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My 1949 MG TC
Top -- in the driveway of my parents' home, 1951.

Bottom -- in the backyard of that house.

I first saw an MG in the spring of 1950 in Hollywood, Florida. It was an instant romance. By the spring of 1951 I had saved enough money to buy this one. Right-hand drive. Yellow. Red leather upholstery. 19" wire wheels with knock-off hubs. Italmeccannica supercharger and air horns. A young man's dream car.

In terms of its effect on my grades at Carnegie Tech during the next 1.5 years, it was not good. This effect was measured after the fact, of course.

This is me, parked in front of my parents' house, Fall, 1951.
This picture was a publicity shot taken in the summer of 1952 and published in an oil company's (SOHIO) monthly sales magazine. Foreign sports cars were rare in those days, particularly in northeastern Ohio.

What the picture does not show is that the MG had no engine; I was in the process of doing a complete overhall.

During the drive home from school during the Thanksgiving weekend of 1952, I was broadsided at a Pittsburgh traffic light by a Chevrolet coupe. Both cars were totalled. I did not own a car again until after graduation.

I loved that car.

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