The first new car my wife and I bought new was a '78 MGB roadster. I've had about 8 of them since and am currently restoring a '69 BGT which will have a supercharger. When my wife and I married in '77 we both had '67 Mustangs. Mine was a notch back, hers was a GTA fastback. Yeah, we gave up a GTA fastback to get an MGB. Guess which one I would rather have now 🙂 ... View more

In 1999 I ordered a BMW M Roadster (MZ3), Estoril blue with all black interior and black top. While waiting for it to arrive ordered a vanity plate. What I wanted was 2000 M, but it was already taken and I had to settle for 2000 MZ3. A couple of weeks after ordering the plate I was at the dealer with my wife's 3 series. I ran into my salesman and he said "you should talk to get guy over there, he is picking up his M Roadster today". As I'm talking to the guy, turns out his car is Estoril blue with the black interior and top also. I started telling about the vanity plate I wanted and what I had to settle for. He was grinning the whole time. Yeah, he got the plate I wanted and ordered it one day before I tried to. ... View more

Wish I could have kept all my Firebirds, but it never works like that. My first car was a 67 sprint, OHC 6 with a 4bbl and 4 speed. My second was a 72 Espirit, 350, 4 speed, brown metallic, tan interior and honeycomb wheels, a really pretty car. Next was a 70 Trans Am, white with the blue stripe, blue interior and RA III. After that was a 77 Formula 350, blue with blue velour interior, a very comfortable car to travel in. The final was a 72 455 HO Trans Am, M22, white with blue strip and as I recall black interior. My favorite out of all of these was the 70 Trans Am. The car I always wanted was a 67/68 with a 400, 4 speed, convertible with a hood tach. ... View more

My shop teacher in high school had an early Toronado and I always thought it was a cool car, but was more impressed with his other cars, so I never paid that much attention to it. His other cars, a Tucker, a Cord Sedan, and a 48' Ford Woody that were all fully restored. He also had a Cord convertible project car, but don't know if he ever finished it. I was his TA in my junior and senior years(I graduated in 1975) so I got to do his special projects (side work). I rebuilt several Ford flathead V8's, but the coolest was a Lincoln Zepher flathead V-12. Three angle valve job, lapped and valve lash set through grinding. He had a set of Jans (sp?) pistons and I honed each cylinder to fit the pistons. We built and engine stand and fired it up in the shop, it was thing of beauty. I actually got a chance to see him again a few years back when his Tucker was featured at the Ironstone Show in Murphys, CA. ... View more

My first car was a 67 Firebird Sprint. Bought it for $750 in 1973 with a blown head gasket between two cylinders. Medium blue metallic with black interior, Saginaw 4 speed, 230 CI/ 230 HP OHC 6 with a Rochester 4 bbl. Fixed the head gasket and replaced the stock shifter, which was almost impossible to find a gear with, with a Hurst shifter. At 16 years old, it was a pretty awesome car and way better than the '54 Pontiac Chieftan I was driving when I first got my license, which in retrospect was pretty cool with a flathead straight 8, four speed automatic, leather interior two door with a factory visor and skirts and a prism on the dash so you could see the traffic lights. I had to take a $500 personal loan to buy Sprint and had only liability insurance on it. After having 6 months I had an accident and totaled it. My dad's said I was buying a dead horse and I still had to make payments every month. After I few months I sold the car to a guy with a 67 Tempest with the basic OHC 6 and powerglide, He was a happy camper after he swapped the motor and trans into the Tempest. Oh yeah, to make things worse, I was working at a Chevron station and talked to my boss before I bought the car if he was going to keep me on. He said he would make sure I got enough hours to make my car payments. Around the time I wrecked the car we were in the gas shortage and the stations hours were limited. Ture to his word, my boss made sure I had enough hours to make my car payments on my dead horse. Anyway, the Sprints are really unique and fun cars and I always keep my eye out for them, but never have seen one worth buying. ... View more

Haven't had one, but do understand that the crossflow head creates access issues for the ignition. I would suggest posting up your issue and questions on MG Experience, as there are a lot of experts that can advise and are running the crossflow head. If you want to start a big debate, all you need to do is mention Pertronix versus points. I have been running a Pertronix unit in my TR6 and it's been flawless. If the distributor is in good condition, I would think replacing the points every couple of years shouldn't be that bad. I would guess the carb removal would only be required if you need to pull the distributor. ... View more

