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May 24

A Young Guy's First Impression of an Old Classic

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Wednesday, 20 April 2011 14:44
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tony_piff_profile_picJust back from a lunchtime fish taco rally in the burgundy ’74 MG with SCM advertising homeboy Cody Wilson. Not particularly sunny out, but any April day without rain is occasion enough for two dudes to drop the top in Portland. Despite a love of old autos, my experience with both convertibles and British sports cars is approximately zero, so this was novel on every level. Here are my impressions:

The 360-degree top-down visibility helps you appreciate just how tiny and low the car is, since you can basically see the whole exterior while sitting inside. Cody pointed out that you couldn’t quite reach the ground just by putting your arm out the window, but it was scary/cool to realize how close the pavement was. The gearbox felt tight and solid, and shifting was stress-free. Though I would not call it a “peppy” car, the engine made wonderful sounds just getting up to 35 mph, which felt like 55 mph, and was about all the faster one can go in light traffic on on 39th avenue anyway.

We’ll have to work harder if we want to break the car before the Reno trip in June.