Highs, Lows and Being Trailered Home

Author: Charlotte Vowden
Photography: Charlotte Vowden

Classic car adventuring comes at a cost, but Charlotte Vowden says we should embrace every bump in the road….

I’ll start where the journey ended; with the MGA chocked and loaded on a recovery truck. Calamity had struck on the return leg of a shakedown test drive to the seaside when one of two retainer clips that secure the release bearing to FSK’s clutch fork had broken free. Radiating from within the bell housing that encloses the flywheel and clutch, an excruciating clatter ripped through the cockpit. Even without visual confirmation, it was obvious that this was a problem that would force us to call for a lift home.

Leading up to this moment, we’d spent months in dad’s garage carrying out repairs on the MGA. Investigating and addressing the cause of an oil leak from the engine, that manifested itself on day one of a 6,000 mile road trip last year, had been a labour of necessity. And love. Quite possibly induced by the wear and tear you’d expect a sexagenarian vehicle to experience when it’s used as a vessel to explore the world, this type of issue is also typical of a vehicle of the MGAs age and design. That our test run had reached an unfortunate conclusion was certainly disappointing, but when you drive a 65-year-old car as far as the Arctic Circle, you come to realise that jeopardy always makes for a great anecdote – once it’s been overcome.

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Buckled up in the recovery truck’s cabin, with the MGA Roadster safely stowed on the back, I glanced across my shoulder and momentarily my heart sank. As someone who is deeply passionate about championing the use of classic cars, and believes they can be part of a more sustainable future, it pains me that the sight of my Roadster being transported has the potential to put someone off. Because unreliable, she is not.

A Monte Carlo Challenge winner, my MGA Roadster is capable of the most incredible things. A seasoned and accomplished traveller, in 2022, she completed a 2,000 mile journey around the UK in 46 hours and 59 minutes – raising thousands for charity as a result. In 2024 she carried dad and I to Nordkapp, which is, quite literally the top of the world. The mission was to scatter some of my late grandfather’s ashes, and with her as our trusty steed, that mission was accomplished.

As we were taxi’d back to Vowden HQ, I considered the stints dad and I had served in our overalls. He, a professional mechanic. I, the (mostly) obedient apprentice. My role was to assist as per his meticulous instructions. Oh, and make the tea.

Removing, dismantling and rebuilding the engine deepened my understanding of Frisky – the name bestowed upon the MGA by my late grandfather – and being introduced to the tools and techniques required to do so gave me a sense of accomplishment that I could never foresee tiring of. As master of the trade, the burden of responsibility lay heavily on my dad’s shoulders, but as ever, he bore his duty so, so well. Worried that the tasks I was able to accomplish were menial, he reassured me that no step in the process should be taken for granted. Plus, everyone begins their journey as a trainee.

To run the engine in gently, we had to put our senses of adventure on standby. No challenges, no ambitious destinations, no operating in arduous conditions for hours, and hours, on end. But gradually, lengthier trips replaced the little ones, as the components settled in. Listening, feeling and looking for any evidence of impending doom, all systems were running smooth. It’s time for a micro adventure, we decided, and as always, it had to involve food. Let’s head to the seaside for crab sandwiches and some fish and chips. Breaking the 250-mile round trip from suburbia to the seaside for crab sandwiches and fish and chips, we took things steady, particularly as it was a hot day. With an overnight stay to reduce any unnecessary strain, it had all gone, well, rather swimmingly. The retaining clip coming loose was just a bit of bad luck. Highs, lows and sometimes being trailered home, classic car adventuring is about embracing the bumps in the road.

Have you had to be trailered home mid-classic car adventure? We would love to hear your stories in the comments below.