MGapr11 Bulletin no 60 - The Triple-M Register

passenger, which I like, and early preselection of the gearshelps to maintain speed.The seats are comfortable, but the car is hot to ride in, asthe gearbox sits up between the driver and passenger, andacts as a heater which cannot be turned off, which can be apain in the summer. However, one sits low behind a fairly tallwindscreen, and therefore not buffeted by the slip-streamwhen driving, as is normal, hood down! The hood is a wasteof time really, chiefly because it will not stay “up” if driving atover 50 mph. It is retained on the top of the windscreen by twothumb-screws, one each side, and this is not sufficient towithstand the pull on the fabric when a strong wind gets underit, so I have only used it in severe rain, and probably no morethan a handful of times in all the time I have had the car.It is said that old cars are noisy. Well, there is a fairishsymphony arising from the combination of engine, gearboxand rear axle, each of which make their own brand of music,and because one is not insulated from all this it does stiltconversation a little! However, if all is well, none of the noisesare unpleasant, indeed are almost symphonic, and there is aburble from the exhaust system which typifies the six cylinderengine, this changing to a glorious, but subdued, roar near topeak revs. If the throttle is “blipped”, when stationary, there isan urgency of tone which suggest a well-tuned motor.The car will cover ground returning a fuel consumption of20 mpg, but who has a supercharged sports car for economy?If the performance is used on the road, consumptiondrops to fifteen or so, and racing it returns less than that.All that is about as objective as I can get. I have to say thatif I have to drive somewhere distant, then I will drive themodern car every time, but if I want to go, then I would usethe NA. Some aspire to what they call a “supercar“, but I havemy supercar: many years ago now I aspired to a superchargedsix-cylinder MG, and bought one, so how can Iimprove on this desire? I think that the whole experience ofdriving the car can be best summed up in one word: fun.