1976 MGB GT V8 - The Big Banger
Well, MGBs are Might Go Bangers, so V8s are Big Bangers, naturally. She is, of course, a she - fast, flighty and hates being touched! She is officially Brooklands Green, but spends a lot of her time being turned 'blue' due to her uncooperative nature & her large Rover influence. (she will pass anything on the road except a garage - yeah, I know that's really Jaguars, but allow some poetic licence).
Now, Boris is an Absolute Sweetie - he loves attention and will go better even if you've only changed his rocker cover gasket. But the Big Banger will sulk for a week if you try to change her brake fluid - in fact, it will take you a week to change her brake fluid, she is so difficult!
Add to that temperament the sheer lack of room under the bonnet and you can understand why grown men turn pale at the words "can you check the starter motor/plugs/manifolds?" However, I'll never sell her - she was bought in 1985 because Boris was too slow and after one winter's use (HAIRY doesn't begin to describe a V8 in the wet/ice/snow) I decided she would be kept as a pet - 'for summer use only'. She has only done 3,000 miles a year since then and is still on her original bodyshell and she manages to scare the pants off me several times a year - usually when Brian is driving!
She had a major tarting up in 1987 and won loadsa prizes over the next five years but now she is retired from pot-hunting and is there for the fun of driving her. You need a wallet the size of Jersey and your own personal petrol tanker just to get her into the centre of town, biceps like a navvy to park her, tiny slim hands to reach her errant wiring and the patience of a saint to do any work at all on her engine - but I'll still never part with her.
Mrs. Grumpy