> > Well, there's a lot in this article for a SOL'er to chew on. The author's
> > viewpoint seems clear. Look at his choice of words, imperfectly, misguided,
> > hapless, & weird.
>
> This paragraph suggests that you think the author is biased against the
> English and is wrong about his findings. Stop me if I am reading you wrong.
>
> My viewpoint is that he is smack on. That's the way it happened. British
> Phlemsucking Leland (thanks, Scott!) DID screw up at nearly every turn.
> They stopped the Healeys from making a faster Spridget because it would show
> up the MGB. Is this stupid or what?
And they stopped Abingdon from building a faster MGB because it was
showing up the Stag. And they stopped Triumph from building a more
reliable Stag because it would have showed up the by-then smogged-to-
death E Type. And they stopped building the E Type because, well, by
then nobody was buying British sports cars any more...
The British sports car story is the tale of brilliant, quirky, and
dedicated engineers who cobbled together fun, exciting prototypes of
cars people loved to drive, and the closed-minded, short-sighted,
and ultimately fatally arrogant blinkered Philistines who ruined the
companies those "boffins" founded. I haven't read a history of Triumph,
but I'm familiar with the history of the Healeys and MG, and they share
almost identical demises. The Healeys' story is compressed, but other
than that, you could almost sum it up in the old Hollywood terms:
Boy loves cars. Boy builds cars. Boy races cars, wins trophy. Boy
makes more cars for friends. Big business says, "Boy, make cars for
us." Boy makes lots of cars, goes racing, has to make race cars better
to keep winning. Boy spends money. Big business says, "Racing costs
too much, why don't these cars sell like they did when we hired you? The cars
haven't changed since then!" Boy says, "But the world has." Boy is sacked.
Big business makes same cars for 20 years. Nobody buys cars. Big business
gets nationalized, everyone taxed to bailout Sir Bletherskite-Sodd, K. B. B.
(Knight of Big Business). Soon even Queen is taxed and Prince wishes to be
reincarnated as bimbo's trousers on taped telephone conversation. Everyone
sad. Except people who bought boy's cars when boy still worked in factory.
And Sir Bletherskite-Sodd, who lives in tax exile in Monte Carlo with money
made from taxes and from selling boy's cars.
--Scott "But will it play in Peoria?" Fisher
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