Hi, Listers!
I just returned from two weeks in England. I put 930 miles on a Vauxhall
Vectra (1.8 liter engine, fwd, 5-speed four dour) which - made by GM -
should be equivalent to the Pontiac Sunfire and Oldsmobile Achieva that I
rented to get to and from San Francisco airport. What a fabulous car! Why
can't GM build them like this over here? Great mileage (used barely
100-liters of gas), fabulously quick & sure handling, abs brakes, a digital
read-out that gave time, date and outside temperature (the latter a
function my wristwatch never manages....) a very responsive, free-revving
engine and five perfectly spaced gears. Which brings me to my MGB......also
1.8 liters with most of the above attributes (except the digital
read-out......)
Seriously, it was interesting for me to see just how well a modern British
car goes, but it was still nice to be back and be able to drive my BGT
again. While in England, I saw at least one MGB GT every day, some days two
or three! And every one of them had a Webasto-style folding sunshine roof
(not that I saw any sunshine....!) I also saw three MGB roadsters, (two
chrome-bumper, one rubber), two Midgets (one of each) and quite a few other
cars from the fifties and sixties. Also a 1950s Rudge motorcycle and a
1960s BSA being ridden in the rain (as well as lots of late-model
sportbikes). It seems the spirit of adventure is alive and well in England
- even if parking in the cities (along both kerbs of the very narrow
streets) makes one realize that to drive a car there you really have to
know how to get through a gap and leave just an inch or two on either side
without slowing much below 20 m.p.h., or you'll get the other drivers upset
at you. Just the thing when you've endured a fifteen-hour trans-Atlantic
journey and you're in an unfamiliar car with right-hand drive and a shifter
for your left hand.....!
Lawrie
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