There are similarities between orthodontics and car restoration, said Dr Curtis Beck. Both are a type of engineering.

"I like to work with my hands. I love mechanical things, and I've always been able to fix things and put things together," he said. It may explain why, when this local orthodontist is not tinkering inside the mouths of patients, he is tinkering under the hood of one of a number of antique cars he owns.

His stable of cars includes a few early American vehicles, such as his a 1930 Model A and the 1929 Edsel M-type Ford actually owned by Edsel Ford. "I bought it from a museum in Pennsylvania when it disbanded," he said. His collection also boasts a smattering of vintage European cars, and an "embarrassing" number of MGs, he said.

His passion for antique vehicles began when he was just 9 years old. His fourth grade class from Columbia, Conn., took a field trip to Mystic Seaport. On the way home, they stopped at an antique car museum, "And I got hooked. They had a Rolls Royce, one of only 13 of that kind made, and it caught my eye. That was the start of it all," he said.

The first car he owned was a 1932 two-door Chevrolet Confederate, which he still owns. It was the car that he found when paging through his father's Traveler's employee newspaper that started him down the road to collecting MGs, however. He noticed an ad for a 1953 MG TD, bought it, and while it turned out he had to rebuild the engine, "That started my love affair with the MG," Dr Beck confessed.

The MG line of automobiles, whose initials stand for Morris Garages, was first produced in England, beginning in the early 1920s. The MG is best known as a two-seater sports car. Since the mid-1930s, MG has seen several ownerships. Except for a period during World War II, MG built the popular little cars until 1980. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Austin Rover and then the MG Rover Group, which owned the MG mark, revived certain models of MG. Nanjing Automobile bought the assets of MG Rover in 2005, and in 2011, introduced the MG 6.

It is not the newer MG models that have captured Dr Beck's heart, however.

"I have quite a number of models of MGs, from 1926 to 1968. They're a lot of fun. The MG is also simple enough that a 'shade mechanic,' or a backyard mechanic, if you will, can make them go. One of the other things I love about the MGs is that they handle marvelously," said Dr Beck. The relatively small size of most of the models also means that many can be fit into a small space.

As a matter of fact, he said, most people probably do not realize that he housed several MGs in the little house he owned that previously sat on the site of his new Queen Street orthodontics practice, opened in 2015. From the 1980s until construction on his new building began, there were two MGs in every bedroom, four in the living room, one in the dining room, and one in the kitchen. "I widened the main entrance to get them in, and they were on little coasters so we could move them around," he said. Much of the restoration work on the many MGs he owned took place after work in the house. Now, work on the cars happens on weekends and after hours, in the three-level garage at his home.

Except for the two cars he is currently restoring - a MG PA airline coupe "touted as the prettiest thing MG ever made," and a 1953 MG Arnolt convertible with a handbuilt Italian body - all of the cars in his collection are driveable, said Dr Beck, and all are registered to drive on highways. But because the vintage cars rarely go more than 60 miles per hour, traveling to MG meets where he can socialize with other MG aficionados is often done by caravanning with others going to the same destination. There is, he said, safety in numbers.

"Some of the earliest cars had wood-frame bodies, and I wouldn't want to be caught on 84 in one of those," he said.

One of his early finds was a 1949 MG TC, a car popularized by servicemen returning from the war. "They brought them back, and that started the sports car craze," said Dr Beck. British cars were known for their handling. American cars were known for their speed.

"The American cars were fast on the straightaway, but the little guy could catch up as they went through the curves. It was a battle of technologies," he said.

As time went on, Dr Beck began to appreciate the very early MGs. Prior to World War II, the transmissions were straight cut gears, he said, requiring the driver to really listen in order to shift. There was a preselect transmission in which the driver chose the gear, then pushed in the clutch and it shifted. "It was designed primarily for wealthy women so they wouldn't grind the gears pulling away from the curb and embarrass themselves. Later," Dr Beck said, "they discovered those gears were great for racing. The early cars are fascinating in how they worked around problems. We've only really improved on what they knew, since."

Driving the MGs is enjoyable, Dr Beck said, and he likes the challenge some of his older cars present: all MGs manufactured pre-World War II are "right hand" drive, meaning that the steering is on the right side and shifting is done with the left hand.

"I seem to easily adapt to it," he said, finding no problem with switching from the right hand style to a left hand style in the same day. Still, he admitted, "When you finish a tour in an antique car, you know you've worked. There's no power steering, and lots of shifting."

Restoring antique cars is a pleasurable hobby, said Dr Beck. "It's fascinating, but it can be a frustrating hobby, trying to find the parts and then trying to figure out how to put them in and make them do what they are supposed to do."

Belonging to MG clubs and going to meets gives him the opportunity to get together with other MG owners. "We usually drive and meet somewhere. We often choose a historic or artistic destination, and caravan there together. We enjoy seeing each other's cars, and it's a great support network for parts and others with knowledge of MGs," he said.

As passionate as he is about his cars, in this collector's eyes the complaint that "They don't make them like they used to," does not ring true. "Thank goodness," he said, "that they don't make them like they used to. The newer cars are so much easier to look after."

His antique cars are for fair weather only. His everyday vehicle is a Volkswagen diesel - or he might be spotted driving his own tow truck "to pick up the broken-down cars," he laughed.

That Rolls Royce that captured his heart so many years ago, by the way, has become a dream come true. Dr Beck is pleased to count the 1953 Silver Wraith, seven-passenger Rolls Royce touring limo among the cars in his collection.

Good weather is just around the corner, and it will be time to put his roadsters back on the streets. How he selects which of his many cars to drive, said Dr Beck, is easy.

"It's the one at the front of the garage, easy to get out, and it's running."