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How has mg changed your life? 9 years 5 months ago #151146

:broon: Fantastic story sithmaull thats just what i wanted to hear :beer:
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Last edit: Post by mgtfbluestreak.

How has mg changed your life? 9 years 5 months ago #151164

About 20 years ago I was a test driver at Rover, Gaydon.
The cars were run 24/7 over 3 shifts & you didn't know what car you would have the next day or what the job involved.
The cars at the time were minis, 200/400, 600, 800's & then Freelanders & MGF's.
I drove the MGF on rural & motorway routes & was suitably impressed, but no way I could afford one at the time :nonod: .
20 odd years later I now have a '99 F, which is my pride & joy, despite the £££'s I have lavished on it.
The best feel good factor I know :woohoo:
By the way I'm 76 & I'm happy that I can still enjoy it, though my track day at Silverstone was a bit daunting :lol:
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How has mg changed your life? 9 years 5 months ago #151209

Some of the members here already know my story but i don't mind sharing it with others. I'll start with a pic:





This pic was taken in 1996 and shows me driving my brand new Mgf, my face is a little rounder now, my hair just like the glasses and the car, are long gone now as well. On the 13th of December 1993 i joined the Army, in 1994 after completing my training I was a very young 18 year old lance corporal in the Royal Military Police. By the time this picture was taken I had already completed 3 tours of duty in Bosnia (1 with the United Nations and 2 with NATO). My first tour had seen me investigating war crimes, body finds and mass graves for the Hague tribunal. However despite all this life was good, and these were good times, i had a fiancee and remember with great excitement looking through the MG brochures debating what colour to pick, what interior i wanted, finally placing the order and receiving the updates on where my car was in the build queue. I can't remember where or when i took delivery of the car. I should be able to, but it is one of just many "black holes" in my memory now. In 1997 i was posted to Northern Ireland a very different conflict to the one i had experienced in Bosnia but a very real one all the same. What should have been a 2 year posting became 3 years. I got married and had to sell the MG to help pay for the wedding. It was also during this time that the first tiniest "cracks" began to appear in my life. I can see them now looking back although i didn't at the time. After Northern Ireland i was posted back to the mainland. I was hoping for some respite from operational duties, but it wasn't to be and within 3 months i found myself preparing to go back out to Bosnia for a 4th tour. Alot had changed in Bosnia since my last tour and i found myself thinking more and more about previous tours and those "cracks" became canyons, so much so that 5 months into the tour i had a complete mental and physical breakdown, I was Diagnosed with what in the past was called shell shock and is now called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I was flown home and spent 6 weeks in a psychiatric hospital trying to piece myself back together. My wife left me at this time, the stress of me always being away and my breakdown proving to be 1 straw to many. Life goes on though, i came through it and managed to get myself a 3 year posting to NATO HQ in Holland (the only place where i couldn't get deployed on operational duty) and slowly rebuilt my life. Time passed and before i knew it i had served 11 years. My final posting back to the UK and Aldershot proved to be my last, before i had even got there i was told not to bother unpacking because i was going straight out to Iraq. I was apprehensive to say the least, but I had to prove to myself if i could do it. 7 days later i got the news i wouldn't be going to Iraq :woo2: My jubilation was short lived however as the very next day i was told i was going out to Afghanistan :bang: . What should have been a 6 month tour turned into 8 months due to a lack of replacements, so much so that we were told we would get 3 weeks off and then be coming straight back out to Afghanistan for another 6 months. That tour and the thought of doing another one proved to be to much. I left the army in December 2006, after 13 years with 7 medals and a life times worth of experience. 12 months later the canyon sized cracks appeared again. My life came off the train tracks I had another breakdown was involved in car accident, stripped of my licence and narrowly avoided a 2 year prison sentence. It was at this point when i first got in touch with a charity for ex serviceman with mental health problems called "Combat Stress". Over the following years I have had 5 residential stays at their treatment centre in Newport receiving counseling and therapy. My life now is very different to that of the one i had in that pic. I have to be careful of where i go and what i do, to avoid stress and panic attacks. I prefer to be awake at night because it's peaceful and quiet. There are now those black holes in my memory and i haven't worked since January 2012. I am not bitter and twisted about how things have worked out, or my time in the army, I wouldn't change anything even if i could. So despite not having a driving licence when the opportunity came around to buy MGTF i couldn't turn it down. While it may not be the MGF in the picture, it serves as a reminder for how things used to be, of better times in the past and hopefully better times in the future. My TF helps to keep me "sane" gives me something else to focus on, to think about, and to work on. I measure success totally different now to how i used to. I set myself small goals, things i know i can achieve. I haven't set myself a time limit for finishing my MG such things are meaningless now to me. So long as i can keep progress no matter how small or big that may be, i am happy. When the car is complete my next goal will be to get my driving licence back, and after that who knows what i could achieve.

