The End of an Era

This morning was it, the final farewell to Goldie. It’s a little strange not to have her around as I’ve spent a good part of the last 12 years with that car, but on the other hand, it is a little bit of a relief.

I’ve had a lot of good times with the car, going back all the way to my years at Stanford. A dozen years of memories.

Here is a Tribute to Goldie photo gallery. Stories of the car are contained in the website category From the Logbook.

[January 1996] Goldie in the Stanford parking lot, a couple of months after I bought her. Note the 1970 grille. In half-a-year, I'd replace it with an early style, chrome ribbed one. (January 15, 1996)[May 17, 1996] Off to Davis, CA for the Davis Double Century, the very first 200-mile bike ride I did. (May 17, 1996)[August 9, 1996] While living in Palo Alto for the summer, I spent a whole weekend removing Goldie's trim so she could be repainted. Here she is back from her new paint job. (August 9, 1996)[September 18, 1996] Wonderful road trip down Highway 1 along the California coast. (September 18, 1996)[May 2, 1998] I had graduated a year ago and was living in Fremont, but Goldie was a still great parts runner for fixing Venus' Merkur in the Stanford parking lot. (May 2, 1998)[May 30, 1998] Goldie won 3rd place in the chrome-bumpered MGB category at the MGs at Jack London Square car show. (May 30, 1998)[May 5, 2002] Installing her newly-rebuilt engine. (May 5, 2002)[February 1, 2003] From 2000-2003, Goldie shared the garage with Lina the Z3. When I sold the Z3, Goldie was back as my daily driver for seven months until the arrival of the Alfa Romeo. (February 1, 2003)[May 19, 2003] Carrying home a huge bike box for Paris-Brest-Paris. Who needs a huge SUV? (May 19, 2003)[June 6, 2003] Goldie in what I dubbed "sports car alley" in Fremont, since it seemed like everyone I lived around had sports cars! (June 6, 2003)[August 7, 2003] Goldie at Lam, where I worked at from until 2005. Yes, quite a contrast with a hulking Hummer H2. (August 7, 2003)[March 20, 2004] Goldie took Sharon and I around the famous Laguna Seca racetrack in Monterey amongst her MG brethren. (March 20, 2004)[February 6, 2005] In Santa Cruz for the Super Bowl 10k. That was the last time I drove ultra-curvy Highway 17... great drive. (February 6, 2005)[June 16, 2006] My dear friends Frank and Mila had let me store Goldie at their place in Stockton for a whole year after I moved out of Fremont. Thanks! (June 16, 2006)[June 20, 2006] Goldie in Tilden Park in Berkeley after awakening from hibernation. (June 20, 2006)[June 24, 2006] Off to another cool bike adventure, this time the Giro di Peninsula with pretty Peggy. (June 24, 2006)[July 26, 2006] Epic drive through Nevada on the way to Colorado. (July 26, 2006)[July 26, 2006] The drive included three flat tires, but we still made it to Fort Collins in 25 hours! (July 26, 2006)[September 15, 2007] Goldie spent the rest of the time under my ownership in Fort Collins, driven only a few hundred miles. Here she is with Tori (who was visiting for the weekend), who'd be the last person to ride as a passenger. (September 15, 2007)[November 1, 2007] The last dance, on some of the dirt backroads near home. There you have it, a dozen years of memories. Great little car, but time to move on. (November 1, 2007)
Photos by Felix Wong are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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