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MG TD TF 1500 - Our First MGTD (Parta 2)

LT vs. MG TD Part II
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So, we’re off!! By the grace of gravity we ARE moving forward…clutch in, braking HARD and steering downhill along a leetle ribbon of asphalt. Did not DARE to remove my boot from the brake to hit the gas pedal!!! Oh, nooooo…THESE brakes are non-assisted drum brakes which made me feel strangely like Fred Flintstone using his barefeets to slow/stop the old vintage vehicle HE drove in the cartoons. Holy…mo…leee…

Visions of tree trunks in my face and crumpled sheet metal appeared like nightmarish ghouls in my wildest dreams. Oh, how can I possibly explain destroying this man’s labor of love for the past 10 years???? God speed, PLEASE!!!

Whew! Made it to the bottom of the first hill. Life is good.

Good at least until I look up over the windshield. I see the huge hill up ahead and decide to wiggle my the toes in my right boot ever so slightly toward Wally hoping to find the gas pedal. Good news, I did! Bad news….engine revved at full tilt with the clutch in…quick, release the clutch!! Oh, !*#$%#*!.. what GEAR am I in? First? Of course not! I’m in freakin third!!! Grrrrrr….

Forward motion decreases and then Wally says something about first gear not being synchronized so I must FULLY stop before engaging said gear….oops. Okay…

STOP

Engaged 1st gear and released clutch whilst simultaneously attempting to press gas pedal-turned brake pedal…arghhh. Repeat…. Ah-hahhhh…here we go. That hamster under the hood is workin now!

S…l…o…w…l…y… we creep over the crest of the hill and as my luck would have it ANOTHER steep grade to the main road is just 200’ ahead!!! So I extended both feet forward and straightened my body like some cartoon character screechin to a halt and it worked! Stopped within 5’ of the road…beads of sweat getting profuse, now.

Turn signal? Can’t find it so what the heck, turn left anyway. Got lucky with the gears and the brake/gas pedals. Movin out now. Like a real car! Second gear, third gear…woohoo!! Motoring in the best British style…stiff upper lip and all.

Gasp…What’s that light in the rear view mirror? Oh, crap!!! Traffic bearin down on our ar*es!!! Thank goodness for the stop sign at the crossroad ahead. Hit the brake!!! Stop FULLY! THEN engage first!!!

Turned right again with imaginary turn signal and worked my way through the gears. Getting easier now. Getting FUN now! Wind blowin our hair…what a difference without my Arai helmet!!!

Therein lies the second major difference between the LT and the MG: the total and I do mean TOTAL sensory overload you receive from the environment!!! No helmet, no jacket, no seatbelts and preferably no armor or boots! Just your skin and the wind! And hair if ya have any.

Dammit mang!!! We are FLYING now!!

Speedo indicates 35 mph…

Traffic behind is admiring the car, hence no horns or flashing lights.

Oh, yeah, it is getting dark now…headlights? Of course, I saw ‘em on the car first thing!

Illumination? Eh….maybe just maybe but who cares? We look soooooo cool! Two old geezers with silly smiles on their faces….Life is indeed good.

Rounded the final corners back to Wally’s house feelin like a REAL vintage MG driver….until….we….got….back…to…his driveway from hell….

Going downhill was not bad. Going back uphill to the house was okay too, now that I am an experienced TD pilot.

But where, oh where am I going to park to try to get out? Danged driveway is some kinda steep…Better yet, CAN I get out of this machine with my boots in shackles???

Wally wisely tells me to park in the turnaround. Kinda flat…OK, cool. He hops out. Not me.

I open the suicide door and, ummm…I just sits there. *%#$#*?…Wildly moving my knees half an inch or so and hitting the dashboard. Oh, the pain!!! …No go. This ain’t gonna be pretty…..long seconds tick off the dashboard clock, same clock which happens to be correct twice a day….hmmmmm….

Idea!

STAND on the pedals, STRAIGHTEN legs and place hands on door and seat back and pull myself at a 45 degree angle just far enough to bend my knees!!! Heh, heh…it finally did work on the fourth attempt.

Wally then proceeded to show me all the quaint things like the fuel gauge (calibrated dipstick attached to the fuel cap). The distributer needs greasing because it has a gear run by the generator (oh, that’s what that is..). The tool box is under the hood…lined with white felt! Original this, original that, matching numbers…hold me back, Mabel…I think I gots the vapors!!!

Then Ms. Wally comes out and hands me a CD of the above pix because it was now sooo dark I couldn’t see a blasted thang much less take a photo. Like I said, great folks!

I enthusiastically spouted, “We’ll buy it, er…as soon as the LT sells!” Wally said okay.

Deal looks set to me. Did I mention they are GREAT folks?

So, five minutes later, suited up and ridin the deer-infested countryside back home, I started thinking about this deal whilst sweatin bullets about hittin a horned rat…

Thinking about a third major difference between the LT and the MG…the LT is so smoooooth, so high-tech, so effortlessly fast, sooo..well, you already know. Contrast those with the simplistic character and style of the MG and well, there just is no real way to compare the two. Both were designed for different things in different worlds, decades apart.

So, I guess I need to end this diatribe and begin Part III with somewhat objective comparisons.

But for now, though, the LT is the pinnacle of motorcycling for me…alone. Worth a lot.

The MG TD, like my old B, is the catalyst for allowing me to spend precious time with my lovely wife as we take trips to the mountains and jounce along on romantic picnics…together. In love just like the good ol days...



PRICELESS!

dave lackey

This thread was discussed on 18/09/2006

MG TD TF 1500 index

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