You're quite right Glen. I guess it's up to some of us to generate
some enthusiasm although it may be a reflection of the interest in
LBCs generally. I'm on two of the Jag-lovers lists and the Jensen
list where most of my messages arrive and on which I contribute
sporadically. However, as it's winter here and the toys are
sleeping, we just don't seem to be able to generate much interest.
The thing that irritates me the most is the emphasis on some lists on
"keeping to the topic" and the second thing is the self-appointed
list police who send the same boring messages whenever conversation
strays from a topic deemed appropriate. Somehow a discussion of the
fact that the brown wire is hot and the red wire has something to do
with lighting becomes very wearying after a few years of repetition.
It's a lot like the guys on the slick Brit car mags who try to invent
ever-newer ways of talking about the same old crap - or doing
comparative road tests on 40 year old cars in quite different
classes, then making definitive pronouncements about their
performance - with an emphasis on wind noise, lack of power and poor
brakes.
Maybe we're flogging a very dead Lucas electrical system. Maybe many
of us are tired of hearing from the list hot rodders whose only goal
in life is to take a perfectly decent 30 year old sports car and turn
it into a "modern" car so it can "keep up with today's traffic" and
all of the other nonsense which goes with this so-called improvement.
Maybe we're tired of learning that our old dynamos should be replaced
with alternators and that our Lucas parts should be replaced with
junkyard Japanese bits - and while we're at it we should pitch the
old pushrod four for a newer OHC unit from a Toyota along with the 5
speed it's bolted to.
Maybe too many of us haven't realized that making a silk purse out of
a sow's ear really only gives us something which is neither - no
charm and no time-machine - just a very average car with a whole lot
of shiny bits which looks silly.
When was the last time you saw a stock MGB at a car show? It's
joining that other extinct species - the stock Harley-Davidson. How
about a car which must by now be completely extinct. I refer to the
stock Sunbeam Tiger. This generation of LBC-losers, oops I meant
lovers, has managed to leave nothing original for future car buffs to
discover and enjoy. Just a load of LBHRS - Little British Hot Rods.
Of course, on some lists if I were to make a statement like this, the
list police would inform that it isns't my car it is their car and
they can do whatever they want with it. Some people shouldn't be
allowed to buy nice old cars. Let them destroy junk and leave the
nice ones alone! Even MGAs aren't safe anymore or are TRs. How many
stock displacement engines are left? Not many I'll bet.
One of the groups which has seemed rather successful in Canada is the
British Saloon Cars Club. Fortunately, most of the saloon cars seem
to have avoided the same fate as the sports cars except for Jaguar
saloons where there is an increased number of lumps. Small block
Chevs just don't look or sound good in Jaguar saloons. Sorry guys.
If you want to own a Jaguar and you can't afford to fix the engine -
sell the damn thing to someone who will or don't buy it in the first
place.
I think that at the club level in the smaller centers, a British car
club for single marques or an exclusively British car club just won't
fly any longer. What may be needed is a
common-purpose/common-interest car club for Euro and Brit cars or
even just for old import cars. I've just been involved in the
startup of a new club in our area. The emphasis is on really small
cars of all kinds. We're calling it the "Nothing over 999 Club for
Weird Little Cars" The 999 refers, of course, to displacement.
We're encouraging everyone with everything from Messerschmidts to
Suzuki Swifts to join for activities. So far we've got Minis and a
Fiat Abarth 850, a BMW 600, two NSU Prinz, three Panhards, a Lloyd
Alexander, a Triumph Herald, a DKW, an early Midget, a Chevy version
of a Suzuki, and some fellows looking. There were lots of those cars
sold here and in North America generally over the years - especially
from 1955 to 1970 or so. Where are they? We're hoping to find out.
John - who would be happy to chat with anyone about anything related
to old cars of any breed but who likes British cars (although I own
the Panhards and the Lloyd).
>Has it crossed anyone else's mind that british-cars@autox.team.net ought to
>be allowed to die a decent death? There are hardly any messages anymore, and
>this sort of thread is on par with what's been coming through. I've belonged
>to this list for years as have Carl and most of the other diehard members.
>It used to be a very active and interesting list where people with a whole
>variety British car marques shared both general and specific information.
>It was fun to learn about a lot of different types of cars, and you don't
>get that on marque-specific lists.
>
>Is that sort of discussion still happening on some other mailing list anyone
>knows of?
>
>Glen
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Musson, Carl" <musson@arts.usf.edu>
>To: <british-cars@autox.team.net>
>Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 1:44 PM
>Subject: RE: An American
>
>
>> From The Urban Legends site (www.snopes.com)
>> Origins: As the reaction to pieces from a Canadian broadcaster and a
>> Romanian journalist demonstrate, Americans take great delight in encomiums
>> to America and Americans authored by citizens of other nations.
>> This piece isn't such a case. The "What is an American?" article quoted
>> above was not penned by an Australian (or a dentist), but by Peter
>Ferrara,
>> an associate professor of law at the George Mason University School of Law
>> in Northern Virginia. Mr. Ferrara's commentary was originally published in
>> the National Review on 25 September 2001.
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: HLYDOC@aol.com [mailto:HLYDOC@aol.com]
>> Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 11:07 AM
>> To: british-cars@autox.team.net; Healeys@autox.team.net;
>> mgs@autox.team.net
>> Subject: Fwd: An American
>>
>> In a message dated 2/12/03 10:28:30 PM, GT4 Dino writes:
>>
>> /// british-cars@autox.team.net mailing list
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>>
>
>
>---
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>
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