>
> Maybe this is a bad time to post this, since I just got back from
> a British-and-Italian-car jaunt through the local mountain roads
> which managed to take all day because we kept having to stop as
> one car after another broke down. (Someone should post the story.
> It was fun despite all the breakdowns!) Anyway, this morning's San
> Jose Mercury News contained the following letter. What is this
> guy's problem, anyway? Hey, Larry, maybe you should look this
> guy up and see if he wants to give you a couple of parts cars!
>
> ...Akkana
>
>
> EXPENSIVE, BUMPY ROAD AWAITS NEW OWNER OF '77 SPORTS CAR
>
> I read with amusement the November 23 article about the 1977 MG Midget that
> Opera San Jose sold for $1. As the owner of both a '66 and a '67 Midget,
> all I can say is the opera company got off easy, and Patrick Spaulding is
> in for quite a motoring experience.
>
> These cars are sports cars in the sense that they are small (very small),
> quick, and their tops come off. But perhaps the top on Spaulding's new
> car is torn, and the plastic "windows" have cracked and turned a murky
> brown not unlike a mildewed shower curtain. Perhaps his new car is
> subject to the electrical gremlins that have befuddled MG owners since
> the beginning of time.
>
> Does Spaulding know why the British drink warm beer? Maybe Opera San Jose
> should have told him that the same company that makes the electrical
> systems in his MG also makes refrigerators in jolly olde England.
>
> Spaulding might reflect on the spirit of the people of the British Isles
> as he drives his new car, and how they chased the German Luftwaffe across
> the English channel in the Battle of Britain. Then again, he may reflect
> on the spirit of the very same people who designed a transmission that
> makes funny whirring, grinding and other nasty sounds as it happily
> shifts its way through life. I would be curious to see the puddle of
> oil left on the floor of the opera company garage; I'm sure it would rank
> right up there with the Prince William Sound.
>
> As for the vehicle being valuable, or at least worth $1200 according to
> car borker Robert Hammer, all I can say is that I paid $600 apiece for
> my cars, which run to this day and sound as though they are in considerably
> better shape than Spaulding's "jalopy".
>
> If Spaulding is the adventurous type, though, he might try the do-it-yourself
> route. He would no doubt start looking for parts in the appropriate
> enthusiasts magazines, like Road and Track, Car and Driver, or Suicide
> Prevention Monthly.
>
> I was also the proud possesor of a 1969 Austin Healy Sprite, an identical
> car except for the name. Hammer had the rosy optimism to state that only
> for parts the '71 was worth $1000 minimum". I, too, thought that the
> Sprite, which was a gift, was worth its weight in gold and that by
> parting it out it would enable me to buy a small island and retire
>comfortably.
>
> Quite the opposite was true, however. I placed an ad which ran for two weeks
> and cost $26 in the Mercury News. Of the three responses, two people showed
> up and I sold about $40 worth of parts, hardly the lofty sum Hammer stated.
> Not only that, but the car sat in the back yard of my house for two months
> and killed most of the vegetation in its proximity, turning my yard into
> a miniature toxic dump. I couldn't give it away. I had to pay another $40
> to tow the Sprite to vintage sports car heaven, proving there's good money
> to be made in the towing business and that these little cars aren't worth
> much dead or alive.
>
> A quick check in the Auto $eller section of the Mercury News recently shows
> not only one but two Midgets for sale, one for $750 and another for $2500.
> I'm sure the seller of the latter is either playing a cruel joke on the
> auto-buying public or is the eternal symbol of hope for snowballs in hell.
>
> It looks like Opera San Jose knows more about cars than it would let on.
> I hope Spaulding is as good a mechanic as he is a shrewd businessman,
> and if he should ever want to sell his treasure, I have just the spot
> for it in my back yard.
>
> -- Scott Strayer
> Santa Clara
If Scott or anyone else is interested in dumping an unrusted example
of one of these "worthless" Spridgets on me cheap I will take the
punishment. I wouldn't even care if there was no engine! My home
address is 672 Orleans St, St. Paul, MN 55107 and my home phone is
(612) 224-3105.
--
Login name: phile In real life: Philip J Ethier
Phone: 298-5324
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