Introduction

This all started early in the summer of 1968 when I acquired my first car, a 1964 MGB roadster. Well used by that point, but affordable for a young college student on his way from Emporia State University in Kansas to the much larger Indiana University. The MG red color, despite its oxygenated paint, was a good match for Indiana Creme and Crimson and the school's nickname, Big Red. My family quickly nicknamed my MGB "little red".

The love affair lasted about 2 1/2 years, until after I entered the Air Force in August of 1970 and was mid-way through Air Weather School at Chanute AFB in Rantoul, Illinois. That's when I decided to become engaged to now my wife of over 37 years. I had driven Little Red very hard and the three main bearing engine needed refreshing. I sold it off my father's driveway in Indianapolis for exactly the amount I needed to buy the engagement ring. But I never forgot! I have owned many cars since then, and worked in the motorcycle industry for over 23 years and logged over 90,000 miles on some of the best motorcycles in history. The memory of Little Red never left, and in early December of 2005 I acquired another MGB, a 1969 roadster. The day I brought it home was the same day my daughter received her acceptance letter to Penn State University (Go Lions! Go Blue!) and the Sapphire business honors program. The next day as I poked through the documents, spare parts, and other items in the trunk I came across a half-full pint can of car paint, ironically labeled as Jaguar Sapphire Blue. That day the roadster was appropriately named "Sapphire."

I've done a lot of work to her over the past three and a half years. I found an overdrive gearbox and had it installed, brought the paint back to a good luster, restored the original wire wheels, refinished the somewhat rusty floorboards, installed a solid state ignition distributor and coil from master expert Jeff Schlemmer in Minnesota, and a correct rebuild set of SU carbs and exhaust shield from master expert Jimmy Hilton in Texas. I found both experts through a prolific online web site http://www.mgexperience.net/. I have both learned and shared many tips, techniques, and experiences with the hundreds of other MG owners there.