Mike writes in connection with MG car clubs [snip]
> We who have most of the cars produced have as a total group little
> appreciation of the MG as a marque as contrasted with the Brits. That's too
> bad, but that's the way it is.
In a few words here Mike says a helluva lot which, if correct, is indeed a
real shame for the MG car movement.
I can only speak for the Australian experience where the vast majority of
our early motoring was done in British cars. As a matter of fact I had
never heard the expression lbc until joining this list a few months back,
yet I have driven British cars for more than 30 years.
My first car - a 1948 Vauxhall cost me $10 in 1964, followed by several Austin
A 30's for not much more. You would keep these cars going with fencing wire
and parts from the local wrecker or hardware store.
And here's where, in my opinion, the comraderie began - certainly for me.
Cars were real hard to come by after the war - our first family car was a
Vauxhall purchased in 1954 and then only because my Dad, having been quite
badly wounded in Tobruk, was given a priority. He had been on a waiting
list for several years.
So all the old clangers were kept on the road long after their ideal use by
date and subsequently fell into the hands of the more impoverished.
Roadside repairs were a regular sight - the sort of thing Barney does like
changing diffs and engines on the side of the road was pretty common then.
Well, everyone who came upon such a scene could easily place themselves in
it, and roadside assistance was graciously offered - especially for like
makes of vehicle.
A special wave was developed by some individual marques acknowledging each
other's presence when passing. MG in particular - one finger off the wheel
- ever so slightly.
This undoubtdly helped bind the drivers of marque models together.
Maybe this didn't happen so much in America? Could that be part of it?
Paul
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