regarding the choice of britcars for sole-transport and cost-effectiveness...
A compelling argument to buy, for example, an MGB is that it is most likely
THE least expensive car to operate and maintain. I usually receive
raised eyebrows from this contention but I actually do feel that this is
the case. I used to think old VWs were cheapest, and they may have been,
but I was shocked at the costs incurred when my neighbor's van needed work.
The stereotype is that parts for foreign cars are expensive and are hard
to find. Well, I also own 3 US cars including what I would consider a
generic domestic mobile - an 82 mustang. I have found that parts for any
of these vehicles are more expensive than corresponding MGB parts and are
rarely as easy to obtain relative to a quick phone call to Moss etc.
Certainly maintaining an older britcar is do-able and avoids paying shop
rates to (often) incompetents who happen to have the required diagnostic
electronics. Good luck trying to fix a recent vintage injected car. I'm
quite at home under the hood of MGs but couldn't even figure out that an
injector wire coming off was the cause of poor-running on the 92 cherokee.
Given the generally low startup cost (an MG in very good shape is rarely
worth as much as a 5-year old econobox), low maintenance/restoration
costs, and typically good gas mileage, britcar ownership can be quite
economically justifiable.
John Sanders
Albuquerque NM
However, that is if you can avoid getting over-enthusiastic about it/them
(cf shipwrights disease and variants).
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