Featured photo for The End of an Era

The End of an Era

Felix Wong's avatar
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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.
[May 17, 1996] Off to Davis, CA for the Davis Double Century, the very first 200-mile bike ride I did.
[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.
[September 18, 1996] Wonderful road trip down Highway 1 along the California coast.
[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 30, 1998] Goldie won 3rd place in the chrome-bumpered MGB category at the MGs at Jack London Square car show.
[May 5, 2002] Installing her newly-rebuilt engine.
[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.
[May 19, 2003] Carrying home a huge bike box for Paris-Brest-Paris. Who needs a huge SUV?
[June 6, 2003] Goldie in what I dubbed "sports car alley" in Fremont, since it seemed like everyone I lived around had sports cars!
[August 7, 2003] Goldie at Lam, where I worked at from until 2005. Yes, quite a contrast with a hulking Hummer H2.
[March 20, 2004] Goldie took Sharon and I around the famous Laguna Seca racetrack in Monterey amongst her MG brethren.
[February 6, 2005] In Santa Cruz for the Super Bowl 10k. That was the last time I drove ultra-curvy Highway 17... great drive.
[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 20, 2006] Goldie in Tilden Park in Berkeley after awakening from hibernation.
[June 24, 2006] Off to another cool bike adventure, this time the Giro di Peninsula with pretty Peggy.
[July 26, 2006] Epic drive through Nevada on the way to Colorado.
[July 26, 2006] The drive included three flat tires, but we still made it to Fort Collins in 25 hours!
[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.
[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.