Meet the small group of
gentlemen who keep these
classic British cars alive
Words By Joey Bernardez
PhotograPhy By Ian MaGBanUa
L
Keepers
of the
faith
Legend has it that the Brits were largely responsible for
spreading sports-car enthusiasm around the world. Ac-
cording to the lore, American soldiers stationed in the
UK were quite taken with the agility and the entertaining
qualities of the MG T series, and some of them brought
these cars home to the US after their tours of duty. From
the ’ 50 s to the early ’ 70 s, British manufacturers sold
plenty of sports cars to the US.
There was a brief period from the late ’ 70 s to the ’ 80 s
when the small, open sports car was nearly killed off
by government regulation, and sales and manufacture
almost died. But fortunately, that didn’t last long. By the
time the ’ 90 s rolled around, there was a revival of the
roadster, and manufacturers from Japan, Europe and the
US were coming out with their own versions.
As nice as the new models are, however, there are
some people who yearn for the old British sports cars.
Out in Quezon City, there’s a small group of gentle-
men who pride themselves on caring for their vintage
British metal. The MG Owners Club doesn’t have many
members—founder Ed Aguila says there are probably
10 , or even less—but that’s of no consequence to them.
These fellows spend their afternoons and evenings main-
taining their cars, most of which are over 50 years old.
They are keepers of the faith, so to speak.
We head out to visit them at the house of their me-
chanic, Ray Gamilla. It’s a stormy day, and we wonder if
any of these guys would come out and see us considering
their open cars. But then again, these cars are from Great
Britain, where it’s almost always raining.
As we arrive at the venue, we see a T-Type in British
Racing Green, and except for a couple of tears in the
upholstery, it is in pristine condition. This is the car that
started the craze for small, open sports cars. This par-
ticular example is a 1947 MG TC and it belongs to a cool
bloke named Peter Smith, an English gentleman who lives
here with his Filipino wife. Peter acquired this car about
10 years ago from a good friend, and he has spent a
WWW.topgear.com.ph toP gEar PhILIPPINEs 7977