Was it that Long Ago?

From Moss Motoring 1984

I remember when the paint was bright, the tires were new, the oil clean and the odometer had just a few miles on it. It was a clear day, the top down, and I would cruise around with nothing to do but look for members of the opposite sex. One would pass those odd-looking Super 90 speedsters with their 6-inch windows (going the other way, of course), and those high, rolling fenders of an XK-150 would zip by and the driver would never give you a glance. All you would ever see was the back of her head; never did get to see what she looked like.

Our thanks and a $10.00 Gift Certificate go to Terry Bernhardt of Mandan, North Dakota for this cartoon.

A friend would drive by and soon you would be sitting in the parking lot of the local supermarket. Soon a collection of just about everything would be lined up, as if to race. There was Kenny with his “bug-eyed Sprite”, which he drove under a cow one night while he was out road-racing himself. (The cow was just prior to the four fence posts he had driven over.) There was Rich in his green Morgan; how the cabinet maker misses him! It was hard on that wooden frame to dirt-track the Morgan in a corn field! Here would come Bill in his light-blue TR-3. Ever drive down the highway at 90 mph in a heavy rain storm in a TR-3? Top up or top down, didn’t make much difference as long as the jack-plugs were removed so the water could run out. Then the other Bill would tool up in his Corvette. I don’t think we ever convinced him that a Corvette was not a real sports-car. Then there was Paul in his Austin Healey, which he asserted was the only true sports-car. And lastly there was Dale; it was in Dale’s gray TR-3 that my future wife found out what it was like to sit on the hump of a TR and go over a very severe bump. She said later that she walked bow-legged for a week after that ride!

The talk would be of Dinos and Birdcages, (I always talked up the W-165’s or the 300 SL’s myself, to put a little class in the conversation); of drivers such as Fangio, Moss. Hill. Hawthorn and Gurney on courses such as the Mille Miglia, Watkins Glen, Monza or the Nurburgring.

Now that I think of it, was it really that long ago? By the way, I was the guy in the American-built Hog, a Chevy convertible. Boy, did I spend the money trying to improve the suspension so I could keep up whenever we all went somewhere as a group!

I did finally get my sport car; well, sort of, anyways. I got my first TR-3 from a car dealer. Its previous owner must have loved very long, bright gold shag carpet! The second TR-3 came from a guy who couldn’t get it out of his basement after putting in his patio doors, except in pieces. The third TR-3 (minus frame and wheels) came from the edge of a wheat field where, unknown to the landowner, it was deposited by its owner. Last fall I got the last one, a chrome-bumpered MGB from a used car lot, because it looked so lonely among the Hogs and Jap metal. It will be my wife’s car, she has always wanted a little red sports-car. (Actually, we met because I needed a date for a sports-car race 300 miles from home.)

As for me, I’ll just wait until I finish my green TR-3 with the white LeMans stripe! Then I can return to that time that wasn’t really so long ago-was it?

Darrell D. Vessell of Festus, Missouri contributed the story above to our newsletter, for which he will receive a $25.00 Gift Certificate from us.