In 1973 I w as in high school and working in a Chevron station after school and weekends. The first time I popped the hood on a Monte Carlo, back in the day when stations were full service, one thing that made a big impression was the fan shroud. It looks like it's about 18" deep at least. Never seen one that long since. Look at the picture above to see what I'm talking about. ... View more

Must be something about '41 Fords. When I was 19, in 1976, I had a '41 Ford pick-up. Was taking off, hit 2nd and it just revved. Luckily the axle only slid out a bout 4 inches, but made me think about what would have happened if I had made it to the highway and was doing 55 ... View more

I've had over 60 cars, some fast and some slow. For my, it was stressful to drive fast cars on the street. Driving the speed limit, it was stressful because you are not using the capabilities of this fast good handling car you paid good money for, using it's capabilities was stressful, fun, but stressful, as the potential to be arrested or crash was very real. As someone else mentioned, most the truly fast newer cars have a limit, with little or no warning of when you're hit it, and little or no recovery. My 914's were some of the most fun to drive, One that was not super slow, but could be run hard without getting in too much trouble was my 2004 Mini Cooper S. My current fleet is 69 MGB GT, 74 TR6, 2008 Volvo XC70(most comfortable traveling car), my fast vehicle is a 2015 F-150 Platinum with the big ecoboost V6. I notice not one response about it being fun to drive a fast car slow. So if you hate driving that Veyron slow I have an MG I could trade you ... View more

Had a '70 RA III and a '72 H/O 455 trans am. I loved the functional ram air. Solenoid operated it would snap open about 3/4 throttle as I recall. Not sure what the real HP gain was, but the increased intake noise and seeing it snap open was just too cool. Miss those cars ... View more

When you drive the supposed 15K miles a year synthetic is great, but being retired, and during covid, I've put about 350 miles on my F150 and still need to change the oil at 1 year intervals to maintain warranty. It get's expensive. Since most folks on the site a collector car people, a discussion of synthetic use in older cars would be a good addition to your article. Of course, you when you get into older cars the flat tappet and ZDDP discussion begins and will digress into discussions on which conventional oils are usable. It's a slippery slope slope. For now the TR6 and MG get Valvoline 20-50 racing. In other interesting topic on oils, why does Ford use a conventional/synthetic blend oil? Is it just cost, or is there a oil performance aspect? Seems like the conventional oil would degrade the performance of the synthetic. ... View more

Will be interested to see how the Firebird Sprint turns out.  My first car was a 67 Sprint, which was a pretty interesting car.  At 16 years old, I didn't think it was super cool since there were guys running around in Formula 400's, but at 63 I now appreciate how unique it was.  Mine was stock and had the 230CI/230HP OHC 6 with a Rochester 4 BBL quadrajet , Saginaw 4 speed, single leaf rear springs and a standard diff.  It would wheel hop like crazy.  My great idea was to put Monroe Hi-Jackers (air shocks) on it with individual fill lines to try to jack the weight, but of course it didn't work.  Anyway, with a nice independent rear end and all the other goodies Jay will do it should be a nice car.  ... View more

I've had both a trailer and a 35' diesel pusher with two slides.  Bottom line, there is no perfect solution.  The trailer was fun with the kids and was sort of a playhouse for the kids when not in use.  After the kids were out of the house I had a 10 week sabbatical coming and wanted to do a big trip in an RV.  Did the math on buying versus renting and the buying actually worked out better, but only if I sold it when I returned, which of course I didn't.  It was a great trip as we hit Yellowstone, Tetons, Grand Canyon, Arches, Bryce Canyon, etc.  Did about 5K miles and towed our 2004 (1 year old at the time) Mini  Cooper S.  Did a few trips up the CA coast into Oregon and Washington and had a lot of fun.  But, was working a lot and it sat a lot, and even with a cover, it's a lot of wear a tear on a $100K+ asset.  Also, you can't back up when towing 4 down, so you really have to plan every move ahead, especially parking lots and gas stations, and bypass places you'd like to stop at if no RV pull though slots are available.  My current thinking is, first, you should be retired so you can you use it anytime you want.  Second, you need your house set-up so you can leave it for weeks at a time without issue, and probably have a yard service.  Third, storage on site in an enclosed garage is ideal, or at least a covered structure, as you would be shocked at the cost of storage, even just parked in an asphalt lot.  Pet's can also be a PITA if you can't, or don't want to, take them with you.  As Rob said, you really need to decide if your an RV person or not, and renting an RV or trailer, several times, is the way to find out.  Oh yeah, and as for some of the small Sprinter type RV's I've looked at, if it doesn't have an enclosed bathroom, I don't want it.  Do you really want to sh#t in you living room?  Also, if you can't get a good nights sleep in it, like I can't on a foam mattress, why bother? ... View more

