1976 was peak automotive malaise. California emissions requirements. British Leyland’s commitment to quality. A Solex downdraft carburetor. I drove that combination from San Francisco to Los Angeles and back.
The Grapevine is the hill on I-5 between the Central Valley and Los Angeles. It is not a particularly difficult hill. It is, however, the natural enemy of British roadsters built during the worst decade of British automotive history.
The MG overheated at the Grapevine. I pulled over and waited for it to cool down. The downhill speed from the summit was 55mph — that was the downhill speed. The uphill approach had been somewhat more optimistic.
Marvel Mystery Oil was part of the life support system. For anyone who hasn’t encountered it: it’s an additive that does vague good things to engines that are suffering from the accumulated indignities of age, deferred maintenance, and bad carburetion. You add it and hope. It worked better than it had any right to.
By comparison: years later I drove a 1962 Land Rover IIA 109" pickup — with a crack in the engine block mended with green goop — from San Diego to Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, and back. Over a thousand miles of Mexican highway and dirt roads. Without incident.
The MG made it. Both directions. I count that as a win, conditional on lowered expectations.