The British car bug didn't so much bight me as it snook up on me.
My first exposure to British cars was about the time I entered jr. high
when a new family moved in across the street. Up 'til then all I had
ever seen was American cars. They had three cars one for the family (2
girls the oldest of which was about 5) and one for each of the adults.
The family car was a big Jag MK VII saloon. Her car was an MGTC and his
was a Jag XK120 roadster. These folks seemed very exotic to me. They
were always doing something so I got a lot of baby sitting money. Both
adults played the big steel guitars that were rectangular and had their
own legs, so they were invited to a lot of parties. They owned a bike
shop and had a boat in the back yard that they hauld to local resavours
frequently for weekend water sking trips. They just were not your
normal stay at home work in the garden & watch TV neighbors. They
seemed very exotic and special to my 12 year old mind.
And of course I grew up watching '50's African travellouges on Africa
with people driving Land Rovers and Merlin perkins with his land Rover
in each week's Wild Kingdom.
Fast forward to 1973 wheen I was finishing up my second college degree
and sharing a house with sevral people near campus. A housemate's
relative stopped by for a weekend. She had a black MGA with red
interior. I experessed in interest to learn nore about it and was
tossed the keys with instructions to "go take a drive". So that
afternoon I took my first top down drive, my first drive in a British
car and had a breath taking tour through the forest on a windy mountain
road. Now I started to understand why my old cross the street neighbors
drove roadsters when they could and not the big MKVII. But still, it
remained an isolated wonderfully vivid memory after I gave back the keys.
Later that year another house mate bought home her mother's ranch work
truck for another house mate to replace the breaks on. It was an early
'60's Land Rover 109. After the brakes were done I got to take a test
drive in it as well, including a failed off road hill assent with a semi
controlled rapid roll back. Golly if I thought the MGA was exotic the
Land Rover brought up all the old 50's travelogues and was just solid
charismatic magic. But it went back to the farm and I went back to the
books with finals coming up.
Fast forward to 1974 when I bought my first and last new car, a 1974
Toyota Cileca. It was my first and last Japanese car and was to be my
fuel efficient sports car. It only got 18 MPG on the open highway and
rolled a lot more in curves than I remembered the MGA did. I sold it 6
months after purchase and got less than what I owed on it even though it
was immaculate and low mileage. That's when I decided that never again
did I want to own a car that depreciated in value. As I was looking for
a replacement car I found a red 1969 Land Rover 88 for sale in Redmond
and the British car bug snapped. That Land Rover just fit my
personality much better than any of my previous cars had. The Red
Rover, my dog and me out exploring the world.
Fast forward to early 1978. I had moved from Washington to California
and was living on a forested mountain side just inland of Santa Cruz. I
was getting my first dairy goats and decided I needed a vehicle that
would hold more hay than a hard top 88. In March I spent $350 and towed
home a worn out 1960 109 Land Rover pickup to become my farm vehicle.
Fast forward to 1986. I was staring eye to eye with my 40th birthday,
decided my life was too boring and that I needed to plan a mid life
lifestyle change. On my midlife crisis to-do list was purchase a
British Roadster commute car. I didn't have a lot of money to spend
and decided I could afford a nice Spitfire or Spridget. As I was
looking I found an almost completed 1960 TR3A project car. Fresh paint,
sad interior and an engine that would not idle. $1000 changed hands and
I drove the TR home. The rear brakes blew just as I was parking it at
home. I cleaned the carbs and she idled like a champ. I made my first
parts order from Moss and rebuilt the brakes, joined my local Triumph
club and the rest is cherished and maybe sometimes not so cherished history.
TeriAnn
Current car stable:
1960 Land Rover 109, owned since 1978
1961 Triumph TR3A, owned since 1986 (The new car)
Other British cars:
1969 Land Rover 88, replaced by the 109 after almost 4 years of ownership
1968 MGBGT that came when the TR was being rebuilt and left as the TR
project was nearing completion.
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