<<So the sensible route is definitely to learn, and make your first
mistakes, on a honda or similar but then at 16, you dont need to be
totally sensible ...... >>
If he is willing to learn, and has some patience, the experience of owning and
working on an MG will likely be rewarding, notwithstanding the frustrations.
My first MGA wasn't my first car - I had a Sunbeam Imp which was purchased new
and traded a few weeks later for a Toyota Corolla because it wouldn't manage
hills. That was my first and to date only Japanese car, but it was reliable.
Then at the tender age of 17 going on 18, I discovered British cars and bought
the MGA, which was at that time only 12 years old! I was in 2nd year
university and going a bit crazy, so by the next summer, instead of doing the
sensible thing and getting a reliable car, I went out and bought a TR 3
(another $500) so I'd have something to drive when the MG was inevitably and
always temporarily hors de combat.
Many years and more than 60 British cars later, I have few regrets (well maybe
not buying the AC Cobra for $6000, but even if I could have afforded that, the
$1000 a year insurance would have been a problem, given the $1.50 an hour
minimum wage at the time).
Still have and race the MGA, still have but don't race the wife/pitcrew, and I
still know where the original TR lives. In fact I am in the process of selling
another TR 3 to a friend - owned it since the mid 70s.
Everyone has to judge whether they have the wherewithall to put up with a
British sports car in early life. I hope he does - so many of the kids these
days don't even recognize a car unless it is a Honda or BMW.
Bill S.
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