Staff Profile
Michael Tooke
Michael Tooke
NAMGAR Editor, MGA! Magazine
I’m Michael Tooke. Although I’m a newcomer to NAMGAR, as of October 1, 2010 I’ll be the Editor of MGA! Magazine. Here’s my story.
I was born in the Philadelphia (PA) area and knew at about age ten that I wanted to be a car designer. A dozen years later I had a degree in industrial design from Syracuse University and a job offer from Ford. However, I decided Detroit wasn’t the place for me, turned my back on my dream career and settled in Connecticut working for a consulting firm designing IBM office equipment. In 1966 I bought an MGB-GT, my first new car and first automotive love affair. I joined the Southern New England Chapter of the MG Car Club and had fun with the “B” at club rallies and events. In 1968 I added a ten-year-old Bugeye Sprite to the stable with visions of amateur racing. When I grasped the cost of this venture, I sold the Sprite only to realize how much I enjoyed it. So I bought another one which allowed the MG to become a fair weather ride.
In 1969, seeking new adventure, I moved to California, driving the “B” across the country and marrying my wife Pam along the way. We settled in Newport Beach where I worked for a fellow named Tom Kellogg doing boat and RV design. Among other things, Tom was an ex-Studebaker Avanti designer under Raymond Lowey. Life was good, living at the beach in California. Unfortunately, try as she might my new bride couldn’t master the MG’s transmission. Being young and in love, I sold my prized MG replacing it with a far inferior vehicle with an automatic transmission.
Within two years, suffering from the lingering effects of MG fever, I brought home a 1947 Stage III MGTC that had been raced by a doctor from Huntington Beach in the 1950’s. I think I paid $600 for it and it ran! It looked halfway decent too and was an absolute blast to drive. I had started to restore it when I was struck by involuntary employment failure. In a panic I sold the TC, something I lament to this day.
Before long I had a new job and another MG. This time it was a used 1967 MGB roadster, Old English Ivory with a red interior, red wire wheels and overdrive! The top went down in April and didn’t go back up until November. By 1990 it was the fourth car in the family fleet and beginning to show its age, so I somewhat regretfully sold it to another MG enthusiast, telling myself that it was going to someone who would appreciate it.
By this time I had my own consulting business doing product, graphic and display design for Southern California technology based clients. The demands of a busy life didn’t allow for MG ownership. Besides, the 1976 Volvo 242 that I bought for my teenage son absorbed all available resources and took up the last parking spot in the driveway.
I retired in 2001 and moved to New York City, where my wife had been offered a high dollar job, to lead a life of adventure in the Big Apple. While living in New York we bought a project house (similar to a project car, but bigger and intentionally stationary) in the northwest corner of Connecticut. This project house has become a comfortable home and now both retired, we’ve discovered how much there is to do when you don’t have a “real” job.
I have always enjoyed graphic design and have continued to do freelance work since retiring. When Melissa Hay, daughter of an old friend from college called, I found the Editor’s job intriguing, kind of like a moth drawn to a flame. It didn’t take much arm twisting. I created a sample issue of MGA!, which the Board approved, and bingo!, here I am. It must be time for another new adventure…and perhaps another MG.