Over the next few years I collected MGs and parts, intending to piece one or two back together and get something back on the road. Someone even gave me a Triumph Spitfire that had 'survived' a flood. It didn't run and had substantial rust problems, but it was pretty much complete. I sold that it to my brother-in-law for $50 (correction: BIL says he bought it from me for $25...then sold it to the next guy for $50. We each made $25), so I made a handsome profit there.

I bought an alleged '67 roadster (no title) with a pretty solid tub for parts. Then I found a '70 B GT with a lot of bondo and a smashed driver's side quarter panel. It ran, but the sheet metal was pushed in, rubbing the rear tire. I even drove a '77 roadster home from Indiana, planning to fix its electrical problems (a doorbell button was wired into the ignition circuit) and install a roll bar (remember, I flipped my first one) before declaring it a daily driver. I got the roll bar in, but sold the car before accomplishing my other goals.

When we moved in '97, what was left of the collection came with us. The bulk of the original '70 had been scrapped. The Spitfire was in MO. The '67 was moved first and made it into the storage building. When we got the GT to the new house there wasn't enough room for it in the building, so it was pushed to the side. There it sat for a number of years, fairly well hidden from the neighbors, between the building and the stockade fence. I had replaced the rear quarter and unfortunately, stripped most of the multiple layers of paint off it. A not so protective layer of surface rust quickly formed.

Ok, here goes...

I bought my first MGB back in 1978. It was a Primrose Yellow 1970 that a friend sold to me for $1800. I drove it for a few months, garaged it for the winter and disassembled it, mostly because I've always liked to take things apart to see if I could put them back together. I "refreshed" the engine, even though there was very little wear and it probably didn't really need it.

I managed to get it back together and it ran! Drove it for a few months and the clutch went out. I let it sit for awhile because I did not want to pull the engine again. The thought of paying someone else to do something that I knew I could do got the better of me, and I finally made the repair myself. I did some of my own Bondo work on it, then found a guy who would spray it cheap...said he couldn't get the original paint, but the Ford station wagon color he used was a pretty close match.

It stranded me at two different colleges. I had to replace a brake master cylinder at Illinois State. It was the starter or something at SIU. I remember we pulled it with a tow strap and managed to get it to fire. We untied it and I headed home as fast as I could while we had it running.

The summer of '81, I missed a curve late at night on a dark country road, ran over a mailbox and hit a concrete culvert under a driveway. The front end stopped, the back end came over with a slight twist and I ended up under the car on the opposite side of the driveway. I crawled out of the passenger door and walked away from it. Luckily I was not wearing the seat belt/shoulder harness. The car was resting on the headrests. The insurance company sent me a check to replace all of the glass. Only one vent window survived.