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MG MG Y Type - Amusing

How many of you, like myself, find some comments about our older cars amusing? I assume those making them are fairly young, ( ie under 50.) How often have you told people that your Y has no heater, unless one was fitted as an aftermarket product? Or that is has no seat belt anchorages, or that the floor is made of wood?

If I were to buy an old car, I would look at it with the then current engineering of that age, not those of 2007!!

Neil.
Neil Cairns

People often ask the same "cliché" (to be polite) questions. Here are a few that I can remember off hand. Please add those that you can recollect:

«Did you come here under your own power?»

«Do you find it difficult getting tires for that car?»

«Did you buy it NEW?»
Gilles Bachand

It is most interesting when the supposedly imformed 'auto enthusiasts' make comments like, "I didn't know MG made big cars, thought they only made those little ones." or "Can you really get 4 people in there?"
Paul
Paul Gaynor

" Did you buy it new," is the best yet. If you were to purchase a new YA, say in 1947 IF you could get a certificate from the authorities, ( new cars were almost impossible to get in the UK until the early 1950s without a certificate, all cars were for export to pay off our war debts,) and say you were a successful Doctor with the money, you would be at least 30 years old then, with a family, ( why else buy a four seat MG?) And as it is now 2007, you would be the best part of 90 now...

Do you look that old Gilles?

NC.
Neil Cairns

The best I've had is
"bet the registration's worth a bit"

which still leaves me wondering just how much _is_ an MGA really worth?

This only really makes sense with the UK registration allocation system.
Dan Smithers

The one missing here so far is the one I hear a lot namely, "They don't make them like that any more!"
I leave the reader to fill in the subsequent blank.
Ted
Ted Gardner

Sadly Ted the answer to yoor comment is that 'its a bloody good job that they dont!'
Cheers Jerry
J P BIRKBECK

Regarding that "They don't make them like that any more!" comment, I've made up a little card that I paste in the windscreen saying:

«Please do not bang on the fender with your fist in order to demonstrate to a friend how much they used to make solid car in the old days!»

This used to happen quite frequently until I made this card.
Gilles Bachand

Another I get is, " Why are they called suicide doors?" when I point out the forward opening front doors.

I offer to take them for a run, and to get them to open a door at about 50mph, no one has yet taken me up on it.

Also, the utter fascination of small boys when one gets the starting handle out and swing the engine into life.

Some have asked me, " Is it a taxi mister?"

NC.
Neil Cairns

As a "fairly young" I have been asked what a young lad is doing with such an old fashioned car.
I also liked the "is that an MG, too" that I overheard on a big Dutch MG meeting. On the same meeting however I would gladly have received an Euro for every picture taken of the car; it would have paid for a nice dinner!
Willem van der Veer

The oddest comment I got was in a filling station. A woman asked, 'Is this the car that Elliott Ness drove in the Untouchables?'
But my favourite was from another woman who said,'I like it. It's old but very cute isn't it.'
P S Sharp

In the early 1990s when I just had Semaphores working on my Y type, I took the car for an MOT at a friend’s garage. At that time he had a ‘Saturday Lad’ helping him with MOTs; his role was to check that brake lights, indicators etc all worked.

As was usual I was sitting in the car operating the switches and my friend was instructing the lad which light to check etc. When he was standing at the front of the car I operated the semaphores, the lad confirmed that they were working and then he was asked to check them at the back of the car, he made a couple of paces before realising the stupidity of the question. We were both amused!

I fitted indicators to supplement the semaphores soon after and regret that we were unable to see if he ‘fell for it’ again.


David
prman AT mgytypes.org
David Pelham

I keep being asked "is this a Citroën ?" Anything with fenders and headlamps sticking out seems to be identified over here with the "gangster" car.
On the "did you buy it new ?" question I have to say there is a YA in the French-speaking part of Switzerland which was bought new by the father of the guy now driving it, well in his nineties indeed, but still seen at British car meetings in the passenger's seat.
Remo Peter

This thread was discussed between 06/12/2007 and 16/12/2007

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