Hooker found one, and in July of 2000, Wasserman became the owner of a deep red 1953 TD.
“I hadn’t driven a stick in 30 years, so Joe went with me to get the car,” Wasserman said.
Wasserman then joined the MG Car Club, Southwestern Ohio Centre in Dayton, where he and wife of 52 years, Pat, made many new friends while enjoying their old British car.
“We went to lots of tours and shows, and I decided that I wanted a car too, but I don’t drive a stick shift,” Pat said.
“We wanted an automatic transmission, and I know that some MGC’s were made with automatics, so that’s what we started looking for,” Reuben added.
“This is where the car club is so neat. Terry and Carole Looft offered to help us in the search, and they know all about MG’s, and Terry found one on eBay that looked pretty good,” Reuben said. “Turns out it was in Maryland, in the same town my brother lives in, so he went to look at it. He called me back and said ‘Wow, if I had the money, I’d buy it,’ so we did.”
The 1968 MGC is bright red with a black interior, and has been the car of choice for long trips the Wassermans have taken with the club, including the national MG convention in Gatlinburg, Tenn.
“It cruises right along at 70 mph on the highway,” Pat said, of the car that has PATS MG on its license plate.
The cars are 15 years apart, and there are many differences. The TD, which is known as the car that brought sports cars to America, was built from 1950 through 1953. MG built just over 30,000 of them, and exported almost 24,000 to the United States. It packs a whopping 57 hp under the hood, from the four-cylinder engine that has two SU carburetors and is connected to a non-synchro 4-speed manual transmission. New features from the MG TC include bumpers, rack and pinion steering, coil springs in the front and smaller wheels.
“I think it drives great,” Pat Wasserman said. “These cars aren’t just for kids anymore.”
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