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The interest came about while I was working in London for 2 years in 2001 and 2002. I was stuck in hotels in the evening and, to keep myself busy, I started reading classic car magazines and getting into the subject. All of a sudden, I realised that I needed such a toy.

So what car do you go for? Well, in my case, being British and living in Germany, I knew it had to be an English car. I looked at what would be possible for my budget and boiled it down to the following make/model: MG TD, Triumph TR2-3, Austin Healey, Jaguar XK 120-150 (nice, but slightly over the top) and Morgan. After a while of pondering, I thought the MG TD would be a good choice to start with. So now the hunt was on.

The TD Hunt

After doing some research, I found one that I was interested in and went to see it on 14th August 2003 in Oberhausen, Germany. She looked beautiful, red with tan coloured seats. However, because I was new to the subject, I thought I'd get some expert advice and drove back home. In came Dieter, Mr. MG T-model expert from the MG club here in Germany. I gave him a call, told him what I'd seen, and basically asked if he would come along to take a look. This was a days journey, and to my surprise, he said yes. So we took the ride on 16 August 2003, and after viewing he said I'd need to put quite a bit of work into the car, so I declined from buying. On the way back, he asked if I had driven in a TC, which I hadn't, so he said that he'd take me for a spin in his TC when we get back. That was enough to do the trick. I was a converted TC nutter!

The TC Hunt

So now the hunt was on again. I did quite a bit of internet research, and had found 3 cars in Europe, one in Germany, one in Holland, one in Belgium and 4 in England. I thought I'd tackle the European adventure first. This called for a long weekend on 3/4th October 2003, so I packed the wife and off we went. It was a great break. My wife got a mini trip, and I got to look at cars. I documented all my visits, making notes and taking pictures.

	The cars I looked at before diving into TC 1245 - one TD and seven TC's

Between 18th-26th October 2003, the English trip was on. I drove over and met up with my brother Keith. We went down to London to see car no.1, Devon to see car no. 2, Somerset for car no. 3 and back up to Essex for car no. 4. It was at car no. 4 that I met Peter Edney on 21st October 2003. Peter had a car for sale from one of his clients. However, it needed a bit of work on it, and it didn't feel right. He asked me what I was looking for. I told him, that I would prefer to have a car in mint condition. After a phone call, we went to his fathers house. George Edney had a couple of cars in the garage, and one of them was a half rebuilt black TC in the corner. He had already finished all the mechanical work (engine completely redone, gearbox, frame, brakes, etc...). She basically needed bolting back together. However, the body work still needed re-doing, and I could decide on the colour. We parted - I needed to think this over. 

A touch of female intuition

Petra, the wife, joined me in England on the 22nd. We drove down to Devon and Cornwall and spent a couple of beautiful days there. On our drive back home, I decided to go back to see Peter and show Petra the car. She said that black was not the right colour, so I decided that if I go for it, it would have to be sequoia cream. We parted: I needed to discuss the options with Dieter in Germany.

The Decision

I brought all my notes and pictures onto my laptop, and went to see Dieter. We spent a Sunday morning at his house. He was amazed that I had seen so many TC's that were for sale. After discussion, he said that the best option would be the Peter Edney option, so that was the decision made for me. It was also the most expensive option, and was over my budget, but I wouldn't need to make extra investments in the car as would be the case for the others that I had seen.

Finalising the deal

Peter and I started emailing each other. He gave me a draft of what I'd expect and I'd reply with a more thorough document. However, on 26th November 2003, the contract was signed. It would take 3 months to complete and I could pick her up in Mid February 2004. Well, that's what I was told to believe. I didn't have clue. It's now October 2004, and the car is still not complete. Ho hum, what went wrong?

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Marc Burton
20th October 2004