The Great MGA Experiment Begins

1958 MGA - The Subject

Well, I did it. I bought a classic British Sports car, an MGA. You can chalk it up to mid-life crisis, but this I will deny.  Though the car arrived coincidentally on my forty-somethingth birthday, I have no other symptoms of that illness.  I am calling it a mid-life "opportunity". As I get ready in the Spring to turn my current car over to my about-to-drive son to get myself and my wife out of chauffeur duty, I need a replacement.  When I was a teenager, I scoured the classifieds for a month or so looking for an old British convertible before finally settling in to a long series of hand-me-downs and practical low-end imports that I drove until they were ready for the junk yard. But now I found myself with an opportunity to try something new, and I've gone and done it.

After years of spend-thrifting and practicality, this move is a surprise to many around me.  But the greatest surprise - shock - is that I've decided to blog about the experience.  Very unlike me. But this might actually be interesting enough to write about, and to follow.  I haven't found a lot of information for people like me out there.  I'm not a mechanic and haven't taken care of my own car in years, though I'm a quick learner and pretty mechanically inclined.  I'm not interested in show quality, but I'd like to keep things as authentic as I can. This is intended as a daily driver - I don't have enough time to enjoy this car if I don't use it regularly, and I don't want to spend a lot (anything at all actually) on another car as backup.  As I learn, I'll spell it out here in enough detail for others to profit from my successes and misadventures.  So, if you are considering a classic car in the future, or just want to live vicariously through my experiences, follow along.  Let the experiment begin!