The MG Car Club-Rocky Mountain Centre this weekend will hold its 65th Annual Rallye Glenwood Springs, the oldest continually held time-speed-distance rallye in the United States.

The first Rallye Glenwood Springs began with a hardy group of MGCC-RMC sports car owners who discovered the joys of top-down motoring in Colorado when MGs still had running boards and the new TR2 and powerful XK-120 were just beginning to be sold by Colorado car dealers.

Imagine what Colorado mountain roads were like during that 1953 Rallye — gravel and some pavement, no guardrails, single-lane bridges, hairpin curves, sheer cliffs and thin air.

The Rocky Mountains of central Colorado have formed the backdrop for the Rallye Glenwood Springs since. Vintage and classic cars from as far away as California and Illinois have shared the twisting mountain roads with their newer counterparts for octane-related festivities.

Enthusiasts have come from as far away as England to drive borrowed MGCC-RMC cars through such mining towns as Leadville and Aspen on their way to Glenwood Springs.

This year, the club celebrates the 50th anniversary of the MGC Roadster and GT during the Rallye Glenwood Springs, which is Friday through Sunday. The six-cylinder MGC was introduced at the 1967 London Auto Show and was the first production MG to have metallic paint offered. The MGC was based on the MGB and intended as a replacement for the Austin-Healey 3000.

Leaving Lakewood at 8 a.m. Friday, cars will be based in Glenwood at the Courtyard Marriott. Touring and events fill Saturday, with a car show from 9 a.m.-noon Sunday at Two Rivers Park, with an awards presentation at 12:30 p.m.