How it started!

[yenpit]

It was around 9th or 10th grade, many years ago, a buddy's older brother shows up in a 1969 Cactus Green 2 door, 2.0L dual Hitachi SU's, 5 speed, header, loud exhaust, Mulhouland Racing suspension, and what I think were 14 inch Z-car steelies, painted silver. It was a very clean car, and that was it for me! Peter was cool enough to take us cruising with him a few times, and he drove that car hard! My buddy (his younger brother) immediately bought a 71 1200 Coupe, built the motor with flat top pistons, ported & polished, a single 40DCOE sidedraft Weber, Clifford Research header, and a "fire truck" loud exhaust. The 510 was eventually t-boned by a drunk, sitting in his driveway. NOT a nice way to go. Peter then bought a 2000 Roadster, but never spent much time on that car. Man, we had fun in those cars!

 

A few years later, my buddies & I rented a house next door to a very competitive SCCA racer named Jeff Werth. Jeff had a huge garage in his backyard, where he worked on his BRE-replica SCCA car. I believe he was nat'l champion a few times (maybe Dave Patten remembers.......??), but that car was way cool! He also had a bad-ass dark metallic blue 2 door, with bubble flares, fully painted & polished 2.0L, with dual sidedrafts, and slammed to the ground. He was also an SCCA Solo Autocross champion in that car! I believe both cars are still around in the Wash DC/VA Metro area somewhere. Even though I was neck deep into MG's by that point, the love of the 510's stuck with me for many years, until I finally bought my first 510 in the mid-90's.

[ggzilla]

With an introduction to Datsun like that, how did you end up with MGs? And how did they compare to your 510?

 

Jeff Werth had a Datsun 210 also

[yenpit]

Awww man, that is Jeff's 210! He sold the 510's at some point, and "graduated" up to that car, after I moved out of the house next door. We would bump into each other for a few years after that, but then I moved to Michigan in 1990. I did contact him just a few years ago to say hello, and of course, to ask if he knew where his 510's went to. Last I heard (he was not aware), the BRE replica was still being raced, out of VA somewhere. Anybody here on Ratsun know where it is?? That was a long time ago...................

 

My interest in MG's started even earlier, as a kid around 1971-1972'ish, when my next door neighbors bought their twin sons a pair of medium blue MGB/GT's, one with steel wheels, one with wire wheels. I can only assume that they were new cars, although they could have been a year or two old, cuz they were from that generation of the GT (early-mid 70's models). I had already bought my first 69 MG Midget by the time Peter was rollin' around in the 510, but I never forgot it! I eventually worked at 3 different British resto shops, and worked wholesale resto & repair parts for many years (for those who know, Moss Motors in CT for a year, then Engel Imports in MI for 11 years). Unfortunately, there are no Datsun specialists (let alone ANY classic Japanese) anywhere near here!

[iceman510]

Threadsurection!  

 

Talked with Jeff Werth today.  Getting some tires from him for RA next weekend.  I mentioned you (TJ) and he remembered living next door.  He lives in Wisconsin about an hour from RA now.