http://www.combatstress.org.uk/
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Last edit: Post by Denial.

How has mg changed your life? 9 years 5 months ago #151219

you are a great man denial.....we all owe a lot to you and people like yourself.... :beer: ..
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Last edit: Post by mgtfbluestreak. Reason: alteration

How has mg changed your life? 9 years 5 months ago #151222


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Although, I do miss the enforced social life a lil bit. :woohoo:
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How has mg changed your life? 9 years 5 months ago #151223

MGFs and TFs are great therapy. :yesnod: You should know that the community are here for everything, not just fixing your car. The pm system is great for getting help and advice about almost anything, or even just a bit of support... :hugs:
David
:shrug:
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Last edit: Post by David Aiketgate.

How has mg changed your life? 9 years 5 months ago #151226

had already signed back up and was 2 weeks from rejoining when i had my accident,definitely no complaints about the social life although i think my liver is glad it ended when it did :P
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How has mg changed your life? 9 years 5 months ago #151243

Thanks for telling us your story Denial. I was born into a family heavily affected by Combat Stress, my Grandfather was shellshocked during WW1, and it has affected my extended family ever since. Treatment wasn't what it is today, and he actually climbed over a wall to escape a mental hospital in 1919. In time he was able to lead a good life. I was fortunate to serve in the Army during peace time, however evenserving during the Cold War lleft a lasting effect. I can only imagine what you went through in Bosnia and truly hope that continued treatment will help you manage it. It certainly seems that you are well on your way to a good life.
Thanks again for sharing your story.
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Last edit: Post by Rich in Vancouver.

How has mg changed your life? 9 years 5 months ago #151246

]My story isn't all that..

I bought a crash damaged MGF to build the buggy


Then bought the steppy.. to rob the engine and box and fit it into the buggy.. (now got a metro CVT)

Fell in love with the F and enjoyed it until the box ate the CVT belt

When it was 120 steppy


After taking the rear subframe out (to convert to manual) I decided to strip the car completely and 'up spec' it to my own tastes..

Most know now the extent of the mods.. but its a different car to the one I started with



Along the way Ive met some people who have become great friends.. Andy Waston, Andy Willdig, Kedunga, Sergi, Tony, David, Jan, Tracy, Bri etc to name just a few
Diesel Destroyer.. 'The bringer of dreams'
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How has mg changed your life? 9 years 5 months ago #151259

forrester you are what i consider as a lucky man,,,,,,,you sound like rovers version of the stig
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Last edit: Post by mgtfbluestreak. Reason: the shear fun of it

How has mg changed your life? 9 years 5 months ago #151292

It was a dream job until BMW took over & promptly made most of the drivers redundant :-?
When the new 200/400 came out Rover was employing around 300 agency drivers solely to put 500 miles on the clock of each car made [around the track] :omg: Don't ask me why :dry:
Must have cost a fortune.
It was Mainly BMW that killed Rover off as they made sure that any car in the range would not be competetive with their own models.
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How has mg changed your life? 9 years 5 months ago #151418

Well am fairly new to MG's not owning one until February 2014 although had Rovers for a couple of years before that. It was the re-build and save thread of a BRG MGF on Org by MGJohn that is too blame ........................................ followed his thread and decided it looked like fun so looked for one. Since then have begun to wonder about my sanity :bang: especially after doing a what looked to be a simply door swap .... :doh: :rant: .

Have met some nice people some not so nice and have an empty bank account what with the fixing and upgrading. Hopefully next year with less to do fixing and upgrading we can actually get out to a few more meetings and events.
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