Family Ties

The theme at this year’s Classic Motor Show in November was Family Ties, and it is one that proved apt to Sam Dennis when discussing his grandfather’s Naylor TF.

- Sam Dennis

To me, cars and family are indelibly linked. More often than not a car is considered part of the family, especially by those for whom motoring is a passion, or even just a hobby rather than merely a means of getting from A to B. Tucked away in a garage or hidden from the elements under wraps, a special car will be cared for like no other machine, meticulously cleaned, routinely serviced and driven with joy.

For normal folk, these mundane chores may be considered taxing, laborious even, but for the motoring enthusiast they further the pleasure to be derived from car ownership. This passion for motoring cements a connection between car and family, a connection that I firmly believe bridges generations. When I think about both my father and my grandfather’s attitudes towards motoring, I can see how my own sentiments have been directly affected by theirs. What’s more, soon after starting this article I realised that the family ties influencing my love of motoring were personified in the car you see pictured here.

Looks familiar, doesn’t it? The sweeping arches, long bonnet and British Racing Green of what looks for all the world like your archetypal classic MG. I’m afraid to say that any of you who thought it was an MG TF are very much mistaken, though. In fact it isn’t actually an MG at all, although its relationship to the marque could be likened to a child wearing their father’s jacket. It is in fact a Naylor TF1700.