Owning experiences

Here's me and my girlfriend at the Dover terminal. The weather was very British: a leaden sky with a steady downpour. Force eight blowing through the Channel and we wished we'd taken the train. For me this is the start of the B Experience. I never thought there was so much club scene around these little British cars.

Let's start at the beginning. My car is a B GT, so a coupe. When it was born in 1973 it was fitted with chrome bumpers and a 3.5 liter V8 as standard. At that time it was a luxurious B: tinted windows, heated rear windscreen, overdrive, alloy wheels, Kangol three point seat belt. All fitted as standard. The color of my car has been white, and still is that color, even though it has been restorated. Looks good on the car, I think.

There are however some marked differences:

So the car is more or less original. The V8 engine has a matching number, the body color, the seats, interior, suspension, gearbox and most of the ancillaries are just as the Abingdonians used for the standard B GT V8, or in their special tuning guide. Actually the car complies with the Heritage Certificate I have.

Before I can explain what got me into buying a B GT V8, you have to know that I was a regular watcher of Top Gear. It was the time that Jeremy Clarkson was a regular contributor and Top Gear was still fun. This was quite some years ago. At a time there was a report on a show. Among other cars it featured a Morgan Plus 8. Wow, what a car! The sound alone made me want one. The shape, the power, it made me drool. What was more: it was a dual fuel car. LPG in a V8 powered Morgan! Ha, it wouldn't save the world, but it would surely save my wallet! That is, if the time ever came that I could afford one. Still, the thought sat in the back of my head. I wanted one.

This thought combined nicely with an annual event on our central market square: the annual meeting of the Historical Automobile Club Culemborg. Besides all kind of cars, from early Bugatti to early Sprite, from E-type to MG B, from Mini to Morgan. So every year the thought of owning a Classic Beauty was revived.

So finally there was a change. After years of flying company cars without any involvement in their maintenance - I couldn't even fit a new headlamp bulb - I became a free-lancer. Fed up with E&Y EDP Audit (the branche in Utrecht, others still seem okay) I decided to do it alone. After some time the money came in, and I started looking for something special. Something that would satisfy more than the need for going from A to B. A Morgan? ...no, too expensive, and ride quality is just not what you would expect. I wanted something with a big club, active members, easy technology, so that I could finally UNDERSTAND what happened with the car. As a kid I had the Electronic Experimentation boxes from Philips, and also Marklin/Meccano. I wanted this sensation back! But it had to be powerful. After some searching I came upon the MG B. Better still: I noticed there had been a B V8 around! But only made in the UK, for the British market. After some months I just didn't care anymore. I drove some B's in Holland, but even a tuned four potter did not stir my blood. Ride was good, and there were lots of garages in Holland that could service the B. So that was not a problem. The power was a problem. I decided to take the plunge and look around on the internet for a B GT V8. After some searching and asking for reports I found a good one, and I bought it.

Now this is my part of the story. Of course there was my girlfriend too, who thought at first it was just a thought that would pass. Hey, I am only human so there are more idea's that seem so good, yet are never given the chance to grow beyond the thought-stadium. However, she used to play around with her small motorcycle; one of those 50cc things. She must have been the only girl in my town that uprated it to 75 cc, changed her own sparkplugs and set the carb. So she kind of liked the idea, but didn't think much of it.

Anyway, she gave me a book on Triumph, for X-mass. Right then I was considering a TR6...but the injected version had too high running costs and was expensive to buy. The carbureted version - well, I wanted Power, so the strangled US carb version of the TR6 passed.

We ended up outside the big barn where Dolphin Sportscars is located, close to Ashford. Lionel and Brenda (previous owner and his wife) were quite happy to get the car out again, and the chap from Dolphin provided the bridge so I could check the underside of the car and other details. When the car woke up, I was scared by the incredible noise that came from this very big bore twin exhausts. My girlfriend had this broad smile across her face: so this was what he wanted! And she thought it was a wonderful idea!

Well, to be honest: I drove a car that had double the bhp and torque than I had ever driven. This combined with the back country roads and driving on the left hand side of the road made it to an experience I will never forget. Just try to imagine: the stick is operated on the "wrong" side, all traffic comes from unexpected angles and directions, while I was feeling like I rode a small rocket. Damn, it took some time before I got used to this.

And the RHD experience? The two of us got used to it quickly. We actually regret having it converted to LHD. Though it is safer. When I bought the car, my girlfriend did not have her driving license. So she learned to drive in a "normal" diesel Toyota Corolla. The day she got her license, she jumped in the (still RHD) B and took of like it was just another Toyota. Incredible! That is, until we came at a roundabout and she thought it needed to be booted just like the diesel Corolla. He, he, he...she should have realized where that roar came from... 

So while the car shot forward she just sat there with the wheel in her hands. The thought to back of a bit from the throttle and get in control again took enough time to make her think twice at the next roundabout. But then she also knew that when handled with care the car would perform like no other car on the road.

I bought the car January 2001. So more than two years ago and we still enjoy every moment we drive the small car with the big heart. I take it to work, she takes it in the evening to go to school, and on holiday the car really gets what it wants: long stretches across France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, the UK, you name it.

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