The Beatles’ grippingly solemn, masterfully orchestrated “Eleanor Rigby” made its debut on the airwaves in the summer of 1966, another classic in the making for England’s most famous cultural export, the Beatles. The following year, the British Motor Corporation–parent company to England’s most famous vehicular exports wearing badges like Austin, MG, and Jaguar–released its annual Distributors and Dealers in North America for Products of the British Motor Corporation Ltd. guide. That stapled pamphlet, a piece of glovebox ephemera now more than five decades out of date, represented a model year at the pinnacle of design and performance, before changing safety/emissions laws and corporate structures forever altered British cars. It would inspire an epic, soul-searching American road trip for a youthful British-car mechanic and his 1973 MGB.

I was introduced to Chad Cansler by our favorite local British-sports-car guru, David Clark. Chad dropped in on David as he toured New England last November, and with many shared interests, the two became fast friends. Upon hearing about Chad's journey that would ultimately encompass more than three months and 14,546 miles, I had to get more details and share it with the Hemmings audience. Let’s start at the beginning of Chad's Magical Mystery Tour.

“I’ve been an English-car enthusiast since age 14,” explained the 38-year-old. “English cars went away circa-1980, with British Leyland pulling out of the American market, leaving only Jaguar. The horrible year of 2020 marked fortieth anniversary of that departure. I got curious as to what is still going on out there in the world of English cars.”

Keep reading to travel along...