human and less robot.

 

[GHT]

A fat kid on a Schwinn can beat an MG YB sedan.

Schwinn? As in the American bicycle company, the one that was all American before catching the English disease and going into terminal decline.
The one that was bought out of receivership only to be sold seriously cheap by Walmart and others? Good analogy.

This was ok in 1947 in England, not so good today.

1937 actually, the factory at Abingdon had been given over to the war effort after the MG Y had been designed, tested and trialled. Manufacture was reinstated, but by then, the merger of the Morris group, of which MG was a member, with the Austin group, to form BMC, The British Motor Corporation, meant that all the group's capacity was directed to the production of The Metropolitan for The Nash Motor Company of America.

It's still a beautiful car though, on the outside and on the inside. Makes me wonder what they might be building today, if they had kept up with the times. Something like a BMW only more human and less robot.

You are right about it's aesthetics though, but it's demise is proof, if proof were ever needed, that nationalising an industry is a sure fire way of it ending on the scrap heap. Government policies are always dictated by the votes that they will garner, never by the need to spend money on such things as research and development.

And you know that you are getting old when you can see right through political cynicism.

By the way, those little yellow wire looking things in the picture, are leads to the spark plugs, not the frayed ends where the rubber band snapped.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

You know you're getting old when the following words can reasonably be used in a sentence to describe you:

morning
garden shed
lighting a pipe
dressing gown

 

[LuvMyMan]

You know you're getting old when the following words can reasonably be used in a sentence to describe you:

morning
garden shed
lighting a pipe
dressing gown

I know I am getting old when I can see one person's "one and only post" being one of "I quit" !!!!! lolololol!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Even better than that! I now note (check out the thread list in Observation Bar) that that particular post was moved into that thread. In fact, that post with which the member quit was originally a New Thread!lollollollol

 

[LizzieMaine]

"I wouldn't belong to any club that would have me as a member" -- Groucho

 

[LuvMyMan]

Even better than that! I now note (check out the thread list in Observation Bar) that that particular post was moved into that thread. In fact, that post with which the member quit was originally a New Thread!lollollollol

If at any time some serious awards were to be ever given to anything stated by a member of the Lounge, your line, "you just could not make this up", would win my vote. The element of timing, humor, and just plain honesty, took that ball right down the lane to a perfect strike! You've stated a single sentence I will never forget. I loved it! lol!

I am certain however, the poor sole was never here.....only "popped" in due to perhaps some notice about a policy change/the vote, hitting their email inbox, and they came to see what was ongoing.

It would have been a much more honest thing for that person to have just left off saying nothing. I mean come on now, no posts since almost a decade of being a member and now you want to "quit"....

"I have been blind for 17 years, cannot find my car keys even if I wanted to...and my car has not run for 18 years as it is. But I have heard they raised the price of a speeding ticket, so that being the case I will write to the Secretary of State and enclose my Driver's License, letting them know I will refuse to take part in driving now, how dare they raise the price of a speeding ticket"....

That was my idea of that situation with "Mr. I Quit"!