MG Enthusiast Magazine MGC GT Evolution Back Issue

HOW MANY MILES DO you drive each
year? Depending upon whose data
you believe, the average for drivers in
the UK is between 8400 and 15,000 miles.
That makes a single trip of 12,000 miles sound
reasonably impressive, but not exactly aweinspiring.
However, the trip of that distance
driven by David McMullan and Norman Tosh
from the UK to Australia in 1959 in their MGA
deserves our utmost respect.
Why? Well, as David said to me: ‘I think many
people underestimate the difficulties and
problems involved in that trip. They think of
12,000 miles in terms of a few trips up and
down the A6, without appreciating the
condition of what passed for roads in much of
Asia back then – hundreds of miles of barely
defined gravel, snow, mud and corrugated
surfaces with little or no facilities for assistance.’
So with this in mind, turn to p40 for the
concluding part of this gripping tale. After all,
last issue we had the easy bit through Europe.
It was in Turkey that the fun really started!
One thing that stood David and Norman in
good stead on those travels was their
meticulous preparation, and that is a lesson
from which we can all learn. It is no good
waiting until the spring and then hoping that
any niggling faults we noticed in our MGs will
have miraculously cured themselves over the
winter. If anything, they will have got worse,
and the last thing we want to show the world
on Drive It Day in April (see p6) are serried
ranks of classics at the roadside with their
bonnets up. So lets put the winter months to
good use, nipping potential problems in the
bud and getting ready for a season of pleasure,
not pain. Not forgetting of course that the most
reliable classics tend to be those that are
regularly exercised – a real win-win situation!