Just one comment in regards to soft lines.  Since most here have collector cars, soft lines can look fine on the outside and not have any leaks.  However, it's not uncommon for the inside of the line  to swell and restrict fluid flow causing brake drag.  If they haven't been changed in 10 or 20 or 30 years, it's a good idea.  Also, flushing brakes every couple of years is a good idea to avoid moisture related problems. ... View more

An option would be to off the clown shoe and go for an M Roadster.  I special order a 2000 BMW M Roadster, Estoril Blue with an all black interior (not a fan of the two tone).  It was the last year of the black background gauges and with the chrome trim on the gauges it had the British look.  Ran it a lot with AC blasting or heater in the fall.  Love that car but the wife didn't so it was mainly a commuter and fun blasts to the store. ... View more

Lot's of good advise here.  A few comments I would make are: 1.  Focus on a limited scope of vehicles.  As other have mentioned, each make, model and year have their pro's and con's.  If you see a car, fall in love with it and buy it, without knowing a lot about it, you may fall out of love with it due to cost to maintain, availability of parts and repair specialists in your area if you need them. 2.  Research.  Related to number 1, is that you need to do detailed research on vehicles your are interested in buying, therefore, you need to keep scope of how many different types of cars within a reasonable limit.  Internet, car clubs, books, buyers guides, etc. are great ways to collect information.  Joining a club for a specific mark before getting a car is a great idea.  Know what your skills are, and the skills your are interested in learning/growing, then find out what services are available in your area for he car your are interested in.  Lot's of the old experts are retiring and closing shops, so support can be limited.  Also research parts availability.  I'm restoring an MGB currently.  The good news is that your can practically build a new car from a catalog, including body shell, and the costs are reasonable.  The bad news is a lot of the reproduction parts either don't fit well or are of poor quality.  Anyway, research so you know what you are getting into. 3.  Select the car that meets your needs.  The advice to buy the best car you can is a good one.  That running driving car that would be worth $15K if #2 condition, that you can buy for $8K in #3 or 4 condition could be a horrible deal.  Just paint and interior could cost $15K, even if you do most of the work.  However, if like me, you want to learn to do all the work, and don't mind being upside down in the car, and buy the car cheap enough, go for it.  Before retiring I would buy cars, do the mechanical's,  drive them a bit then flip them, not having the time or money to do a full restoring.  I finally built a shop, put in a hoist and am doing a full restoration on an MGB GT with no rust.  Still, by the time it's done I will probably have $20K in it, not counting the welder and other tools I have purchased, but I am doing it for fun and the experience.  This is what I mean about a car that meets your needs.  I could have bought done for $15K, but wanted a car to restore. 4.  Be realistic.  You most likely will not make any money on the car, and will likely lose money.  As other have mentioned, shows like wheeler dealers are unrealistic.  By the time you pay Ed or Ant a reasonable wage, pay the overhead for the shop, tools etc, that 2-3K$ the "profit" from the car is a joke.  If you want a car to take a cruise in, take to shows, join a club, polish and maintain, buy that.  If you want a car to restore and tinker, buy that.  It's a hobby and hobbies cost money, so buy and do what brings you joy. ... View more

I have had this affliction all my life.  I do find that now that I am old, and deaf in my right ear, that all my cars seem to run better and don't have rattles anymore. ... View more

Another thing to watch for is the brake lines when wrapping the axle.  I've seen a lot of flattened hard brake lines on the front side of the axle, especially from tow truck drivers using hard hooks on the axle.  The other thing to watch for is tire age, especially if you are borrowing the trailer. ... View more

The images brought back memories for me.  My first car was a 67 Firebird Sprint (not sure if the first image is a sprint or not).  The Sprints were unique and had a 230 cu in 230 HP overhead cam 6 cylinder with a 4 bbl Quadrajet and a Saginaw 4-speed.  My second car was 67 Mustang as shown in the next to last image.  When I got married in '77 I still had the mustang and my wife had a 67 Mustang GTA fast back,  The good old days.   ... View more