“You never forget your first love” the saying goes and when in 1985 AustinRover introduced the MG Montego, I just had to have one. I described the reasons I bought this MG Montego in my short story “Kalverliefde” (in Dutch only, but in short the story is about my first love for the 1959 MG Magnette ZB and how that car compared with the then new MG Montego).

However, within one week of ownership this MG had to return to the importer, AustinRover Netherlands. It had an electrical fault that made the engine die when I drove with a speed of more than 100 kilometers. The only solution to the problem was the replacement of the complete wiring loom, but a new loom was nowhere to be found. Finally - a few weeks later - the importer received a wiring loom of a Montego Vandenplas from the factory in England and had to make that fit my MG. After that the fault never happened again.
I was completely satisfied with this MG, in which I drove many happy miles. Francina thought different, because this MG had to be very well maintained by the dealer; therefore it wasn’t a cheap car to drive. Even now, years later, there are still family jokes about the times that I had to go to the workshop with this MG.