Automotive

Besançon
1915

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MG Midget. 1968. USA to Panama.

I was in school in Virginia.  And a friend proposed that we drive his MG Midget to Panama, Central America.  He was 18, I was 16.  Nonetheless we each bought a pistol in Alabama for the trip.  It was like buying a soda pop.  We got some slightly used tires for the car.  You’ll see a 7 on the hood.  I painted it after the engine at one time caught on fire and left a black burnt circle on the hood. We left from Virginia.  Upon arrival to New Orleans we had a burnt valve.  We were directed to a garage belonging to a very nice guy who worked on foreign cars.  We stayed at his home with his wife and two small children while he fixed the engine.  Crossing Mexico wasn’t so bad, even though we lost the top somewhere on a beach on the Atlantic side.  Upon crossing into Guatemala the rest of the way was mostly on unpaved roads.  Not bad roads, but mostly dirt roads.  Some 50 miles before reaching Panama City the engine started making noises.  I checked the oil, there was oil in the engine but not oil pressure.  It was a matter of time.  Soon enough pieces of metal started flying from underneath the car.  I stopped, opened the hood and saw a piece of broken rod hanging from a hole it had made on the side of the block.  The equivalent of a shot in the forehead by a 50 caliber bullet.  Luckily a truck carrying cattle to the city tied a rope to the Midget and we made it to the city.  I’m missing the part about war going on between Guatemala and El Salvador or El Salvador against Honduras and so on.  Some trip.  Some little car for those who complain about old English sports car.  You just had to get to know them.  No excuses for the very awful Smiths electrical systems, though.