Let’s Put The Top Down And Go For A Ride
Oct 16th, 2007 by Don Ray
Yesterday, at lunchtime, I stopped at a local eatery for a comida del dia. While I was waiting on the food, I noticed this red beauty parked out front. This is one of those cars that brings back memories. It reminded me of an MG or Morgan. I always wanted one of them back in the 50’s.This one had a for sale sign on the front window, but no price or phone number was listed. See if these photos don’t bring back nostalgic memories of times gone by.
Was there a car known as Duchess?
Maybe this is one of those cars that comes in a kit.
Vintage or kit it was very nice looking.
After drooling over the car, I went back and the food was waiting on me. I had fried chicken with beans, rice and some plantain. Three of us ate for a grand total of $3.80.
I have noticed that this place is always full, so it must be respected. You can find it in David, off the road to Boquete, by the big Suzuki tent close to Grupo Q Motors.
Hi Don,
The Duchess Roadster was built in Fargo, ND by Classic Roasters probably in the late 70s or early 80s. Here is a link to an eBay auction for a sales brochure for one. I believe that you could order it as a kit or completely built to your specs. http://tinyurl.com/yrvbfs
It’s a kit car, Don Ray, and from what looks like a very slight tuck-in on the left rear wheel, probably VW based. Which makes it more desirable than the original MG-TD if you want a driver.
Henry
I see that while I was writing, the car was identified.
Hi Ron. Thanks for the identification. I had done a Google for it and didn’t find anything. Now I am even more surprised.
Hi Henry. Yes, you have to be fast to get the correct answer in first around here. Are you going to install UBUNTU 7.10 this week?
Most likely, if I have time. I’m not usually an early adopter, but I do need to find out if it’s suitable for my purposes. How are you liking the beta?
The beta has worked well. I have noticed that the last two days there haven’t been any updates. I guess they have frozen it for distribution and all updates after this will go through what ever quality control they have for released systems.
Henry, I agree about the TD model; I sold a 1955 MG TF 1500 two years ago, which was similar to the TD. I finally concluded that it belonged in a museum, instead of on the road. It was replete with the usual old MG problems, including electricals, inadequate and tricky brakes, etc.
It was a beautiful car, and in good condition, having not been driven in winter since ‘64, but it always reminded me of Stirling Moss’s comment about Triumph sports cars (closely paraphrased): “They made it a two-seater so that there’d be room for the mechanic.”.