Hi all - thanks for letting me join.
My route to ownership is fairly convoluted and starts in 1995 when I joined Rover Group in the March of that year. At the time Longbridge was buzzing with activity... R8 was still in production (just about) with R3, PR3 and HHR in launch (R6 underway) and mini improvements (love a sportspack) as well as Tomcat, Tracer and Tex. Fantastic place to work then.
For anyone with any passion for cars, the most anticipated was PR3, and I do remember the SDV cars, and CAB 2 starting up. As the launch car was the 1.8mpi, this was the car that I wanted.......
Forward a few years, and I leave in 1999 amongst all the reports - later to be true - of BMW "displeasure" with Rover. I never did get my MGF....
In the following years, I have been fortunate enough to own a couple of Lancia Delta Integrales, a Fulvia 1600HF, TVR Griffith 500, as well as a ZS180 and ZT-T190. All fantastic in their own ways, but not the MGF I promised myself.....
Forward to a couple of weeks ago, and I was in the position to start looking for one as a project. Conditions were as follows - 1.8mpi in flame red, and it had to be a 1995 one. Bearing in mind I live in Cardiff, going to see one in Torquay was not the best of ideas, but it was cheap, so sight unseen I bought.
£300 later I am now the owner of a 1995 car, registered on the 21st December with MOT and service history - and to bond with it, I drove it back in biblical rain with minimal issues. Power steering was out, so I have changed the speedo cable to the gearbox to fix it.
Plans are to tidy it up, re-set the windows so that it doesn't leak - and Enjoy ! After all, its only taken me nearly 25 years.