1975 MGB

Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. The street-driven MGB is nearly extinct these days. More »

No Prince Of Darkness Jokes, Please: British Vintage Race Cars In Action

Fine, go ahead and break out the Lucas Electrics jokes. But there's no denying that a factory-racer '69 Ford Escort looks amazing on a race track, and Vintage Racer has some great shots for us.
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PCH, Index Of Effluency Edition: MGB-GT or Fiat X1/9?

Welcome to Project Car Hell, where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! Last time we simultaneously crushed and seared our fingers in the red-hot vise of the Hell Garage, the Shelby-ized Dodge Omni beat hell out of the Shelby-ized Dodge Shadow in the poll. Today, with the New England 24 Hours of LeMons race coming up in just a few days, we're thinking about the kind of car it takes to win the most prestigious trophy of the event. No, that's not the one that goes to the so-called "overall winner" (although a team does get some heavy-duty bragging rights by taking that honor). We're talking about the coveted Index Of Effluency trophy, the one given to the team that achieves beyond all reasonable expectation in a seemingly hopeless "race car." You contend for the IOE by showing up in a looks-fast-on-paper car that everyone knows is going to blow up for sure (e.g., Maserati Biturbo, Merkur XR4Ti, Pontiac Fiero, etc.), or by clattering onto the track in something ungodly slow yet totally lovable (see Tunachuckers) and then keeping that crappy heap on the track for hour after punishing hour. We're going with a mix of both approaches in today's Choose Your Eternity matchup!
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1971 MGB-GT

Many, many cars have passed through my hands since I first picked up a '69 Toyota Corona for 50 bucks, but only a few really make me feel a twinge of regret when I think about letting them go. One such car is the British Racing Green '73 MGB-GT I owned for a few years in my early 20s; it was slow, handled like a garbage truck, went through $40 carburetor floats like other cars go through oil changes, and proved that all those Joe Lucas jokes are based on painful reality... but I still loved it. Perhaps this is the evil lure of the British Car, but I was finally able to heed the rule posted on a huge sign at the only British-car wrecking yard in Northern California: IF IT RUNS, SELL IT. This beat-to-hell MGB-GT, which could be a '71, '72, or '73, might be my old car, after a couple of decades of neglect. Sure, mine was pretty nice when I sold it, but a lot can happen in 20 years! More »

1973 MGB

Not a whole lot of old British cars remain on the streets of Alameda. We've seen a few Morrises and a couple of Jaguars, but just a single MG up until today. I found this '73 MGB parked just a few doors down from the '68 Pontiac GTO and ran right home to get my camera, in case it was about to drive away any minute. As it turned out, this MG is a new resident, not a onetime visitor. More »

Project Car Hell: IRS-ized V8 MGB-GT or 1963 Studebaker Avanti?

The majority of voters felt that an eternity spent wrenching on a pair of Willys Station Wagons would be preferable to eternity spent with a '58 Pontiac/'62 Mercedes-Benz combo, according to last Friday's Choose Your Eternity poll. That's fine, but what if you'd prefer endless toil on a hopeless challenging fast car? Something with light weight, V8 power, and primitive 60s suspension and brake design, perhaps? The red-hot iron gates are opening- come on in! More »