The Japanese car industry got restarted after WWII largely by
licensing (not stealing or otherwise doing anything unethical)
British car technology. So my Datsun roadster has Hitachi-SU
carbs, Sumitomo-Dunlop brakes, and so on. I understand that
one of the hot setups for MG racers is to use a Datsun cam
for better durability. Gradually the Japanese car makers
changed over to metric sizes, and incrementally improved
the design of various parts, then introduced new generations,
and that's how we got to where we are today. It doesn't
take a very large improvement every year for 20 years to kill
off a competitor who's not going forward at all.
Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of Datsun (in
particular) parts fit MGs (for example), but you'd have to
know exactly what fit what.
Wayne
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