November 2019
OUR LITTLE “ EMMY “ ( MGB )
Part one of a two part story from...Chris and Sue Thomson
S
ome months ago, it was suggested
that whoever might be interested,
should send in a story about the history
of their MG, to fill up a few “ loose “
pages in the MG MOTORING Magazine.
Well, here we are, Sue and I, to fill you
in about our little Mk 1 1967 MGB, which
we purchased in December, 2016.
At the time we thought that what we paid
for the car was a fair and reasonable
price, but after getting to know it,s true
condition, by looking around and under
it, we realized that we paid too much.
After some considerable thought, we
knew that we weren,t going to get the
value back if we resold it, so we commit-
ted ourselves to do what was needed to
bring it back to as close to original qual-
ity as time and money permitted. I have
climbed all over this little car, under the
dash, in the boot, many hours under it,
in the cold and damp, getting oiled on,
greased on, paint dripped on,’covered in
dirt and grime, all because I wanted to
do it some historical justice. I remember
as an early teenager, walking around
the streets of Mount Gambier, watching
these special MG,s drive past, thinking,
wouldn’t it be great to own one of those.
I thought they looked great, and
sounded great as well.
The first things that I noticed,
as the main driver of the car,
was that it did not ride well at
all on the road. It seemed
very jumpy, bumpy and
bangy, when riding over
rough bitumen roads. ( I have-
n’t taken it out on a gravel
road yet, and am not likely to,
either ). The problem really hit
home one day, when I drove
over a level rail crossing,
somewhere out in the coun-
tryside. The car left the ground (wife
was co pilot), and when it eventually
came back down to Terra Firma, I had
to execute three full left turns of the
steering wheel, to full lock, then three
full right turns, to right lock, before the
car straightened up again—all before
the back wheels hit the road again……
Hairy—na—not hairy—lets just use
some other words that would describe
the experience a lot better, but not
here, not today!!!.......
So—I decided, there and then, that I
needed to have a look at what was left
of the suspension, if there was anything
left at all. Mind you, there might not
have been any resemblance of the
thing called “ the suspension “ in the
first place!!!
After a stiff drink of cold water, from the
chiller box, we drove home again, put
Emmy back in the shed, and mulled
over what I would do about her little
problems.
I suppose that I have to be thankful that
the motor and the drive train were still
in good condition,( not because of our
little misadventure ) considering the
age of the car, although the motor did
seem to run a bit warm, had to turn the
33
Continued overleaf...........