David A. Knowles

My interest in British sports cars came - as I'm sure is the case for many others - at an early age. Dinky and Corgi Toys helped fuel the fascination of a young boy, with a cream-coloured Austin-Healey 100 a particular favourite, but for me it was also the regular journeys past the famous MG car factory at Abingdon, where the bustle of new MG and Austin Healey cars coming and going added to the sense of excitement. The next step was when a family friend changed his dull Standard Vanguard for a pretty British Racing Green MGB GT. This was 1967, and I was just eight years old - and so could easily fit into the diminutive back seat - and so trips out in this sleek, sexy sports car helped cement my early passion for all things MG. When I was at school in later years, one of my teachers bought himself an MGB GT V8 - rather different to the Hillmans and Fords of his colleagues - and the sight and sound of this potent but still compact sports coupe at school helped make me determined to acquire one for myself when I was old enough. Eventually I did manage to buy my first MG - a BGT - followed a few years later by a basket-case MGB GT V8 destined to become a major restoration project. I still have that car today. In the meantime, however, I had begun to be interested in finding out more about these cars which had become such a passion, and along the way joined the two major British MG clubs - something I recommend to any other burgeoning enthusiasts. This helped put me in touch with some of the fantastic people who actually designed, built and sold these great cars, and the rest, as they say, is history. Along the way, my scope has widened - so one of my books, for example, is about the Triumph TR7, another car from my youth. My philosophy with all of my books has always been to dig deep and above all else try to delight and surprise you, my readers. Too many writers - in my view - rely on the lazy journalistic practice of regurgitating the work of others. There are clearly others who may be better wordsmiths than me, whose prose is more cunningly or wittily crafted, and whose style I often admire. But I hope that if I am to be credited for anything, it will be for the determined presentation of new and original material, as much of it as possible sourced from the people who really deserve the credit for these great cars. You, I hope, will be the judge - and if I entertain you as I inform you, then I will be happy, for these cars are part of my own story - and perhaps of yours too. Let us celebrate together a common dream!