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IS IT JUST ME, OR HAVE the rich just got a whole lot richer? I only ask because lately we’ve been bombarded with news of one outrageous price after another achieved at auction. This month we’ve had a barn find Aston Martin DB6 Vantage selling for £131,420, not to mention a collection of eight Ecurie Ecosse vehicles that realised a total of £8.8m. Among that latter group was one car, the team’s 1952 Jaguar C-Type, that made nearly £3million. I’m never going to move in the kind of circles where people ever see £3million let alone can afford to throw it away on a toy, but I find that a truly staggering amount of money, whatever the car and whatever its heritage. To be honest, I am at a loss to see how anybody could get £3million of pleasure from a car, and I suspect that most of you will have similar feelings. After all, when talking to MG enthusiasts up and down the country it is quite clear that most derive their pleasure from using their cars, often in the company of like-minded individuals on social gatherings or tours. So perhaps it is fortunate that MGs are still generally affordable by the likes of you and me and have a fun-per-pound quotient that is sky high, even if the purchase price is not. However, what is equally pleasing is how MG enthusiasts know that a pleasure shared can be a pleasure doubled. Perhaps those who spend millions on a car will have already donated millions more to charity – who’s to say? But something I do know is that almost every issue we carry news of one group of MG enthusiasts or another setting out to raise money for a good cause or handing over a cheque to charity. They are the people who inhabit the real world and who strive to make it better. And they are the ones I shall be raising a toast to this Christmas.