Gallery One - Midgets I Have Known

I can't claim to be the best photographer in the world, and I've only recently begun to really work with a scanner for anything but OCR, but here's a first attempt at cataloging my travels and associations in the world of Little British Cars.  I suppose we should start at the beginning, the first LBCs I ever knew:
 
 
 

Well, a lot has changed in the years since I first put this website together in the mid-1990's. One of them discovering that I had known an MG before the TC pictures below. I was brought home form the hospital in an MG ZB Magnette, Black, with a red leather interior. If this description sounds surprisingly like the ZB Magnette Marcy owns, we were a bit surprised, too. My elder brother, David pointed this out to us on one of our visits. Still, I associate the TC with me fondest memories of my Dad, so I'll leave the rest of this as-is. For now...

This was the first British car I ever encountered.  Heck it was the first CAR I ever encountered, or at least the first I remember!   This was my Dad's 1947 MG TC, complete with XPAG engine in Stage III tune.  This little beastie could SNARL!!   Dad bought this car new (as far as I know) and kept it until he passed away a few years ago.  He drove it as regularly as he could, and always maintained that a car should not be a museum piece.  If it's not being driven, it should either be under repair or a parts car. This is the car I refer to in the "Why an MG?" section, and I'll always have a soft spot in my heart (some might add, my head) for these.  A well kept TC at a show will just about bring me to tears, especially if it's driven well, too.

Here are some rare (and somewhat overexposed) pictures.  Rare because they feature someone other than my Dad behind the wheel of the TC.  After he died, my brother and I were given the task of keeping the car in good condition so that it could eventually be sold.  These pictures were taken on one of the trips out there after I had finished my "maintainance duties" and fired the car up for the first time in decades. Yes, I cried when it started, as did my wife and Mom.  The upper picture it's me behind the wheel, the lower picture is my wife Marcy. I've often been asked why I didn't buy the car, and the reasons are simple: 1)  I really don't have the time or money to maintain it properly. 2)  I don't have the opportunity to drive it regularly, the way it should be. 3)  If I bought it, it would almost invariably become a sort of shrine to my father.  I love him dearly, but that's a head trip I don't want to go down.  As my brother put it, it would always be "Dad's Car", never "My car" In the end, it was sold to a friend of the family who has the time and money to maintain it properly, and the ability to drive it regularly.  I can always go and visit.  God bless him, and may he and his family enjoy it as much as I did.

Here are a few more TC pictures.
Engine Left	Engine Right

And yes, a TC is a Midget! So are TDs and TFs. If you look at the old sales brochures or manuals, they all say "TC Midget". (After the TF, there were no "Midgets" until what the historians call the "Modern Midget" 1960 -1979.)

Speaking of which... Here's the current automotive flame, my 1977 Midget. This picture is the same as the one on the "front page" of the site. This was taken about a week after I got her home, after I had installed the new top. The trip home from Youngstown was quite a run. It was about 33 degrees, and I had the top down. In case you're wondering, Youngsown, Ohio to Columbus, Ohio is about a 3.5 to 4 hour drive, depending on traffic. You know, 33 degrees is COLD at 65 MPH!

Here are some friend's cars, and other vehicles I have admired.
Here's the "Northern Columbus Contingent" at "Indy British Motor Days" in Indianapolis, circa 1998 - 2000		MORE TO COME AS TIME PERMITS...