Dear Listers,
I've been a bit out of touch as me ol' Mac puked its hard drive when we got
back from the Palo Alto Britmeet and I was forced to do all of my Woodley
Park (Los Angeles) chores on friend's computors or (gasp) manually. Now I'm
back on line with alot more ram and gigs-a-go-go of hard drive. We also
were able to save the data! This was great as the last time I did a backup
was in March! YOW! (remember girls, back up those hard drives! DO IT
TODAY!) The improvements do make things much faster. While we're not
talking about wining Indy kind of power here, it's a bit like replacing a
worn 948 with a fresh 1275.
Pat Bailey on the MG list wrote:
We bitch about the dreaded previous owner and his bodges but mmaybe
he couldn't afford parts and was only trying to keep her going.We have
to realize these are still cheap cars especially to the general public
who only wants a cheap convertible and couldn't care less about Kimber
and history and when confronted with a $80 fuel pump will put anything
in.Until these cars are more expensive and out of the average joes hands
this will continue.It will be interesting to see if this trait returns
in a new generation when the next depression hits.
Funny Pat should mention this. One of my methods of drumming up interest in
both the Palo Alto and Woodley Park meets is to put flyers on parked
Britiron and to stop and talk to strangers driving LBCs to personally
invite them to participate. This year, I had so many strange and
unrewarding encounters that I will probably discontinue this practice
altogether. First, there are so few LBCs in regular use in the greater LA
area that I think that I left less than a dozen flyers on parked cars!
As for talking to owners in their cars, I gave up personally contacting
later model Jag and Range Rover drivers, unless their cars were modified,
as they were NOT enthusiasts and were either annoyed of frightened that
someone had invaded their "space" and possibly wanted to carjack their
valuable icons of the good life.
Now, it seems that MGs and Triumphs have been embraced by the goatee,
earing and tatoo set, who are driving cheap ragtops for style and see
little difference between these and a Fiat or an Alfa except that they are
a bit easier and cheaper to repair! They look at this old greybeard and
ask, "Why in the world would British car owners want to gather in a park to
talk about their cars?" I say that it's lots of fun. Blank stare! I'm not
saying that these folks won't eventually become enthusiasts but for now,
there is little interest.
When these people tire of their LBCs they will sell them and one of us will
be charged with sorting out the bodges that low horsepower Pep Boys and
backyard mechanics have inflicted on these cars. This is not as much about
a lack of money but more about a lack of interest and information and a
quest for affordable style without involvement. Go figure. We now be
stylish, and all I ever wanted to be was weird. Must be the new generation
gap! See you on the Funway!
Rick Feibusch - Venice, CA
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