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Greetings.
I’ve wanted one of these things for about 40 years now and it finally happened. I live in MD but we’re planning to retire soon to a home in PA and just started construction on a garage. The PLAN was to finish the garage, move, and then get my roadster. But a couple of weeks ago I was perusing the ads, found exactly what I was looking for, and grabbed it. It’s a “Duchess,” built in ’93, (odd mix of Ford and Chevy components) and it has less than 10,000 miles on the odometer.
I intend to drive it more than the previous owners, so I wanted to get hooked up with some of you with more experience, get some advice, and maybe offer some of my own when I’m able.
For what it’s worth, I’m already looking to replace the top, which was damaged by mice in the previous owner’s garage.
Thanks for having me!
-Dave
Welcome aboard Dave!
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Welcome
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"Welcome aboard Dave.
Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The ShackWelcome Dave. …and since you asked for advice: put a tall ceiling in at least one bay of your planned garage. Someday, you might want to install a lift.
Welcome, Dave. I’m in Maryland too. Any good boat top maker should be able to make you a nice replacement. Should be both cheaper and better than an auto top place, as they tend to like to buy off-the-shelf tops and install them, whereas the boat guys often make theirs.
Ours are more like boat tops anyway.Welcome Dave . Any amish nearby they have tarp shops and make boat covers . They said they would do mine.
Hi Dave and Welcome Aboard.Where are you moving to in PA? I grew up in a little town called Montgomery, about 25 miles from Williamsport on the Susquehanna River. I’m thinking about taking my MGTD Replica back there next year and drive those beautiful Mountains again.BillBad Bill
Thanks, Roy.
They just poured the walls yesterday. I went with 10-foot walls for that very reason. It won’t give me room for a full walk-under lift, but I’ll be able to put in something that will let me do pretty much whatever I need to do, especially with a little convertible!
-Dave
Thanks, Roy.
They poured the walls yesterday. I went with 10-foot walls for that very reason. It won’t give me standing room under a truck, but it will let me do whatever I need on a convertible.
-Dave
Thanks for the advice. I honestly hadn’t thought of a boat place. I even live near Annapolis, but there’s a principle that often seems to apply to the effect that any time the word “marine” is applied to an article you can just double the price. But I’ll check it out.
I appreciate the advice. The Amish just poured the concrete for my garage, they’re doing the floor next week, and the framing the week after that. I guess I may as well get them to do work on the car I plan to keep in the garage as well.
Bill,
Our place is near State College, not far from Williamsport. In fact I was just over in that area last evening. I hope to be living up here full-time by this time next year. Please keep me posted on your trip plans and tell me how you plan to deal with luggage on a cross-country trip!
-Dave
Ahhh! That sounds more feasible. Best wishes as you plan and execute your trip back out here!
Bill: I found my TDr in a barn outside Montgomery — Texas, that is. Plenty of curving roads through the pine forests, but sadly no mountains.
1981 Lafer TI
1600 cc Type 1 engineHey Tex,
I bet my Montgomery was smaller than yours, ours had 1200 people if you included all the Rual Route deliveries. How big is Montgomery Texas?BillBad Bill
Montgomery, Texas, the county seat of Montgomery County, had 867 residents as of the most recent census.
1981 Lafer TI
1600 cc Type 1 engineGuess we’re pretty close in size, if you throw in the Rural Route Mail Deliveries also. Small town livin’,
can’t be beat. Wish I was back in my Montgomery. CA is way too crowded for me, but my other half loves it here, Big City Girl.BillBad Bill
Bill,
Except for 9 years overseas, I’ve spent the past 34 years in the DC area trying to figure out how to get back to central PA. Lord willing it will actually happen within the next 10 months. It was daydreaming about some trips I took up north of Rt. 80 as a kid that got me to thinking how much fun it would be to take my wife up there on day trips and next thing you know I bought my roadster, even though the garage isn’t finished and we haven’t made the move yet.
-DaveDave,I spent 8 years in Asia, then the rest of my time in CA, used to have a log cabin up in the mountains outside of San Diego, loved it up there, not as green as PA, but nice, the little town had less than 200 people. Would love to move back to Montgomery, PA for retirement, but my better half is a “Big City Gal”, so I guess it is CA for my remaining days, except for trips back to PA. Funny, you mentioned the Amish pouring your cement for your garage, the Amish bought my childhood farm, really nice people, they took me on a tour of my old place, of course the electricity is gone, the phone is outside, down by the barn. The sewing machine was running on compressed air, driven by a water wheel down by our old spring house, which was cranking an old VW engine for the air to run the sewing machine. Life is a little slower, back in PA.Take care,BillBad Bill
Bill,
I was born in Lancaster County and more or less grew up around the Amish–always took them for granted. The Amish guy who poured my garage walls carries a cell phone and owns (or at least his company
owns) a very shiny half-million-dollar concrete pump. But the work
ethic is still there.Best to you,
Dave
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