British Car Week with my MGC GT

A little bit of MGC history

The MGC was the car that the British Motor Corporation (BMC) intended to replace the Austin-Healey 3000 in 1968. Unfortunately, it was such a corporate screw-up that the Healeys walked away from it and it never got the development it needed. A total of only 9,002 MGC's were produced. Almost half were GT's and about half of all were imported to the US (as opposed to the MGB where over 500k were produced and 80% were for the US.) There were only 1773 MGC GT's built for the US. Oddly more GT's were imported for 1968 than 1969 when more roadsters were imported. Numbers are small, and some have found their way to New Zealand and Australia since.

My MGC GT restoration completion

The engine was installed in my fully restored and improved 1969 MGC GT on May 2, 2021 with the help of four fellow members of the British Motor Club of Oregon. This was just in time for British Car Week, which was to begin on May 22.

Our first trip

This was our first trip taken in the car, and we were excited to ultimately end up at Moss Motors for the induction of the late Tom Boscarino into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame. Tom was the founder of the American MGC Register.

My wife and I left home on May 24th with only 268 miles on the engine. By that evening we were in Boise, Idaho.

The next day we stopped for the night in Laramie, Wyoming. On the 26th we drove the scenic route to Fort Collins, Colorado and finished the day in Salina, Kansas, chasing a thunderstorm. Driving into scattered rain made the intermittent wiper system worth the work to install!

May 27th found us in St. Louis, and the next day was a visit to the Gateway Arch.

On the 29th we were in Nashville with a visit to Antique Archaeology.

The following day was a visit to Lane Motor Museum.

And to finish the week (and by no means the end of our trip!) was a tour of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park.

Our trip was a total of 3 weeks. The first 6 days were during British Car Week! We logged a total of 6,918 miles round trip. First to the British Sports Car Hall of Fame at Moss Motors in Petersburg, Virginia, and then back to Oregon, with many stops along the way.

The car cruises very well on the highway at speeds of 55 mph and over. I followed a new Mustang, a new Camaro and a new Challenger in Illinois at around 80 mph for several miles. Numerous improvements makes my MGC GT solid at any speed.

The car got many long looks and thumbs-up along the way, and many nostalgic conversations started everywhere we went.

At the Colorado/Wyoming border

Gateway to the West - St. Louis

Marathon Motor Works - Nashville

The Parthenon in the 'Athens of the South' - Nashville

Lane Motor Museum - Nashville

Great Smokey Mountains National Park

Back to British Car Excursions 

British Car Week