Sportscar Winery Tour
Ketty and I bought a beautiful MGA sports car in about 1982. After that, we took a few small trips and drove around Tassie. It was surprisingly good off-road, too.
It was lovely to drive, so in early 1983, we decided to visit wineries in Victoria and South Australia.
We had a wonderful time. Many people came up to talk to us. I remember one winery tour where the owner was incredibly friendly. The tour was magnificent, and we loved every moment.
As you can see in the newspaper article below, we met the previous owner of the MG. We talked and confirmed it was genuinely his car, as I got its history from the bloke we bought it from.
I don’t think I have any photos, but we had a little roof rack on the boot of the MG for our packs. We had camping gear but mostly stayed in caravan parks or hotels. I don’t remember all the details, just that it was an incredibly joyous trip.
During the trip, we had a breakdown. We called a mechanic on a Saturday morning. They helped us all day and charged very little.
It was such an enjoyable trip, filled with meeting lovely people.
A-class encounter
David Dark — back behind the wheel of his old MG.
A 23-year-old red MG-A sportscar parked at the Warrnambool breakwater yesterday was the centre of a rare coincidence.
Melbourne Herald columnist David Dark was back in his hometown of Warrnambool on holidays and while swimming near the breakwater noticed this car.
It looked like the one he owned years ago.
And the more he looked the more familiar it seemed.
It was his.
He soon found that it was his old MG-A — the car he smashed up in a crash in 1960.
The MG-A is now owned by a young public servant who happened to be passing through Warrnambool yesterday and stopped for a look at the breakwater.
Both David and the present owner Seamus Campbell, 27, of Glen St, Launceston, were amazed by the coincidence.
David began the story by saying that he bought the MG-A in Warrnambool in 1957 and used it when he moved to work in Launceston.
He took the car with him but in 1960 was involved in an accident.
The car was a wreck.
Seamus took over the story, saying that he bought the car two years ago.
“I know a chap in the MG Car Club and he told me there had been four owners,” he said.
“He told me that a chap from Victoria, was next, and then it was smashed over and that it was in a stack in a paddock until a chap was…”
Seamus, who is in the public service and was attending a course at the Launceston campus, arrived in Victoria on Wednesday and stopped in at Warrnambool only so they could drive home for more for a visit to the Soundwave Fringe Festival in South Australia.
And their stop gave David another step behind the wheel and renew an old acquaintance.
“It was a great thrill to see her again and have a drive,” he said. “It was the first time in 23 years.”
The clincher was recognizing the car as he backed into it a couple of days after I bought it.
